The Garden History Blog

The first TV gardener…

Posted on 09/08/2014 by The Garden History Blog

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The Voice of the Nation’s Gardeners

Mr Middleton in his garden, from "Mr Middleton Talks about Gardening", 19xx

Mr Middleton in his garden, from “Mr Middleton Talks about Gardening”, 1935

We’re all used to seeing gardening programmes on the TV these days, hosted by an array of “celebrity” TV gardeners but I bet most of us won’t know who the first TV gardener was. And even when I tell you, you probably won’t know much about him even if you have heard his name….. and no it’s not Percy Thrower which is what people seem to think but a man named Cecil Middleton, usually referred to as just “Mr Middleton”.

http://www.westonhall.org

Cecil Henry Middleton was born in 1886 on the Weston Hall estate in Northamptonshire where his father was gardener to Sir George Sitwell, father of Osbert, Edith and Sachaverell.

According to the publishers blurb in his “Outlines of a Small Garden” published originally in 1934, he “spent his boyhood in greenhouses and potting sheds” until he was 17 when he enrolled as a student at Kew.

http://www.westonhall.org

[Incidentally if anyone knows anything about the gardens of Weston Hall then do get in touch as we don’t have an entry for it in our database.]

illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

By 1914 when war broke out he was a horticultural instructor for Surrey County Council and “his expert knowledge was in demand” so he joined the Board of Agriculture as an advisor.

illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

The BBC started gardening talks as early as 1922. A few of these were written by famous gardeners like Vita Sackville-West but mostly they were just a list of practical tips compiled by the Royal Hostriultural Society and read out by the announcer. As broadcasting grew more sophisticated the BBC asked the RHS for more contributors and C.H. Middleton was one of their suggestions, and he was eventually chosen as the presenter from a field that also included Sackville-West.

Middleton was a born broadcaster with a very conversational style, far removed from the normal rather stilted BBC presenter of the time, and began his first talk on 9 May 1931 with the words that soon became one of his catchphrases: ‘Good afternoon. Well, it’s not much of a day for gardening, is it?’

illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

Three years later in 1934 he began his weekly Sunday afternoon talks called “In Your Garden”. These became immensely popular because “there was nothing brainy about them”and became a regular event over the next ten years. It was probably their success that established the BBC, rather than any newspaper or author, as the leading source of gardening information for the public. By 1938 he was able to resign his post as a horticultural instructor and concentrate on his new career as a broadcaster and writer.

Times [London, England] 30 May 1938: 21. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

Mr Middleton’s success on radio put him a good position when television broadcasting began and on 21 November 1936 he presented in the first gardening program. Sadly there are no surviving recordings since the recording tape was expensive and so continually reused.

Times [London, England] 30 May 1938: 21. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

I was also surprised to learn that he was the designer of the first demonstration garden laid out in the grounds of Alexandra Palace and which he used during his broadcasts.

Not only that but in 1938 he also pioneered televised visits to the Chelsea Flower Show – so eat your heart out Mr Titchmarsh!

By this point his understated image and voice were instantly recognisable. Comic actor, Nelson Keys, was able to gently mimic and impersonate him on a variety show. Sadly there only a few seconds of this survive but you can still see how accurate it probably was.

and his advice was turned into a cabaret song …..

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/vine-more-and-nevard-1/query/middleton

Unfortunately his TV career did not last long because televised broadcasting stopped with the onset of war in 1939 and Middleton died before it was resumed in 1946. However his radio broadcasts went from strength to strength, and by 1940, about 3.5 million people were listening to “In Your Garden”, which was, because of the dispersal of the BBC during the war, broadcast from a studio at Evesham. By 1942 that number had risen to about 70% of those households with radio sets. In other words most of the country tuned in to listen to Middleton.

He spoke knowledgeably yet straightforwardly, appealing to both those who were experienced and the many novices pushed into productive gardening by wartime necessity, and who perhaps until then had “only dreamed of gardening”.

“Potatoes and beans are munitions of war as surely as bullets and shells.”
from Your Garden in War-Time, 1941

He was a key figure too in the Dig for Victory Campaign: “There is no more peaceful spot on earth than an English garden, and for some years you and I have been building up our little flower gardens, making them more beautiful, more intimate and more than ever an essential part of our homes. But grim times are with us, and under the stress of circumstances we are now called onto reorganise those gardens and turn them into munitions factories…the gardeners of England can do much to help the nation in its hour of need.” [Preface to Your Garden in War-Time, 1941]

illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

In one Ministry of Information campaign Mr Middleton was also seen as a cartoon character leaning on gate telling how the public how to go about making a compost heap or ‘plant canteen’. The short film was designed to promote the joys and benefits of compost making and urging people not to waste anything that could be recycled.

Middleton compiled many of his talks into a series of books. These were issued unillustrated and as cheaply as possibly during the war to promote vegetable growing, although he actually preferred growing flowers. He ended the preface of his most famous collection Your Garden in War Time in June 1941 saying “we must look forward to the time when tis nightmare will end – as end it must – and the morning will break with all our favourite flowers to greet us once more, and who nows, perhaps my next volume of talks will be of roses, mignonette, daffodils and lilies.”

He became a celebrity by default. He broadcast on Children’s Hour, and worked for children’s charities; gave speeches and opened flower shows, wrote a regular column for the Daily Express, and even gave celebrity endorsement to gardening products.

“Obituary.” Times [London, England] 19 Sept. 1945: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

Then in September 1945, just as the war ended, Mr Midleton died suddenly outside his home in Surbiton. Pathe News recorded part of his funeral cortege and included the only known piece of film footage of him giving gardening advice.

