The Pinetum was established as the National Conifer Collection in 1925 and now has the most complete collection of conifers on one site anywhere in the world. The collection has over 10,000 tree specimens growing in 320 acres, including rare, historically important and endangered trees and is home to some 56 vulnerable or critically endangered species and five NCCPG National Collections. It contains some of the oldest and largest examples of conifers in Britain. The Pinetum enjoys historic links with gardens at Kew and Wakehurst.

The Pinetum is the unlikely offspring of London’s notorious smog. The poor soils and air pollution from London made Kew an unsuitable site for a new conifer collection. Bedgebury was chosen for the streams which flow in the valleys, the lake and the combination of marshy land and drier ridges. Purchased by the Crown in 1919 as part of the Bedgebury Forest for the newly established Forestry Commission, it was developed jointly by the Forestry Commission and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from 1923 until 1965, when the Pinetum reverted solely to the Forestry Commission. The first plants for the Pinetum were raised at Kew Gardens in 1921 and planted out in Bedgebury in 1925 and 1926 among earlier plantings carried out by Viscount Marshall Beresford of Bedgebury, who served with Wellington at Waterloo.

Owned and managed by the Forestry Commission, its 6,241 specimens, comprising about 60% of the 520 conifer species that grow in the temperate world, are set in 320 acres of parkland surrounded by the 2,600 acre Bedgebury Forest. Each tree is treated as an individual with its history documented. Of the 6,241 or so trees there are 2,100 species of conifer and cultivars.

The Pinetum at Goudhurst was designed by Kew botanist William Dallimore. He worked tirelessly beyond his retirement from Kew in 1936. A world-renowned conifer expert, he oversaw the early developments until 1945, marrying his original planting to the earlier work of the Beresfords of Bedgebury. He planned and supervised the work, mostly under great difficulties, in the early years from financial stringency, and latterly under war-time conditions. Some authorities have credited Dallimore with genius at landscaping, identifying his particular skill in using species of most spectacular form in prominent positions, filling in with the less shapely ones which were essential in making a balanced collection. He was not only interested in the scientific potential of the Pinetum but in its value as an attractive landscape. The Pinetum has been laid out so that the form, colour and texture of mature conifers can readily be seen.

The Manor of Bedgebury was first mentioned in a deed of Kenwulf, King of Mercia, in A.D.815. Its large woodland area has remained continuously under forest until the present day. The manor was owned by six generations of the de Bedgebury family from Norman times to about 1450. It passed through marriage to seven generations of Colepeppers (Culpeppers), who were prominent in the politics of Tudor and Stuart times. They lived in the original Manor house. The estate was sold in about 1680 to Sir James Hayes who is said to have gained his fortune from a wrecked Spanish galleon and built the manor (now a girls' school) on its present drier more elevated site. The manor has passed through several owners including Viscount Lord Beresford, who bought it in 1836. He was a Field Marshal under the Duke of Wellington in the Spanish Peninsula wars. The main estate was purchased by the Crown in 1919 for forestry purposes, while the house in its parkland was purchased by the Church Educational Corporation and is now Bedgebury School. In 1924 Bedgebury Forest was transferred to the Forestry Commission and an area set aside to establish a national conifer collection.

Some species of conifer are now extinct and many others extremely rare. 50% of all species are threatened. Whilst the rainforest receives a lot of publicity, conifers are generally ignored. The useful aspects of the conifer are not recognized - the supply of resins, turpentine and natural oils are enough to justify attention. Not to mention its contribution to furniture, construction, fencing, paper, MDF, chipboard, plywood, etc. The perfumery industry also visits Bedgebury from time-to-time for fragrance inspiration.

Bedgebury is also playing an important part in cancer research and the search for Yew varieties high in the active chemicals of Taxol, the cancer drug. Work carried out on the trees at Bedgebury has led to the discovery of high levels of Taxol in an obscure Victorian cultivar that is only found in Britain at Bedgebury.

There are several species of Yew which are being used in the treatment of Cancer; the main two species are: The Pacific and Himalayan Yews. This has put pressure on wild populations of these species because the bark of ten trees is needed to treat a single person. These species are threatened in the wild but the Pinetum contains several fine examples.

Labelling is a key service to visitors and a major work element is keeping up with new accessions and lost labels. Every specimen tree has a unique number, linking back to its computerised life record. Lost labels can be replaced with confidence because every specimen is also mapped on the Pinetum master map. Labelling is a vital educational component of the Pinetum.

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