Eighteenth-century gardens have traditionally been viewed as spaces designed for leisure, and as representations of political status, power and taste. In contrast this paper will explore the concept that gardens in this period could be seen as dynamic spaces where scientific experiment and medical practice could occur. Two examples have been explored in the pilot study which has led to this paper - the designed landscapes associated with John Hunter’s Earl Court residence, London, and the garden at Edward Jenner’s house at Berkeley, Gloucestershire. Garden history methodologies have been implemented in order to consider the extent to which these domestic gardens can be viewed as experimental spaces.

The use of garden history methodology with its focus on the close reading of individual sites through site walking (where possible), maps and primary archival research, can complement and add new dimensions to our understanding of the role and use of domestic gardens. Garden history, with its interest in space, place and material cultures, speaks to recent trends in other historical fields, and of course geography and archaeology. It also forms part of a wider movement which seeks to further our historical understanding through an analysis centered on material culture – in this case, physical landscape features. This approach corresponds to the growing interest in the development and practice of science beyond that of the nineteenth-century construct of the laboratory. However, unlike recent work in this area by Kohler, Naylor and others, this article will focus on designed spaces rather than the field and, therefore, also seek to re-define the garden as a ‘liminal’ space which exists between the wilder ‘field’ and, the more managed and ideally placeless, ‘laboratory’. This approach will build on the research being conducted, predominantly by historical geographers, on the relationship between space, place and science.