'People are astounded that such a biodiverse haven exists here': The garden squares that are the hidden lungs of London

When the botanical photographer Roger Phillips and his wife, Nicky Foy, moved into an apartment with a balcony overlooking Eccleston Square, SW1, the garden spectacle below was only moderately alluring. ‘There was a wire fence around the perimeter of the square because the original iron railings, as with so many London squares, had been removed for the war effort,’ Ms Foy recalls. This was in 1974. ‘It looked green, but there was lots of privet and lilac. To anyone who knew anything about gardens, it was pretty utilitarian.’

What followed was transformative, says Ms Foy, co-author of several books — notably Herbs and A Photographic Garden History — with her late husband. ‘In the early 1980s, Roger had just completed his photo books on plants, so he was asked to become the square’s honorary garden manager. He put a huge effort into improving soil quality and introducing different plants and trees for all-year-round interest.’

His legacy is seen in the National Collection of Ceanothus, a fine range of roses and camellias, several species of maple for autumn colour and even a Wollemi pine. The winner of numerous London in Bloom and London Garden Squares awards, Eccleston Square does not hide behind inscrutable laurel as some gardens do, so even circulating around the outside in the spring and summer months is pleasant, vegetation spilling through the (now-restored) railings, the air heavy with the scent of hawthorn blossom or roses.

London’s first residential garden square to be named as such was Bloomsbury Square. Laid out in the 1660s, it became a tourist attraction. Others soon followed, their lushness a striking contrast to the dusty piazze of Continental cities. The later-generation Eccleston Square was one of several laid out by Thomas Cubitt in the early to mid 19th century. The terrace properties that went up around them were only equipped with small back yards, therefore the squares acted as private gardens for keyholding residents—roles that Eccleston and its neighbours Warwick, Chester and Eaton squares still fulfill today.

Although not on the scale of Belgrave, Bedford or Russell squares, Eccleston Square still feels grand. You can stand in the more open western end, plane trees looming above like stately guardians, and be entirely unaware of the secluded eastern end, with its maze-like paths, stone memorial to Phillips and creeper-screened tennis court. Today, the space is maintained by professional gardeners in the employ of the square’s residential garden committee.

In Islington, N1, Barnsbury Square, surrounded by attractive stuccoed villas, feels more boutique. Also originally designed by Cubitt as a private square, it was taken into public ownership by Islington Council in 1933. Various elements of the day-to-day upkeep are undertaken by Friends of Barnsbury Square Gardens, recent Green Flag Community Award winners, in partnership with the council’s Environment and Regeneration team. Lucy Kilborn of the Friends explains: ‘We have a regular volunteer team of about eight, including Saturday-morning gardening volunteers. We often have kids gardening as part of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme and other volunteers may pop in once, several times or for a few weeks of gardening before life takes them elsewhere. Our youngest volunteers, from Thornhill Primary School, come about four times in their summer term: they’re a great help with mulch moving.’

The inevitable volunteer churn begets a constant effort to source new recruits via websites such as Nextdoor and the Friends’ website. Ms Kilborn says, however, that putting notices on the entrance gates remains the most successful strategy, ‘probably because people like to come and meet those they might be working alongside’.

She has been involved with the square for 15 years. ‘We’re extremely lucky to have these green squares and the diversity of spaces and architecture that make Barnsbury — and Islington — a special place to live and work in. Parks and open spaces in a densely populated environment have to fulfil many functions, from benefiting people’s mental health to being recreational spaces. We’re constantly balancing that and maintaining a green environment.’

Nikolaus Pevsner thought London’s garden squares were its ‘main contribution… to the history of European town planning’. The idea of squares as shared space still influenced thinking when the Barbican was laid out on land levelled during the Blitz. Open spaces within the long terraces offer a mix of communal and private squares, most of them residents only. ‘Many people are astounded that such a biodiverse haven exists in the Square Mile and regard it as the lung of the Barbican,’ says Paul Baldassari, leader of the City of London Corporation’s City Gardens team.

‘It’s a veritable wildlife sanctuary with ponds, bird boxes and feeders, insect hotels and log piles. No green waste leaves the garden, everything is composted on site.’ Trees tend to be smaller species of the rowan, goat willow and spindleberry variety, and, in addition to a host of common bird types, past visitors include the great spotted woodpecker, a kestrel and a falcon. More than 200 species of insects, including stag beetles, have been recorded.

Since 2015, the area of the Barbican known as the Beech Gardens has undergone a redesign, shifting from a previously formal layout of flowerbeds and shrubberies to a naturalistic, low-maintenance look. Mr Baldassari says: ‘Although it’s an innovative, forward-thinking scheme, some say it lacks colour. The loss of the lawn area for residents and visitors has been frequently commented on. We used to plant in excess of 25,000 bedding plants twice a year.’ However, he adds, ‘artistic types have said the juxtaposition of the hard, gritty industrial look alongside soft seasonal colours and shapes works. I’ll never forget one comment, to the effect that they thought “the gardens were keeping this concrete behemoth at bay”’.

Back at Eccleston Square, Ms Foy reflects on how a campaign in the late 1980s was instrumental in drawing overdue attention to London’s squares as heritage assets. ‘In 1989, there were plans to excavate under Eccleston Square to create a car park. The residents fought off the proposals and we were able to buy the square from the freeholder, so that we own it in perpetuity. But Roger, who was very skilled with the media, did a huge amount of press and people from other threatened squares started coming to him for advice, so he set up the Society for the Protection of London Squares.’ Unfortunately, she admits, he was not a committee man and the society faded.

Nonetheless, Eccleston Square became the first garden square to open for the National Garden Scheme in 1989 and has since raised almost £80,000 for the latter’s charities. The National Garden Scheme Open Days and London Open Gardens weekends can be seen as various spiritual offspring of the endeavours of Phillips (awarded an MBE in 2010 for services to London garden squares). They are a nudge to the rest of us not to take these subtle enrichments of our streetscapes for granted. They are also sanctuaries for small, local wildlife; Ms Kilborn states that Friends of Barnsbury Square’s mission is to ‘boost the local eco-system where we can. We now have a wildflower meadow and some dead hedging, for instance, which support insect life; but it’s also to create a friendly community hub welcoming everyone, however often they pop in, whether daily or only once or twice a year’.

Eccleston Square, SW1, opens for the National Garden Scheme on May 10. The 2026 London Open Gardens Weekend is on June 6–7. ‘Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland’ and ‘Trees’ by Roger Phillips are now available in revised and expanded editions from Macmillan.