Oxford Gardens: The University's Influence on Garden History

by Mavis Batey

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288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1982

About the author

Mavis Lilian Batey, MBE (née Lever; 5 May 1921 – 12 November 2013), was a British code-breaker during World War II. She was one of the leading female codebreakers at Bletchley Park.

She later became a historian of gardening, who campaigned to save historic parks and gardens, and an author. Batey was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal in 1985, and made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1987, in both cases for her work on the conservation of gardens.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Phil]

2.5 stars rounded up.

As a general history of Oxford it's ok, and it does focus quite a bit on gardens, but it's a definite stretch to describe it as covering 'The University's Influence on Garden History'. While there is a fair bit of information about gardens included amidst the general history and architecture, there are only a few places where Batey clearly shows the university had any real influence on gardening. Probably the most obvious is in her chapter on Addison. But elsewhere, far too often it is only necessary for someone to have been born in Oxford, visit Oxford or like Oxford to have their work claimed as being due to the university's influence!

[Julaine]

Excellent resource for gossipy information on people.