Ten years later there was a memorial appeal, and the BBC installed new gates in his honour on a garden behind the Langham Hotel in Cavendish Place.

The Queen of Flowers, illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

The Middleton Rose Garden at the Langham Hotel http://london.langhamhotels.co.uk

One of the oldest gardens in the West End the Middleton Garden, as it has been known since 1961, has recently been revamped recently by the Langham group as “a rose garden” available for hire as a wedding venue. Sadly there aren’t many roses on show and Mr Middleton probably wouldn’t recognise the site of his former allotment!

His legacy was a strong base of practical gardening advice delivered in an unassuming and unpatronising way. And 50 years after the first broadcast this was still being celebrated by the BBC.

Kenneth Gosling. “Growing memories at the BBC.” Times [London, England] 15 July 1981: 14. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

Kenneth Gosling. “Mr Middleton, the man who gave gardening its own voice.” Times [London, England] 19 June 1981: VIII. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.

Even in 2000, 55 years after his death, Mr Middleton was ranked 9th (immediately below Gertrude Jekyll and Prince Charles, although a long way behind Geoff Hamilton who had recently died) in a poll of readers of Amateur Gardening Magazine who voted for their “Gardener of the Millennium”: [[Vicky Bamforth, The Gardener’s Companion 2004]. Given that most of those voting would neither have seen or heard him broadcasting that seems a pretty good indication of his importance as a moving force in modern gardening and horticulture…and a good reason for celebrating his life.

illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

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illustration by Eric Fraser, from C.H. Middleton In Your Garden, 1938

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Alexandra Palace, BBC, Eric Fraser, Middleton, Sitwell, Vita Sackville-West, War, Weston Hall | Leave a comment

Wisteria….

Posted on 02/08/2014 by The Garden History Blog

The south front of Dyffryn House, near Cardiff
©David Marsh, 2014

I’ve just spent a couple of days visiting historic gardens around Cardiff, an area of the country that I did not know at all. One of them was Dyffryn, an Italianate mansion set in a splendid Edwardian garden designed by Thomas Mawson for the industrialist and coal magnate John Cory, and his plant-mad son Reginald.

But in this post I’m not going to rave about Dyffryn’s whole series of semi-secret small gardens, or the wonderful herbaceous borders, or the arboretum with its collection of champion trees, or even Reginald Cory’s plant hunting expeditions. Nor am I going to talk about the way the National Trust is involving the community in its plans for the house, or the enthusiasm of the garden team or even the delicious afternoon teas that are available. All that’s going to have to wait a little while…. and instead I’m going to talk about wisteria.

The garden entrance at Dyffryn, by Edith Adie, 1923 © Royal Horticultural Society

It’s not quite such a non-sequitur as you might think.

A few days before my visit I noticed that one of the many wisteria in my own garden has begun a second flush of flowers, and then wondered why I knew so little about them as a plant family, particularly as they play such a prominent role in many British gardens. Did you know, for example, that Chinese wisteria – Wisteria sinensis – twines its stems anti-clockwise, while Japanese wisteria – Wisteria floribunda – grows clockwise?

The mansion at Dyffryn has a colonnaded and balconied entrance on the garden front, planted with wisteria and it too had a few splashes of colour from repeat flowering. Cory’s bedroom opened directly onto the balcony and gave him long views down the main axis of the garden. Although the house is now almost completely empty, his former bedroom walls had series of paintings by Edith Adie of the gardens in their heyday in 1923…. and there were wisterias everywhere….. so what better excuse to do some research?

Wisteria by the Reflecting Pool, by Edith Adie, 1923 Royal Horticultural Society.

The wisteria has been around a long time. Fossils at least 7 million years old have been found in China [Wang, Q. et al, “Fruit and leaflets of Wisteria… from the Miocene”, International Journal of Plant Sciences, 2006 167:1061–1074.] but despite that they only came to European notice in the last 300 years.

Wisteria frutescens
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, vol. 46: t. 2103 (1819)

Wisterias originated in 3 main locations in the world. The two more obvious ones are China and Japan but the first specimens to reach Europe came from Mark Catesby who was collecting plants in Carolina in 1724. Now known as Wisteria frutescens it was named Glycine frutescens by Linnaeus in Species Plantorum (1754), the starting point for modern botanical nomenclature. In many early nursery catalogues it was known as the Carolina Kidney Bean in because its spotted seeds were thought to resemble very small kidney beans. Wisteria frutescens doesn’t have the same widespread appeal as its Asiatic cousins, probably because its sprays of flowers – technically its racemes – are much smaller and less fragrant. This might be set to change as, with the trend to smaller and smaller gardens, breeders have developed a variety suitable for containers. This is now widely available as “Amethyst Falls”.

Wisteria sinensis by John Reeves, from the Reeves Colelction of Chinese drawings, vol.2 No.64, Lindley Library, RHS.

Much more popular is the chinese wisteria, wisteria sinensis. The first European to mention it was a French Jesuit missionary, Domenic Parennin in the early 18thc who described “the climbing plant teng lo with beautiful violet flowers hanging down in large bunches”. But it was not actually seen in Europe until 1816. It was probably sent by John Reeves who worked for the East India Company in their base near Canton who had acquired it from the garden of a local Chinese merchant whose anglicised name was Consequa. Another specimen, from the same garden source, arrived a few days later on another East Indiaman. This one was given to Thomas Palmer of Bromley.

