EARLY TUDOR GARDENS 8i 



reference to things bought for them, or gardeners' wages, 

 occur in the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VIII. for 1530-32, 

 and Princess Mar3^ 1536-37. Greenwich is frequently men- 

 tioned in these accounts, as it was one of the favourite summer 

 resorts of Henry and his daughter, and the scene of many 

 jousts and May-Day revels. The payments were chiefly made 

 to the head-gardener, named Walsh, for labourers' wages for 

 " weding and delving," and " ordering in the garden." The 

 gardens had probably been laid out when the park was enclosed 

 and the palace was built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, 

 early in the reign of Henry VI., when it went by the name of 

 " Placentia," or " Plaisance."' The head-gardener there in 

 1519 was Lovell, and he received 60s. 8d. yearly. A little 

 later he was transferred to the Richmond garden, and his 

 salary raised to ■£'^ a quarter. He supplied the King's table 

 " with damsons, grapes, filberts, peaches, apples, and other 

 fruits, and flowers, roses, and other sweet waters." 



There seem to have been two gardens at Beaulieu, or New- 

 hall, the " smalle gardin " and " the grete." The small appears 

 to have been the kitchen-garden, and furnished the " King's 

 table " with " herbes and rootes, and strawberries, artichokes, 

 lettuces, cucumbers, and sallet herbes." The keeper of the 

 great garden in 1532 was one John Rede.^ 



The gardens within the walls of the Tower of London and 

 at Baynarde's Castle were kept up in Henry VIII. 's time. 

 Frequent entries in the accounts show that there were royal 

 gardens at Wanstead (where Robert Pury was gardener, 1532),^ 

 Westminster, Waltham, Woodstock, and Oatlands, but they 

 were probably not on so grand a scale as the more favourite 

 resorts of the King. Windsor received less attention than the 

 other royal gardens during this reign. The gardens at Windsor 

 have now so completely changed that even the site of the old 

 garden cannot be identified with certainty. There is an account 

 by an eye-witness of Louis de Bruye's reception, in 1472, by 

 Edward IV. at Windsor. They go out hunting, and return 

 late in the evening. " Bey that tyme yt was nere night, yett 

 the King showed hym his garden & vineyard of pleasure & so 

 turned into the Castel agayne." This garden and vineyard 

 ^ State Papers, Henry VIII. R.O. ^ /^^-^ 



6 



