page_title: Worcester College, Oxford
section_title: The Gardens
hierarchical_section_title: Worcester College, Oxford / Buildings and grounds / The Gardens
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Oxford - Worcester College -
context_page_description: Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was adopted by the College. Its predecessor, Gloucester College, had been an institution of learning on the same site since the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Founded as a men's college, Worcester has been coeducational since 1979.
  As of 2018, Worcester College had a financial endowment of £41.9 million.
  Notable alumni of the college include the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, television producer and screenwriter Russell T Davies, US Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan, Fields Medalist Simon Donaldson, and novelist Richard Adams.
  Worcester is consistently one of the most popular Oxford colleges amongst prospective applicants.
context_section_description: Although Worcester is near the centre of Oxford today, it was on the edge of the city in the eighteenth century. This has proved a benefit in the long run, since it has allowed the college to retain very extensive gardens and contiguous playing fields (a total of 26 acres (110,000 m²), including a lake).
  The gardens have won numerous awards, including the Oxford in Bloom college award every time they have been entered for the competition. Extensive work on the gardens was carried out between 1817 and 1820, and they may have been laid out in the Picturesque style by Richard Greswell in 1827. They are now managed by head gardener Simon Bagnall and a team of seven gardeners.
  A production of Twelfth Night was directed by Patrick Garland in the gardens with Oz Clarke as Sir Toby Belch and Francis Matthews. Other garden plays have included The Tempest on the lake, directed by Nevill Coghill in 1949, and Twelfth Night in the Provost's garden, directed by Provost Jonathan Bate and undergraduate Georgia Figgis in 2016.
  The college's gardeners keep a blog to provide an insight into the work involved in looking after the 26 acres (110,000 m²).
caption: Worcester's playing fields
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