The authoritative Curtis’s Botanical Magazine has a long entry in 1819 discussing its classification before naming it Glycene sinensis, and then describing the plant and its arrival.The botanist Thomas Nuttall reclassified it as Wistaria after Caspar Wistar, a Philadelphia doctor, or just possibly after his friend Charles Jones Wister. In earlier texts it is usually spelled with an ‘a’ but more modern sources use an ‘e’. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

To be honest,tough though wisterias are, it’s amazing the first one survived given how it was treated!

from Curtis Botanical Magazine, vol.56, 1819, p.242

Wisteria sinensis then known as Glycine sinensis, tab 2038, from Curtis’s Botanical magazine, vol,46, 1817-8

In 1826 the Transactions of the Horticultural Society included a detailed article by Joseph Sabine about the early history in cultivation. The first newly propagated plants had been given to the Horticultural Society, and to a Lady Long of Bromley, as well as to two commercial nurseries, Loddidges in Hackney and Lee’s in Hammersmith. Already the plant’s tough qualities were being noticed: “It does not require any nicety of management” and “it is impatient of the knife”. Although at least one of the specimens was being grown under glass it had survived harsh winters and was clearly ” a hardy shrub in our climate” and “among our best ornamental shrubs”. [Follow this link for Sabine’s article in full ]

Fullers Brewery in Chiswick, west London claims to have the oldest surviving specimen in Britain growing on their former head brewers cottage wall: see

John indley from Makers of British Botany http://www.archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv

By 1840 the Horticultural Society’s specimen “was an object of great attention” and John Lindley, the society’s secretary was obviously impressed.[or slightly crazy?] He used it as “as evidence…of the creative power of Nature”, calculating that “the number of branches was about 9000 and of flowers 675,000. Each flower consisting of 5 petals, the number of these parts was 3,375,000” and continued through ovaries, ovules and seeds to explain that the plant had 27 billion grains of pollen and “that all the petals been laid end to end they would have extended to a distance of more than thirty four miles.”

and from the other side! National Trust images

Wisteria sinensis alba, at Sissinghurst National Trust images

1844 saw the “discovery” of the white form – wisteria sinensis alba – in a garden by Robert Fortune, who was able to get permission to take layers from it, and by 1847 a specimen was growing in the Horticultural Society/’s garden in Chiswick.

Wisteria expert Peter Valder says that after this there were very few new introductions of wisterias from China, and that whereas Japanese nurserymen realised there was a market for their plants abroad and even produced catalogues, their Chinese counterparts showed no interest. The likelihood is therefore that until very recently most of the wisteria sinensis grown in Europe came from the same very limited genetic stock, but Valder notes that on plants he had seen in cultivation in several Chinese cities “no two plants appeared to be the same’ so that there is hope for a lot of further hybridization. [For more information see Peter Valder, Wisterias: A Comprehensive Guide, [Balmain, Australia, 1995]

Our third source for garden wisterias, Japan, is better appreciated and understood. There are two species indigenous to the Japanese archipelago: Wisteria brachybotrys and the better known Wisteria floribunda. They have both been esteemed, recorded and hybridized for centuries by the Japanese, even featuring in literature and poetry as early as the 8th century. Yet, even more than China, Japan was isolated, deliberately so, from the west. Indeed from 1638 until 1858 Japan was closed to foreigners and the Japanese themselves forbidden to travel overseas. Only a single tiny Dutch trading outpost was allowed, on an artificial island in the harbour of Nagasaki where the handful of inhabitants were closely monitored and all contact with the Japanese strictly regulated. There is a very readable fictional account of life there in David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (20xx).

from Phillip von Siebold, Flora Japonica (1835-41)

It is only through the work of 3 physicians to the trading posts [all later remembered in the names of plant species] that any knowledge of Japanese plants and gardens reached Europe. Engelbert Kaempfer was there from 1690-92 and published his account of Japan including many plants in 1712 – amongst them the two species of wisteria or Too Fudsi and Jamma Fudsi as he called them. Nearly a century later Carl Thunberg became the trading post’s doctor, and on his return published Flora Japonica in 1794. Later still, in the 1820s, Phillip von Siebold managed to send back both herbarium and living specimens but the Japanese wisteria – Wisteria floribunda – was probably not introduced into cultivation until 1830 in America and probably even later in Europe. It was only after the enforced opening of Japan to western trade after Commodore Perry’s expedition that further introductions took place.

Wisteria floribunda [then described as wisteria multijuga] from Louis Houtte, Flore des Serres, vol.19 1873

Wisteria floribunda multijuga , from Louis Houtte, Flore des Serres, vol.19 1873

The fact that the Chinese and Japanese wisterias did not reach England until the 19thc did not stop them quickly achieving a special place in the English garden. As early as 1872, writing in The Garden William Robinson described them as “among our most common and valued climbers”. The following year a full page illustration of Salt Hill hotel at Slough proved the point.

Salt Hill Hotel, from The Garden, August 3o, 1873

But because they were new introductions they were not always planted wisely. Gertrude Jekyll commented on this “odd misuse of a fine plant” in her book Gardens for Small Country Houses in 1913.

The wisteria at Carnwath House, Fulham which grew through the floor and departed through the wall! from Philip Davies, Lost London 1870-1945, English Heritage.

An even worse case was the wisteria planted at Carnwath House in Fulham. “This beautiful villa…commands a fine view of the Thames which flows within a few yards of the pleasure ground which are adorned with some fine cedars of Lebanon and other ornamental trees and shrubs [William Keane, The Beauties of Middlesex, 1850]. The house may have been the model for Sir Barnett Skittles villa in Dicken’s Dombey and Son….although I’m sure Sir Barnett did not have a wisteria planted quite so curiously as this one!

The wisteria in Lord Sackville’s private garden at Knole, National Gardens Scheme

Wisterias are mentioned as specific features in 38 of the parks and gardens listed on our database, and over 60 of the gardens open under the National Gardens Scheme claim them as outstanding features, and while the main wisteria season is over there are still plenty of plants in flower to admire.

