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Main Gate

The Main Gate on Kew Green
 

 

Main Gate

Over the centuries, the entrances to the Royal Botanic Gardens have changed according to differences in division by ownership and by use of the site.

The Grade II listed Main Gate on Kew Green was designed by Decimus Burton in 1845 and completed the next year. Its very presence signified a remarkable change of attitude on the part of Kew's management, because when Sir William Hooker became Director, he no longer required visitors to be personally escorted by gardeners.

At the end of Hooker's first year, some 9,000 people passed through this grand entrance with its coat of arms and ornamental foliage. The railway reached Richmond; another branch from Brentford to Willesden brought passengers to 'Kew Junction', river steamers made the Gardens a regular stop; and by 1850, attendance had reached the heady heights of over 150,000 visitors a year. Today, visitors number around a million annually, with around a third of them coming in through the Main Gate.

Continue the tour

Up arrowBack up to: Entrance Zone

Forwards arrowCarry on to: Orangery

 

See also

Heritage linkKew's History & Heritage: Main Gate

 

 

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