Editing Wadham College, Oxford (section)

== Gardens ==
Wadham Gardens are relatively large when compared with those of other Oxford colleges, even without the land sold to build [[Rhodes House]] in the 1920s. Originally a series of orchards and market-gardens carved out from the property of the previously existing [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] priory, their appearance and configuration have been significantly modified over the course of the last four hundred years to reflect their constantly changing functional and aesthetic purpose.

The land was shaped, in particular, by two major periods of planning. Gardens were first created under Warden [[John Wilkins|Wilkins]] (1648–1659) as a series of formal rectangles laid out around a (then fashionable) mound which was, in turn, surmounted by a figure of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]. These gardens were notable not least for their collection of mechanical contrivances (including a talking statue and a rainbow-maker), a number of [[obelisk]]s and a [[Doric order|Doric]] temple.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/about-wadham/gardens/wadham-college-gardens.html/|title=Gardens|website=www.wadham.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> Under Warden Wills (1783–1806), the terrain was then radically remodelled and landscaped (by [[William Shipley|Shipley]]) and became notable for a distinguished collection of trees.[[File:Maurice Bowra Sculpture 1.jpg|thumb|The sculpture of [[Maurice Bowra]] in the college gardens|upright=1.1]]Restored and reshaped following the [[Second World War]], the present Gardens are divided into the Warden's Garden, the Fellows' Private Garden and the Fellows' Garden, together with the Cloister Garden (originally the cemetery) and the White Scented Garden.
They are still notable for their collection of trees (specimens include a [[Quercus ilex|holm oak]], silver pendant lime, [[tulip tree]], golden yew, purple beech, [[cedar of Lebanon]], [[Ginkgo biloba|ginkgo]], [[giant redwood]], [[tree of heaven]], [[incense cedar]], [[Corsican pine]], [[magnolia]] and a rare [[Eucommia|Chinese gutta-percha]]) and they still contain a number of vestigial curiosities from the past (notably an 18th-century 'cowshed' set into the remnants of the Royalist earthworks of 1642, one of the second generation of 'Emperors Heads' that adorned the [[Sheldonian Theatre]] from 1868 to around 1970, and a sculpture of Warden [[Maurice Bowra|Bowra]]).