Wisteria sinensis alba at Sissinghurst
http://www.invectis.co.uk/sissing/sswall.htm

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Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens, National Gardens Scheme

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cory, Dyffryn, Edith Adie, John Lindley, National Gardens Scheme, National Trust, Royal Horticultural Society | 3 Comments

Garden Menageries… 1: Coombe Abbey

Posted on 25/07/2014 by The Garden History Blog

The Feather‘d Fair in a Fright Hand-coloured mezzotint, 1777 Carrington Bowles after John Collet (publisher) British Museum from http://christopherplumb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/plumbthesis2010.pdf

As gardeners and garden historians we are used to hearing about the discovery, trade and cultivation of non-native plants. We know that as western Europeans discovered, then traded with and finally conquered much of the rest of the world plant hunters were not far behind the explorers, the merchants, the generals and admirals. Indeed sometimes they were the same people. What we probably do not think about quite as often is the way that the animal and bird kingdoms were plundered as much as the plant world, with exotic specimens transported round the world for the pleasure, curiosity and potential economic benefit they could bring to their new homes and owners.

The reconstrcution of Robert Dudley’s garden at Kenilworth, with the aviary on the left.
from http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/elizabethan-garden-kenilworth-castle/

With the ‘discovery’ of the Americas and the opening up of trade routes to Asia via the Cape this passion for collecting the new, the unusual and the exotic developed rapidly. Even England, a late starter in the whole business, was affected. In 1575 Robert Langham wrote a detailed description of Robert Dudley’s garden at Kenilworth including the massive Italianate aviary. This was used as part of the evidence for the recent recreation by English Heritage. Langham admired the top cornice painted and gilded to look as though it had been ‘beautified with great diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires’ as well as the varied songs and colours of the ‘lively birds, English, French, Spanish, Canarian, and I am deceived if I saw not some African’. These were likely to have been the canary and other new introductions such as guinea fowl.

Much of Langham’s lengthy description can be found at:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/kenilworth-castle/elizabethan-garden/langham-extracts/

William Brooke, 10th Lord of Cobham and his Family
by an artist of the British School, 1567
(Longleat House collection)

There are also several Elizabethan portraits which include rare birds such as parrots as signs of the owner’s wealth, although I cannot think of any which show unusual animals in the same way. Please let me know if you do, but I think there is a good reason for this discrepancy which I’ll come onto towards the end of this post.

By the 17th century Louis XIV wanting, as always, to outdo the rest of Europe built an extraordinarily large and elaborate menagerie in the park at Versailles to contain his growing collection of unusual creatures. And of course where Louis led other monarchs followed…and where monarchs went their aristocratic elites followed too.

England was no exception. Although Charles II was stony broke in comparison with his French cousin, he still managed to create an aviary and small menagerie in his revamped St James Park. Such creatures were written about, painted and then made more popular as the subject of prints. They were even used for models for drawing lessons!

Exotic Birds
by Robert Robinson, published by John Smith, mezzotint, circa 1683-1695
National Portrait Gallery

A dromedary camel above, and a lion below; plate 5 from A Booke Containing such Beasts… most Usefull for… Drawing, Graveing, Armes Painting, Chaseing, and for severall other occasions. After Francis Barlow. 1664
© Copyright The Trustees of The British Museum

As more of the world was explored so more animals and birds were brought back to western europe and to new homes in menageries and collections, and since western empires expanded much more rapidly from the mid-18thc onwards it is from the mid-18thc that we see the appearance of a large number of private menageries.

Buy a fine singing Bird from The Cryes of the City of London Drawne after the Life, by Marcellus Laroon, 1688. British Museum

It’s important to point out that these creatures were not ‘pets’ – a term that according to the Oxford Dictionary doesn’t even appear in English until 1710 – but luxury commodities which could be bought, sold, exchanged, displayed and exploited.

Many Georgian aristocrats constructed special buildings in their parks and gardens to house newly imported creatures, observe them, breed them and display them to their friends. “Exotic animals were … present in the residences of the aristocracy and gentry in meaningful numbers [but] despite substantial scholarship on the Georgian home, there is a conspicuous absence” of research about them. [See Christopher Plumb’s Ph.D thesis, p.20 http://christopherplumb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/plumbthesis2010.pdf p.20%5D x

Coombe Abbey and its parkland from Google Maps

Coombe Abbey, 1909
Country Life Imageshttp://www.countrylifeimages.co.uk/Image.aspx?id=4be86a2d-6fc9-404b-97df-811e52eb088c&rd=2|coombe%20abbey||1|20|10|150

Amongst those listed on our database is the menagerie at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire. The park was laid out by by Capability Brown for the Earl of Craven in 1770. Brown was given a pretty free hand as a letter from the earl shows: “I desire you to exert your utmost abilities to improve the place and shall leave everything else to you.” The menagerie is tucked away in woodland at the extreme eastern end of the parkland, [to the left on the image] and close to the lake. The various new outbuildings around the estate were designed either by Brown himself or more probably his son-in-law Henry Holland. It is likely that the inspiration for the design came from Versailles which Holland had almost certainly visited.

The Menagerie pavilion, with the associated buildings to the north from Google maps

The Menagerie, 2009 after major restoration
http://www.coventry-walks.org.uk/coombe/ca-news-menagerie-1.htm

The central building was not for the animals themselves but designed for the owner and his guests to view them from in comfort. Close by were the keeper’s house and other associated buildings for storage and shelter for the animals.

