architecture, Folly, garden, garden history, Gloucestershire, landscape, Summerhouse, Temple

Temple of Vaccinia, Dr Jenner’s House, Berkeley, Gloucestershire

Postcard c.1912 courtesy of the Dave Martin Collection.

With vaccines very much in the news at the moment, The Folly Flâneuse was reminded that a little rustic hut, in a garden in Gloucestershire, played a role in the development of inoculation in Britain and across the world. In May 1796 Edward Jenner successfully vaccinated a child against smallpox, and as news of his work spread globally, he began to inoculate the poor of his neighbourhood in this summerhouse in his garden.