Botanic gardens began as monastic gardens in the 8th century and later evolved into physics gardens in the 16th century. The first botanic garden was established at Oxford University in 1621 when it received a large donation used to build walls and an entrance archway. The archway featured statues of Charles I and II and a bust of donor Henry Danvers. The garden was intended for academic and scientific study of medicinal plants. It employed Jacob Bobart as the first superintendent to cultivate over 1,600 plant species, establishing seed exchange with other gardens. Today the Oxford Botanic Garden continues to be an educational resource with eight greenhouse houses hosting plants from around the world.

1. Botanic Gardens Presentation:
Slide 1: Title page
Slide 2: What is a Botanic Garden?
-A botanic garden is a garden for the exhibition and scientific study of collected
plants.
Slide 3: How did botanic gardens begin?
-Cultivation goes all the way back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamian eras. This
was because the reason and use behind plants back then was that they needed for
medical purposes. The first botanic gardens were created in the 8th century and they
were known as monastic gardens because they were cultivated and arranged by
monks. This then lead to physics gardens, which is what we see today in Oxford.
These appeared in the 16th century.
Slide 4: What was the main purpose for botanic gardens at first?
-Many donors were giving the donations to universities and they were then putting
these funds into action for creation of these gardens, meaning they were first
intended to be used for academic and scientific study purposes. Mainly for studying
the plants used in medicine. Now when Oxford University was putting the idea
together for a botanic garden or back then a physics garden they too wanted to have
it for academic use, but also wanted to glorify God.
Slide 5: Before the Botanic Garden
-Before the construction of the botanic garden the land was used as a Jewish
cemetery, which was purchased in 1177, but in 1231 most of the land was
appropriated by the Hospital of St. John. The little area they had left only last until
1290. There is a plaque commemorating the Jewish cemetery that is fixed on the
gates of the garden. It was unveiled in 1931 by the city council.
Slide 6: The First set of Funds
-The garden was given a very large donation of 5,000 pounds in 1621 from a Henry
Danvers, also known as the Earl of Danby. These funds went to building the
entrances, great wall, and archway in front of the garden which is all still intact to
this day. The garden was placed in an area outside of the east gates of town by the
banks of the river Cherwell. Because of Henry Danvers the botanic garden at Oxford
University is the oldest physics garden in all of England.
Slide 7: The Archway in front of the Botanic Gardens
The gateways were one of the first all classical structures in Oxford. The front
entrance which you can see here is very richly carved with the columns being
broken up by bands that are very rough and ridged. You can also see that the
keystones and voussoirs of the arch are very grotesque. Then on top we have the
Roman pediments and on each side of the arch are niches with two very large
statues in them.

2. Slide 8: The Statues
-Charles I is on the ….. and Charles II is on the …. Dressed in Roman attire in very
classical poses meaning that they looked more realistic. Now why put Charles I and
II on the archway? There are two reasons for this. Henry Danvers was actually
appointed by Charles I to a number of commissions. Also he was appointed Earl of
Danby and became a member of the Privy Council with the help of Charles I. Also
the gateway and garden were being built and established during the reign of Charles
II.
Slide 9: The Pediment- Now lets take a look at the pediments above the statues and
archway. In the center pediment there is a bust of Sir Henry Danvers, Earl of Danby.
This is how he was recognized for donating 5,000 pounds to the university. And
underneath his bust along the frieze of all three pediments is a saying all in Latin
“Gloriae dei opt. Max. Honori Caroli Regis, in usum Acad. Et reipub” Now if my Latin
is correct then it says somewhere along the lines of “Glory of God. I honor King
Charles in the mist of our friendship and the republic” Now as you can see the
middle pediment and bay is recessed and the edges of the center and largest
pediment are lost and taken over by the two smaller pediments in front, within
those two smaller pediments are crests.
Slide 10: Back of the archway
-The back of the archway is a little different from the front. There is now just one
large pediment and eight smaller niches. It is still classical but with a lot less detail
to it. We do still see the rough stone being used as a decorative design. This
decorative design can also be found on the walls and around the windows of the
adjacent buildings. This is because those walls actually used to be part of the whole
structure of the Botanic Garden it was an elegant library and lecture room until it
became the bursary at Magdalen College.
Slide 11: Nicholas Stone
-These three gateways were made possible because of master mason Nichoas Stone,
he was the architect and builder assigned to the assignment of designing the
entrances and walls to the garden. All three were meant to represent variations of
the theme of the Roman Triumphal Arch but they came out to be in a more
mannerist fashion.
Slide 12: Roman Triumphal Arch
Slide 13: The Walled Garden
-The first garden was completely enclosed by a large wall that was also funded for
by Danvers and also the design was done by Nicholas Stone. He wall is starting to
really deteriorate so it’s hard to see in any detailing in his design, but you can still
see the classical structure on top acting almost like a pediment.
Slide 14: The Bobarts

