14 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



cramped streets, the noisy clamour, the rough and un- 

 couth manners, are unpleasing to realise. The contrast 

 of the little walled gardens, where the women could sit, 

 and the busy men find a little quiet from the noise 

 outside, must indeed have been precious. The pro- 

 fession of a gardener, however, did not seem to soften 

 their behaviour, for some of the worst offenders were 

 gardeners. So serious did the " scurrility, clamour, and 

 nuisance of the gardeners and their servants," who sold 

 their fruit and vegetables in the market, become, that 

 they disturbed the Austin Friars at their prayers in the 

 church hard by, and caused so much annoyance to the 

 people living near, that in 1345 a petition, to have these 

 '* gardeners of the earls, barons, bishops, and citizens " 

 removed to another part of the town, was presented to 

 the Lord Mayor. Later on, gardening operations in the 

 City and for six miles round were restricted to freemen 

 and apprentices of the Gardeners' Company, and the sale 

 of vegetables was almost exclusively in their hands. Their 

 guild had power to seize and destroy all bad plants, or 

 those exposed for sale by unlicensed persons. The 

 Gardeners' Company, incorporated in 1605, had a second 

 charter in 16 16, and a confirmation of their rights in 

 1635, and it still remains one of the City companies. 

 All the smaller householders, even in the crowded 

 parts, continued to enjoy their little gardens for many 

 centuries. Even after the spoliation of the monasteries, 

 the houses rebuilt on their sites had their little en- 

 closures ; and large houses such as Sir William Pawlet's, 

 on the ground of the Augustine monastery, or later on 

 Sir Christopher Hatton's on Ely Place, had their gardens 

 around them. Even now, in the heart of London, a small 

 row of shabby old houses survives, each with a small garden 



