Paige Johnson, a student on the MA course in Garden History in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, is the winner of the 2007 Garden History Society (GHS) Essay Prize. Her essay, entitled ‘Proof of the heavenly iris: the fountain of the three rainbows at Wilton House’, tackles a long-standing mystery of garden history. It will be published in Garden History, the GHS journal, later this year.

Johnson wins £200 and membership of the GHS for a year. The prize will be awarded at the Society’s summer garden party.

Dr Sarah Law, another student on the course, was awarded a Commendation for her essay: ‘William Roscoe’s Monandrian plants of the order Scitamineae: newly arranged according to the system of Linneaus; with coloured figures, from living specimens, in the Botanic Garden at Liverpool.’