The estate was sold in 1923 and large parts of the mansion demolished and the rest stripped for saleable items. It was bought in 1964 by Coventry City Council and is now a hotel and country park. After suffering decades of vandalism and neglect the menagerie pavilion was eventually sold off as a wreck but has been rescued and converted into a 5 bedroomed house. The restoration project featured in a Channel Five television programme “Build a new life in the country”.

And if you want to know what it’s like inside now then take a look at: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-27978930.htmlas

as it was available to rent earlier this year for just over £800 a week. The owners say they have seen no sign of its previous animal occupants but it is still surrounded by a very high brick wall that encloses the garden right down to the edge of Brown’s lake.

Apart from the entry on our database:

http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/894/summary

there are two very readable and thorough reports about the whole estate. Coventry City Council who own the Country Park have a detailed management plan, including a full history of the site, which is downloadable at: http://www.coventry.gov.uk/site/scripts/google_results.php?q=coombe+abbey+management+plan

There is also a Conservation Area Appraisal on the estate prepared by Rugby Borough Council in whose boundaries the estate actually lies. This can be found at: Download Now – Rugby Borough Council

It was through reading these that I discovered that Lord Craven’s menagerie was not the first on the site…and indeed was probably not as grand or unusual as the earlier one.

John Harrington’s memorial in Exton church, Rutland
© Copyright J.Hannan-Briggs and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

A previous owner, Sir John, later Lord, Harrington of Exton was a courtier who was entrusted with the education of James I’s daughter, Princess Elisabeth – later famous as Elizabeth of Bohemia or the Winter Queen – shortly after the king came to the throne in 1603. She came to live at Coombe Abbey with an entire court in miniature.

Princess Elizabeth
by Robert Peake, 1603
National Maritime Museum. The picture was probably commissioned by Harrington and may well show the gardens at Coombe

Harrington had clearly created a wonderful garden at Coombe and it, and the princess’s stay, are described in a book by one of her ladies in waiting, Lady Frances Erskine, which were published in 1770 as Memoirs relating to the Queen of Bohemia. It is available as a free download at:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5DRcAAAAcAAJ&pg

Flora: flowers fruicts beastes birds and flies exactly drawne, With their true colours lively described, by John Payne, 1620 but compiled from earlier continental printed sources.
© Copyright The Trustees of The British Museum

Marcus Geheeraerts the elder, Avium Vivae Icones, published in Antwerp before 1590 http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/gheeraerts-marcus-le-vieux-avium-vivae-5731159-details.aspx.

Elizabeth was apparently “extremely fond of all the feathered Tribe, and never read or heard of any beautiful or uncommon Bird, or Fowl, but she wanted to see it; and she now formed the Design of collecting, in this, little Paradise, all the different Kinds that are in Nature; which, though she could not accomplish, yet she soon had a greater Variety than I ever saw” [p.113] She managed this by asking everyone she knew “who ever had any Thing curious, or could procure it from any of their Acquaintances, in other Parts of the World” and “they hastened to present it to the little Princess.” [p.114]. As a result “her Garden and Green house, were as well stored with Curiosities, and exotic Plants, as her Minagerie, with Creatures.” [p.114].

Harrington was clearly a highly educated and inquisitive man who was at the cutting edge of advances in science and technology. He and the princess used his microscope “which had been very lately discovered by Dribill, a Dutchman”, for studying insects, and this became “a frequent and favourite Entertainment”. [p.117-8] Lady Frances also reports that “There was one of the best Telescopes at Lord Harrington’s, that had yet been made, (it was not above fifty-two Years that they had been ﬁrst invented) and the looking through it at the moon and other Planets was always an Entertainment to us.” [p.109]

Exotic Birds by Adriaen Collaert [d.1618] published in Amsterdam, c. 1640 http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/collaert-adriaen-avium-vivae-icones-amsterdam-5731158-details.aspx

Exotic Birds by Adriaen Collaert [d.1618] from Avium Vivium Icones, published in Amsterdam, c. 1640
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/collaert-adriaen-avium-vivae-icones-amsterdam-5731158-details.aspx

Elizabeth was given “an island” on the estate, and there she ordered “a little thatched cottage” to be built for “a poor widow and her children” to live in, “take care of the different sort of Fowls that were-to be kept there; the out-side of this House was to have some Alteration made in it, to give it the Appearance of an Hermitage, and near it a Grotto, the Adorning of which with Shells and Moss, was the Amusement of many of her leisure Hours” [p.111]

She also ordered an aviary “like that she had heard Queen Elizabeth had admired so much, at the late Earl Of Leicester’s in Imitation of which, the Top of this was round, with coloured Glais, that looked, at a little Distance, like rough Emeralds and Rubies, seemingly the Produce of a Rock, overgrown with Moss, which formed the Back and Roof of the Aviary ; the rest was inclosed with a Net of gilt Wire: Within were many Bushes, for the Birds to perch upon, and Water falling continually from the artiﬁcial Rock, into a shallow Marble Bason, in which the pretty little feathered Inhabitants drank and bathed at Pleasure, and Recesses were made in the Rock for them to build their Nests in.” [p.112]

Parrots by Adriaen Collaert [d.1618] c.1617 from Avium Vivae Icones
http://www.annexgalleries.com/

“NEAR this, a Cottage was repaired for an old Man, who had the care of the Birds; and as there are many beautiful ones in other Countries, which cannot live in this, such as the Bird of Paradise, and humming Birds, their Feathers and Skins were stuﬀed, and hung about the Aviary. Representations of several other Creatures were placed in different Parts of the Wood, and the Pictures of such, whose Skins could not easily be had, adorned the little wooden Buildings.” [p.113]

Animalum quadrapedum omnis generis verae et artificiosissimae, by Adriaen Collaert, [d.1618]

from Animalum quadrapedum , by Adriaen Collaert, [d.1618]

