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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
March  11,  1897. 
HORTICULTURAL  HISTORY  NOTES. 
Along  London’s  Northern  Heights. 
Recently  a  tough  fight  was  fought  to  preserve  intact  for  the 
public  benefit  what  yet  remains  of  the  old  forest  of  Middlesex 
near  Highgate  and  Muswell  Hill.  In  various  way*  the  London  of 
our  ancestors  was  advantaged  by  the  extensive  woods  which 
crowned  the  northern  heights  of  the  metropolis.  Of  course  they 
were  not  near  enough  to  Bcreen  the  city  effectually  from  the  keen 
winds,  but  they  afforded  the  Londoners  a  considerable  stock  of 
what  was  then  the  chief  fuel.  Wild  fruits  and  game  were  obtain¬ 
able  as  items  of  food  supply.  From  the  recesses  of  the  woodland 
arose  numerous  springs  too,  which,  flowing  southward,  furnished 
better  water  than  that  taken  from  the  Thame*,  and  refreshed  the 
field*  and  gardens  about  the  city  suburbs.  Even  now,  below  the 
level  of  sewers  and  mains,  a  few  of  these  streams  are  believed  to 
pursue  their  course  ;  the  ancient  Walbrook  for  instance,  which 
burrows  under  central  London,  has  been  detected  by  accident. 
Three  rivulets  at  least  passed  through  Islington  and  Clerkenwell — 
the  rapid  but  narrow  Fleet,  the  Oldbourne,  and  the  River  of  Wells 
or  Turnmill  Brook,  which  joined  each  other  near  Holborn  Hill  to 
cross  Fleet  Street  on  their  way  to  the  river. 
Probably  it  is  due  to  the  circumstance  of  not  only  the  north  of 
London,  but  all  its  sides,  having  numerous  springs  and  brooks,  that 
the  vicinity  was  formerly  so  rich  in  native  species  of  plants. 
Something,  indeed,  must  be  allowed  for  the  fact  that  its  Flora 
underwent  a  more  thorough  research  in  bygone  years  than  did 
that  of  other  English  towns.  Curious  to  say,  even  in  last  century, 
before  the  suburbs  were  extensively  built  over,  many  plants  had 
become  scarce,  not  from  the  over-zeal  of  eager  botanists,  but 
because  they  were  sought  for  medicinal  purposes,  or  collected  to  be 
placed  in  gardens.  Exotics  being  scarce,  the  citizens  adorned  their 
gardens  with  native  flowers.  A  long  list  of  these  favourites  of  our 
ancestors  might  be  made  out.  Some  of  them,  by  cultivation  and 
crossing,  underwent  great  changes,  and  became  parents  of  plants 
which  are  esteemed  not  only  in  Britain,  but  in  other  countries. 
Could  we  call  up  a  picture  to  the  mind’s  eye  of  the  gardens  culti¬ 
vated  about  London  by  the  pioneers  of  modern  horticulture,  we 
should  see  them  numerous  in  the  north,  especially  at  Hoxton, 
Pentonville,  and  Clerkenwell,  clustering  specially  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  the  City  Road. 
It  remains  on  record  as  a  noteworthy  fact  that  citizens  who  had 
gardens  in  this  direction  were  amongst  the  earliest  vendors  of 
vegetables  along  London  streets.  They  grew,  during  some  seasons, 
more  than  they  required  for  themselves,  and  sent  their  servants  to 
sell  it.  This  practice  is  mentioned  in  records  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  because  they  sometimes  tried  to  push  business  near  church 
gates,  where  people  congregated,  to  the  annoyance  of  the  clergy. 
Besides  various  vegetables,  we  read  of  Cherries  being  sold,  that 
fruit  being  much  grown  then  north  of  London.  Strawberries  were 
well  known  about  that  date,  some  think  produced  in  gardens, 
the  Hautboy  (Fragaria  elatior)  having  been  transplanted  from 
copses  ;  it  was  certainly  once  a  much  commoner  wild  plant  than  it 
is  now. 
