Bracken Hill, (also known as Bristol University Botanic Garden), Bristol, England

Bracken Hill House was built for Mr. Melville Wills in 1886. He subsequently had the grounds laid out pretty much as they are today. The firm of Pulhams supplied the ‘rocks' used for the extensive rock gardens, and these have survived the passage of time very well. The walls around the garden are still largely intact. The small formal garden was also laid out around this time (1886-1900). Melville Wills had vine and orchid greenhouses built on the sites occupied by the modern greenhouses.

His son, Douglas Wills, donated the house and grounds to the University, conditional upon their being used for purposes connected with agriculture. They were occupied by the Ministry of Agriculture during the war. After the war, the house and grounds became a centre for post-graduate diploma courses organised by the University's Horticultural Science Laboratories. These were closed down in 1962.

The University Botanic Garden was transferred to the Bracken Hill site in 1959 and 1960. The extensive plant collections have been planted and developed using the original layout of the garden as a framework fro the particular purposes of the botanic garden. Since 1970, the original glasshouses have been replaced with metal glasshouses, but the old heating pipes were retained. In 1973, the Botany Department of the University relinquished the main house altogether and left it free for student accommodation. An additional cold greenhouse was built in 1975.

In 2002, the University of Bristol decided to re-locate its botanic gardens from Bracken Hill to The Holmes. Planting commenced in 2005 at The Holmes.

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

HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT

The eastern part of the site of Bristol University Botanic Garden, situated to the south of North Road, was purchased by Melville Wills in the late C19. There, in 1886, he built his house, Bracken Hill (now part of the Botanic Garden). Subsequently, in 1907, he purchased land on the opposite side of the road to build a playhouse for his four children. Originally called The Bungalow, the building later became the estate office and was known as Rayne Thatch. Between c 1900 and 1905 Pulham and Son constructed a rock and water garden to the north of Bracken Hill. This was followed by the construction of the more extensive rock and water garden of 1908-10, also by Pulham and Son, for the children's playhouse. This functioned as an additional pleasure ground to the main house. Later, between c 1917 and 1929, the rock garden to the north of Bracken Hill was extended eastwards by Pulham and Son.

In the early C20, possibly shortly after the building of the main house, lodge, and stable block, Melville Wills purchased the western part of the current botanic gardens, immediately adjacent to the greenhouses and the stable block. In this part he laid out a kitchen garden, a woodland garden, and a formal garden. In the far south-west corner of the site he built a house for his nanny; this was later used by his chauffeur after his purchase of a car in the early C20. To develop and maintain both gardens, in 1928 Melville Wills employed the horticultural journeyman Len Warren, who remained to work in the botanic gardens until 1972 and continued to live on site until 1990.

During the Second World War the RAF used Bracken Hill as offices. The estate was left to Mrs E Broom-Douglas, after the death of her father Melville Wills. Subsequently Captain Douglas Wills (Melville Wills' son) bought the house and gardens from his sister and in 1947 donated it to the University of Bristol on condition that it was used for purposes connected with agriculture, arboriculture, and horticulture. Since 1959 the University of Bristol has used the site as its botanic garden, the early C20 layout of Melville Wills' garden being used as the framework for the development of its plant collection of approximately 4500 different species. The former stable block has been converted into offices and teaching facilities and the main house into student accommodation. Heather Lodge, the former chauffeur's house with its garden, is now in private ownership. Rayne Thatch was extended after it was sold off in 1947, and the offices on the first floor and the store rooms which had formed the ground floor were converted into living accommodation.