Oxford University History Faculty Gardens aren't even mentioned on their website, even though you must be able to hire them, as I've seen various shows and art events there. Most recently I went to see a rather rambunctious Much Ado About Nothing (even by the standards of that play - I ended up pressed into service as one of the watch) and for once was there before sundown and could snap a few dim photographs.
This is a bastion of Oxford's old city wall, a medieval (albeit somewhat repaired and improved over the ages) structure. The inside has been left full of soil, and the top grows wild, under the watching windows of St Peter's College next door, built at a rather higher level than this garden, which feels curiously and delightfully secret and sunken. Toadflax and other wall pioneers festoon the old stone, and a blocked window stares blindly out onto the lawn.
The step up into St Peter's modern buildings is a sharp one, as you can see from the planting here. The city wall was excavated when foundations were being built for the Wesley Memorial Church in the late 1800s and the garden retains that sense of secrets uncovered, of finding something exciting and just keeping on digging.
The mysterious black gate leads out into Bulwarks Lane, a narrow cobbled alleyway. The other side of the gate is daubed as usual with graffiti. I power down that alleyway a lot as it's a good cut-through from my office to one of my favourite cafes, but it's not one to linger in, for all the secret spaces of green just behind its walls.
For the performance, lights had been strung in the young lime tree in the garden, echoing the green fruits ripening in its branches. It's been a year for trees flowering and fruiting very heavily; either an indication of plenty or panic. As ever, with plants, their responses are hard to parse.
This is a bastion of Oxford's old city wall, a medieval (albeit somewhat repaired and improved over the ages) structure. The inside has been left full of soil, and the top grows wild, under the watching windows of St Peter's College next door, built at a rather higher level than this garden, which feels curiously and delightfully secret and sunken. Toadflax and other wall pioneers festoon the old stone, and a blocked window stares blindly out onto the lawn.
The step up into St Peter's modern buildings is a sharp one, as you can see from the planting here. The city wall was excavated when foundations were being built for the Wesley Memorial Church in the late 1800s and the garden retains that sense of secrets uncovered, of finding something exciting and just keeping on digging.
The mysterious black gate leads out into Bulwarks Lane, a narrow cobbled alleyway. The other side of the gate is daubed as usual with graffiti. I power down that alleyway a lot as it's a good cut-through from my office to one of my favourite cafes, but it's not one to linger in, for all the secret spaces of green just behind its walls.
For the performance, lights had been strung in the young lime tree in the garden, echoing the green fruits ripening in its branches. It's been a year for trees flowering and fruiting very heavily; either an indication of plenty or panic. As ever, with plants, their responses are hard to parse.
No comments:
Post a Comment