Voyages to the ‘House of Diversion’: the seventeenth-century water gardens of the Cope family at Hanwell, Oxfordshire

Thesis

Archaeological investigations, beginning in 2012, have done much to recover, record and interpret the remains of a large garden of the seventeenth century in the grounds of Hanwell Castle, Oxfordshire. The garden is important not only because it is a rare example of an essentially intact garden from the period but also because of a reference made to Sir Anthony Cope by Robert Plot in his Natural History of Oxfordshire where he describes his house, and by extension the contents of his garden, as the real ‘New Atlantis’, referring to a fictional prototype of a science based community posited by Sir Francis Bacon in 1626. Some of the features within the garden are reported on and a number of individuals associated with it documented. The implications of Plot’s record of ‘a society of learned virtuosi living obscurely’ at another Cope family property at Tangley, also in Oxfordshire, are examined.

Beginning with a consideration of the practical and theoretical basis for the study of historic gardens this work goes on to look at the evolution of garden design from the middle ages to the start of the seventeenth century. It emphasises the indigenous tradition of working with bodies of water whilst also considering the effects of continental developments, through the course of the Renaissance, on garden design and especially, hydraulic engineering. A detailed account of the Cope family, their social and intellectual circle and their work on the gardens at Hanwell is accompanied by description and analysis of the physical remains of the garden which are compared and contrasted with other contemporary gardens. Of particular importance is the discovery of a unique assemblage of seventeenth-century terra-cotta garden urns which are reported on and set within the context of the technology and economics of the time. In taking up Plot’s challenging remark possible links with the early scientific community in Oxford are established and the role of the site in the development of contemporary thinking reviewed along with a general consideration of the part played by gardens in the development of science in the early modern period.

Authors: Wass, S

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zgo5mp87x
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Hanwell Cope Oxford water garden park history of science pots
• Subjects: History; Archaeology