Hampshire History - take a stroll around a mathematical masterpiece

Behind 16 High Street in the east Hampshire market town of Petersfield, the Petersfield Physic Garden gives us the chance to see some of the plants found in our ancestors’ gardens nearly 400 years ago – laid out in a very special way.

The Physic Garden has been laid out following the formal geometric pattern found in 17th-century physic gardens at Chelsea and Oxford. In the beds more than 70 different herbs are grown, and there are vines and fig trees against the walls. There is also a small knot garden, a formal topiary area, a small orchard underplanted with wild flowers, a rose bower and a sundial. Admission is free, the paths are wheelchair friendly and there are plenty of seats.

The plants now grown in the Physic Garden would have been familiar to two of Petersfield’s most famous 17th-century residents, the botanist John Goodyer and the horticulturalist John Wortlidge. Goodyer who was born in 1592 in Alton, later lived in Droxford, and after marrying in 1632 moved to The Spain at Petersfield. While working on the management of local estates, he made a significant contribution to botany: he helped to identify the various species of English elms, co-wrote a revised edition of Gerard’s Herbal, translated the work of a Greek botanist, and may have introduced the Jerusalem artichoke into the country (though he was not entirely complimentary about its culinary virtues).

Goodyer died in 1664 and was buried at Buriton; he is commemorated in a stained glass window there – and also in the name of a genus of orchids, Goodyera. His will, held at Hampshire Record Office, includes a bequest of his books to Magdalen College, Oxford, and the establishment of a charity to help young people in Weston. Goodyer is one of the Hampshire heroes who will be featured in an exhibition to be launched at the Hampshire Record Office, Winchester, this autumn as part of the Hampshire Family History Festival.

Petersfield Physic Garden is open daily except Christmas Day and is managed by a Friends’ Association on behalf of Hampshire Gardens Trust. For more information telephone 01730269060.