August 21, 2025, by Chloe

Botanists and Businessmen: meet the residents of Highfield House

Although it is today part of the university campus, when Highfield House was built at the end of the 18th century it would have been surrounded by pasture, and home to little more than a herd of cattle.  Although the area would soon become well known as the site of luxurious homes for the wealthy businessmen of Nottingham, the house’s first owner, Joseph Lowe (a wool and linen draper of Long Row, Nottingham) was among the first to see the site’s potential.  Surprisingly, in the two centuries which have passed since its construction, little has changed with regard to the original house.  

However, quite a lot has changed regarding what were once the family gardens: in the Lowes’ time, there was a pleasure garden to the south, which featured a woodland leading down formal steps to an ornamental lake. This lake was probably an extension of the monastic fishpond associated with Lenton Abbey and it was later enlarged again to become Highfields Park boating lake.    

Plate VII ‘Phalaris Canariensis, P. Arundinacea’. From: A natural history of British grasses by E. J. Lowe. QK495.G74 LOW

To the east side of the house is the walled garden. The garden was the work of botanist, meteorologist and astronomer Edward Joseph Lowe (1825-1900), grandson of the Joseph Lowe for whom the house had been built, who published on a wide range of subjects. His garden was filled with exotic ferns and plants, as well as specialised heated greenhouses for plants such as grapes, which were more suited to a warmer climate. He published several books on the subject of botany, the contents of which may have been partially inspired by the plants grown there.   The 

Plate XX, ‘Aira Caespitosa’, drawn from a specimen taken at Highfield House. From: A natural history of British grasses by E. J. Lowe. QK 495.G74 LOW

The walled garden we see today has been reconstructed on a smaller scale than the original, and it has been replanted in a late Victorian style using non-native species such as hardy bamboos and the hardy banana Musa Basjoo, complemented by flowering plants in the summer. At its centre lies an ornamental wellhead, while the seats are sheltered by a wrought iron trellis.  The entrance is marked by a pair of stunning wrought iron gates. Contrary to popular belief, these gates are not an original feature, but instead, once hung next to the West Entrance gatehouses, when first buildings which formed part of what is now University Park were constructed in the 1920s. They had lain derelict and forgotten for many years, eventually being moved there following their restoration.   

MS 799/5/13 Photograph of well-head in walled garden adjoining Highfield House; 1944

After Edward Joseph Lowe moved out, the house was put on sale and was subsequently purchased by lace manufacturer Henry Simpson, who in turn sold it on to Jesse Boot in 1919. Famously, Boot would go on donate the estate for the construction of a university in 1926, marking the start of a new era. From the 1930s onwards, Highfield House became the official residence of the Principal of University College Nottingham (and, from 1948 onwards, the Vice-Chancellor’s residence). The house continued to be used for this purpose until the 1990s. The photographs of the house featured in this blog come from that era in the house’s history, having been taken by either Harry Almond Saville Wortley, who was University College Nottingham’s Principal between 1935 and 1947, or his daughter Glenys.   

MS 799/5/13 Photograph of Highfield House; 1944

If you’re interested in seeing the items featured in this blog for yourself, why not visit our reading room? To book your appointment, please contact us at mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk. 

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