DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0039
MONASTIC GARDENING.
17
garden.* * * § At Norwich, the Sacristan seems to have had more
than one garden, as a very cursory glance at the MS. accounts
of that office shows the names of both “St. Mary’s” and the
“green garden.” f There was a “ gardinum Sacristae ” at Win-
chester as early as the ninth century,J and to this day a piece
of ground on the east side of the north transept of the cathedral
bears the name of “Paradise,” and marks the site of the
Sacrist’s garden. The fifteenth century doorway, which was
the entrance to the enclosure, is still standing.
Such a garden as this is referred to when the Abbot of Ramsey,
between 1114-1130, had to come to some agreement about certain
pieces of land in London which adjoined the property of the
Priory of the Holy Trinity; and the Prior consented § “to give
up his claim which he had upon the chapel of the Abbot, and the
garden which is before the chapel.” These “ gardini Sacristae ”
were not only found within monastic precincts, but wTere attached
to many churches and chapels. The Hortulanus of Abingdon let
out a garden “ next to St. Nicholas’ Church,” to the Rector, for
a term of years. || There is an interesting record of the chapel
garden in the Manor of Wookey, in Somersetshire, which
belonged to the Bishops of Bath and Wells, in the account of
the Reeve of that place for the year 1461-2.5! Three men were
employed for four and a half days at two pence a day, “ digging
and cleaning the chapel garden.”
Henry VI. left such a garden to the church of Eton College.
The clause in his will runs thus : “ The space between the wall of
the church and the wall of the cloister shall conteyne 38 feet,
* Abingdon Accounts. R. E. G. Kirk :
1388-9, et de iiij bussellis frumenti de Sacrista pro orto suo, nichil hie in
denarijs quia recipiuntur in sua specie ut patet extra.
j- Sacrist Account, MS. Norwich :
1431. “ In weeding in the garden of St. Mary, 2s.”
1428. “ For weeding in the ‘ green garden.’ ”
1489. “ Received for the trunk of a pear-tree blown down by the wind, nd.”
Gardener’s account, 1472. “ For farm of the garden of the Sacrist, 2s.”
f Wharton, Anglia Sacra. Part I., p. 209.
§ Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia. Vol. I., p. 133.
|| 1413. Accounts, by Kirk.
5! History of the Parish and Manor of Wookey, by T. S. Holmes.
2
17
garden.* * * § At Norwich, the Sacristan seems to have had more
than one garden, as a very cursory glance at the MS. accounts
of that office shows the names of both “St. Mary’s” and the
“green garden.” f There was a “ gardinum Sacristae ” at Win-
chester as early as the ninth century,J and to this day a piece
of ground on the east side of the north transept of the cathedral
bears the name of “Paradise,” and marks the site of the
Sacrist’s garden. The fifteenth century doorway, which was
the entrance to the enclosure, is still standing.
Such a garden as this is referred to when the Abbot of Ramsey,
between 1114-1130, had to come to some agreement about certain
pieces of land in London which adjoined the property of the
Priory of the Holy Trinity; and the Prior consented § “to give
up his claim which he had upon the chapel of the Abbot, and the
garden which is before the chapel.” These “ gardini Sacristae ”
were not only found within monastic precincts, but wTere attached
to many churches and chapels. The Hortulanus of Abingdon let
out a garden “ next to St. Nicholas’ Church,” to the Rector, for
a term of years. || There is an interesting record of the chapel
garden in the Manor of Wookey, in Somersetshire, which
belonged to the Bishops of Bath and Wells, in the account of
the Reeve of that place for the year 1461-2.5! Three men were
employed for four and a half days at two pence a day, “ digging
and cleaning the chapel garden.”
Henry VI. left such a garden to the church of Eton College.
The clause in his will runs thus : “ The space between the wall of
the church and the wall of the cloister shall conteyne 38 feet,
* Abingdon Accounts. R. E. G. Kirk :
1388-9, et de iiij bussellis frumenti de Sacrista pro orto suo, nichil hie in
denarijs quia recipiuntur in sua specie ut patet extra.
j- Sacrist Account, MS. Norwich :
1431. “ In weeding in the garden of St. Mary, 2s.”
1428. “ For weeding in the ‘ green garden.’ ”
1489. “ Received for the trunk of a pear-tree blown down by the wind, nd.”
Gardener’s account, 1472. “ For farm of the garden of the Sacrist, 2s.”
f Wharton, Anglia Sacra. Part I., p. 209.
§ Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia. Vol. I., p. 133.
|| 1413. Accounts, by Kirk.
5! History of the Parish and Manor of Wookey, by T. S. Holmes.
2