38 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



These were still being paid annually in the ninth year 

 of Edward II. One other kind of pear, the " Janettar," 

 is noted in one of the Wardrobe accounts in the thirty-sixth 

 year of the reign of Henry III., as being bought with 

 " sorells " and " cailloels " from " John the Fruiterer of 

 London." 1 



Besides these fruits, which appear to have been common, 

 there were a few choicer sorts, such as cherries, mulberries, 

 medlars, and even peaches. If proof were needed that this 

 latter fruit was to be had in England, we have it in the fact 

 that King John, at Newark, in the midst of his despair and 

 disappointment, hastened his end by a surfeit of peaches and 

 ale. 2 Figs were also no doubt grown in the warmer places, as 

 the fig-tree was known in Saxon times, though they are not 

 frequently mentioned. Tradition attributes the planting of 

 the large tree in the fig-gardens at West Tarring, near Worthing, 

 to Thomas a Becket. 



The various accounts which have been quoted, although 

 tedious from their sameness, are nearly the only trustworthy 

 sources of information about the fruits and gardens of this 

 period. To supply such large quantities of fruit, there must 

 have been extensive orchards. It is impossible to imagine that 

 the fruiterer to the King procured the thousands of apples and 

 pears required for his royal master from France, although a 

 few may have come from abroad. By the early part of the 

 fourteenth century, many fine and old-established gardens and 

 orchards must have existed in this country, and were being 

 cultivated, not by the religious orders only, but under many 

 secular owners of land. Gardens were being made around the 

 various colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, then coming into 

 existence. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, had a good garden, with 

 vines and " herbaria," within a short time of its foundation, 

 and Peterhouse a few years earlier. The gardens round 

 London have already been noticed ; something further about 

 them might be gained by searching old leases. The following 

 sample gives some idea of the number of gardens in one part of 



1 Exchequer Q. R., Ancient Miscell., Wardrobe and Household 

 Account, ■£%. R. O. 



2 Chronicle of Roger of Wendover. 



