14 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



It will be noticed also that in these and other accounts the 

 tithe is deducted. The year in which it first was enacted that 

 tithe should be paid " of fruit trees and every seed and herb of 

 the garden," was a.d. 1305, the decree insisting on the payment, 

 being issued by the Council at Merton, in Surrey.* 



The chief variations are in the tools bought, and the repairs. 

 *' For a saw," "knives for herbs, ^' "mending a hatchet," 

 *" repairs of the garden wall," " lock and keys for the gates," 

 &c. ; and sometimes fruit, apples, cherries, beans, onions, or such 

 like, had to be bought when the garden supply fell short. But 

 this " great garden " under the care of the Hortulanus was not 

 by any means the only garden. Many other office holders had 

 gardens too. 



The plan t on page 13 is compiled from the remains and the 

 records of Bicester Priory : the various gardens and their relative 

 positions are all mentioned in the chartulary, and the quantity 

 of distinct gardens is not in excess of the usual number. As a 

 rule the Prior had an enclosure of his own. At Alelsa there was 

 both " the garden which is called the Prior's," and " the garden 

 of the Abbot's chamber. "J At the Abbey of Haghmon, in 

 Shropshire, the Prior was allotted " for his recreations a 

 ■certain chamber under the dormitor\-, . . . with the garden 

 of old called ' Longenores gardine,' annexed to the chamber 

 before-mentioned, together with the dovecote in the same." § 



At Norwich, payments occur to the gardener from the Lord 

 Prior for a "parcel of the garden," or small piece reserved for 

 his special use. The "little garden," or "garden within the 

 gates," at Norwich, was let to the cellarer. The Sacristan^ the 

 Treasurer, the Precentor, and the " Custos operum," all had 

 separate gardens at Abingdon, and paid rent for them to the 

 gardinarius. At Winchester, the payment to the gardener, 

 " Roberto Basynge, custodi gardini conventus," occurs in the 



* Wilkin's Concilia, Wo\. II., p. 27S; " Merlonense," 1305, " ct de fructibus 

 arborum et seminibus omnibus et herbis hortorum." 



f Reproduced from the History of the Deanery of Bicester, b\- the kind 

 permission of the author, J. C. Blomefield. 



X Abbot Burton's Chronicle of Melsa, Vol. III., p. 242. 



§ Dugdale, Monasticon (new ed.), Vol. VI., p. 112. 