We  might  suppose  it  was  an  easy  thing  four  or  five  centuries 
ago  to  carry  on  gardening  about  the  northern  suburbs  ;  such, 
however,  was  not  the  case.  Many  of  the  citizens,  it  is  true,  bad 
villas  scattered  here  and  there  in  the  time  of  the  early  Henries, 
having  large  garden*  attached  with  numerous  trees,  most  of  them 
exhibiting  labyrinths  or  parterres,  as  were  then  fashionable.  But 
these  residents  did  not  look  favourably  upon  intruders  who  wanted 
to  use  land  for  cultivating  vegetables,  while  the  London  folks 
generally  objected  to  the  enclosure  of  fields  or  pastures  over 
which  they  had  freedom  to  stroll  and  play  games.  During  the 
reign  of  Henry  YIII.,  when  some  ground  at  Hoxton  and  Islington 
had  been  fenced  for  gardening  purposes,  a  mob  of  angry 
apprentices  turned  out  with  the  cry  of  “Shovels  and  spades!” 
They  threw  down  the  barriers  and  filled  up  the  ditches.  Indeed, 
Islington,  a  promising  locality  as  to  soil  and  situation,  seems  through 
such  opposition  to  have  been  slow  in  developing  market  gardens 
or  nurserie*.  Even  for  the  cows,  of  which  many  were  fed  there, 
we  read  that  Turnips  and  Potatoes  were  brought  from  a  distance 
which  might  have  been  grown  on  the  spot. 
Hoxton,  the  Hogsdon  of  olden  time,  once  perhaps  a  resort  of 
pigs,  came  in  advance  of  Islington.  There,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  were  the  gardens  of  Darby,  Pearson,  and  Ricketts.  Later 
on  the  place  was  made  famous  by  Fairchild,  who  had  a  vineyard 
and  a  nursery  extending  to  Kingsland.  He  was  an  author  and 
botanist,  whose  “  City  Gardener  ”  had  much  repute.  On  the  edge 
of  Hoxton,  and  linking  Clerkenwell  to  Shoreditch,  was  the  Old 
Street  Road,  celebrated  for  its  flowers  and  fruit  during  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  where  the  poet  Daniel  had  a  garden  of  rarities.  At 
Clerkenwell  there  was  a  vineyard  about  that  date,  or  earlier,  upon 
a  hill  rising  above  one  of  its  streamlets.  One  of  the  numerous 
French  emigrants  who  rendered  our  horticulture  great  service 
settled  himself  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Penton  Street ;  his  name 
was  D’Aubigne.  The  ground  become  well  known  a*  “  Dobney’s 
Gardens,”  and  passed  through  many  hands,  not  being  all  built  over 
till  1835.  It  turned  to  a  sort  of  pleasure  garden  at  last,  and  in  it 
Wildman,  the  noted  bee  tamer,  exhibited  in  1772  his  favourite 
bees. 
Pentonville,  a  name  quite  modern,  arose  from  certain  field*  belong¬ 
ing  to  a  Mr.  Penton,  now  built  over,  and  is  used  vaguely,  applying 
to  a  part  of  Islington  ;  but  the  original  Pentonville  belonged  to 
Clerkenwell.  Gerard  speaks  of  it  as  an  estate  owned  by  the 
nunrery  and  called  “  Mantells,”  properly  Mandevilles,  it  having 
been  the  gift  of  that  family.  It  is  likely  that  upon  it  the  nuns 
had  cows  and  grew  some  herbs  which  were  of  repute  then  in 
cookery  and  physic.  When  it  passed  from  their  ownership  after 
the  Reformation  fruit  trees  were  planted  on  part  of  the  land,  and 
various  pleasant  gardens  sprung  up  about  Pentonville  adjacent  to- 
the  New  River,  upon  the  beauties  of  which  Charles  Lamb,  the 
essayist,  dilates,  writing  to  his  friend  Barton  from  a  cottage  in  the 
rural-sounding  Colebrook  Row.  Adjacent  to  New  River  Head 
there  was  to  be  seen  until  lately  a  well  preserved  plot  of  ground,, 
illustrative  of  the  style  of  the  Georgian  period. 
Islington,  when  it  started  nurseries  in  the  eighteenth  century,, 
did  not  obtain  such  a  repute  for  flowers  as  belonged  to  some  of  the 
western  and  southern  suburbs,  though  we  do  read  that  Mr.  Redmond 
of  that  place  obtained  in  March,  1756,  half  a  guinea  each  for  his- 
new  Auricula  called  The  Triumph,  a  price  which  seems  to  have 
occasioned  surprise.  Oldest,  probably,  of  its  nurseries  was  thafc 
known  as  Solimon’s  nursery  of  late  years,  also  Barr,  Parker,  and' 
Watson  had  nurseries  early  in  this  century  ;  but  hundreds  of  acres 
were  under  grass  till  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  builders. 
