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An introduction to early gardens in Britain
Gardens in Iron Age Britain
 

Crop marks Iron Age round house, St Fagans, Wales Recreated village with palisade, St. Fagans, Wales

Long before the arrival of the Romans, forests had been cleared from most of Britain to make way for grazing land and fields. During the Iron Age, from about 800 BCE to about 100 BCE, the British Isles were home to many different, complex societies. We know very little about their gardens, but crop marks and other remains show us where crops were raised and homes built. Houses were more often round than rectangular. It was typical for several homes to cluster together in a farmstead, which was frequently delineated as well as protected by an encircling ditch. Dirt dug out of the ditch was piled between the ditch and the settlement land to create a dike, and this dike was often topped with a wooden palisade or hedge. Gardens (think, “guard-en”) and fields were likewise delineated by ditches, dikes, and hedges. Larger fields were cultivated by hand or by plows pulled by cattle. Seeding was done by hand, and the seed was then covered by raking or harrowing. Though not recorded until Anglo-Saxon times, the prayer below reflects an earlier tradition of reverence for the earth mother:

erce . erce . erce . earth mother give you the all ruler eternal lord acres growing and flourishing increasing and strengthening high shafts, shining fruits .   and there broad barley harvest . and there white wheat harvest . and all earth’s fruits . erce . erce . erce . eorþan modor geunne þe se alwalda ece drihten æcera wexendra and wridendra eacniendra and elniendra  scafta hehra scirra wæstma . & þæra bradan bere wæstma . & þæra hwitan hwæte wæstma . & ealra eorþan wæstma .                                 Anglo-Saxon prayer, 10th C, British Library Cotton Caligula A. vii The difference between farming and gardening is sometimes blurry. Farming -– agriculture -- involved livestock as well as plants, and its goals were utilitarian. Gardens -– horticulture –- did not involve raising animals, and the goals might be utilitarian, recreational, or ornamental, singly or in combination. Low lying fields along rivers provided meadows for hay and pastures for grazing, and were also the sites of osier (willow) beds that produced slender, flexible willow rods that could be used for baskets and other “wicker” products. Coppicing Pollarding Pollard tree in Bayeax tapestry, c. 1100 CE Woodland was carefully managed, sometimes for timber but more often for slender, flexible withies, or branches. Trees were coppiced (cut as “stools,” close to the ground, so that the stump would send up shoots) or pollarded (branches pruned back above the reach of grazing animals and allowed to send out shoots). Trees that respond well to such management include beech, hazel, hornbeam, linden, maple, willow, and yew. The period between harvests depended upon the size branches needed. Coppiced trees were harvested about every 5 years; pollarded, about every 15 years. Branches were used for fodder (“pollard hay” or foliage), for wattle used  to construct the walls of buildings, for fences, for fuel, and also for containers such as baskets and panniers. Carefully managed, these trees continued to produce for centuries because they remained in a juvenile state, never growing old. Although our focus here is gardening rather than farming, it is interesting to consider the crops growing in the fields of Iron Age Britain, among them grains such as barley (two varieties, one for beer and the other for flour or porridge); oats, rye, and several varieties of wheat. Other field crops included legumes, like beans and peas; lamb’s quarters (AKA fat hen, Chenopodium album); wild carrot, Daucus carota; and nettles (Urtica spp). Flax (Linum usitatissimum) was raised for linen, and dye plants like madder (for red dye), weld (yellow), and woad (blue) were cultivated. [Britain] bears grain, cattle, gold, silver, and iron. These... are exported from the island…                                      Strabo Iron Age livestock included dairy and meat animals -- cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats. Chickens, ducks, and geese were also domesticated, but not always for the table (eating these animals was sometimes taboo). Cats, dogs, and hares were kept as pets. In addition to the crops listed above, archeologists have found remains of each of the plants below at British sites dating to before the Roman invasion. Nearly every plant listed also appears in later herbals as a medicinal or cosmetic; many are still grown today. That they were found in Iron Age contexts means only that they were present in the environment. Were they grown in Iron Age gardens, or gathered from the wild? How were they used? We don’t know. But these familiar plants have been part of the human experience for millennia. Plants of Iron Age Britain Fruits Apple/crab apple, Malus sylvestris Blackberry/bramble, Rubus fruticosus Bird cherry, Prunus cerasus, P. avium Cloudberry, Rubus chamaemorus Dewberry, Rubus caesius Elderberry, Sambucus nigra Grape, Vitis vinifera Hawthorn, Crataegus spp. Sloe, Prunus domestica insititia, P. spinosa Raspberry, Rubus idaeus Rowan, Sorbus aucuparia Strawberry, alpine, Fragaria vesca Vegetables Bean, Vicia faba minor Carrot, Daucus carota Pea, Pisum sativum Turnip, Brassica rapa Grains Barley, Hordeum vulgare Rye, Secale cereale Wheat, bread, Triticum aestivum Wheat, club, Triticum aestivo-compactum Wheat, einkorn, Triticum monococcum Wheat, emmer, Triticum dicoccon Wheat,  spelt, Triticum spelta Herbs Poppy, Papaver somniferum Nuts Walnuts, Juglans regia Hazel nuts, Corylus avellana Fiber and dye plants Flax, Linum usitatissimum Hemp, Cannibis sativa Nuts Walnuts, Juglans regia Hazel nuts, Corylus avellana Cloudberry Woad Lamb's quarters Sloe Mayweed

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Botanists are among those who know that, in spite of the rude shocks of life, it is well to have lived, and to have seen the everlasting beauty of the world. F.D. Drewitt

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