The Oxford University Parks, more normally the University Parks or just Uni Parks to members of the local community, is one large parkland area slightly northeast of the Oxford city centre in England. It is open to the public during the day, and has beautiful gardens, large sports fields, and rare and exotic plants.
From 1853 to 1864, the University of Oxford purchased a total of 91 acres (37 ha) of land from Merton College to build the parks. Some of this land was then used for the University Museum and the Science Area, so the current site is measured at about 74 acres (30 ha). The park is situated mostly on the west bank of the River Cherwell, though a small plot of land called Mesopotamia sits between the upper and lower levels of the river. The Parks are bounded by Norham Gardens to the north, Parks Road to the west and the Science Area on South Parks Road to the south.
Walter Sawyer has been superintendent of the Parks since 1991.
Read more about University Parks: Points of Interest
Famous quotes containing the words university and/or parks:
“I had a classmate who fitted for college by the lamps of a lighthouse, which was more light, we think, than the University afforded.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Perhaps our own woods and fields,—in the best wooded towns, where we need not quarrel about the huckleberries,—with the primitive swamps scattered here and there in their midst, but not prevailing over them, are the perfection of parks and groves, gardens, arbors, paths, vistas, and landscapes. They are the natural consequence of what art and refinement we as a people have.... Or, I would rather say, such were our groves twenty years ago.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)