MA Garden History

About the course

The University of Buckingham’s Master’s programme in Garden History offers the opportunity to pursue research at Master’s level in any one of a wide range of garden- and landscape-related topics: from explorations of individual sites; their designers, gardeners and owners; to studies of the social and political use of gardens, or aspects of their heritage conservation and management.

While individual research topics should be closely focused, the course encourages students to take a broad contextual view of the links between gardens and designed landscape, and of history and culture more generally.

The Master’s degree can be taken either full-time and completed in a single academic year, or taken part-time and extended over two years. Although original individual research is the prime focus of the programme, there is also a strongly collegial aspect to the course, as all research students meet regularly throughout the year for a series of early-evening seminars delivered by a range of distinguished academics, professional garden historians and owners and managers of designed landscapes.
The academic year begins in October with the Course Introduction Day in London, and a series of seminars and field trips and access to the on-line lectures. In-person Tutorials and classes will normally take place at The University of Buckingham’s London offices at 51 Gower Street, Bloomsbury, WC1E 6HJ, very close to the British Museum but field trips are across the country.

Seminars are held at The University of Buckingham’s London offices at 51 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6HJ, and provide an opportunity for students to meet and debate with the visiting speaker. Seminars may be followed by a working dinner at which discussion continues. There are also a series of ‘field trips’ to historic gardens and designed landscapes organised through the year, and access to a series of on-line (recorded) lectures provided by the Gardens Trust. Students can choose to access these as an on-line class every other Thursday.

Specialist classes are also offered by the Faculty on palaeography (the study of historic handwriting) to enable students to read contemporary manuscripts with speed and accuracy.

The MA is awarded solely on the basis of the dissertation (there are no ‘exams’), and the relationship between the student and supervisors is therefore at the heart of the course.
Guidance will be provided on suitability of topics but the choice of subject area is ultimately the student’s own.

The maximum length for the MA dissertation in the School of Humanities is 25,000 words (or approximately 75 pages at line-spacing of 1.5), excluding notes and references. Students and their ‘First Supervisor’ meet regularly on a one-to-one basis to discuss, plan, and review the dissertation as it develops through the year and students also have access to a Second Supervisor.

The University of Buckingham MA programmes are intended to impart all the skills necessary for the student to work as an independent researcher and writer, but the MA can be undertaken just as fulfillingly as an exercise in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and as a means of exploring areas of enquiry that are of particular interest to the student. The MA by research is ideal for members of the county Gardens Trusts as well as professionals in the arena of historic gardens, and anyone with an academic interest in history of designed gardens and landscapes.

DEFINING A SUBJECT FOR RESEARCH

Some students know from the outset the precise subject on which they intend to work. For most, however, the definition of a research proposal is usually a gradual process, with the student starting with a general area of interest, and then focusing on a more closely defined topic as a result of further reading and consultation, usually with the Course Director. Most students do not arrive at the final title of their dissertation until towards the end of the first Term, before Christmas.

The Course Director Dr Twigs Way is available to offer advice to prospective students who would like to discuss possible subjects for their research before they apply. Twigs can be reached directly by email at twigs.way@buckingham.ac.uk

RESEARCH SEMINARS

Private research and supervision are complemented by a rich programme of seminars which give students direct access to some of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished scholars in the field of garden history. These seminars, which are chaired by the Course Director take place at 51 Gower St (as above) or occasionally online.

The seminar meets regularly between October and March. All seminars begin at 6:30 pm with the talk by the visiting speaker, and this is followed by a question session and discussion. There is usually a drinks reception for the speaker and students after the seminar. The programme aims not only to offer a stimulating intellectual experience, but one which is an enjoyable sociable experience as well.

The seminars are of course academic events, with a talk by a visiting expert; but they also have a social dimension, bringing research students and senior scholars together to discuss matters of common interest in an informal and congenial atmosphere.

This coming year’s seminars will include a series of case-studies of important gardens, led either by academic garden-historians, professionals in heritage or, in some cases, by their owners or managers. These seminars will explore not only the history of the site, but also what is involved in their management and conservation.

In addition to the seminars, there will be a number of site visits timetabled over weekends, and a series of online background lectures on wider garden and landscape history for each period will be available to attend online.

SEMINARS AND EVENTS 2025-26

Please note that, unless otherwise stated, all seminars take place at The University of Buckingham’s offices, 51 Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6HJ.
All seminars, progress meetings, and online lectures start at 18.30 pm unless otherwise stated.

