Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, England

The original site of the 1762 Botanic Garden was along Downing Street at the junction of Free School Lane. The present Garden along Trumpington Road is laid out on 16 hectares obtained in 1831, and was opened in 1846. From its beginning the Botanic Garden has provided facilities for research, education and amenity.

The original plan of the Garden is based on an idea of the first curator, A. Murray. The layout consists of a serpentine perimeter walk by Professor John Stevens Henslow, either side of a main walk, which leads from the entrance by Hobson's Conduit on Trumpington Road to a circular fountain, designed by David Mellor in the mid 1970s. 

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is over 200 years old, having been established originally in 1762 at Free School Lane in the centre of the city. John Stevens Henslow, Professor of Botany from 1825 to 1860, was a key instigator of the establishment of the gardens on a new 16 hectare site which the University acquired in 1831 to provide an area for teaching and research. A design for the western section of the gardens was prepared by A Murray, the first Curator of the new garden in 1835, and it was laid out from 1846 almost exactly as planned, with much of the detail of the planting provided by Professor Henslow. A previous plan by Samuel Lapidge, dated 1826, for a New Botanic Garden and glasshouse range was also partly followed and the Garden was first opened to the public in 1846. A succession of Curators culminated in the career of R I Lynch (1879-1919), under whose administration the range of glasshouses was rebuilt and many other features were established. Following Lynch's retirement in 1919 the University appointed a scientific Director of the Garden and the present arrangement of Director and Superintendent was established. The development of the eastern half of the garden did not commence until after the Second World War, under the direction of John Gilmour, Director of the Garden from 1951 to 1972. The Garden continues to develop and change within the strong design layout provided by Murray and Henslow, and later by Gilmour in the 20th century.