26 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
George IV. 
which proved of great value in after years. By Act of Parliament 
he was in 1823 empowered to add to the gardens the long, narrow 
angle of Kew Green, which at that time ran to a point 
near Kew Palace. Thereby he extended the bound- 
ary of the Royal property to where the present low iron fence 
runs across the Green close to the director’s official residence. The 
right of way which had hitherto given the public access from the 
village of Kew to Brentford Ferry, past Kew Palace, was diverted 
to the present roadway along the riverside. As compensation to 
the residents, the Crown took over the maintenance of the parish 
roads. This duty, however, was afterwards transferred to the 
local authorities, the cost being met by an annual payment to 
them by Government. The result of the annexation of this portion 
of Kew Green was that the two Royal properties — the grounds be- 
longing to Hunter House (the present Herbarium) and Kew Gardens 
proper — became united. The new boundary between the Royal 
property and Kew Green was defined by a tall iron railing, in the 
centre of which were gates crowned with a lion and unicorn couch- 
ant. They now ornament (and give the names to) the Lion Gate 
and the Unicorn Gate respectively, both in Kew Road. 
By the addition of this portion of Kew Green and the previous 
purchase of various properties on the south side of Kew Green, the 
Royal Botanic Garden of 1760 had been about doubled 
j k ^ in size. And at these dimensions it remained until 
Gardens the ear ly ’forties, and the advent of Sir William 
Hooker. The Botanic Garden still remained distinct 
from the Pleasure Grounds, although both were under the direction 
of W. T. Aiton. Several of the brick walls of the gardens originally 
attached to the houses on the south side of Kew Green, as well as 
others, still stood, and converted this portion of the grounds into a 
series of enclosures. The first of these walls to be removed ran 
from the old “Ice House” to the east end of the present No. III. 
Museum. It was pulled down during the reign of William IV. At 
the present time none of them remains, except the west wall of 
the Herb Garden and that which encloses the garden of Cambridge 
Cottage. 
After the death of Sir Joseph Banks in 1820, his position in 
relation to the Botanic Garden at Kew appears to have been to some 
extent assumed by Sir Everard Home, although neither was Home’s 
