The Historic Gardens and Landscapes of England is a nationwide research project which aims to identify and record the most significant historic gardens and designed landscapes in the English counties. Based at the University of Bristol, the ultimate goal is to document all the historically significant gardens and designed landscapes in England. The Principal Investigator of the project is Professor Timothy Mowl of the University’s Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, and his Research Fellow, who is co-ordinating the research, is Dr Clare Hickman.

Professor Mowl recognised the need for a country-wide analysis of England’s historic gardens and landscapes eight years ago while writing a course book for the University’s MA in Garden History. In that time he has visited more than 900 gardens in Gloucestershire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Cornwall, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Staffordshire. The first seven volumes of the series have been published by Tempus Publishing of Stroud. These are: Historic Gardens of Gloucestershire (2002), Historic Gardens of Dorset (2003), Historic Gardens of Wiltshire (2004), Historic Gardens of Cornwall (2005), Historic Gardens of Worcestershire (2006), Historic Gardens of England: Oxfordshire (2007) and Historic Gardens of England: Northamptonshire (2008). Historic Gardens of England: Cheshire (2008) and Historic Gardens of England: Staffordshire (2009) have recently been published by our new publisher Redcliffe Press. Professor Mowl is now working on the Somerset volume, with consultant Marion Mako, and on Warwickshire, with Diane James, and, is as usual, finding the most unexpected buildings and undiscovered garden sites.

The Leverhulme Trust generously grant aided the volumes on Cornwall, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire and, in January 2007, they awarded the project additional funding to underwrite the research and travelling for another ten counties. This will enable Professor Mowl to produce 10 further books, bringing the total in the series up to 16. The project will give young scholars in the field the opportunity to be appointed as consultants and to be joint authors, with Professor Mowl, of the county surveys. The project is conducted under the aegis of the University’s recently established Institute for Garden and Landscape History.

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Top: The Mount and canals at Boughton House, Northamptonshire

Bottom: The Japanese Garden at New House, Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxon (by kind permission of Milton Grundy)