Holloway,  too,  had  only  a  few  market  gardens.  Its  most  notable 
garden  was  a  botanical  one,  originated  by  Dr.  Pitcairn,  who  died  in 
1791.  He  had  only  a  space  of  4  acres,  but  into  this  he  crowded  a. 
great  variety  of  foreign  and  curious  plants. 
Kingsland  bears  a  royal  name,  and  was  probably  a  part  of  the- 
Crown  suburban  estates.  Pepys  tells  us  he  went  thereabout  with 
his  bow  to  shoot  birds  before  the  Civil  Wars.  The  Bassingtons 
had  a  nursery  here  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  and  at  the  time  Loudon- 
described  the  London  gardens  it  was  carried  on  under  the  same 
name.  It  has  now  been  built  over,  and  also  that  occupied  by 
Ross’s  establishment ;  he  had  market  gardens  in  addition.  To 
Canonbury  belong  memories  of  monkish  pioneers  in  horticulture, 
for  the  manor  belonged  to  St.  Bartholomew  of  Smithfield,  and  the 
priors  grew  plants  and  formed  groves  for  their  delectation.  The 
mansion  was  rebuilt  by  the  last  prior,  Bolton,  who  stuck  up  about 
the  premises  his  punniDg  device,  a  bird-bolt  or  arrow  shot  through 
a  tun.  He  much  loved  gardening,  and  planted  Figs,  Mulberries,, 
and  other  trees,  dying  in  1532.  Descendants  of  these  are  still 
pointed  out. 
That  good  old  worthy,  Abercrombie,  we  associate  with  northern 
London,  for  there  it  was  he  chiefly  made  his  home.  All  admit  that 
his  book  was  highly  instrumental  in  diffusing  a  taste  for  gardening, 
and  showing  how  it  could  best  be  practised  ;  perhaps  no  other  upon 
the  subject  has  been  s#  long  a  household  word  as  his  “Every  Man 
His  Own  Gardener.”  (Perhaps,  were  he  writing  it  now,  he  would 
drop  the  masculine  appellative.)  Though  Goldsmith  promised 
help  in  its  composition  he  never  gave  it,  and  the  honour,  for  which 
Abercrombie  paid,  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds’  gardener  giving  it  his 
approval  did  not  add  anything  to  its  success.  He  was  one  of  the 
many  Scotchman  to  whom  British  horticulture  is  greatly  indebted. 
From  an  Edinburgh  market  garden  he  csme  to  Kew  at  the  age  ofi 
eighteen,  and  after  a  little  while  there  he  obtained  a  situation  at 
Leicester  House,  then  at  other  places.  His  first  venture  on  his  own 
account  was  after  marrying  ;  he  worked  garden  ground  at  Hackney 
in  1770f  whence  he  brought  produce  to  old  Spitalfields  Market. 
Afterwards  he  went  to  Tottenham  Court,  the  mansion  having 
become  a  place  of  entertainment.  He  took  some  of  the  land  adjicent 
to  Tottenham  Court  and  Hampstead  Roads,  carrying  on  success¬ 
fully  a  seed  and  nursery  business.  He  had  also  a  place  at  Newington, 
in  Surrey.  Many  came  to  see  his  collection  of  exotics,  and  to  buy 
his  choice  fruits.  It  was  one  of  his  peculiarities  to  adorn  his  garden 
with  pieces  of  poetry  of  his  own  composition.  The  last  twenty 
years  of  his  life,  between  1786  and  1806,  were  spent  in  Somers 
Town. 
Hampstead  never  attained  to  any  repute  as  a  home  of  nurseries, 
but  it  was  noted  for  its  hay,  though  gardeners  used  to  visit  Lord 
Mansfield’s  house  and  grounds  early  in  this  century  to  view  his 
display  of  Rhododendrons  and  American  plants.  Rosslyn  House 
was  also  celebrated.  At  Highgate  Jsmes  Coel  or  Cowel  had  a. 
herb  garden  about  1560. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
