270 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 3, 1872. 



Gieet 9 inches in circumference at 2 feet above the surface, 

 aiid the branches covering a circle 30 feet in diameter. 



I pass on to Tarring, known by that name in Anglo-Saxon 

 records, for King Athelstan about the year 943, gave the manor 

 " to the church of Christ in Canterbury," and in Domesday 

 Book it is mentioned as part of the Archbishop's possessions. 

 In 1277, the tenant not paying his rent, which might be taken 

 in kind, a record states the prices at which some of the pro- 

 duce might be claimed: " a good goose for Id., two good 

 hens, Id. ; five score of eggs, Id." A quarter of Wheat was 

 Is. 6d., but the Archbishop thought that he ought to have 

 more for his money, and demanded two good geese for Id., 

 four fat hens for Id., the first hundred of eggs for Id., and 

 the second hundred for nothing ! 



Well, in process of time, Thomas Becket became Archbishop, 

 and tradition has handed down as a fact that he planted Figs 

 brought from Italy in the Manor grounds of Tarring. There 



is no record of his residing there, but it is likely that he did, 

 for as I have stated, it was one of the estates belonging to 

 the see, was a pleasant place for retirement, and it is certain 

 the Archbishop occasionally resided among the tenants of the 

 archiepiscopal estates. A large room and a smaller one still 

 existing, tradition tells, were the hall and chapel of Becket's 

 palaoe. They may have been constructed of its materials, for 

 they are very old, but then' architecture is of a date full two 

 centuries later thau that in which Beekot lived. If chapel it 

 was, it is now the parish school, and it may be said of this, as 

 was said of a similar change of occupation at Shrewsbury — ■ 



" The chapel's use, it seems, was none so great : 

 They turn'd it to a school — a mighty feat. 

 Preaching, 'tis plain, nor heart nor head could mend, 

 So learning's now whipped in at t'other end." 



There is nothing to prohibit it being true that Becket brought 

 from Italy the Fig to Tarring. Ecclesiastics have introduced 



Fig Garden — West Tarring, Sussex. 



this fruit to more than one of the archiepiscopal residences. 

 Cardinal Pole planted it at Lambeth, and Archbishop Cran- 

 mer at Mitcham. In both these instances the variety is the 

 White Marseilles, and so is the large standard in the Tarring 

 garden which is here portraited, and that garden adjoins the 

 grounds round the ancient rooms said to have been Becket's. 



The Rev. Mr. Warter in the volume I have before referred 

 to, says, " At Tarring in general cultivation we have but five 

 sorts — the Brown Turkey ; the large blue, sometimes called 

 Black Ischian; the Marseilles, or large white Fig which is 

 also called the Madagascar, an easy corruption ; the larger- 

 Green ; and the beautiful smooth green or Yellow Ischian. 

 The last-mentioned is a very shy bearer, but the most luscious 

 of the three. I am inclined to think that the red Fig, which 

 King James tasted with great pleasure hi the Dean's garden at 

 Winchester, was none other than the last-mentioned , as I have 

 seen it in a fine season, and when full ripe, change from green 

 to yellow, and from yellow to a sort of brick colour." If that 

 was the variety which obtained the Royal Stuart's approbation, 

 I knew (for he has passed on) a cleric who coincided with him. 

 He was a real connoisseur of Figs, an Oxonian, and a member 

 of Brazenose College — a bon-vivant was he — a lover of the old 

 College port wine and ale ; yet little knew he that the College 

 name was a mere corruption of Brasin-huse, a brew-house, for 

 singularly 'enough the College retained the name of the royal 

 outbuilding on the site of which it was built. 



The Fig garden at Tarring is three-quarters of an acre in 

 extent, and is in the occupation of Mr. Botting. There are about 

 one hundred trees in it, chiefly of the Purple Turkey variety, 

 and these bear most abundantly and unfailingly. They have 

 no pruning, and the knife is only employed occasionally to 

 thin the branches. These interlace, for the trees are planted 

 only 12 feet apart, and are about 18 feet high. They forrn a 

 dense grove, and nothing flourishes beneath them. The central 

 walk shown in the drawing is an avenue of Fig trees 247 feet 

 in length. 



The grand old White Marseilles tree, the most prominent 

 figure in that drawing, is believed to be a descendant of one of 

 those planted by Archbishop Becket. Judging from other large 

 Fig trees, the ages of which are known, I should conclude that 

 it is quite 150 years old. The circumference of its stem just 

 above the soil's surface is 9 feet, and it separates into four- 

 main limbs, each nearly 3 feet in circumference, and the 

 branches from them cover a circle 40 feet in diameter ; they 

 would extend much further if it were not for the other Fig 

 trees crowded around. They rarely ripen a second crop, but 

 they did so about three years since. The first crop ripens in 

 August, September, and October, and the average produce of a 

 tree is twenty dozen of Figs. Mr. Lower in his History of 

 Sussex, remarks that a bird resembling the Beccafico or Fig- 

 eater of Italy, migrates hither during the Fig season. The 

 flocks remain five or six weeks, and then disappear as they 



