DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0023
A HISTORY
OF
GARDENING IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER I.
MONASTIC GARDENING.
“ Forsitan, et pingues hortos quae cura colendi
Ornaret, canerem, . ... ”
Virgil, Gear., iv. 118.
'T'HE history of the Gardens of England follows step by
step the history of the people. In times of peace and
plenty they increased and flourished, and during years of war
and disturbance they suffered. The various races that have
predominated, and rulers that have governed this country
influenced the gardens in a marked degree. Therefore, as we
trace their history, we must not lose sight of the people whose
national characteristics or whose foreign alliances left a stamp
upon the gardens they made.
Nothing worthy of the name of a garden existed in Britain
before the Roman Conquest. The Britons, we know, revered
the oak, and held the mistletoe sacred, and stained their bodies
with woad,* but of any efforts they may have made for the cultiva-
tion of these or any other plants we know nothing. The history
of Horticulture in this country cannot fairly be said to begin
before the coming of the Romans. In this, as in other sciences,
the Romans were so far advanced that it was centuries before
they were surpassed, or even equalled by any other nation.
* Mr. Baker points out that woad is not wild in Britain.
I
OF
GARDENING IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER I.
MONASTIC GARDENING.
“ Forsitan, et pingues hortos quae cura colendi
Ornaret, canerem, . ... ”
Virgil, Gear., iv. 118.
'T'HE history of the Gardens of England follows step by
step the history of the people. In times of peace and
plenty they increased and flourished, and during years of war
and disturbance they suffered. The various races that have
predominated, and rulers that have governed this country
influenced the gardens in a marked degree. Therefore, as we
trace their history, we must not lose sight of the people whose
national characteristics or whose foreign alliances left a stamp
upon the gardens they made.
Nothing worthy of the name of a garden existed in Britain
before the Roman Conquest. The Britons, we know, revered
the oak, and held the mistletoe sacred, and stained their bodies
with woad,* but of any efforts they may have made for the cultiva-
tion of these or any other plants we know nothing. The history
of Horticulture in this country cannot fairly be said to begin
before the coming of the Romans. In this, as in other sciences,
the Romans were so far advanced that it was centuries before
they were surpassed, or even equalled by any other nation.
* Mr. Baker points out that woad is not wild in Britain.
I