Saturday 4 October
Course Introduction Day 10.30-16.00 (51 Gower St, London,)
Dr Twigs Way and Dr David Marsh

Thursday 9 October
John Watkins (Former Head of Gardens and Landscape Team, English Heritage, Chairman Gardens Trust), ‘The Roles of English Heritage and Gardens Trust in the Protection and Restoration of Historic Gardens and Landscapes’.

Saturday 11 October and Sunday 12 October 10.00-16.30 both days
Visits to Wrest Park (Silsoe, Bedfordshire), Swiss Garden (Old Warden, Bedfordshire) and Wimpole Park, Cambridgeshire
led by Dr Twigs Way (Programme Director)
NOTE: this is over two days and students may wish to arrange to stay overnight locally. Contact Programme Director for more details.

Thursday 23 October
Tim Richardson (Independent author and former gardens editor, Country Life)
‘What Are Gardens and What is Garden History?’

Saturday 1 November 10.00-15.30
Visit to Stowe, Buckinghamshire led by (TBC)

Monday 3 November, 10.30-17.00
Faculty Induction Day, at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BE

Thursday 6 November 10.00-17.00
Garden History Research Day, The University of Buckingham, Vinson Centre, MK18 1EG

Saturday 15 November
Garden Trust Symposium of New Research Online Event

Thursday 20 November
Mark Bradshaw (Regional Head of LET Estate, National Trust), ‘Lyveden New Bield: Research and Restoration of an Elizabethan Garden (with reference to other restorations)’

Thursday 4 December
Dr Oliver Cox (Head of Academic Partnerships, V&A), ‘A Case Study in Interpreting the Eighteenth-Century Garden: Stourhead’

Thursday 11 December
Progress Reports Meeting

Thursday 15 January
Fiona Davison (Head of Libraries and Exhibitions at Royal Horticultural Society),
‘Researching Pioneering Women Gardeners’

Thursday 29 January 17.30 -19.15
Evening visit to the RHS Lindley Library, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE accompanied by Fiona Davison (Head of Libraries and Exhibitions at Royal Horticultural Society),

Thursday 12 February
Nick Lane Fox (Owner Bramham Park), ‘Bramham Park: a Baroque Case Study’

Thursday 26 February
Georgie Guernsey (Viscountess Guernsey, owner Packington Hall), ‘Packington Hall : a mid-Eighteenth-Century Designed Landscape for the Future’

Thursday 12 March
Dr Caroline Ikin (Cultural Heritage Curator, National Trust), ‘Munstead Wood: Restoring an Iconic Garden’

Thursday 26 March Thursday 27 March
Fergus Garrett (Head gardener, Great Dixter), ‘Great Dixter: a Twentieth-Century Case Study’

Thursday 2 April
Progress Reports Meeting

Sunday 12 April
Visit Munstead Wood, Surrey led by Caroline Ikin (details TBC)

Sunday 24th May
Visit Boughton, Northamptonshire (details TBC)

Additional online lecturers will be made available to students on alternate Thursdays delivered by Dr Twigs Way and Dr David Marsh or available as recordings SUPPORTED BY THE GARDENS TRUST.

STUDY PERIOD

The usual period of Master’s degree research is one year for the those who engage in full-time study. Part-time study is also available, with students completing the dissertation in two years.

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

Every Master’s student in School of Humanities is supported by two supervisors. There is a First (or Principal) Supervisor, who is the student’s regular guide during his or her research, and with whom the student meets regularly throughout the year. There is also a Second Supervisor, whom the student may consult on a more limited basis where a ‘second opinion’ on a particular draft chapter may be helpful. Full-time students see their supervisor for one-to-one supervisions not less than twice a term. The University has an extensive group of scholars available to undertake supervision in the field of Garden History.

Course Director and Supervisors

Dr Twigs Way is a researcher, writer and lecturer with particular interests in the role of women in garden history, working class gardens, and the cultural overlap between gardens, art and literature. Twigs Way originally graduated from UCL (Institute of Archaeology) and went on to complete her PhD at Cambridge on power dynamics in landscape. From 2005-2024 Twigs was a consultant in historic designed landscapes, specialising in the creation of Parkland Management Plans (PMPs) and Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) for clients including Historic England, Natural England and private landowners. She set up the Certificate and Diploma in garden History at the University of Cambridge, Institute for Continuing Education, was Chair of the Cambridgeshire Gardens Trust and has trained conservation volunteers across several county gardens trusts. Twigs is a guest lecturer for the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens as well as an Accredited Speaker for the Arts Society. She has published on a range of topics including the histories of specific plants in art and culture, wartime gardening, allotment gardens, and ‘A Nation of Gardeners’ with the Museum of Garden History.