What I’m sure you noticed is that most of the exotic ceatures Elizabeth was collecting were birds. Presumably this is because their diet, living space, and even simple size made it much easier to transport birds around the world than any animal, but particularly large ones. Nor are exotic fish of any sort ever mentioned. Transporting them would have been even harder, as the need for fresh water, correct temperature and oxygen would have been almost impossible. The easy display of fish would also have posed problems before the invention of plate glass enabled aquaria to be made, and only goldfish from China seem to have survived the perils of long sea journeys to become the exotic element in garden pools. Coombe’s two remarkable menageries are just the tip of the iceberg, and I’m planning on returning to the subject in the future. Check out our database, the Bartlett Society, Sally Festing’s article or Christopher Plumb’s thesis [and forthcoming book] for more information:

A camel, giraffe, chameleon in a tree, flying dragon, ichneumon, spider, and various insects and flowers, 1663, from Animalium, ferarum et bestiarum issued by Hollar and Stent

A camel, giraffe, chameleon in a tree, flying dragon, ichneumon, spider, and various insects and flowers, from Animalium, ferarum et bestiary , engraved by Hollar and published by Stent, 1663

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aviary, Bartlett, Capability Brown, Christopher Plumb, elizabeth of bohemia, grotto, henry holland, Kenilworth Castle, menagerie, plant hunters, sally festing, winter queen | Leave a comment

Elephants and the royal menagerie…

Posted on 17/07/2014 by The Garden History Blog

Henry I
from British Library, Royal Ms 20 A. ii, f. 6v., c.1300

After a look at mechanical elephants in our parks and gardens I thought perhaps I should look at the place of the real thing there as well. Garden menageries have a long history: the earliest recorded in Britain from the early 12th century in the grounds of what is now Blenheim Palace. The chronicler, William of Malmesbury, writing around 1130, noted that Henry I “was extremely fond of the wonders of distant countries, begging with great delight, as I have observed, from foreign kings, lions, leopards, lynxes or camels – animals which England does not produce. He had a park called Woodstock in which he used to place the favourites of this kind.”

Porcupine, from Historia Animalium by Conrad Gesner, 1551

Sadly no elephants but instead in 1110 Henry walled in part of the grounds to contain his collection and “he had placed there also a creature called the porcupine, sent to him by William of Montpellier… covered with bristly hairs which it naturally darts against the dogs when pursuing it; moreover these are, as I have seen, more than a span long, sharp at each extremity, like the quills of a goose where the feather ceases, but rather thicker and speckled, as it were with back and white.”

The Old Palace of Woodstock from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Vol. VII. 1826.

Unfortunately there is no trace of Henry’s private zoo since the decaying mediaeval palace was pulled down and all its the gardens obliterated when Blenheim was built for the Duke of Marlborough in the early 18thc.

Henry I’s royal menagerie was later moved to the Tower of London, and it was there in 1255 that Matthew Paris, a monk from St Albans Abbey, was able to draw from life a “beast about ten years old, possessing a rough hide rather than fur”. The creature had “small eyes at the top of its head, and eats and drinks with a trunk.”

Henry III's elephant from Matthew Paris, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Parker Ms 16.

Henry III’s elephant from Matthew Paris, Chronica maiora, Parker Ms 16., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

A gift to Henry III from the king of France, and probably captured during his time on crusade, it was “a beast most strange and woonderfull to the English people, sith most seldome or neuer any of that kind had béene séene in England before that time.” (Raphael Holinshed Chronicles, vol. 3, 1586] It was housed a specially built wooden house, some 20 ft by 40ft, at a cost of £22. Its spacious surroundings were no guarantee of longevity though and the poor animal died within a couple of years. Its skeleton was later disinterred although no-one knows quite why. It may have been put on display as the bones of a biblical giant like Goliath or more probably used to make fake saints relics and ivory reliquaries to house them!

Elephant from Matthew Paris, Chronica maiora, Part II, Parker Library, MS 16, fol. 151v

Elephant from Matthew Paris, Chronica maiora, Parker MS 16, Corpus Christi College Cambridge

You can discover more about Matthew Paris and his elephant drawings and descriptions at the blog page of the Parker Library in Cambridge:

Matthew Paris and the Elephant at the Tower

The silver yale of the Beauforts in the reconstructed Tudor garden at Hampton Court
http://patrickbaty.co.uk/2009/09/03/a-tudor-garden/

Even as late as the Tudor period, the elephant must have seemed as mysterious and strange as many of the mythical creatures in mediaeval bestiaries – dragons, cyclops, mermaids and, of course, unicorns. But strangely, unlike many other exotic or legendary animals it was never adopted as an heraldic symbol by the crown or any other leading families in England. These heraldic beasts were an important element of elite Tudor gardens and I’m going to return to them at some point in the future.

Commentators still depended mainly on classical or scriptural sources for their knowledge. The very word elephant must have formed a vivid mental image even though they had hardly ever been seen in this country.

Miniature of an elephant and castle; from a bestiary, England, mid 13th century, Harley MS 4751

Miniature of an elephant and castle; from a mid-13thc English bestiary, British Library, Harley MS 4751

As a result the animal is often portrayed as a military weapon which it had been in the west since the time of Alexander the Great : “the stronge & mighty elephaunte With a castell on his backe” [William Nevill, The Castell of Pleasure, 1530], or associated with the biblical Behemoth: “the greatest beast on earth” [John Meerbecke, A booke of notes and common places, 1581].

Perhaps because of these associations elephants were clearly popular royal gifts.

