20C women in landscape design FOLAR + The Gardens Trust
Draft Planting Plan for Churchill College by Sheila Haywood (1959) CREDIT: Churchill College Archives. RGHT Photo of Sheila Haywood CREDIT: British Quarrying & Slag Foundation Ltd
Speaker: Paula Laycock
Sheila Haywood (1911-1993) was one of the pioneers of modernism in landscape architecture. Studying at the Architectural Association in London from 1929-1934 during a period of intense student activism and change in the architectural profession, Haywood was not as well-known as some of her contemporaries. However, she played a significant role in the development of the profession of landscape architecture, as is reflected in her achievements.
But it was her role as Assistant to Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe from 1939-1949 that was pivotal to her career and which saw her interest transferring from buildings to the setting of the buildings themselves. While her work in the extractive industries would be a mainstay of her career, she also ventured into other areas, including that of Landscape Consultant for Bracknell New Town (1950-1974). This talk, however, focuses on Haywood’s work in Cambridge, first on the New Addenbrooke’s Hospital Site (1958-1962), then on the landscaping of Churchill College (1959-1974), and finally as Landscape Consultant for Wolfson College, Cambridge (1974-1980).
Paula Laycock is a By-Fellow of Churchill College where she has worked for the past 36 years, for the main part as College Registrar, and in more recent years, in the Churchill Archives Centre where she carries out oral history interviews - https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/fellows/paula-laycock-2/. However, it was in the College’s own archives that Paula first came across Haywood’s 1959 landscape drawings for the College. Her interest in Haywood’s work and subsequent research resulted in the publication of a guide to the College’s grounds and gardens (2019) - https://shop.chu.cam.ac.uk/products/churchill-college-garden-guide, and then to a detailed exploration of their development from 1959 to the present day, now recorded in her book Portrait of a Landscape (2022) - https://shop.chu.cam.ac.uk/products/portrait-of-a-landscape. While Paula also produced an online biography of Sheila Haywood in 2016 - https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Biography_of_Sheila_Haywood.pdf, she has recently completed work on a detailed biography entitled Sheila Haywood: A Life in Landscape, with a view to publication in 2025.