Refuge on Storied Ground (The Orchard at Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park)
October 11, 2019
In a little corner of a public park in Kennington, schoolchildren have planted an orchard, and it has become a refuge for the homeless.
The park, called Geraldine Mary Harmsworth in honour of its benefactor’s mother, has a long history of accommodating the unpretentious, and of compassion, with complications.
For most of the last many thousands of years, like most of South London, it was a marsh with spots of upland, where two tributaries to the River Neckinger arose, where cranes, water voles, fish, frogs, and insects, reeds and emergents led their lives, without much in the way of judgement or compassion.
The first thing we know about humans on this land is that 400 years ago, there was a tavern here called the Dog and Duck– named after a popular entertainment of the time, involving trapping ducks in one of the marsh’s small ponds, and setting dogs to chase them.
Over the next hundred years or so, the tavern area was developed into a mineral-springs “spa” for Londoners, with sundry minor amusements.
By the 1770s, while Americans were agitating for independence and the American tribes were choosing sides, soon after Westminster made London the most thoroughly paved and well lit city in Europe, our marshy patch became a popular London spot for public concerts– and apparently attracted too much anti-social behavior. The land was fenced off and the entertainments shut down by the authorities in 1799.
In the next decades, in place of grass-roots duck torture, rowdy concerts, and free-roaming bits of chaotic behavior, chaos was institutionalized on site. The enormous new building for the Bethlem Royal psychiatric hospital was built there in 1815. It is likely that the marshes and ponds were completely drained and the brooks put underground as part of this construction.
Bethlem, or “Bedlam,” became synonymous for any place with chaotic atmosphere, senseless behavior, and poor practices. However, they did grow their own vegetables on site. The current orchard location actually coincides with the location of the hospital’s large kitchen gardens, in operation until 1930, when the hospital relocated and most of its original building was demolished, with just the large central portion saved for use as the Imperial War Museum.
The sunny little patch of land behind the museum became a children’s swimming pool, then an underfunded, little-used swimming pool, then an abandoned, filled in swimming pool.
Finally, in 2003, a London charity called The Orchard Project organised local school children to plant an orchard here. The children planted 31 trees, of species native to their families’ home countries, and the trees are still growing now in 2020. Species planted include apple, pear, plum, quince, loquat, olive, cherry, persimmon and mulberry. And now, the little orchard is charmingly bordered on one side by a more recently planted “tree trail” of 34 native trees native to the British Isles since the last ice age, and on two sides by tall screening vegetation.
Homeless encampment
And, there is a tent encampment currently set up in the orchard, with at least 5 or 6 different tents set up around the perimeter of the orchard. This is in addition to the 5-10 other camps set up in other parts of the park. When visiting I could see laundry hanging out to dry. A man in one of the tents appeared disoriented and responded with hostility to greetings.
London does not have homeless people everywhere as some American cities do. Why does this park have a higher population? Do the homeless people eat the fruits from the orchard?
More likely, they are attracted by a measure of security and privacy for dwelling in this location, as the tents are backed by the screening vegetation around the edges, it is quiet and not many people pass through (except the occasional orchard-report-writer).
However, it is not actually a very safe spot.
The Metro and the Mirror interviewed one of the people who has set up a tent in the park. He is called ‘M’ in the articles and is an army veteran, now a homeless beggar and addicted to Spice, the ‘zombie drug’. He said no one from the police or museum staff have spoken to them about their tents. It seems that they have been left alone to cope with their situation without official harassment, but also without protection or aid. The Mirror reported that M has been the victim of some unknown youths who harassed him and other tent dwellers, and threatened to set their tents on fire.
The lack of foot traffic may be related to why a group of youths felt free to harass people sleeping there.
When camping in public parks, the needs for privacy, which requires less visibility, and security, which requires more visibility, often contradict each other.
Refuge, identity, and PR
Is an urban orchard a good temporary solution for homelessness?
How could it become a safe solution? Obvious answers are to increase foot traffic, improve lighting, let the authorities provide security rather than turning a blind eye, and institutionalise the use of necessary facilities such as laundry and toilets.
How could this solution be certain to be temporary, a pathway to a better life, not a warehouse or dumping ground for people who have lost their connections, their next step?
Can schoolchildren be brought to harvest the orchard fruits while spice addicts and other campers go about their daily business?
Should it be given a name, signage, map labelling, so that it becomes a known place? “Dog and Duck Orchard?” “Safe Haven Orchard?”
Currently, the wikipedia page on Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park does not mention the orchard at all.
Sources
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-army-veteran-homeless-outside-20385333
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_Mary_Harmsworth_Park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_and_Duck,_St_George%27s_Fields
Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park Masterplan May 2017
http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/geraldine-mary-harmsworth-park/4588245426
Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park Consultation 2015/16: Phase One
http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/geraldine-mary-harmsworth-park/4588245426
https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/02/homeless-army-veteran-sleeping-rough-gardens-imperial-war-museum-10849279/?ito=cbshare