ABBOTSBUBY 1 



stone roof and curious stone buttresses, is almost 

 forgotten. No one goes to pray there now unless, 

 indeed, it be one of the village girls who goes up 

 on her marriage eve to invoke the good offices of 

 S. Catherine, ever the patron saint of maidens. 

 West of the Abbey, on the side of S. Catherine's 

 Down, lies a field of fourteen acres, said to have 

 been the Abbot's Garden. It still bears that name. 

 With its Terraces and fishponds it is easy in thought 

 to repeople it with the monks, who dug there long 

 ago among the Vines or lazily fished for their 

 Friday's fare. 



A Garden in those days was only to be found 

 within a monastery or convent walls, and was 

 essentially a thing of use, not pleasure ; vegetables 

 were grown because they were the staple food, and 

 the "herbularis," or Physic Garden, was cultivated 

 so that the herbs it contained might be made use 

 of as drugs. 



It is not till the fourteenth century that much can 

 be gathered about these early Monastic Gardens, 

 but once written accounts were kept all sorts of 

 interesting and amusing details are recorded, such 

 as the cost of the gloves allowed for weeding, 

 "7/-"; for extracting "mosse" from the cloister 

 green, " 6d." The love of appearances was evi- 

 dently as strong in those days as in these ! 



During those old monastic times every one appears 

 to have laid claim to a Garden, for the plans still 