Dr David Marsh who set up The University of Buckingham MA in Garden History acts as a first or second supervisor for many of the students. David Marsh was awarded his PhD for a study of the ‘Gardens and Gardeners of Later-Stuart London’ and has been lecturing and supervising research in Garden History ever since. He was co-convener of the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes seminar at Institute of Historical Research, University of London, from 2011-2022. He was a trustee of the Gardens Trust and chaired their Education Committee from 2015 to 2023. He set up the Gardens Trust’s successful on-line lecture programme and is the author of their weekly blog about Garden History.

Other internal and external supervisors may be allocated to students depending on their particular topics of research.

SEMINAR SPEAKERS

Mark Bradshaw is the Regional Head of Let Estate for the National Trust. Mark led the initial research and restoration of Lyveden New Bield Elizabethan landscape and gardens, before becoming involved in the garden restoration at Canons Ashby and involved in the garden restoration there and oversaw restoration projects at Cliveden, Buckinghamshire.

Dr Oliver Cox is a historian by training and teaches architectural and cultural history with a focus on the eighteenth century. Formerly a British Academy Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, he is now Head of Academic Partnerships at the Victoria and Albert Museum, leading on the strategic development of new academic partnerships that build on the V&A’s track record in innovative, interdisciplinary teaching and research.

Fiona Davison is Head of Libraries and Exhibitions at the Royal Horticultural Society, researcher and author of the acclaimed ‘An Almost Impossible Thing: The radical lives of Britain’s pioneering women gardeners’ and ‘The Hidden Horticulturalists’, named as one of the Gardening Books of the Year by the Daily Telegraph in 2019.

Nick Lane Fox is the owner of Bramham Park, a Grade-I listed house near Leeds where he is overseeing a large-scale restoration project of the early eighteenth-century gardens and parkland. Bramham lies at the centre of a 2,265-hectare agricultural estate where, in addition to farming and forestry, he has helped develop an events programme including the Bramham Horse Trials and the Leeds Music Festival.

Fergus Garrett is an English plantsman and horticultural educationalist. He studied horticulture at Wye College,and worked for Beth Chatto and in private gardens before joining the Great Dixter team. He became Christopher Lloyd’s Head Gardener in 1993 and is now and Chief Executive of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.

Georgie Guernsey (Viscountess Guernsey) lives at Packington Hall with her husband, James, and three young children. Having studied Garden Design at KLC School of Design, she now oversees various restoration projects across the Estate. Her current focus is on the reinstatement of the Walled Garden and the maintenance of the ‘Capability’ Brown pleasure grounds. Packington Estate is situated at the centre of the country, between Birmingham and Coventry.

Dr Caroline Ikin is the Cultural Heritage Curator, for the National Trust at Munstead Wood, Standen and Nymans and has previously worked for the Gardens Trust. Her PhD was on the design of John Ruskin’s gardens at Brantwood, exploring philosophy and design, and she is the author of The Victorian Garden and The Victorian Gardener (Shire).

Tim Richardson is a garden-writer, historian and critic, and an advisor to the National Trust on gardens. His many books include The Arcadian Friends, Avant Gardeners, and The New English Garden. He regularly contributes to the Daily Telegraph and Country Life.

John Watkins has been Head of Gardens and Landscape at English Heritage since 1999, and has worked on the a number of major garden and landscape projects, including Chiswick Park, Down House, Eltham Palace, Wrest Park, Bolsover Castle, Witley Court and Kenilworth Castle. He is on the management board of Plant Network and is a Trustee of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust.

Christopher Weddell has been Senior Gardens Advisor at English Heritage since 2008, setting and monitoring the standards of garden presentation and curation at English Heritage’s garden sites, advising and supporting garden teams and property staff, and supporting garden projects at (among other places) Eltham Palace, Walmer Castle, Marble Hill, Wrest Park, and Witley Court. He has also worked for the National Trust, for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and for the Royal Horticultural Society.

ASSOCIATE STUDENTS

For those who wish to attend the seminars and to join the post-seminar dinners with the visiting speakers, it is possible to join the programme as an Associate Student (what is known as an Audit Student in the United States). Associate Students do not enrol for the MA and do not have to submit any written work, but they are otherwise full members of the seminar and free to take part in discussion. There is also a substantially reduced fee.

For further information, please contact humanitiespg-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk