NAU Archaeology
Report № 1618
An Archaeological Desk-based Survey
of Ayscoughfee Hall Gardens,
Spalding, Lincolnshire
For
South Holland District Council
Kenneth Penn
January 2008
BAU 1618
© NAU Archaeology
www.NPS.co.uk
NAU Archaeology
Report № 1618
An Archaeological Desk-based Survey
of
Ayscoughfee Hall Gardens,
Spalding, Lincolnshire
For
South Holland District Council
Kenneth Penn
January 2008
© NAU Archaeology
Project checklist
Project overseen by
Draft complete
Date
Andy Hutcheson
Kenneth Penn
19/12/07
Graphics complete
Michael Feather
30/01/08
Edit complete
Richard Hoggett
10/01/08
Signed off
Andy Hutcheson
31/01/08
NAU Archaeology
Scandic House
85 Mountergate
Norwich
NR1 1PY
T 01603 756150
F 01603 756190
E [email protected]
www.NPS.co.uk
www.NAU.org.uk
Contents
Summary
1.0
Introduction
2.0
Geology and Topography
3.0
Historical Background
4.0
Analysis:
The Documents
Entries in the SGS Minutes
5.0
The Maps
6.0
Pictorial Evidence
7.0
Timeline
8.0
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Appendix 1: Extracts from the Minute Books of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society
Appendix 2: Extracts from various letters and other materials
Appendix 3: Selection of gardening books available in the Spalding Gentlemen’s
Society library
Figures
Front cover Yew trees at Ayscoughfee Hall
Frontispiece The Johnson coat of Arms
Figure 1
Site location Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map of 1903
Figure 2
Ayscoughfee Hall: western facade shown in sketch of 1743 (Minute
Book)
Figure 3
Ayscoughfee Hall: eastern facade from the gardens
Figure 4
Grundy’s map of 1732 (detail)
Figure 5
The exhedra in the yew hedges
Figure 6
The canal
Figure 7
The Ice House
Figure 8
Armstrong’s map of 1779
Back cover
Yew tree avenue
Location:
District:
Grid Ref.:
Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire
South Holland District Council
TF 2490 2236
Summary
A desk-based assessment of the gardens of Ayscoughfee Hall was undertaken by
NAU Archaeology for South Holland District Council. This work established that
the medieval division into separate plots of the area east of the River Welland has
to some extent structured the development of the landscape. There are two great
houses of late-medieval date here: Ayscoughfee Hall and Gayton House. John
Grundy’s map of 1732 shows both of these houses and depicts Maurice Johnson’s
gardens. These gardens were laid out c.1730, possibly by William Sands.
Evidence for the plants and flowers found in the gardens can be gleaned from the
Society’s Minute Books and Maurice Johnson’s own letters. These suggest the
existence in the 18th century of elms and walnut trees in the gardens (besides the
yews) and might also imply that Johnson had built a hothouse. Like many others at
the time, Johnson had an interest in rare and exotic plants, and also in plants used
in medicine.
The broad layout of the gardens has changed little since they were laid out,
although the loss of the avenue (of elms?) and of the garden house are significant,
and the stables and the probable greenhouse are long gone. Municipal ownership
of the gardens has seen the creation of amenities and the War Memorial was set
up in 1922.
1.0
Introduction
Ayscoughfee Hall stands on the east bank of the Welland in grounds totalling
some three hectares. These grounds lie between the river Welland, Love Lane
and Church Street; a block of land that also contains the parish church, the former
site Gayton House (next to Ayscoughfee Hall) and an early 16th-century building
which is presently the White Horse public house (Fig. 1).
This archaeological desk-based assessment was undertaken in accordance with a
Project Design and Method Statement prepared by NAU Archaeology.
This report provides an assessment of the gardens, using information from
existing reports, and information from material in Ayscoughfee Hall, the Spalding
Gentlemen’s Society, the British Library and the Bodleian Library. This report
includes a brief review of the evidence for the early landscape and its possible
development from the early medieval period.
2.0
Geology and Topography
Ayscoughfee Hall lies in the centre of the ancient town of Spalding, Lincolnshire,
on the eastern bank of the river Welland. Spalding stands on the low line of silts
that forms a barrier around the mouth of the Wash, at the point where the river
Welland, flowing across the former freshwater peat fens to the south, passes
through the silts and northwards across reclaimed marine silts to the Wash. The
Welland flows through the town and joins the sea some 15km to the north.
1
2
The town stands at about 7m OD, with Ayscoughfee Hall next to the river bank.
Here the river in embanked and the water level was once a little higher than it is
today. The town was a minor port in the medieval period, and the priory had its
own wharf in the town, on the west bank.
3.0
Historical Background
Although Ayscoughfee Hall was built in the middle of the 15th century, its history
begins much earlier, with the creation of three manors in Spalding. These three
manors are recorded in Domesday Book (1086). The main manor belonged to Ivo
Taillebois and lay to the north of the town, at Spalding ‘castle’ (so-called from its
setting within a later moat). A second, smaller manor was, in fact, a berewick of
Crowland and was a cell of Crowland Abbey. This cell was turned into a priory by
Ivo (Page 1988, 118–9; Foster and Longley 1976). It was the priory that came to
dominate the town and its development during the medieval period: the
marketplace was laid out alongside the wall of the priory. The priory was closed at
the Dissolution in the 1530s and its materials were reused throughout the town.
The third manor was held by Guy de Craon. Its location is unknown, although the
situation of the priory and the ‘castle’ site suggest that this manor may have lain on
the eastern side of the river Welland and possibly occupied all or part of the block
in which the church now stands. In Domesday Book, Guy de Craon held one
carucate in his own hands (in demesne) and another was held by his tenants (a
carucate being an area of around 120 acres). There was a chapel dedicated to St
Thomas the Martyr here, a dedication which clearly post-dates 1170, and remains
of this chapel were incorporated into the church, which was relocated here from
the priory site in 1284 as a part of the planned development of the town.
The river Welland is a ‘canal’ in the Dutch manner, having been improved by
Vermuyden in the 17th century and more so during the 20th by the Lincolnshire
River Board, thus lowering the water level (Roberts 1975, 37). Even so, pictorial
evidence suggests that the water was rather higher than it is today until quite
recent times.
There is a long tradition that Ayscoughfee hall was built in the 1420s by Richard
Alwyn, a wool merchant, and that the hall lies close to the de Craon manor site. In
his early investigations, Roberts thought that the building might have had a 13thcentury origin, but there is no good evidence for this (Roberts 1975, 37). However,
a priory charter of Samson, son of Humpe, grants to prior John, land that laid
between the road from the Great Bridge to Crowland and the lands of Roger of the
Almonry, Gilbert de Aula and Theobald of Spaldwick. According to the charter,
access was from the east via a piece of land 200 feet long and 8 feet wide. This
land was 360 feet long, 20 feet wide at the western end and 35 feet wide at the
eastern end. The reference to Gilbert de Aula (‘of the hall‘) suggests that a hall
already stood close by in the medieval period (transcript of charters of Spalding
Priory 73).
Recent research has shown that Ayscoughfee Hall was built c.1450 in a single
campaign, although the sequence that the building work was carried out led earlier
writers to postulate a free-standing northern wing, with an adjacent cross wing or
hall, the south wing being a later addition (Pursglove 1996, 1). The hall may have
been built by Richard Alwyn or by a member of the Ayscough family (who gave it
3
his name), or even by some collaborative effort (FAS 2005). A direct relationship
with the Lincolnshire Ayscoughs is difficult to prove, as their ownership in the
1500s is evidenced only by a mention of their holding property in Spalding in the
Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 (Snowdon 2007).
During its first phase the Hall had two fronts, with main front at the west, and
depicted in a sketch of 1743 (Fig. 2), and a garden front to the east. These fronts
provided an imposing façade to the road to the west and the east front faced the
garden (Fig. 3). Each front was marked by a two-storey oriel window lighting the
medieval great hall. The tower on the north side stood above a brick-vaulted
basement with a door to the front (west) side: this may have been a private
entrance to the house for the owner, so he could reach the private chambers
without passing through the hall (FAS 2005). What form the gardens took during
these early phases of the buildings remains unknown, for it was not until the early
18th century that the gardens were laid out at the behest of Maurice Johnson II. In
addition to the gardens, Johnson also had the 15th-century kitchen attached to the
south cross-wing removed and had new windows put in.
The relationship between Ayscoughfee Hall and Gayton House, the large medieval
house that once stood to the immediate north of the hall, is not clear. Gayton
House was probably erected by the Gayton family in the later 15th century and
was only demolished in 1959; the house was intimately connected to Ayscoughfee
Hall and their later histories run side-by-side.
Roberts suggested that the ‘houses’ of the Guild of St Thomas and the Blessed
Virgin Mary were re-used in Gayton House when it was built in 1481 (Roberts
1975, 37). Snowdon has suggested that Gayton House might have been where
the Guild met and the buildings attached the Guildhouse or chapel. Snowdon
points to the timber framing, the outside staircase and the stables as evidence for
this hypothesis (Snowdon 2007, 8 and 79).
4
Gayton House came into the hands of the Amblers family in 1684. When William
Ambler died in 1743, his daughter, the wife of Maurice Johnson II, inherited the
house and thus brought it to Maurice Johnson’s estate.
Ayscoughfee Hall appears to have passed to the Hall family (who married into the
Gayton family) and then to the Wimberley family. It was sold to Thomas Wimberley
in 1602 and, when he died in 1616, an inventory was carried out on Ayscoughfee
Hall. This inventory lists, inter alia, a yard and stable, and ‘brick in a clamp’, some
tiles and ‘moulds for bricks’ in the house; in the stable was a horse mill (LAO Inv
118/164). This suggestion of materials for building, and even of brick-making on
the site, has been linked to the construction of early 17th-century service rooms at
the southern end of the house (Glenn and Taylor 1999, 3). It is even possible that
the canal in the garden was originally a clay quarry for brick-making.
When the next owner, Nicholas Evington, died in 1630, there was ‘in the
millhouse…item a horse mill with 2 pair of stones’ (Glenn and Taylor 1999, 3). The
hall passed through various hands before it came to Dymoke Walpole, from whom
it passed to his son John (b.1612). John Walpole sold the hall to John Johnson of
Pinchbeck in 1658 (Pursglove 1996, 8), who son Francis (d.1685) and grandson
John (d.1683) subsequently inherited it. Thus, in 1683 Ayscoughfee hall passed to
his sister Jane Johnson and to her husband Maurice Johnson (no relation). In
1688, their son, Maurice Johnson II was born there.
5
Maurice Johnson II, Antiquary (1688–1755)
Maurice Johnson II went on to become a barrister and one of the early antiquaries,
an associate of Newton and Stukeley, the founder of the Spalding Gentlemen’s
Society and, in 1707, one of the founders of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Maurice II is the central figure in the history of Ayscoughfee Hall and was
responsible for the establishment of the present gardens.
Maurice Johnson was a young barrister with a career in London, whose family
home was in Spalding at Ayscoughfee Hall. Being partly in London and partly in
Spalding, he made moves to set up a provincial version of the Society of
Antiquaries of London, with the backing of his friend William Stukeley, another
local man and just a year older than Maurice; he too was one of the founders of
the London Society.
This was not the first such Society set up to pursue a new interest in Science. The
Royal Society was founded in 1660 with the support of King Charles II and
encompassed all branches of knowledge, including those of an historical nature.
This was a time when experiment and enquiry were subjects for gentlemanly
pursuit, with Newton and Wren among the leaders. However, under Newton, the
character of the Royal Society became more narrowly scientific, with historical and
antiquarian interests having a smaller, even unwelcome, place. In 1707, people
like William Stukeley (1687–1765) and Maurice Johnson (1688–1755) were
amongst the founders of the Society of Antiquaries. This grew in part out of the
coffee-house society of the time, where men would meet to take coffee and
discuss things of interest, stimulated by the magazines and newspapers of the
day.
Maurice Johnson was keen to bring this awareness to his home town. The
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society was the outcome, and it met every two weeks to
read the latest London journals, drink coffee and discuss antiquarian interests. The
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society was firmly established in 1712 and at first met in
Ayscoughfee Hall, where one room was fitted up as a museum, with a ‘pretty
garden’ close by. Maurice Johnson II was Secretary from 1709–44 and the
President 1745–55.
Maurice II’s father kept a separate house, shown on Grundy’s map of 1732 (Fig.
4). This house stood on the north side of Church Street, opposite the church and
had a garden that stretched to the rear of the adjoining properties.
The Gardens
In around 1730, Maurice Johnson laid out his gardens, probably with the help of
the architect William Sands. In 1749, they collaborated again on a design for a
Triumphal Archway, to celebrate the Peace between England and Scotland (see
below). One of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society’s members was an engineer,
John Grundy, and upon his election in 1732 he presented a survey of Spalding to
the Society. This map included the two great houses on the east side of the
Welland and is a most useful source for researching the early 18th-century
gardens (Fig. 4).
6
The character of the gardens was doubtless influenced by the fashions at the time
and informed by Maurice Johnson’s strong connections with London. Amongst the
gardeners of the time, Stephen Switzer was one of the most prominent and also
an acquaintance of Johnson. Switzer was trained in the continental styles and
advocated the ‘French Style’ of garden, although there are questions about the
interpretation of these styles in England; in particular, the ways in which the strict
Geometric Style was applied, the attractions of irregularity and the creation of a
‘natural wilderness’.
One might note that the idea of such ‘parks’ or gardens came from Holland, which
was, like England, a Protestant country with houses of the wealthy gentry,
professional classes and merchant bourgeoisie, who had enclosed grounds rather
than extensive parks. These ideas were strengthened with the accession of
William of Orange in 1688. In the Low Countries, a country of small grounds set in
a flat landscape, there were gardens turned inwards, with separate compartments,
often arranged around a central axis, and their perimeters were defined by hedges
and lines of trees. Extremely popular were immaculate topiary and parterres,
limited in scale, in which ‘cutwork’ – in which patterns were made by shaped flower
beds, cut into turf, with bright flowers – was a feature. In flat landscapes the use of
moats and canals was important. Another feature in gardens was the display of
rare and exotic plants and flowers, more appropriate for the smaller more intimate
garden than the longer views of the park.
7
It may be that we see some Dutch influence at Ayscoughfee Hall, with hedges,
compartments and the courts arranged around the two axes, one to the south
across two lawns or ‘plats’ into the wilderness, and another to the east, along the
avenues to the garden house. The compartment in between was where the
greenhouses and kitchen might have been found. In the 1740s, Maurice Johnson
set up four lead statues (these were sold after war damage, although their bases
remain in the gardens). There are also two pyramid monuments in the gardens.
The exhedra, as Anderson and Glenn (2000, 14) call it, was located on the south
walk, and forms an apse against the yew hedge here (Fig. 5); Anderson and Glenn
suggest that this was possibly a place with seats so that Johnson and his
colleagues could sit in the manner of the ancients to discuss academic matters.
Whilst busts of philosophers might have been chosen to decorate the exedra,
perhaps Maurice Johnson chose to use the lead statues that stood in the gardens
until the 1990s.
It would appear analysis demonstrates that the yews are not of a single planting
but were put in at various times. The yew is a tree that was being recommended
by the later 17th century, especially for hedges and avenues, and particularly in
towns where the debate between advocates of the Dutch style and the ‘Landscape
Movement’ was abated by the need for solutions in the cramped confines of a
town garden. Where the canal stands in this debate is of interest. By the later 18th
century such a rigid use of water was quite out of fashion, but again, the confines
8
of the garden allowed little chance of a more expansive ‘landscape’ pond (Fig. 6).
There is also the possibility that the pond was there before Maurice Johnson’s
time; Anderson and Glenn note that it is not related to the house in any usual way
and might pre-date the layout of the gardens (Anderson and Glenn 2000, 17). As
to the evidence within the pond, we know that Johnson himself deepened the pond
by a foot, suggesting that it was originally very shallow and thus probably not a
brick-making quarry.
A garden building once stood at the end of the east garden (shown on Grundy’s
map of 1732) and may have been similar to the extant garden building at Easton
Hall near Grantham (Anderson and Glenn 2000).
In the area to the east of the canal, the 1887 OS map shows random flower beds
and part of a wilderness walk. The four statues set up in the 1740s are indicated,
with two each side of the exedra, one at the south end of the canal, and the fourth
at the south-west corner of the grounds.
The 20th century saw many changes made to the garden in order to make it a
municipal amenity and the war memorial was built in 1922. The 1874 fountain was
relocated here in 1954.
As noted above, Gayton House came into the hands of Maurice Johnson following
the death of his father-in-law William Ambler in 1743: since his wife Elizabeth
could not hold in her own right it became part of the Johnson estate. In 1743,
Gayton House became the Society headquarters, with a resident caretaker, the
9
Society coadjutor, and the gardens became the Society’s Physic Garden
(replacing those in Love Lane, shown on Grundy’s map). Was there a
greenhouse? The Minutes and other sources mention succulents and tropical
plants such as orange trees, and it is likely that there was a greenhouse here.
There is a darker side to family affairs. Maurice II was in the Duke of Cumberland’s
Regiment, and it is little wonder that Maurice thought of commemorating the defeat
of the Jacobin Scots at Culloden in 1746. Both English and Lowland Scots praised
the victory against the Jacobins, but in time, his actions against the defeated Scots
prompted his nickname, Butcher of the Scots, and quickly ruined his reputation.
Whether the Triumphal Arch he designed for the gardens was put up is not certain.
The Society kept a collection of dried plants and flowers arranged according their
perceived medicinal properties (a hortus siccus). In all this, Maurice encouraged
his family, noting that they were all Botanists, even his 5-year old granddaughter.
Maurice II died in 1755, Gayton House then being taken from the Society and
coming back to the estate. Between 1709 and 1898, Gayton House and
Ayscoughfee Hall were in the same ownership.
The Heirs of Maurice Johnson II:
Maurice III, the Colonel (1714–1793)
Maurice III was in the Duke of Cumberland’s regiment (though what part he played
in the massacres of 1746 is unknown), but also spent time in London, which
enabled him to visit Spalding and to act as agent for his father in collecting plants.
We know that he was in London in 1740 and 1741, where he spent some of his
time seeking plants for his father. In 1746, he wrote to his father about his father’s
plan to ‘throw off’ the elms from the gardens (which may mean the east gardens).
This plan seems not to have been carried out, but it is odd that Armstrong’s map of
1779 (when the son was in tenure) does not show them, whilst the map of 1840
shows a single line of trees.
In 1790, when Maurice III was an old man, Lord Torrington visited Spalding and
saw ‘a very ancient house of bay windows [i.e. the oriel windows], surrounded by
yew hedge gardens’ (Byng 1935, 221). The next year, in 1791, the artist J.C.
Nattes drew the east and the West fronts for Joseph Banks. This drawing shows
clearly the typical late medieval ‘hall’ with windows through two floors, but here on
both facades.
Maurice IV, The Reverend (1756–1834) and the ‘Gothic’ alterations
Maurice IV succeeded in 1793, upon the death of his father. It was Maurice IV,
Vicar of Moulton and Spalding, who, inheriting an out-of-date house, made the
most alterations and ‘gothicised’ the building. These changes are recorded in the
drawings of W. Brand in 1808, and the large painting of 1791x1808 held in the
SGS. This painting shows both Gayton House and Ayscoughfee Hall, and reveals
other changes. Drawings by Hilkiah Burgess made in 1818 show much the same
as Nattes’ and Brand’s views, but reveal an extension at the north-east corner. An
anonymous drawing of c.1821 shows the northeast extension. Brand’s drawing
shows the yews in front of the Hall now cut down (Gooch 1940, 512). Clearly, the
gardens were little touched: the statues remained and the canal, yew trees and
grass plats survived his works.
10
Maurice V (1788–1820)
Maurice was curate at Moulton. His wife Frances died after childbirth, in 1815, and
he died in 1820, aged 32. Maurice V died before his father and had no impact
upon the Hall.
Maurice VI (1815–1864) and the ‘Mock-Tudor’ changes
Maurice VI was brought up by his grandfather after the early death of his father
and became a major in the South Lincolnshire Militia. He succeeded his
grandfather at the age of 19 and soon after set about further changes to the
house, making it ‘mock-Tudor’, probably using the architect William Todd. His work
included a new façade, that is, a screen or covered porch along the west front and
a new extension to the north-east. As part of this campaign to give the hall a
medieval character, he built a tower at the south end of the canal; this tower was
known as the Owl Tower.
Following the death of one of his daughters in 1850, the Johnson family moved to
Suffolk, and Ayscoughfee Hall was let out. Maurice Johnson VI died in 1864 and
his wife died in 1875.
4.0
Analysis: the documents
Save for Grundy’s map of 1732, there are few contemporary descriptions of the
gardens, although Lord Torrington’s description in 1791 implies yew hedges
already grown. One must rely on the references in the Society’s Minutes to flowers
and plants and various letters to and from Maurice Johnson for further information.
The Minute Books contain many references to plants or specimens of plants
brought in to the Society for discussion, but it is not always clear whether they
came from Maurice Johnson’s garden, the Society’s Physic Garden in Love Lane
or some other Member’s garden (such as Dr Colby of Stamford, or Dr Green, the
Assistant Secretary). However, it may be fairly assumed that plants from these
sources would also be found at some time in Ayscoughfee Hall gardens.
The Society also holds two lists or catalogues, both from seedsmen known to and
recommended by Maurice Johnson: John Harrison of Jesus College Lane,
Cambridge, and Stephen Switzer, by Westminster Hall, London, one of the most
famous landscape gardeners of the time.
Several of the best-known books about plants and gardens were also available to
the Society in their Library. These include books by: P.Miller, S. Switzer, R.
Bradley, Parkinson, Knowles, Chambers, Evelyn, Ray and Tournefoot.
Maurice Johnson II was able to acquire seeds and plants via his friends and other
connections, and his son Maurice III was his accomplice in getting seeds and
plants, sometimes taking them without permission. The various letters give us
some direct information about their collections and how they turned to their friends
to acquire plants. A paper bag with label shows the delivery of seeds of Spanish
onions and peppers, whilst his son gets him melon seeds and cuttings of pears
and plums (1740) and attempts to get him orange trees (1741).
We know that Maurice had a connection with the King’s garden at Richmond (that
would a little later become Kew Gardens). George II inherited the gardens at
11
Richmond in 1737, and installed Thomas and Robert Greening (his son) as
Gardeners. It was them who created a ‘Wilderness’ garden at Richmond.
The letter from Maurice III to his father shows that they used their connections at
the highest level to obtain seeds and plants in the 1740s. Maurice III had a friend,
Mr Fairchild, who knew the King’s gardener at Richmond, Mr Thomas Greening,
one of the of most famous gardeners of the time. When seeds and plants came
from abroad, Mr Fairchild was luckily on hand to take a sample of the plants and to
provide a catalogue of them.
The Minutes record very many plants being shown, some because they were
freaks of their kind (lusus) and many are known to have had medicinal properties
(as is clear from their common names), and may have also been grown in the
Physic Garden (one is shown on Grundy’s map of 1732). The Minutes also provide
evidence of the Society’s interest in methods of growing plants, with a discussion
of growing bulbs in the necks of bottles (1731) and the proper use of hot beds or
hothouses (1739). The Minutes show that in 27 September 1744 that Dr Walker
had a greenhouse (and hothouse 11 October 1744) with banana plants, Coffee
Berry and ‘many curious exoticks’.
Stukeley’s letters reveal too, that he gave Stukeley from his gardens, pomegranate
and Balm of Gilead (1728) and that Mr Johnson has the naples medlar and the icy
sedum in his garden (1742).
On the terrace by the canal are elm trees, which he thought to cut down in 1746,
to the upset of his son, Maurice III, but they were apparently still there in 1751 and
the subject of a letter to William Stukeley. His letters also reveal his love for his
canal, and the keeping of a ‘wing-shot’ water-bird in his canal, which also holds
carp and tench (1752). A flood in 1753 gives him the opportunity to get more fish
for his canal ‘at a reasonable rate’.
The hall came into the hands of the people of Spalding around 1900 and became
a public amenity rather than a private family retreat. The public amenities within
the garden are the War Memorial, tennis courts, an aviary and a bowling green. In
1954 the Fountain was moved here from Hall Place, where it had been set up in
1874, to commemorate the birthday of Mary Ann Johnson (1794–1874) on her
80th birthday (Ayscoughfee and its History 1923).
12
Entries in the Minutes of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society
(items in bold were brought in by Maurice Johnson)
1725
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
Double red & white Anemone
Auricula Ursi (Grand Paisant)
Amaranthus Coccinei (Jasmine)
Cyclamen
Hyacinth Botroides (common Grape Hyacinth=Muscari Botroides)
Eglantine Rose
Peach
Capsicum Indiacum (West Indian Peppers)
Double Purple Anemone
Pomegranate
Seedling Pink (President)
Strawberry Spinage
Trachelium Americanum
Cork Tree (John Johnson)
Green ginger
Geranium Africanum
Butchers Broom
Mince Pye = Calibar of Minorca
Pomegranate Apple
Mock Orange = Gourd
A white grape
Apricot
Sedum/Aloe
Watermelon
Scarabeus Aquaticus
Globe Amaranthus
Arum
Horminum Agreste
Solanum Lethale
Trachelium Americanum
West Endian Wheat = Pearl Barley
Chili Strawberry (Rev. Smith)
Muscovite strawberry
Fir Tree
Tulip
Double lemon coloured Ranunculus
Poppy
Carnation Scarlett and Black (Mr Stagg, co-adjutor)
Urtica Urentis
Auriculas (Mr Stagg, co-adjutor)
Iris
Red Beet (Pres)
Gourd (President)
Fennel
Single Rocket/Eruca (Vice-President)
Willow Rose
Chilli Strawberry
Campanula Persia
Double peach-leaved Bell Flower
Province Rose Bud (from Bowling Green)
Pear
Walnuts
Medlars
13
1738
1739
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1747
1748
1750
1753
5.0
Tulips (Dr Green)
Iris flowers (Mr Stagg co-adjutor)
Root like a radish
Auricula ursi (Dr Green)
Discussion of Hot Beds
Single White Hyacinth (Dr Green)
Persian Iris (Dr Green)
Golden Crocus (Dr Green)
Persian Ranunculus (Dr Colby)
Poppy (Mr Everard)
Larkheels or Larkspur (Mr Everard)
Opuntia or Indian Fig
Peaches
Mespilus Apii
Auricula
Hyacinths (RS Sedum Majus)
Pine Apple (Richard Thompson)
Persicaria orientalis (John Johnson)
Coffee Berry (Dr Walker)
Banana (Dr Walker)
Medica Cochleata
Lavertera Africana
Ice Plant Ficoides Africana
Pine Apple
Brassica Fimbriata (Dr Green)
Elm
Rhus Virginianum Sumac
Stramonium fructu
Hieracium/Auricula Muris
Variegated Holly
Cortex Peruvian/Jesuits bark (Mr Cox, co-adjutor)
Storax (Mr Cox, co-adjutor)
Tamarind (Mr Cox, co-adjutor)
Lacca (Mr Cox, co-adjutor)
Malus (Mr Cox, co-adjutor)
A carrot with 6 roots
The Maps
1655 Sir William Dugdale
The earliest map of Spalding is that by Sir William Dugdale of 1655. His plan of
Spalding shows the site of the priory and grounds, the row of houses along the
marketplace and the river, but shows nothing on the east side of the river,
although the parish church stood here.
1732 John Grundy’s map of 1732
This map (Fig. 4) effectively records the footprint of Ayscoughfee Hall and the
present gardens, and shows that in general these are much the same today, but
for the erosion of the ‘soft landscape’ and the loss of several important features.
This map also shows the adjacent house, Gayton House, removed by the District
Council in 1959 and replaced with the present offices. This map was drawn for
Maurice Johnson as Grundy’s submission to the SGS and we may assume that
his house would be shown as accurately as possible.
14
The landscape show by Grundy seems to be structured by the existence of
several plots along the riverside, in which the grounds of Ayscoughfee Hall
occupied three plots and Gayton House possibly two. Their gardens contained
long east–west boundaries across the whole plot. A small, triangular plot remained
at the southern end whilst the church occupies the north-east corner of the area of
land between the river (Church Gate), Church Street and Love Lane. There are
buildings at the extreme north-west corner, close to High Bridge, possibly an
expansion of the town on to this side of the river.
At the front of the house was a turning circle for carriages, with little planting here.
The house has a service wing, at its extreme south-east corner.
South of the hall is a geometric layout with a central walk from the south side of
the house, which widens out at three places before the walk passes through a
wooded area, possibly a ‘Wilderness’. The walk ends at the south boundary wall
(with no sign of gate on the map). The axis lines up with a window on the south
side of the house and is therefore not central to the grass plats. Was this because
the canal then existed and prevented a wider plat on the east side?
On the southern boundary of the plats, the widening of the path announces the
‘exedra’ or apse in the planting. The nature of the planting is not certain, although
the maps show that the gardens behind, i.e. to the south of the exedra, may have
been shrubs rather than full trees. On the west side of the plats, behind the outer
wall, there is a long walk, with the wall on one side and a line of planting on the
other.
The planted boundaries may be yew trees.
At the south end of the gardens, against the outer wall in the Wilderness area, is
shown a long building (also on Armstrong’s map of 1779). The canal occupies a
large open rectangle. This may originally have been a clay quarry for the bricks
mentioned in the inventory of 1616, but was possibly laid out so as to provide a
fishpond for the Hall.
To the east of the canal plat lies an area of probable kitchen garden. This also
contains a small pond in its south-west corner, possibly a former fishpond? The
‘kitchen garden’ area is divided into three parts each neatly laid out, perhaps
including an orchard. There is no clear evidence of any greenhouse, although an
open rectangle (unhatched) on the south side of the cross wall boundary could be
one (if Maurice had a greenhouse it may have come later).
The major element to the east of the hall is divided by three lines of trees, with a
garden house at the end of one ‘avenue’, closing the view. Perhaps the elms
noted in letters, but not shown on Armstrong’s map of 1779.
North of the Hall, between the Hall and Gayton House, is an avenue of trees
(replaced in 1959 with the present chestnuts). This shared ‘drive’ may represent
an earlier ‘shared’ feature, even perhaps a spur from the river to serve the two late
medieval houses here. Roberts argued for short ‘canals’ at right angles to the river
in the 13th century (Roberts 1975, 37) and, if so, then the chestnut walk could be
such a feature, ‘shared’ between the two great houses. It should be noted that the
boundary between Ayscoughfee Hall and the churchyard is a long curving wall,
whose line is continued as the building line for the south side of Gayton House.
The Triumphal Arch is known from references only.
15
In the 1730s or 1740s four lead statues were erected by Johnson. These were
removed from Ayscoughfee Hall after the war, having suffered bomb damage.
These were discussed by Laurence Weaver in 1916, when he dated these
‘pleasant examples of garden leadwork’ to the 1730s and noted that ‘replicas are
to be found in other gardens of the period’ (Country Life 1916). He also noted that
Andries de Carpentiere, an assistant to John van Nost, was responsible for other
Mars and Minerva figures, with examples at other country houses.
Some time in the 18th century the Ice House was built. Before refrigeration was
possible, ice was gathered in the winter from ponds and kept in below-ground
buildings called ice houses. Most ice houses were essentially a brick-lined pit with
a domed roof. It was usually up to the gardener to make sure the ice house was
supplied. From around 1750 it was usual for large country houses to have an ice
house. When ice became available from northern Europe and the USA in the late
19th century, ice houses fell out of use. The Ice House was a utilitarian feature,
and placed out of sight against the wall, but close to the source of ice, the canal
(Fig. 7). Roberts thought that the service wing was removed around 1800 to
provide south-facing rooms, looking out into the yew hedge gardens.
Outside the gardens lay The Physic Garden, situated on the south side of Love
Lane, opposite the church, ‘The President of the Society Gardens’ on the north
side of Church Gate, opposite the church, with an orchard or wooded garden
attached. On the other side of the River Welland, on the site of the old priory lay
‘The Bowling Green’.
16
1779 Armstrong
Armstrong’s map of 1779 is very schematic (Fig. 8), but shows the hall and
grounds after Johnson’s death (when Maurice III the Colonel was in residence).
This shows: the garden house; the building behind the outer wall in the Wilderness
area; and that both ponds existed.
1887, 1903 Ordnance Survey
The Ordnance Survey maps of 1887 and 1903 (Fig. 1) are benchmarks and
should be compared with the 1732 map that Grundy produced. It shows that the
17
garden remained only in its outlines, the planting being much eroded and the
original layout lost. The walk through the plats had been lost, besides the exedra.
The building against the boundary wall had been lost, as had the garden building
and the three lines of trees, but other small buildings had been put up in the southeast corner of this area, perhaps with gated access to Love Lane.
This map shows the ice house, greenhouses and a Wilderness path winding
through the trees. In 1848, the ‘Owl Tower’ was built at the south end of the canal.
The statues are not clearly shown.
A Summary of the cartographic evidence
Date
1732
1760
surveyor
John Grundy
anon
18th c.
anon
1779
c. 1840
Armstrong
anon
1844
1887
1903
1912
anon
OS
OS
OS
6.0
Map
Map of Spalding
SGS A1 image 352–3. Like Armstrong 1779, very schematic,
and shows Ayscoughfee hall and its north-east extension, a
detached kitchen and a garden house. Gayton House is shown,
but the front block only, not the rear complex.
Drains and Tunnels SGS A4. at a small scale, this shows the
church and the drains but not anything more.
Plan of Spalding
SGS AG show the detached kitchen and stable block but no
garden house. There is just one line of trees in the long garden.
Spalding SGS A57. At a small scale, but shows the stable block.
In Ayscoughfee and its History (Spalding Free Press)
In Guide Book
Pictorial Evidence
1743: In the Minute Book, under 26 May 1743, there is a small drawing. This is of
the view from west of the river, with the White Horse public house at extreme left
and Aycoughfee Hall at right (Fig. 2). On the river are swans, a rowing boat and
oared barge, besides three sailing wherries. Gayton House and Ayscoughfee Hall
are clearly shown, Ayscoughfee hall with oriel windows, a door to one side, and
between the houses, an avenue of small trees. In front of the Hall are imposing
pillars, surmounted by ?urns. Of the gardens, little can be seen, except the two
‘plats’ with a row of small trees in front, behind the wall.
1791: Two pencil sketches for Sir Joseph Banks by J.C. Nattes (1765–1822) of the
front and rear of the hall. This shows the front oriel and the offset door, with topiary
in a ‘palisade’. At the rear, an oriel and offset door, with rear court enclosed behind
a simple wooden fence.
c.1800: A watercolour by R. Everard of the front of the hall. This shows the
‘Gothick’ changes to the hall, involving the loss of the oriel windows and new
central doors.
1808: Drawings by William Brand of the front of the hall, engraved by J. Storer (for
the Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet 1807-11).
1818: Pictures by Hilkiah Burgess of the front and rear of the hall. This shows the
new extension and no fence at the rear.
c.1821: Anonymous picture of the rear view from the north-east.
18
No date: Picture by Hilkiah Burgess, of the hall from the south-west. This shows
the new bay windows.
Postcards and photographs add to the cartographic evidence.
County Life photographs taken in 1916 show the grounds and the set of statues
put up in the 1740s by Maurice Johnson (but sold at Sothebys after WWII).
7.0
Major events in the history of the Hall
A tabular summary of the major events in the history of the hall.
1451
Oaks felled for the roof timbers.
1450–2
House built for the Alwyn family.
1520–56
Unknown occupiers, perhaps the Gayton or Hall families?
1556
Reginald Hall inherits the property.
1602
Thomas Wimberley buys the house from Robert Hall.
1616
Thomas Wimberley dies, leaving the house to Beville Wimberley.
1641
House comes to Beville’s sister Elizabeth Evington and later married Dymoke
Walpole.
1658
Dymoke Walpole’s eldest son, Sir John Walpole, sells the house to John Johnson
of Pinchbeck for £400.
1685
House comes to Maurice I.
1688
Maurice II born.
c.1720
Yew walks planted (tree-ring dated to this period).
1732
John Grundy produces map of the town.
1747
Maurice I dies.
1755
Maurice II dies.
1794
The yews in front of the house are felled.
1830
Kitchen built in front of north wing (shown in 1818 Hilkiah Burgess painting).
1819
The Chestnut Avenue planted, replaced in 1959.
1845
Front windows replaced, bays added in cross wings, porch and colonnade
installed. Turret raised, north service wing added.
1848
The ‘Owl Tower’ built at the end of the lake.
1851
The last of the Johnson family leaves.
1852–96
Hall is rented out.
1898
Gayton House damaged by gas explosion.
1898
Hall sold to Committee of citizens for £2,100. Property bought for town to
commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
1902
Hall given to the people of Spalding, the SUDC holding in trust.
1908
Bowling Green laid out.
1920
Tennis courts laid out (where aviary now is). A new garden room erected.
1921
Owl Tower demolished to provide room for the War Memorial (temple of
Remembrance and Great War Stone). Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
19
1922
War memorial by Lutyens, unveiled. Tennis courts laid out. Pond garden in place.
Aviary put up.
1925
The present tennis courts laid out. Bowling Green laid out.
1931
New gates erected.
1937
Bandstand erected for the Coronation of George VI, fountain set up in lake.
1939–45
Model allotment created on one of the tennis courts.
1939–45
Bombs drop in the Gardens. Lead statues damaged.
1954
A mid-19th-century fountain moved here from the two centre. This was erected in
Hall Place in 1874 as a memorial to Miss Mary Anne Johnson (1794–1878).
1957
Chestnut trees felled and replaced in 1959.
1966
Stable block burnt down.
1974
SHDC replaces SUDC.
Brick café built; bandstand built in ‘exedra’.
1990
Trees planted Cedrus Libani (Cedar of Lebanon) and Araucaria Araucana (Monkey
Puzzle Tree).
1994
Two statues sold by Sotheby’s. These were rescued by Mr Lennox, who restored
them, and added copy legs and feet (from other statues).
8.0
Conclusions
Spalding remains one of the great centres of the English flower industry, and this
position can be traced back to the example of Maurice Johnson and his gardens at
Ayscoughfee Hall.
In the 18th century, social changes with the opening up of society and a certain
loss of restrictions, led to a ‘polite society; part of the ‘Enlightenment’. The idea of
change and progress through enquiry was accompanied by the formation of
societies such as the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, where common interests
bound people together. It was common for interested persons to visit great
houses, sometimes without invitation, and ask to see around the house and
gardens. Such occasions were well known and this was the background to many
of Jane Austen’s novels: the intermixing of persons, not always of equal status, in
a ‘polite society’. Owners might welcome this attention, it being a chance to show
off their houses their gardens and their good taste to other educated persons.
Spalding was a centre of learning, although the minutes betray a certain fresh
naivety in the approach to the new and foreign. One may give examples from the
Minutes, where freaks of nature (Latin: lusus) were shown, often common objects.
Thus ‘walnuts conjoined’ or ‘carrot with six roots like fingers’, or the ‘monstrous eel’
that was said to ‘eat sweet and firm’ might be recorded.
The Physic Garden
Garden history may be said to have had a new start in the later 1600s with the
discovery of new plants and a new way of setting out gardens. To some extent, it
was a new class of landowners, often in smaller houses and ground that led the
change, and a new audience for these gardens.
There was also a new awareness in northern Europe of the value of plants in
medicine, although herbal remedies were well-known in the medieval period. With
the advance of Science, coming first from the Mediterranean countries, gardens
20
with plants ordered to provide knowledge and information about plants for
medicine were established first at Pisa, Padua, Bologna and Florence in the
1540s, at Leipzig, Leiden and Montpellier by 1600, and in Britain, first Oxford with
its Botanic Garden 1621, Edinburgh 1670 and then Chelsea in 1673. Spalding
followed in around 1730. These were all set up to provide education and this was
true of the Spalding Physic Garden too.
The Chelsea Physic Garden was established by the Society of Apothecaries, and
it was this Society that organised expeditions to collect plants. Its influence was
great, and Maurice Johnson was familiar with the gardens and its staff. In the time
of Philip Miller (1722–70), gardener to the Society of Apothecaries, the Chelsea
Physic Garden grew to wide fame, especially for its North American plants. His
Dictionary was an enormously popular work. The Chelsea Physic Garden also
instituted a system of exchange, so that its work and own collections could be
expanded across Europe. Until the 19th century, most drugs came from herbs,
plants and vegetables. It was intended that the Physic Garden was a place of
education, besides providing herbs to the Society of Apothecaries.
In Spalding, the SGS set up its own Physic Garden, first on the east side of Love
Lane (shown on Grundy’s map of 1732), and then at Gayton House, when that
came to Maurice Johnson in 1743.
The arrangement of the plants in physic gardens was not haphazard or aesthetic,
but followed scientific principles, although these varied according to the prevailing
dogma at each garden. Under Philip Miller (after 1722) the beds at Chelsea were
changed so as to reflect the system of Tournefort and this arranged beds firstly by
Trees and shrubs, Perennials, Annuals and biennials. After this, the beds were
arranged by whether they had petals, and then by number of petals. Medicinal
plants were arranged by their properties and medical use. This system lasted at
Chelsea until 1773 and was probably the system used by the Society.
At the front of Gayton House, the Society established its own Physic Garden in
1743 (the earlier garden was in Love Lane), in imitation of the famous example at
Chelsea. The connection with Chelsea was strong, with Maurice Johnson familiar
with the great gardeners of the day, with Stephen Switzer, with Philip Miller, and
with a library at Spalding that contained all the books that came on to the market in
an age when around Europe’s crowned heads sought out the new plants from
around the globe. Amongst the members of the Society was Joseph Banks, whose
expeditions brought back to these shoes many new plants.
Acknowledgements
NAU Archaeology is grateful to SHDC for commissioning this work. At
Ayscoughfee Hall, Richard Davies has been helpful. At the Spalding Gentlemen’s
Society, we have been helped by the President John Cleary and by Michael and
Diana Honeybone, whose researches have been very useful to the writer. We are
grateful to staff at The British Library, London, and The Bodleian Library, Oxford,
for access to documents. This report was produced by David Dobson and Michael
Feather, and edited by Richard Hoggett.
21
Bibliography
Anon.
1903
Ayscoughfee and Its History (Spalding Free Press)
Avery Tipping, H.
1925
English Gardens (London)
Bryant, C.B., (ed.)
1954
The Torrington Diaries: A Selection of the Tours of the Hon. John
Byng (Later Fifth Viscount Torrington) between the years 1781 and
1794 (London)
Byng, J.
1935
The Torrington Diaries (ed. C. Bruyn Andrews, London)
Department of the
Environment
1975
List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, District of
South Holland, Linconshire (Spalding Area)
Dwight, N.R.
n.d.
John Grundy of Spalding Engineer 1719–1783
FAS
2005
Historic Buildings Assessment: Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding, (Field
Archaeology Specialists Ltd)
Glenn, C. and
Taylor, G.
1999
Gooch, E.H.
1940
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Spalding, Lincolnshire (SAH99) (Archaeological Project Services
Report 62.99)
A History of Spalding (Spalding Free Press)
Lukis, W. (ed.)
1882
The family memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley M.D., and the
antiquarian and other correspondence of William Stukeley, Roger and
Samuel Gale (Surtee’s Society 73)
Lukis, W. (ed.)
1885
Stukeley’s Diaries and Letters Vol. III (Surtee’s Society 80)
Nichols, J.
1781
Biblioth. Topog. Britannica
Nichols, J.
Reliquae Galeanea no. ii, pt. ii (for SGS Minutes)
Owen, D.
1981
The Minute Books of The Spalding Gentlemen’s Society 1712–1755
(Lincoln Record Society 73)
Pursglove, R.
1994
The History of Ayscoughfee Hall (South Holland DC)
Roberts, D.L.
1975
‘Ayscoughfee Hall: The Building of a Great Merchant’s House’,
Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 10.
South Holland DC
1986
The Owners of Ayscoughfee Hall (information sheet No 4)
South Holland DC
n.d.
Ayscoughfee Hall and Gardens (information sheet No 5)
Snowdon, N.
2007
Ayscoughfee: A Great Place in Spalding (privately published)
VCH
1906
Victoria History of the County of Lincoln (ed. W. Page)
Williamson, T.
1995
Polite landscapes: Gardens and Society in Eighteenth-century
England (Stroud)
Wright, N.R.
n.d.
John Grundy of Spalding Engineer 1719–1783
22
Appendix 1: Extracts from the Minute Books
of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society
[..] uncertain text
Volume I
Left margin
Botany
Vegetables
Vegetables
Trachelium
Americanum
Defer: Tesa
Right margin
(p. 85 1725)
The Secretary brought a fair Double Red and White
Anemone
(p.113 1727)
The Sec… a Peep of an Auricula Ursi (Grand Paisant) of a
deep crimson and like velvet with a yellow eye.
(p.119 12 October 1727
The Secr. Brought and showed the Soc. 2 fine flowers of
the Amaranthus Coccineij and a leaf of the Cyclamen very
large and beautifull.
(p.119 19 October 1727)
The Secr. Showed the Soc. an Auricula Ursi with branches
coming from the stalk like. The Hyacinthus Bosroides. Also
a burr or mop grow around the stalk of an Eglantine Rose.
Also 2 Wood Nutts growing conjoined as in one. The fruit
like a nutmeg.
(p.119 2 November 1727)
The Sec. Showed the Soc….peach. twisted very rough..
(p.120 14 December 1727)
The Sec. showed the Soc. Dr Douglas Treatise entitled
Lilium Garniense…
With a botanical depiction of …
Coffee Berry with copper prints int….
(p.1331728)
showed the Soc. Seeds of Capsicum Indiacum or West
Indian Pepper grew in Pod.
(p.134 16 May 1728)
The President brought to the Soc. A Double purple
Anemone, from the tuft in the midst of the Stalk (which tuft
is composed of many [..] as well as green jagged […] arose
3 several smaller stalks and an anemone on each of them.
(p.135 20 June 1728)
The Secr. Showed the Soc. The budd of the fruit bearing
pomegranate, which being broke open showed the scarlett
leaves and innumerable seeds.
(p.136 1728)
The President showed.. great variety of Flowers of Seedling
Pink raised by Mr Rowland.
The sec. showed a Stalk of the Strawberry Spinage.
(p.137 1 August 1728)
The Secr. Showed the Soc. The Flower and Leaf of the
Trachelium Americanum flore ruberimo Raij, the Cardinals
Flower, now in full blow in his father’s garden and about 4
feet high.
(p.138 22 August 1728)
Mr John Johnson showed the Soc. The leaves of the Cork
Tree and green ginger and the flower of the Geranium
Africanum […] Flore Ruberimo gathered by him in Chelsea
Physic Garden.
Botany
Amaranthus
Coccineij
Cyclamen
Botany
[Guernsey Lily]
Vegetable
Anenome
Parts of Exotic
Vegetables from
Chelsea Garden
SGS Minutes II
(p.1 9 January 1729)
The Secr….also showed the Society the manner of the
Butcher Brome, Knee holm, Bruseus bearing the flowers
Each through the middle of a leaf, on which when the flower
is open and lyes flat, this produces a large round deep
crimson bery. This plant is called [greek] prickly myrtle or
[greek] wild myrtle.
The flower is composed of six small whitish green leaves
whereof 3 are larger than the other and are round at the
ends the other 3 are sharp pointed and intermediate from
the centre rises a purple Pistillum tipped with whitish green.
I have been the more particular because Parkinson’s
description is different C. A5.253 though he gives a drawing
of the flower lying of the leaf which in a curiosity of
production as also that a flower of the Season. V: Knowles’
just description of it in his Materia Medica Botanica V 7144.
fo.249.
This introduced a discussion by the VP and other members
about evergreens which the gardiners according to
Chambers reduce to 12
Several more may be may be esteemed and are all taken
into gardens for growing Espaliers; Standards, or low
hedges and will bear the climate.
Dwarf Laurel or
Thymelia
Gorse or Furze
Whynn
Broom
Ruseus
Vermicularis frutex
major
SedumArborensu
m
Caprifolium
Ivy M aracockija
Virginia Creeper
Pervinca
And all the family
Rosemary and
of […] chimera
the Strechas
their leaves
Acrotanum and
Perichmenum
Lavender
Rue
Sage and the Sage
Tree phonini
To these we may add The Larch Tree, Larix almost
evergreen.
1 Alaternus
2 Arbutus
3 Bay
4 Box
5 Holly
6 Juniper
7 Laurustinus
8 Phillarea
9 Pyracantha
10 Privet the
Italian Ligusthorn
11 Yew
12 Lawrell
Cedar
Ilex
Pine
Firr
Cypress Mas
and Jasmin
Lignum Vitae or
Thuya
Ork Tree
Savine
Tamarisk
Lentisk
Pinaster
Pitch Tree
Paliuris
Celastrus
The learned Ray in his Pomona Lm.fo.236 places the Larix
last of all the flower bearing trees which falle their leaves
because nearest in Nature to them, beauty full at bearing a
fine crimson coloured flower succeeded by a cone like
Cypress nuts whence the plants are raised, and Evelyn in
his Sylva Cap. XXIII fo.113 says it is of the Coniferous family
but separates it from the rest because the loss of leaf. He
there speaks much […] and gives reasons for cultivating and
producing of Agaricum or Venice Turpentine.
Vegetable
Calibas of
Minorca
(p.10 17 July 1729)
Mr Johnson Secr. Showed the Soc. A beautifull fruit of the
Mince Pye = Calibar of Minorca, made flat a Topp with 10
protuberances dividing pentagonally each angle having 2 of
?? knobs or protuberances and so resembling the pye from
its crimped corners The English gave this odd fruit that
name, the ground colour of the fruit is creame colour pitted
by shades of Sapp Green and pale green sending from the
stalk which is of a very dark green. T ?? each of these knobs
or protuberances and are marking the plain interstices or
subdivisions equally so going all on the flowers places and
centring […] the seeds of this elegant plant […]
Ld Carpenter General in Chief and Governor of the Island of
Minorca
Vegetation
Pomegranate
Mock Orange
(p.1131 July 1729)
M Johnson Secr. Showed the Soc. The pod of a
Pomegranate Apple newly fallen which was dissected and
the Balaustum or double Blossom also. And a Mock Orange
or Gourd in that forme.
(p.17 23 October 1729)
The Revd the President
The President showed the Soc. A white grape, ripe and the
seed growing out of the skin, also the kernell of a Walnutt in
the shape of a bird ready to be hatched, he had after which
another in like manner and MJJ On: large: single: grape at
the Extremity of a tendril.
Mr Secr. Johnson showed the Soc. 2 kernels of Apricot
braking the stone, in shoot germinating which lay on the
ground fallen off by a blast of lightning also a very fine Horse
chestnut which grew in Clifton Park Nottingham
(p.20 30 October 1729)
And a drawing from Mr Michael Dahls Sketch of a damask
Rose which grew in Col. Johnson’s garden at Blackwalk.
The Aloe a variety of Sedum
Water Melon
Scarab. Ag
Globe Ameranth.
The Sec. Said he had lost 2 Imps or Offsets by Planting
them in pots too full of the County rich black mould, …
(p.33 13 August 1730)
Mr Johnson Secr. Showed the Soc…
Also produced a Water Melon raised by him this year but
small, by reason that the vine dyed before it ripened, but it
had the right taste.Dr Green Secr. Produced a flower of the White Female
Balsom consisting of eight leaves, each leaf having an heel
or spur, whereas the flowers of the Female Balsom (as by
Comparison appeared) consist of but 3 leaves and have but
one heel or spurr, the upper flower of this stalk was very
double and like a Larkheel.
(p.33 20 August 1730)
Mr Johnson Secr….
Also showed the Soc. A large Scarabeus Aquaticus – and
the flower of the Globe Amaranthus striped with white.
Vegetables
Vegetables
arum
(p.34 17 September 1730)
The Secr. Mr Johnson showed the Soc. an Arum in seed,
which he transplanted into a garden out of the fields some
yeares since 13 inches high, the berrys very large, […}
Also the whole plant of Horminum Agreste […] which grows
spontaneous in the Grass […] of his Father’s garden in
plenty. Also an extraordinary large bery of […] Solanum
Lethale.
Trachelium
Vegetable
(p.34 30 October 1730)
Mr Johnson Secr. Presented the Soc. Garden with a plant of
the Trachelium Americanum flore galeato ruberrimo. The
Cardinals Flowers therefore called Hays Flora cap 39 folio
148 and with several stones and seashells…
(p.36 8 October )
The Sec. Mr Johnson brought a walnut Shell dividing into 3
not 2…
(p.44 4 March 1731)
Mr Operator Cox communicated a letter from Mr Johnson at
London in which is the following account and drawing by Mr
Bogdani member this Society [VRS and LondS].
A hyacinth, which blew by being placed in the mouth of a
bottle filled with water.
The experiment was by Mr Phil. Miller of Chelsea Physic
garden. FRS. His observations that an bulbous root flower
will […]
This way by placing the root on the mouth of a bottle filled
with water but so that the water doth not touch the root, and
it will attract moisture, sufficient to cause it to its fibrous
roots, when the bottle is almost full of it, it will sprout forth its
leaves and stem.
It will be proper to say these roots on the bottle about two
months before you expect the flowers and the early flowers
succeed the best. If Tulips they are to be placed about a
month before other earlier roots in order to have them blow
at the same time, these being thus kept in a moderate to
warm room with some airy soil blow in any time.
These roots will blow thus but once in Perfection, and they
have been tried the 2nd year, but they fall short of their
beauty.
(p.46 May 1732)
Also weighed a red and white and Green Double Tulip from
MJ garden 5oz
(p.47 15 April 1731)
Also a truss of West Indian Wheat, like what is called pearl
barley which he presented to the Museum.
(p.47 22 April 1731)
The other letter from the Revd Mr Elisha Smith rector of
Tydd St Giles and lecturer of Wisbech which came with 2
straw berry plants and contains this account of them. The
greatest curiosity is the Strawberry kind lately arrived from
Chili. I am assured from those who have seen the produces,
that some of the fruit are as bigg as Golden Pippins – this
letter is dated from Tydd St Giles 16th April 1731. This Same
gent. Last yeare was so obliging to present of said Secr.
With some plant of the Muscovite Strawberry, of the white
wood kind, bearing 2 crops in a year.
Vegetable
(p.64 20 April 1732)
The Secr. Brought the cone of a Firr Tree planted about 50
yeares, this being the first of its bearing, and it produced
several of them neare the apex or summit of the tree.
Deposited as a specimen.
(p.66 25 May 1732)
The Secr. showed the Soc. a bulbous root of a tulip pretty
large produced just above the soil, of a beautiful Crimson
colour, small ones so produced are as the gardiners say not
uncommon, this seems capable of producing a flower, for
which purpose he will carefully plant it.
Cone of a Firre
Tree
(p.66 1 June 1732)
The Secr. Showed the Society …
also a double lemon coloured Raninculus with a smaller one
all green like the ???? leaves of that plant but in shape like
the flower.
Lusus in a
Ranuncul.
Mr Everard a Member sent to be showed the Soc. Catalogus
plantarum tum Exoticarum tum Domesticarum qua in hortis
hand procul a Londina Sitis in Venditionem Propagantum, by
a Society of Gardiners. Part 4 of the Forest Trees,
Evergreens and Wilderness Shrubs. All such as have not
been well described done here in fine Coloured plates with
the print of the leaves and flowers of the Tulip Tree full size.
It was observed we had as this Soc. begun to Catalogue the
Evergreen for Wilderness Work and Gardens 9 January
1728/9 from Evelyn, Kay, Miller etc before this book was
published in 1730. But it is a farther […] that the Ruscus or
Butchers Broom be there omitted, of which we had taken
more particular notice, as a very curious, useful, humble
evergreen.
Vegetables
Poppys
Lusus of
different
carnations on
the same root
Mr Millers
Scheme for
Chelsea Physic
Garden
(p.67 20 July 1732)
The Secr. Showed the Soc. A specimen of a green leaf and
of the flower leaf of a bright crimson poppy more woody hard
than the Common Field poppy more scarlet and different in
shape. It grows plenty fully in Hartford and Cambridgeshire.
So dos a lemon yellow poppy in Wales.
Mr Stagg Coadjutor and gardiner to the Soc. Produced to
them a plant of a carnation in a pot which he called Scarlett
and Black, wherein from the same root were two fair flowers
now in blow one of them a deep crimson coloured picked
flower on a greenish white ground. The other a light scarlet
colour inclining to salmon with some few picks of the deep
crimson but on a clear white ground which in the coloured
flower the root commonly produceth.
The Secr. Gave the Soc. An account from Mr Philip Miller
FRS and Gardiner to the Comp of Apothecarys at Chelsea
Physic Garden of his scheme and design for building a
Grand Greenhouse and Botanical Library there and planting
all the trees Shrubbs and Herbs so as the taller should
appeare in gradation above those which do not naturally
grow so high on each side a broad walk to be left closer to
the Cedar of Lebanons which but lately came to the
perfection as to beare Cones.
Vegetable
Vegetables for
our Climate by
the London
Soc. Of
Gardiners
Prints
(p. 87 17 May 1733)
[discussions of Rhubarb in Leiden, not long since grown in
Europe]
(p.97 4 October 1733)
The said Secr. brought a large root supposed to be Urtica
Urentis, Ligneous, and curiously fibred. Saml Sharpe a
Gardiner, brought 4 apples of equal size growing in form of a
calthrop, 3 will be the base, and one at Topp, turn em as you
will, and appear as in the margin [in margin].
Mr Stagg the Society gardiner showed them many beautiful
Auriculas now in blow in pots.
(p.99 November 1733)
Mr Johnson Secr. Showed the Soc. A perfect plant root
leaves stalk and seed vessel composed of 3 thick 3angular
[…] with round seed of the colour of Minium ground of the
Iris which root he presented with some of the seed to the
Soc. And they were planted down in the Soc. Garden
(p. 100 22 November 1733)
The pres. Showed the Soc. The root of a Red Beet which
was raised from Seed in Mays ground by him being of the
deepest Crimson Colour, above 2 feet in length and full 16
incches in circumference near the Topp.
(p. 108 25 April 1734)
Dr Green a sec. of the Soc. Presented a MS entitled Plantae
officinales…
(p. 118 10 October 1734)
The President brought a gourd in Shape of a Pear being of a
pale green colour… in length 2 foot and 1 foot and a ½ in
circumference in the […]
Also a root of fennel more than Three feet long..
(p.131 1 April 1735)
The VP brought the upper part of the Single Rocket plant
five inches broad being flat and turning round.
(p.179 21 April 1736)
M Johnson and a member brought into the Museum a
Willow Rose dryd and of a brown colour but perfect, this
when fresh on the tree grows on the extremities of the Twigs
and is a tuft of small greenish white leaves resembling a
flower the tree therefore which produces it is by Parkinson in
his herbal Trib.16. Cap 29. fo. 1430 1431 called Salix Rose
Large Chili
Strawberry
Its fruit and
Culture
(p. 183 7 July 1737)
The Secr. Brought a chilli Strawberry large and ripe from the
same root whose
A Chili Strawberry four inches in circumference. Two in
length and weighed half an ounce was gathered on Monday
Last full ripe in Mr Johnson’s garden
This Mr Miller in his Dictionary Fragaria
Chiliensis fructu maxima folys cannotis
Hirsutis, vulgo frutilla. Freziers. Voy. who brought it into
Europe and gave it to
Mons. de Lessieu Professor of Botany at Paris; it is when
ripe of a whitish Red colour, the stalks leaves and flowers
which are of a vast size, so are the Runners, it thrives best
in an Eastern aspect, frequently to be watered.
Vegetables
Iris seed Vessil
Lusus in an
Eruca
Willow Rose
Salix Rose
(p.187 4 August 1737)
The Revd the President in the Chair
The Secr….
He also brought a specimen of the flower full blown and leaf
of Campanula persiex folia carulco flore ptero. Tournf. The
double peachleaved Bell flower
Miller sub Campanula (4). blowing in M Johnsons Garden
very full and deep colour.
Botany
Double Blew
Steeple Bell
Lusus in a
Rose
M Johnson and his Son brought a Province Rose Bud
having five uniform pennate leaves each 2 inches long
proceeding from the stalk at equal distances at the bottom of
the flower cup, all so much alike as to differ much from the
common form of such leaves on Rose Buds which
commonly answer the riddle
Five brethren joined in one
Two have beards and two have none
And the fifth has but half a one
The rose bud was gathered in the Bowling Green Garden,
just opening of a beautiful colour, pretty deep crimson, and
very odorous scent and the leaves aforementioned very
broad and verdant.
(p.169 30 September 1737)
By the Revd the President a lusus of a small pear ?? in an
oval forme
The Secr presented two walnuts growing conjoined in like
manner
Also two medlars grown woody on the trees.
Lusus in a Pear
In walnuts
Medlars
SGS Minutes III
(p.7 4 May 1738)
Dr Green Secr showed…, and a striped large sharp leaved Tulip, of
two reds and a pale yellow, having eight leaves 4 within and 4
without, the Secr. brought another of like colours but round leaves,
the same number and a lusus [freak] of a leaf from the stalk as
large as any of the rest, but stripes of green as part taking of the
stame or stalk; these roots blew both in like manner the last yeare.
For Experiment Mr Stagg now transplanted in blew into pots,
several of the finest feather, and Agate Tulips; to try what effect it
would have on the next yeare.
(p.8 1 June 1738)
Mr Stagg Coadjutor and Gardiner to the Soc. Brought in out of their
garden Two Iris Flower de Lusus, each with 4 falling leaves purple
Velvett, and yellow and stripe down the middle, one of the leaves
striped and white, the 4 upper leaves pale ash colour. NB the Iris
commonly cenniss but after 6 leaves 3 upper and 3 lower en falling.
Rays Flora Cap XVIII. 109
(p.10 22 June 1738)
Mr Johnson brought in a root like a radish from Norway
(p.31 5 April 1739)
Dr Green a Secr. Of this Soc showed the Society a light purple
velvet Coloured Auricula Ursi, of his own raising from seed, having
a very large white eye; one peep of three – which were on the same
stalk, was of the Circumference hereunder drawn round- the
extremities of the same as lay’d down flat upon this paper, 2 inches
diameter of the flower the learned Mr John Rea in his Flora says
Auricula Ursi, Beares Eares are nobler kinds of cowslips, bearing
several flowers like them in forme on the Summitt of their stalk in
what wee commonly call a truss.
Rapis have overlooked this beautiful flower, but our Cowley has
done it injustice in his 3rd book of plants, thus translated by N Tate
Pt Laureat.72
Flowers
blown in
Water
Glasses
Impudent fool! That first stil’d beauteous flower
By a detested name, the ears of Bears;
Worthy himself of Asses Ears, a pair
Fairer than Midas once was said to wear.
(p.49 27 December 1739)
Hot Beds Professor Triewalds New Method
Sometime ago Mr Professor Triewald communicated to the Royal
Society a method he has invented for making Hot Beds, or Houses;
it consists of a large boiler set over a furnace in what he calls a
Tower, from whence the Hot Air or vapour is conveyed in declining
pipes laid under the Hot beds made of Tanners Ooze and having a
waste valve loaded, to prevent the bursting of the Engine, by these
means he imagines to supply the Plants not only with Heat but
Moisture, so that the Glasses may be kept always Close, having no
occasion to open them frequently to water them. But I fear he will
find that heat and moisture without a supply of fresh air will rather
mould and corrupt the tender filaments of the plants and so destroy
them, he yet gives no Account of the success attended it.
Mr Millers method of Ripening grapes
Mr Miller’s method of ripening grapes is I think the best easiest and
cheapest I know. It is this, when the grapes are full grown, he lays a
good thick bed of strong Hot Litter at a moderate distance from the
stem of the vine, on this bed he lays a thin covering of slit deals
then unnailing the vines, lays them carefully down upon these
deals, where being thus exposed to the sun, the heat of which
being strongly reflected from the wall against which they grew, to all
which add the heat they receive through the thin boards from the
litter, they are thus ripened far better than by any other although
more expensive method.
(p.16 25 February 1741)
Dr Green Secr. Showed the Society a large single white Hyacinth,
of that sort called Gyant, with 12 flowers blown, and an offset to this
same root blowing […] a water glass, earlier and stronger in leaves
stalks and flower than any in the ground in his garden by much,
after Mr Curteis’s methods.
Hyacinth
Persian iris
Crocus
And in another glass is a Persian Iris, rather going off and Golden
Crocus: as wee have Bays History of Plants and some other of his
works, he proposed the best should be purchased
Hot Beds
Professor
Triewalds
New
Method
Sunflower
Calth
Americana
Poppy
Larkheels
Lusus in
Peach
Fruits of
double bloom
peach
And Azarrla
or Neapolitan
Medlar
Azarolus
M Johnson
Secr.
(p.81 11 June 1741)
The Soc. Secr. Showed…
He also showed the Soc. Several specimens of very double Persian
Ranunculus raised from seed by Dr Coleby of Stamford, whereof
the Dr was so obliging to give him some roots, these flowers were
large, of various colours and some of them striped, others pecked,
all extremely beautiful.
(p.122 12 August 1742)
From the garden of Mr Everard a member Mr Butter brought the
flower ?? very large and consisting of small French Yellow or pale
Gold Colour
Leaves very thick set and double thoughout.
Also of a round-leaved small double white poppy edged with
carmine Colours,
Several very double flower of Larkheels of variety of Colours, these
flowers called also Larkspurs, Consolida, [greek], very curious
(p.124 26 August 1742)
Mr Johnson showed the Soc. The Deep Crimson fruit of the Opuntia
or Indian Figg which blew last year in his ?? Garden bearing a large
lemon coloured flower in forme like a Single Anenome, and ripened
this month v: Parkinson’s Herbal Ch XVI. Cap 70. Miller’s Dict.
It is in shape like a fig, in taste very sweet and agreeable, but
flattish as fig and of that sort of substance and firmer.
(p.129 2 October 1742)
He also brought two fair and ripe green coloured peeches growing
together towards the stalks, though on 2 distinct foot stalks by
collision; and presented the company with several other of the
same peeches which grew on Standard Trees, bearing for the most
part and in vast plenty double blossoms: the Persica, vulgaris
floreplens, of Tournefort 64 Miller in Dict. Persica. Catalog. Plantar.:
Hortul Lond. Folio 54.55a
And with some of the fruit of the Mespilus Apij Folio Laciniato.
C.B.p..459
Mespilus Aroma Sive Neapolitana. Park Theatr. 1423. TB.Vol. 1. P1
67 Cas.Alp
Millers Dict. Mespilus and Catal. Ph Herts. Lond: folio 48. No 5
Which ripened this year in great plenty in the Packin gardens.
(p.144 5 May 1743)
He [Maurice Johnson] also showed the Company the flowers of an
Auricula growing on several stalks from the main or Bough
hyacinths […] Old Giant Buff a brown velvet flower edged and
striped with lemon fine Dye and double, this plant generally
produces […] flowers after this manner, called now the good lad:
and a great favourite with him having had it many years.
(p.148 21 July 1743)
By a letter dated 16th Inst. this Society received thanks of the Royal
Society for observations communicated to the learned soc. by you
on November came a plant of Sedum Majus vulgari Similis of
Morrisons Historia Plantarum
Diction: No 10 in full blow 18 inches high having 12 […]cracked […]
towards the Topps the flowers green and with the rest of the plant
with a B Coloured tinge towards all of extreme parts of its very thick
leaves, which are sharp pointed, as those of the Aloe, which this
plant resembles […]
Brought growing in a small pot and shown by Mr Johnson Secr.
Opuntia
Indian Figg
fruit
Auricula
(p.150 4 August 1743)
The Secr. And Mr Bransby a Member showed the Society a ripe
fruit of the Ananas, or Pine Apple, very fragrant and of a bright gold
Colour raised in the Gardens of Richard Thompson Esq of Elshet
near Barton in this County the height […] the Topp 6 ½ inches the
Topp 5 inches the Circumference 14 inches the weight 2lbs 2 ½ ozs
and sent a present to him and by him given to the Revd the
President his Father in Law
(p.155 6 October 1743)
Mr John Johnson jnr brought a large branch with the Crimson
flowers of a Persicaria orientalis flore ruberrimo. Indiane Arsmart
with Crimson coloured flowers.
(p.184 27 September 1744)
The S of Soc. MJ showed the Company which he gathered in Dr
Walkers greenhouse a Coffee Bery the pulp on the outside of a
dark mahogany colour – also a leaf of the Husa or Banain, Banana
plant so famous for fodder in all the East and west: and gave them
an Account as at last Soc by the Dr of many curious Exoticks there
(p.185 11 October 1744)
The said Secr. Showed the company a drawing by him made and
coloured of the Aromaticus Flore Siliastro, hitherto not sufficiently
described. It flowers freely every third year but for once opening at
5 in the evening, and closing at 8 in the morning, so if cut when
blowing and put in water or held in the hand, or layd on a table,
when closed soon decays and turns to a watery substance and rots.
The stalk a deep green triangular and set with prickles.
The budd large the leaves orange coloured in forme like the
Sunflower. In the middle sized cups in one petal but as it were
nivecked and divided in segments, this a paler green without and
white within, from the centre thereof it puts forth on long stalks
many lemon coloured seed vessels, covered thick with a farina and
appearing feathery. It is carryd up all over the back of the
greenhouse belonging to the Revd Dr Rd Walker VM of Trinity
College Cambridge where it blews freely and scents the whole, any
One flower will scent a large room as with spicey perfume.
This drawing is in proportion of but half its real size. It […] in bark.
Miller in his Dict. Under No 11, cereus, calls it Scandeus (but
without Support it can’t climb) minor, polygonus, articulatum. Par.
Bat. And […] the lesser creeping jointed Torch Thistle, with many
angles, but his description there following is very short and
imperfect, wherefore I thought this fine flower worthy a more full and
exact description. It bears the fruits freely, and is propagated by
cuttings.
He also brought in and left for the use of the members a catalogue
of garden Seed, Flower Roots fruit and Forest Trees, Evergreens
Flowering Shrubs Greenhouse and Hothouse Plants sold by Mr Jno
Harrison Gardeners Seedsman Jesus College Lane Cambridge
who has an excellent stock part of the Late Lord Petre’s plants, was
recommended to that place by Mr Miller, is expert and judicious in
every branch of gardening, and has the ear of many, especially Mrs
and Dr Walker’s garden, green house and hot house, stored with all
sorts of curious, rare and elegant vegetables in the more thriving
condition from which experience and character he hath employed
Mr Harrison and recommended him for their custom to the
members of this Society in anything they may want could come by
water to Wisbech and thence hither.
Ananas or
Pine Apple
SGS Minutes IV
(p.24 14 November 1745)
Mr Johnson brought a curious seed vessel of a vegetable like what they
call the Snail, or Medica Cochleata.
It seems very different from any of the 4 described by Mr Phillip Miller in
his dict. the head being squamous as of the Cardinal wrapped round
with a wiry substance.
(p.69 Summer 1746)
Johnson secr. Showed them the flower and leaf of Lavatera Africana
flore pulccherrimo Boerh. Index horti Leyd. No 3
Mr Miller an Excellent botanist Gardener of the Physic Gardens
Chelsea FRS in his Gardeners Dictionary, says it takes its name of the
physitian Septicus Lavaterus, the frd of Mons. Tournefoot, upon whose
account he so entitled it. Martin thought it to be the Trimestrei Clusij: but
then it ought rather to be referred to the Genus of Alcea.
The leaf, flower, stile and cup of the flower have the appearance of a
mallow when the florists have given it the appellation of African Mallow.
