University of Oxford Botanic Garden

In 1621, Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby, contributed £5,000 (in excess of £5,000,000 in 2018) to set up a physic garden for "the glorification of the works of God and for the furtherance of learning". He chose a site on the banks of the River Cherwell at the northeast corner of Christ Church Meadow, belonging to Magdalen College. Part of the land had been a Jewish cemetery until the Jews were expelled from Oxford (and the rest of England) in 1290. Four thousand cartloads of "mucke and dunge" were needed to raise the land above the flood-plain of the River Cherwell.

as viewed from the rose gardens on the south side of the High Street, at the front of the Oxford Botanic Garden.]] The Garden comprises three sections: A satellite site, the Harcourt Arboretum, is located 6 mi south of Oxford.

The Danby Gate at the front entrance to the Botanic Garden is one of three entrances designed by Nicholas Stone between 1632 and 1633. It is one of the earliest structures in Oxford to use classical, indeed early Baroque, style, preceding his new entrance porch for the University Church of St Mary the Virgin of 1637, and contemporary with the Canterbury Quad at St John's College by others. In this highly ornate arch, Stone ignored the new simple classical Palladian style then in fashion, which had been introduced to England from Italy by Inigo Jones, and drew his inspiration from an illustration in Serlio's book of archways. The gateway consists of three bays, each with a pediment. The…