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Danby Gateway, Oxford Botanic Garden

Danby Gateway, Oxford Botanic Garden

Recommended by 84 cyclists out of 94

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Location: Oxfordshire, South East England, England, United Kingdom

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Top cycling routes to Danby Gateway, Oxford Botanic Garden

3.9

(15)

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1. Sight seeing in Oxford loop – Bridge of Sighs, Botanic Gardens and Wheatley Windmill

25.6km

01:33

140m

Easy bike ride. Great for any fitness level. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

4.9

(22)

132

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2. Iffley Lock – Isis Bridge loop from New Headington

36.8km

02:12

140m

Intermediate bike ride. Good fitness required. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

3.9

(19)

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3. Godstow Abbey Ruins – Barracks Lane Path loop from Temple Cowley

27.5km

01:39

130m

Easy bike ride. Great for any fitness level. Mostly paved surfaces. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

Tips

MLK

June 18, 2020

Oxford Botanic Garden was founded in 1621 as the first botanic garden in the UK. It is part of the University of Oxford and contains over 5,000 different plant species. This makes it one of the most diverse yet compact collections of plants in the world and includes representatives from over 90% of the higher plant families.

The Botanic Garden has been a rich source of inspiration. In the 1860s, this is where Charles Lutwidge Dodgson took the Liddell sisters, inspiring the stories that became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. See if you can find the grinning Cheshire Cat, tucked away in the Literary Woodland in the Walled Garden.

Equally, the author JRR Tolkien spent much time here, in particular in the company of the late great Austrian pine tree (Pinus nigra), whose twisting branches is said have resembled the 'ents' in his 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy.

Perhaps most poignantly, in Philip Pullman's brilliant 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, the protagonists Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry meet between their respective parallel worlds on a bench in the back of the garden. At the end of the novels, they promise to sit on the bench for an hour at noon on Midsummer's day every year to feel each other's presence. Just behind their bench, you will find a stainless steel sculpture by the sculptor Julian Warren, depicting the ‘daemons’ of the novels.

Edvard

August 17, 2017

The Danby gateway to the Botanic Garden is one of three entrances designed by Nicholas Stone between 1632 and 1633. It is one of the earliest structures in Oxford to use classical, indeed early Baroque, style, preceding his new entrance porch for the University Church of St Mary the Virgin of 1637, and contemporary with Canterbury Quad at St John's College by others. In this highly ornate arch, Stone ignored the new simple classical Palladian style currently fashionable, which had just been introduced to England from Italy by Inigo Jones, and drew his inspiration from an illustration in Serlio's book of archways.
The gateway consists of three bays, each with a pediment. The largest and central bay, containing the segmented arch is recessed, causing its larger pediment to be partially hidden by the flanking smaller pediments of the projecting lateral bays.
The stone work is heavily decorated being bands of alternating vermicelli rustication and plain dressed stone. The pediments of the lateral bays are seemingly supported by circular columns which frame niches containing statues of Charles I and Charles II in classical pose. The tympanum of the central pediment contains a segmented niche containing a bust of the Earl of Danby. It is a Grade I listed structure.

The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it contains over 8,000 different plant species on 1.8 hectares (4½ acres). It is one of the most diverse yet compact collections of plants in the world and includes representatives from over 90% of the higher plant families.

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Elevation 100 m

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Friday 17 October

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Max wind speed: 4.0 km/h

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Take Me There

Location: Oxfordshire, South East England, England, United Kingdom

Danby Gateway, Oxford Botanic Garden

1. Sight seeing in Oxford loop – Bridge of Sighs, Botanic Gardens and Wheatley Windmill

2. Iffley Lock – Isis Bridge loop from New Headington

3. Godstow Abbey Ruins – Barracks Lane Path loop from Temple Cowley

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