SIR WILLIAM HOOKER, 1841 TO 1850 37 
Additions to 
the Grounds. 
as the Main Entrance are universally recognised as a masterpiece 
of design. The gates were constructed by Walker, of York, and 
erected in 1845. 
A much larger addition was made to Sir William Hooker’s charge 
in 1843. A portion of the Pleasure Grounds, forty-five acres in extent 
and adjoining the old Botanic Garden (which still 
covered less than twenty acres), was granted by the 
Queen for the purpose of affording more space for 
arboriculture and a site for the long projected Palm House. This 
more than trebled the extent of the Botanic Garden. 
Two years later (1845) an event took place which was far-reaching 
in its influence on the future development of Kew. On July 9th 
of that year the management of the Pleasure Grounds, then con- 
siderably over 200 acres in extent, was relinquished by W. T. Aiton 
and handed over to Sir William Hooker. At that time this portion 
of Kew was the private property of the Crown, partly a game preserve, 
partly meadow, and partly arable land. Many portions were beau- 
tifully wooded, but absolutely nothing existed in the way of a botanical 
arrangement of trees and shrubs. Soon after the transfer, however, 
it was determined that this extensive area should be utilised for the 
formation of a national arboretum. 
In the laying out of this, together with the recent additions to 
the Botanic Garden, the advice of a professional landscape gardener 
W A Nesfield was thought to be desirable. Thus was brought 
about the connection between Kew and Mr. W. A. 
Nesfield, the leading practitioner of that date. 
It has to be remembered that in 1845 the Pleasure Grounds, so 
far as the general public was concerned, were a thing apart from 
the Botanic Garden. An unclimbable fence, partly iron, partly ha-ha, 
stretched in a rough semicircle from the present Unicorn Gate to a 
point about fifty yards west of the large Turkey oak that stands 
near the Broad Walk. It then ran parallel to this walk as far as the 
private grounds of Kew Palace. The union of the Botanic Garden 
with the Pleasure Grounds under one authority at that date had an 
indisputable advantage. It enabled the designer to treat the entire 
area as a whole, and thus anticipate future developments. And so 
well was the general disposition of the main walks and avenues 
conceived, that little alteration in them has taken place up to the 
present time. 
