Talk & Walk: How Emerson Inspired Valentines
A FRIENDS OF VALENTINES MANSION EVENT
A talk and the walk, led by two historians, will examine how admiration for American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson helped introduce the Garden City movement locally and directly ensure the preservation of Valentines Mansion and Gardens from the bulldozer after its owner Sarah Ingleby died in 1906.
The talk by Madeleine Goodall, inspired by documents from the Friends' archives, will be followed by a guided walk led by local historian Dr Colin Runeckles around the nearby Edwardian houses of what was known as the Ilford Garden Suburb, (now the Garden City Redbridge). This event will include other notable people of the 19th and early 20th century who admired Emerson's philosophy and poetry and the lasting impact this has had on our lives today.
Madeleine Goodall is Humanist Heritage Manager at Humanists UK. Since 2019, she has been researching and sharing the history and influence of freethinkers and non-religious people in the UK.
Dr Colin Runeckles will explain who lived in some of the notable Garden City houses when first built around 1912 on what had been part of the Valentines estate.
After the Talk in the Grade II* listed Mansion, and the Walk, we will visit the beautiful Walled Gardens and Victorian Gardener's Cottage Cafe for refreshments.