Inside the enchanting gardens of Oxford's colleges
An Oxford college is an intense capsule of an environment, a living and working organism that seems to be possessed of its own volition and power. Which makes it a paradox that many of them outwardly look so similar – at least from the outside. Even native Oxonians might get muddled around Turl Street, where Exeter, Jesus, Lincoln and Brasenose sit cheek by jowl, each realised in the same honeyed Cotswold stone and each constructed in the approved Oxford Gothic manner. It is only when one penetrates the entrance lodge and starts to wander the quadrangles that a real sense of what the place is about can be appreciated. The quadrangles are by no means uniform in style and tone, and the huge variety of gardens to be discovered in the college’s outdoor areas includes the ‘private’ fellows’ gardens (usually open to the public nowadays) or in some cases the groves, walks, lakes, deer parks and meadows which open up once the visitor has breached the forbidding perimeter walls. For college character also has something to do with the physical fabric of the place, which is the matter of this book. If one assumes that a landscape or garden can affect the mind, then the layout of a college – the trinity of hall, chapel and library, plus of course the atmosphere of its quadrangles and gardens – will help to shape its overall feel, its identity.
Early maps of Oxford show that the city was filled with green space. Substantial gardens persisted in the very centre of Oxford right up until the early 19th century. (One 18th-century engraving of the area around the new Radcliffe Square shows what looks to be a small cornfield almost in the shadow of the Radcliffe Camera.) In a number of cases there was evidently a productive garden attached to a medieval academical hall.
Most colleges consist of one, two or three quadrangles, the front quadrangle often the oldest and slightly smaller. The transition from quad to quad is one of the greatest joys of Oxford’s college gardens for visitors, because one never knows what is coming next; it could just as easily be a tiny medieval courtyard or a spreading lawn overlooked by a splendid Palladian range. The semi-darkness of the passageways which link the quads lends an element of suspense, while the movement from gloom into light only emphasises the sense of surprise (and therefore delight). The experience of movement through the college, its own particular rhythm, is key to our understanding of its character.
This extract is taken from 'Oxford College Gardens' by Tim Richardson, photographs by Andrew Lawson, (White Lion Publishing, £25). Buy a copy here.
Andrew Lawson1/10The Pelican Sundial in Front Quad. This quadrangle is unusual in Oxford in that it is not grassed, as most quads were from the mid-19th century on.
Andrew Lawson2/10The design of Magdalen’s cloister was innovative in the late 15th century, in that accommodation was inserted on the first floor above the roof of the covered walkway. The cloister, with Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and wisteria.
Andrew Lawson3/10Magdalen’s main herbaceous border – with rudbeckias and climbing Rosa ‘Compassion’ in view – lies at the edge of the striped lawn overlooked by New Buildings.
Andrew Lawson4/10A peek into Trinity's tree-studded Front Quad, bounded to the west by Balliol’s stripey chapel.
Andrew Lawson5/10The War Memorial Garden at Christ Church, with white Anemone × hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ in the cottagey borders.
Andrew Lawson6/10The cloisters and bell tower at New College with variegated Weigela ‘Florida Variegata’ growing around the perimeter.
Andrew Lawson7/10A scallop-edged fountain marks the centre of the cruciform garden given shape by clipped box hedges at Harris Manchester College.
Andrew Lawson8/10The orchard at Worcester, with the Provost’s Lodgings beyond. The college presses and bottles its own apple and pear juice.
Andrew Lawson9/10A mixed border in the Warden’s Garden at Wadham, with a lilac’s twisted stems in the foreground, euphorbia and sedum beneath, and the foliage of dianthus and santolina sprawling on to the path.
Andrew Lawson10/10The foliage of Vitis coignetiae colours the south wall of the Outer Grove at St John's, and a strawberry tree (Arbutus) opens its flowers above the bench.
