The Botanic Garden

The Botanic Garden contains more biodiversity than a tropical rainforest and more than 7,000 different types of plant. It is the oldest botanic garden in the UK and is also among Europe’s oldest and finest.

The Garden was founded in 1621 by Oxfordshire landowner and Knight of the Garter, Sir Henry Danvers. He gave £5,000 (equivalent to £3.5 million today) to set up a physic garden, on three acres of land opposite Magdalen College for ‘the glorification of God and for the furtherance of learning’. The magnificent walls and arches built then, still tower over the gardenstoday, and the oldest tree, a yew, was planted in 1645.

Today, the Garden attracts University members and visitors studying plant biology, as well as passionate gardeners and nature-lovers from all over the world.