The gardens of Eton College in Windsor, Berkshire, date back to a request from its founder, King Henry VI. Over 550 years later, a recent re-design by a former pupil has brought new life to these historic gardens, as George Plumptre explains. ‘Floreat Etona’, as all good classicists know, means ‘May Eton Flourish’.
But its near-gardening connotations are fitting, as the horticultural history of the college stretches back to its royal founder, Henry VI. When he died in 1471, he left provision for gardens in his will: ‘The space between the wall of the Church and the wall of the cloister shall contain 38 feet which is left for to set in certain trees and flowers, behovable and convenient for the service of the same church.’ In the college archives is a mid-18th-century plan of the gardens, as well as 19th-century lists of fruit trees purchased and vegetables supplied by the garden to the college kitchen.
Today, it is clear that, through more than 600 years, the two crucial factors for the gardens have always been the tranquil, collegiate buildings that form the heart of Eton and their proximity to the River Thames. By the late 17th century, the areas that form the Provost’s Garden and Headmaster’s Garden, in front of two façades of the buildings around the central cloisters, had taken on the shape they retain today. Somewhat later, the larger Fellows’ Garden (now the Vice-Provost’s Garden) was added next to the Headmaster’s Garden.
A short walk from this.
