I want to start this post with six Bible verses in Revelation and then visit the Botanical Gardens in Oxford. I will then end with a verse from the Bible said by a person who was definitely in the town on 16th October 1555.
Let us start with what Paul says first, then John and Jesus.
Paul: ‘ For we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a person sees, why do they hope for it.’ Romans 8:24
Sandy: I hope for Jesus’ soon return.
What confirms this hope. Three times in Revelation 1: 4,7,8 and three times in Revelations 22:7,12,20 this is said:
‘ Grace be to you, and peace from Jesus which is, and which was, and is to come.’
‘ Behold He comes with clouds; and every eye will see Him…’
‘ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord , which is , and which was and which is to come.’
These are all in chapter one, then chapter 22:
‘ Behold I come quickly: blessed are those that keep the sayings of this book.’
‘ And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every person according as their work is.’
He who testifies of these things says ‘ Surely I come quickly.’ Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus.
These verses will all connect with the thoughts of Latimer, when we leave the garden and look at a cobble stone cross in Broad street, Oxford.
We walk through the 1632-gates into a 400 year old garden, but it was not always a garden, rather a medieval cemetery. This water meadow was bought around 1190 by the Jews as a place outside the city wall to bury their dead.
The story in full is on this stone as you enter the gate it is on your right. Press on the photograph to read it.
Leaving the entrance Darwin is well represented in this garden which is used for science. The beds of plants are laid out to his ideas of how they evolved. He did however say this about the rapid, sudden appearance of flowering plants (angiosperms) in the fossil record as an
” abominable mystery.”
Here are a couple of these beds and then an example of plants used for science. I wish to then linger in the Merton Borders which I hope to visit again some time towards the end of summer when we return.
A board showing the division of the beds and here is one of the beds on the last day of March 2026.
The second highlight is an example of a plant used for science, the Pitcher Plant, Nepenthnes. The plant has a slippery ring, a Peristome. This structure is formed from overlapping epidermal cells that become slippery when wet and provide a way for the plant to catch insects. They slip into the pitcher and are digested by the plant.
Looking at my picture I wanted to show what I was fascinated by: the flower grows from a stem at the end of a leaf.
How was this idea of a slippery surface used? A company called SpotLESS materials has designed a spray on coating that mimics the structure of the Peristome and ‘self cleans’. This is particularly useful for cameras, U V panels etc.
Then lastly the Merton Boarders. What is interesting about them? They were planted in 2011 through direct sowing of seeds. The vegetation has minimal impact on the environment, it is made up of natural plant communities. The plants can withstand drought conditions and so tolerate a warmer and drier climate in the future.
The plants come from three different biogeographic regions: North America, South Africa, and the Mediterranean. The benefits are sustainability: no intensive management, no artificial irrigation,no use of peat, no fertiliser, increased biodiversity and attractive to insects. They are the sort of plants gardeners may want in the future.
These photographs are from the last day of March 2026.
I look forward to seeing these beds in August. Notice here the flowering cowslips the plants are slowly reviving after winter. The days are still cold and there are warmer days to come.
Now into Broad Street the site of the execution of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. We are standing near a guide with a large number of foreign teenage students. He says: ‘ Please don’t talk when I am! Here is a cross, can you see it? On this spot two men were burnt to death. A friend of one of the men sent a shirt with something in the collar. What was it? ( No reply)
Gun powder ! and when the flames got high his head was blown off and flew over’ and he points out Balliol College!
Then there was silence. He had their attention. ( I’m sure this is an attention grabber.)
But why this dreadful death of two Christian men by Queen Mary I?
Latimer and Ridley believed in justification by faith alone rather than works and rejected the veneration of saints and images.
They were heretics during the Roman Catholic counter- reformation.
Here are the words of Latimer a man who stood in this spot
16th October 1555
‘ Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’
He also said this, I suppose at a time before he knew he would be burned alive:
‘It may come in my days, old as I am, or in my children’s days, the saints shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air, and so shall come down with Him again.’ ( 1 Thessalonians 4).
It was a day to learn more and see more. While walking down the same street I noticed wild garlic leaves on the menu, and was happy to see how they were being served as our garden has them too now. Carrots, leaves and a cheddar cheese pie. Simple but delicious.
The last day of March appreciated in Oxford.
Take care,
Sandy 🙂