Henry VIII was given an elephant together with its keepers, although we don’t know who gave it to him. It might have been one of the few living things to disobey his royal wishes: “There is an elephant given to the king, but none can guide him but they that came with the present.” [Thomas Horton, Vulgaria, 1519, f.192v].

one of the Oxburgh Hangings, made by Bess of Hardwick and Mary Queen of Scots and their circle, c.1

Elizabeth I received her elephant from France. It had been sent to Henri IV by sea from India but apparently when the king discovered the cost of feeding it he had it forwarded to “madame ma bonne suer” over the channel. What happened to it I have been unable to find out, so if you have any information do let me know.

James I also received a pachydermous gift, along with 5 camels, this time from the King of Spain in 1623. However it didn’t last long since its keepers were told to give it nothing but wine to drink to help ward off the cold!

silk and silver thread embroidery panel of a camel, c.1600-1625
V&A

silk and silver thread embroidery panel of an elephant, c.1600-1625
V&A

All in all, I suspect that Wilfrid Blunt was right when he remarked: “Interfauna is always a less satisfactory service than Interflora.” [Blunt, The Ark in the Park, 1976, p.161]

The Tower of London, 1597 by Haiward and gascoyne from http://www.royalarmouries.org

The Tower of London, 1597 by Haiward and gascoyne The Lion Tower is the isolated projection into the moat, reached by its own bridge, on the bottom left hand side of the plan.
from http://www.royalarmouries.org

Despite forcing his elephant to become a dipsomaniac, James rated his collection of animals very highly and had the Lion Tower extended to provide a large viewing platform for guests. This was, however, was not so that the animals could be better observed out of scientific interest, but in order to allow viewers to watch them being baited by dogs in the pit below. Exotic beasts might have been extremely rare and expensive but they were still disposable toys. James not only maintained the menagerie in the Tower of London but set up a second one in St James’ Park, which contained many varieties of exotic birds, particularly from North America, as well a beaver and, believe it or not, an American Indian.

―The Great White Elephant‖ (Printed between 1702 and 1714) Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

The Great White Elephant‖ (Between 1702 and 1714) Bodleian Library, http://christopherplumb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/plumbthesis2010.pdf, p.243

By the mid 18thc and the establishment of British rule in India elephants had become a slightly more common sight in Britain, as had many other exotic animals. A menagerie became a ‘must-have’ feature on many landed estates the length and breadth of the country, although I have only found evidence of an elephant being kept in one of them.

A quick look at our database suggests that at least 21 sites had menageries associated with them, while Sally Festing’s research, (“Menageries and the landscape garden“, Journal of Garden History 1988, 8:4, p104-117) names 43, with a strong suspicion that many more examples have been lost without record. More about some of them in my next post.

John Clarke,Keeper of the menagerie at Windsor, by John Lewis, 1828 Royal Collection

John Clarke,Keeper of the menagerie at Windsor, by John Lawrence, 1828
Royal Collection

The royal menagerie in the Tower was open to the public, with an admission fee of threepence at the beginning of the 18thc rising to a shilling by the end. There was, however,an alternative way of paying: with a dog or a cat which could be fed to the lions!

By the time George IV came to the throne the collection had dwindled down to almost nothing: a grizzly bear, assorted birds and surprisingly an elephant. George rebuilt the collection and opened another private menagerie in the Great Park at Windsor Castle which was soon full of exotic animals from the ever-growing empire, including a giraffe, wapiti, zebus, gnus, quaggas, llamas, emus, ostriches and parrots

However, his brother and successor, William IV, was not interested in the collections and both the Windsor and Tower menageries were quickly closed down after he came to throne. In 1831 the surviving 150 animals, including kangaroos, camels, bears, and llamas, but by now no elephant, were transferred to the care of the newly formed Zoological Society in Regents Park.

THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION, Vol. 12. No. 330.]SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1828 https://archive.org/download/themirrorofliter11389gut/11389-h/11389-h.htm

The new zoological gardens in Regent’s Park, from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, Vol. 12. No. 330, 6 September, 1828
https://archive.org/download/themirrorofliter11389gut/11389-h/11389-h.htm

As The Mirror of Literature said: “The gardens, independent of their zoological attractions, are a delightful promenade, being laid out with great taste, and the parterres boasting a beautiful display of flowers. The animals, too, are seen to much greater advantage than when shut up in a menagerie, and have the luxury of fresh air, instead of unwholesome respiration in a room or caravan.”

The elephant in his bath at Regent’s Park, from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, Vol.20, No. 530 4 August 1832 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11705/11705-h/11705-h.htm

Elephants were clearly seen as a desirable and necessary requirement for a menagerie and two were quickly acquired by the Zoological Society for Regent’s Park. They lived in what was claimed to be “luxurious accommodation” of “capacious dimensions”, but “built in a style of inappropriate rusticity”. They also had “a little park or paddock. The fence is of iron, and light but substantial. Within the area are a few lime-trees, the lower branches of which are thinned by the Elephant repeatedly twisting off their foliage with his trunk, as adroitly as a gardener would gather fruit.” But it was a large pool where “In hot weather he enjoys his ablutions …with great gusto, exhibiting the liveliest tokens of satisfaction and delight. Our artist has endeavoured to represent the noble creature in his bath, though the pencil can afford but an imperfect idea of the extasy of the animal on this occasion.” (The Mirror of Literature, 4 August 1832].

The full story of the royal menagerie can be found in Daniel Hahn’s The Tower Menagerie (2003).

