A Bristol University project that aims to document all the historically significant gardens of England has received a £37,566 boost from the Leverhulme Trust.

Dr Timothy Mowl of the University’s Department of Art History directs the project, which intends to survey more than 3,000 historic gardens, county by county.

Dr Mowl recognised the need for a Pevsner-style analysis of England’s historic gardens and landscapes four years ago while writing a course book for the University’s Garden History MA students.

Over the last three years, he has visited more than 300 gardens in Gloucestershire, Dorset and Wiltshire and completed the first three volumes of the series: Historic Gardens of Gloucestershire, Historic Gardens of Dorset and Historic Gardens of Wiltshire, all published by Tempus Publishing of Stroud.

The grant will enable Dr Mowl to research and write the next three books. The first on Cornwall is due to be published in May 2005; he will then move on to explore and document the gardens of Worcestershire and Oxfordshire.

Dr Mowl said: “The garden hunt is extremely enjoyable and, academically speaking, prodigiously rewarding. Each county, we find, has its own individual garden profile, its times of rich profusion and its idiosyncratic ways of dealing with prevailing garden fashion.

“The University is delighted that the Leverhulme Trust has provided such generous support for what we hope will be the definitive guide to England’s rich garden history.