3. -Jacob Bobart the elder was the first superintendent for the garden. He was
employed to cultivate the garden. He had to pay out of his own personal earnings to
grow and cultivate plants in the garden, because all the funds were used on the
walls, archways, and entrances. He was an amazing gardener and botanist and grew
the whole place just by starting from scratch. Now for a little fun fact these personal
earnings of Jacob Bobart’s actually came from the establishment his café which
believe it or not is The Grande Café which is the oldest coffee house in all of England.
Now while working at the garden he published the very first catalogue of plants
within the garden in 1648 and it had over 1600 different species, and the second list
that came out had over 2,000 different species of plants and more than half of them
were not native. Bobart the elder kept held his job in the garden for thirty seven
years, and after that his son Jacob Bobart the younger took over in 1679. He
continued the curiating, cultivation, and cataloguing just as his father did. Along
with all of this he also created a list of seeds in the garden and was so that gardens
all around the world could trade and exchange plants between each other. This
system is still used today.
Slide 13: Greenhouse/Glasshouses
The 1st house was built over 300 years ago but it did not end up being that
successful because the windows were too small to let enough light in. But today
there are now eight houses all set to different temperatures to accommodate every
plant from around the world.
Slide 14: The Lily House
-The lily house was built specifically to house the Victoria Lily. So in 1851 Professor
Daubeny successfully grew and flowered this type of lily pad for people to see. But
he decided o charge people to come and see it but that didn’t do the plant any
justice and drove people away so the house was shut down in 1859 and it stayed
that way for the next 150 years. But now today the house is back up and running
along with the papyrus plant that was used to make paper by the ancient Egyptians.
Slide 15: The Arid House
-This house is where all the cacti are grown. And a lot of the plants in here are used
for cosmetics and body products, like the aloe vera plant for the lotion.
Slide 16: The Palm House
-This house is the largest of all the houses it is also quite new because it had to be
remodeled in 1999 and not very many of the plants survived that. This is the home
of many crop plants also the big deal about one of the crops in this greenhouse is
that the rosy periwinkle produces a chemical that saves the lives of children
suffering from infantile leukemia.
Slide 17: The Alpine, Fernery, and Insectivorous Houses
-These three houses are a little bit smaller in size, but they house plants from the far
corners of the world. The alpine house has alpine plants, the fernery has ferns, it is

4. very green in here, and the insectivorous house has plants that survive by eating
insects.
Slide 18: The inspiration for the green houses
-Charles Daubeny became the Sherdian professor of botany in 1834 for the botanic
garden. And in 1849 he was invited by the duke and duchess to join other botanists
to their Chatswerth house to see the Victoria Amazonica Plant. Right then and there
Daubeny decided he need to have one of these lily pads, so they started work on the
Lily house and it was done and up and running by 1851.
Slide 19: The garden and the university
-The Botanic Garden was first established with the hope that science would start to
thrive within Oxford University and that it would be a great resource for the
students. And it was and still is to this very day. Not just Oxford University students
use it now these days students who are studying plants and botany come from all
over England to use this very amazing resource, that is obviously very hands on.
Slide 20: The garden today
-Today the garden still continues on with all the things I just talked about along with
it being a main tourist attraction in Oxford. One of the newest attractions within the
garden is its compost area, which can be used by the public and is encouraged to be
seen. This year was the first year that the Fascination of plants day was held at the
garden on May 18th. And the reigning Sherdian Professor at Oxford holding the
position since 2009 is Liam Dolan.