When I initially started writing this post I didn’t really expect to find much research to draw upon, and so thought it might lead to just one or two more short posts about menageries and aviaries in parks and gardens over the coming weeks and months. How wrong could I be? There is, in fact, a lively group of researchers out there – archaeologists, zoologists, cultural historians, as well as a few garden historians who have produced some really interesting work over the past few years. The best place to start if you are interested in knowing more is the Bartlett Society, named in honour of Abraham Bartlett, the great nineteenth-century superintendent of the Zoological Society of London’s gardens at Regent’s Park:

http://www.zoohistory.co.uk/home

The historical research that really got me excited was a recent PhD thesis (Manchester 2010) by Christopher Plumb on exotic animals in 18thc England. It’s erudite, fascinating and rather macabre by turns, and amazingly, Dr Plumb has made it freely available on the web, although he is also turning it into a book. If you are interested in man’s evolving relationship with animals or in topics such as “The Queen’s Ass”, “Exotic animals as luxury ingredients”, or “Eroticising the eel” then I strongly urge you to take a look.

http://christopherplumb.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/plumbthesis2010.pdf

And there’s a whole chapter on elephants in Britain 1675-1830! So expect some more posts over the coming months about keeping animals in our gardens and parks.

fromhttp://londonselephants.blogspot.co.uk Regents Park July 2008

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http://www.theglobetrotter.co.uk/2013/10/the-tower-of-london.html

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bartlett, Blenheim, Christopher Plumb, elephants, Elizabeth I, George IV, Henry VIII, James I, porcupine, Regent's Park, royal beast, Tower of London, Tudor, Woodstock, Zoo | 1 Comment

Mechanical elephants….

Posted on 10/07/2014 by The Garden History Blog

I know that Britain’s parks and gardens are amazing places, and that some of them had aviaries and small menageries in them – indeed a few still do – but it was still a surprise to discover this piece of film footage from 1949.

Jumbo is a pretty impressive piece of engineering and so obviously I wondered what he/she/it was doing in a public park in Hull. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to discover much more because the local newspaper online archive doesn’t go back that far , and although the Hull History Centre has a webpage devoted to the city’s parks and gardens, including a short entry on Pickering Park, there’s no mention of Jumbo anywhere. Unfortunately our database can’t help either, because try as we might, we still haven’t got entries on every park in Britain yet and Pickering Park is one that still needs some research, so if you know anything about it please get in touch.

from http://cyberneticzoo.com

Jumbo was the brainchild of Frank Smith, a mechanically-minded coach driver, and his real home wasn’t a park in Hull but a garage in Morecambe! Here he is, being led by Mr Smith’s son Eric along the seafront promenade. Indeed Morecambe became the home of a whole herd of mechanical pachyderms as Mr Smith then sold the patent to a local company who went into mass – perhaps even mammoth – production. One of them has just been restored and was back at work recently:

Elephant returns to Lancashire

The whole story of Frank Smith and his invention is fascinating and can be found in various press cuttings & photos as well as a long letter written by his son which can be found on a wonderful website devoted to all things to do with early robots and cybernetic animals.

http://cyberneticzoo.com

Morecambe Gazette 15th April 1983
from: http://cyberneticzoo.com

I don’t want to steal all their thunder or all of the many surprises and eccentricities that you’ll find on cybernetic zoo but can’t resist sharing an extract from just one more cutting… and just how British is this?

http://gizmodo.com/everyone-should-get-to-travel-in-a-giant-mechanical-ele-1596340321

Frank Smith’s home-made elephant was, however, by no means unique. A rival company existed in Essex at about the same time and produced much larger “electrophants” which according to the manufacturer were taken around all the seaside resorts in the country.

You can find the full story of Frank Stuart and his elephants recorded in a lengthy article for the local newspaper, the Essex Chronicle in 2012,

http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Man-mechanical-elephants-went-world/story-15294792-detail/story.html

“Electrophants” at Goldhanger
http://www.churchside1.plus.com/Goldhanger-past/Eletrophants.htm

But in brief: the original developments took place at Thaxted in the late 1940s and early 50s which produced a Ford petrol engine driven version of which up to 25 full size and half-size models were produced.Unfortunately there was a slight design fault and the exhaust fumes emitted from the elephant’s trunk caused the children riding on the back to choke. A later model was electrically driven using conventional car batteries but it too suffered from design problems: poor distribution of weight between the batteries and the riders caused one to topple over. But Stuart and his colleagues were undaunted and eventually Bertha the Bionic elephant appeared on Blue Peter in 1967:

The elephants were also sold abroad, especially America, where one apparently was ridden by General Eisenhower at the Republican Party Convention in Atlanta in 1952:

Mechanical Elephants in America

Another, called – surprise surprise – Nellie, ended up in Adelaide where it still leads the Christmas Pageant! There’s a short video clip showing how she works at:

http://www.salife7.com.au/adelaide/places/historical/nellie-the-elephant

and if you want to see how they move take a quick look at Jeremy Clarkson riding one down a country lane – and you can probably imagine what he has to say about the need for an MOT certificate on a 60 year old mechanical elephant.

Unsurprisingly there’s lots more where all this came from! Its one of the great joys of garden history that one ends up exploring wonderfully diverse by-ways, so if you’re interested in following up the myths and realities of robotic elephants or other creatures, from ancient indian stories or the life-sized mechanical elephant that featured in a mediaeval feast right through to Jules Verne’s Steam House tales set in the Indian Mutiny, or the latest Pneubots then the best place to start is undoubtedly:

http://cyberneticzoo.com/

http://www.globalgiants.com/archives/2007/02/index4.html

The enormous ‘walking’ mechanical elephant that was ridden by President Eisenhower at the 1952 Republican National Convention which was sold at auction in 2007 http://www.globalgiants.com/archives/2007/02/index4.html

And finally have you any idea which four sites on our database have mentions of elephants?

Thought not!

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