The Stile becomes a fruit which is armed in front with an hollow shield;
Vallantinus
The seeds which are shaped like a kidney, growing to the inner part.
They are very ornamental plants in a fine garden as Mr Miller says
when placed amongst other annuals either in pots, or borders: Their
flowers are very like those of the Mallow, but are larger and of a more
beauty full Colour.
(p.74 Summer 1746)
Said Secr. Showed the Company a beautiful thriving plant of an
Iceplant Ficoides Africana, folio plantaginis undulato nuicis argentei ad
sperosa. Tourn. African Ficoides or Fig-Marygold, with a waved
plantain leafe. With silver drops like frozen water or Ice commonly
called from their tincture the Diamond Ficoides. No 39 in Millers Garden
Dictionary where he speaks of it as not being a plant of much beauty, it
grows very regular in a pot, and lies flat dividing itself equally in four
large branches, this in full flower, plentifully blown, the which great
leaves have all a […..] around the edges, the buds of the flowers as
they blow are cap’d with a leaf of the brightest and deepest carmine
colour, the flowers when expanded are an inch thick in Diameter, and
the purest […], consisting of many small leaves sharp pointed with a
faint […] halves of the flowers before they blow twist round at the
extreme point in manner […] of the Convolvulus like a skrew. The stalks
are very thick in proportion to the plant, and each of the 4 main stalks
so dividing about 10 inches in length.
(p.81 20 November 1746)
The said Secr. Brought in the Head of an Ananas of the sort called by
Mr Miller the Queen Pine, Dr Green observed the Lower Leaves to be
the smaller, ?? in the Artichoke.
Dr Green specimens of the Brassica Fimbriata C.B. rubra, Miller q.
Boor Cole, very deep red and deeply laminated. It is the Scandinavian
kele or cabbage. Very Hardy.
Diamond
Ficoides
or IcePlant an
African
Figg
Marygold
Pine
Apple
Ananas
Boor Cole
(p.98 9 April 1747)
The Secretary brought the boughs of an Elme, the thickest but 4 inches
and ½ in circumference, which had been, by naturally entwining with
each other three times enarched and grown together within the length
of a foot or a little more.
(p.114 30 July 1747)
The sd Sec MJ showed the Company a spike of the deep Crimson
Flower of the Rhus Virginianum or sumack tree, of use in dying, as the
branches are in America (where these trees grow in plenty) for
Tanning, Leather.
SGS Minutes V
Purple
ThornApple
(p.20 21 July 1748)
The President brought a flower of the common Stramonium fructu
Spinosa, rotundo, flore albo simplia, T.118. and also Stramonium,
fructu Spinosa oblongo, caules et flore violaea Majus purpureum
Path Par. M H 3. 607a
(p.26 20 October 1748)
The President…
He showed the company a small double orange coloured flower
of Hieracium kind called Auricula Muris. Mouse Eare.
(p.58 2 June 1750)
The President brought a branch of Variegated Holly Green, Red,
and White distinct in the Bark as also a piece of artificial Stone.
(p.70 6 December 1750)
Mr Operator Cox brought from Mr Pink a member four fine
specimen of the following.
1st The Jesuits Bark; arbor febrifuga Peruviana, China Chirce,
and Quinquina and Gannanaparide Dicta R.H. an holquahult gen
gen arbor Chilli Hern.?
2nd Storax calamita Renna, Styrax offic. Arbor gen IB.folio Mali
litorei C.B.
3rd A large Pod of the Tamarind; Tamarind offic. Siliqua Arabica
C.B.
Inlay sive Tamarindis. Pif.
4th Lacca in ramalis, Shck Pac; a resinous Substance from,
Jujuba Indica C.B.
Pilosella
flower
Variegated
Holly
1 Cortex
Peruv
Specimens of
Druggs
From Mr Pink
2 Storax
3 Tamarind
Malus moluccensis horribil Spinosa, Ber Indica fructu jujubino.
I.B.
Malus indica Lusitanus, Ber and Bor Acosta Park. Pesiu Toddali
H.M.
This is used in making sealing wax to render it brittle and give it
an agreeable scent.
(p.114 22 February 1753)
The President showed the Company a Carott with 6 roots
growing in a line like Fingers.
4 Lacca
Carott with 6
roots
Appendix 2: Extracts from various letters and other material
Wrapper for garden seeds, addressed to John Johnson, with instructions for growing
onions and peppers, from Captn Moleworth:
N.B. When the Spaniards have a mind their onions should be very large, they stubb them up
carefully (not draw ‘em) so as not to break the least fibre, & transplant them about eight or ten
Inches asunder, and two inches & a half deep in the ground – if the weather be dry, they must be
duly water’d as Lettice etc are when transplanted.
The Piementones must be rais’d in a hot bed, & transplanted when about 3 or 4 Inches Above
ground About a foot asunder, the fruits when green make an […] pickle, when ripe they are red, &
may be gather’d to lay by & dry; and are very good to put […] any Seasone’d Meats where pepper
may be used.
Letter from Maurice Johnson’s son Maurice in London about melon seeds and fruit-tree
cuttings he is sending to Spalding:
London 24 March 1740
I am favoured with yours of the last of February, which I should have answered before, but had
nothing worth sending you. I have now got a very curious parcell of melon Seeds which my friend
Mr Fairchild has procured for me, by his being acquainted with his Majesties chief Gardiner at
Richmond Mr Thos Greening, to whom they were sent to be raised, you may reckon them without
scruple the most curious sorts in England, and perhaps in Europe, for they were collected and
brought into this kingdom by his Majesties Command and expence, and designed entirely for the
Royal Family’s Use, (Fairchild happened to be there when the parcells came in to Mr Greening’s,
and took of all the sorts and made the catalogue from that which was sent with the seeds. There
are some others that were also sent to him of which there was no names, but thinking they might
be curious has sent me some of them likewise. He has sent me some cuttings of pears and plumbs
(which I desired) and of pears, the Chermonteel is the best, and plumbs very good and early the
pears, all but the Bury, last all Winter and Spring. I sent the Catalogue with the Cuttings and Seeds
yesterday by the Peterbro Carrier and hope you will se them grafted as soon as may be for it is full
late.
Yr Obed. Son M Johnson
Letter from Maurice Johnson junior to his father:
30 April 1746
…
The Season of the Spring being now gotten so very high and the Summer advancing will be no
small advantage, as I imagine to our gardens or to the plantations, where I think of spending a few
hours Cum quatuor Voluminitus, non ita pridem, a Te Memoratis [as with the fourth volume of
minutes, not so long ago, as you remember].
Of what advantage your late Alteration may be in throwing off the Elmes from out of the Gardens; I
must profess myself afraid to see, being steadily attached to all my old acquaintance and in
gratitude for its favourable shade (so oft by stealth oft since - with less of difficulty afforded me)
obliged to regret the loss of a variety so pleasing, a retreat from the intolerable, midday sun, so
charmingly agreeable.
Letter from Maurice Johnson’s son Maurice in London about a failure to buy orange trees:
Charing Cross March 19th 1741
I was favoured with Yours Honoured Sir. of the 15th and am very much pleased to hear my
Grandfather is so much mended, but very sorry to hear my grandmother continues in so very
lingring a state. May God deliver her out of it one way or other, for even Death is much to be
preferred to her condition & more especially as she is so good a Woman, and so well prepared for
another State. I am very glad to hear my Uncle goes down so well (I hope he did not keep Couz
Wilsby up too late o nights upon the Rode & so mistime him). He will tell you the reason why I sent
you as Ink Glasses, & as to Bumber Glass: now Burnt Ale is out of fashion there are none to be
met with, but those you have are very good & fashionable. I have not yet been able to meet with
any Orange Trees but if any come between this & the Time of Capt Withers being down will send
my mother a couple- to whome be pleased to present my duty. I am very glad to hear sister Harryot
will come up to Town with the Capn. Who I am sure will take good care of her, but fear she is
worse of her complaint again if so I am sure it is absolutely necessary for her to come up, but will
say no more of it. With my Love to sister Butter- her Secretary pray let her know I will execute her
orders [But must know how much she is willing to go so for your care have one under £1.5s] so
please likewise to let Sister Grace know her Chairs will be very soone done & and her necklace by
Saturday but was forced to buy her two rows of Perls for the love knots [are] worn out and quite out
of fashion I desire she will let me know her orders about it. […] she mentioned for I have either lost
or mislaid her Letter which is full as bad I am Sr. with Duty where due your obed.t Son M Johnson
Letter from Dr Dixon Colby about a shared interest in flowers and plants. Johnson has sent
a plant for him and another for the Countess of Exeter’s garden at Burghley:
Letter from Dr Dixon Colby of Stamford of Vegetables as a florist in answer to sent him with a pot
for the Rt Hon the Countess of Exeter of Burleigh and another for the Dr of Malva Horaria these’d
given to Dr Walker by Ld Petre
No 50
The plants came safe, and the pleasure had from receiving such so agreeable a present from my
friend Mr Johnson will not fade, but remain with me when flowers are no more.
I sent the other plant to the Countess, who I daresay will have a true value for whatever shall come
from Mr Johnson; for [??] her Ladyship abounds in beauty of yr kind, yet in the vegetable world as
in the Natural the [??] never satisfied, for we want whatever have not, [??] tired with it we have,
and neither the East nor the West Indies can confirm the imagination of a true florist. Last year I
sowed no [??] them [??] a pinch of Ranunculus seed, but to my great disappointment raised not
one. I know not what [??] put it to, unless there was some propensity in the air wanting, occasioned
by the severe old seasons, to invigorate the seeds of plants whose native climate is so much
warmer than our own. Perhaps a Gent. Of your curious sagacity may give me a better. I shall be
very proud of an intercourse which the Vegetable world may afford us: a World [??] from most of
the [???} which attend the great over and subject to few Disappointments.but those with a severe
winter, or an unkind Spring may occasion. You know, Sr. my ground is very small and therefore
have no room for sub[???] Of any sorts, but content myself with a few Tulips, Ranunculus and
anemones; and sud[??] Amongst the best of those Jean, being greatly obliged to my friends in
obliging me with the best the Country affords, except, what is always to be excepted, the parterres
at Burghley.
I beg Sr. my complements to all the good family and am
Yr Most Obedient humble Svt
Dr Colby
Letter from Maurice Johnson to Mr Birch:
Spalding 18 February 1752
‘Gardens and vegetables, not before attended to, because not understood;… Machines and
Engines of use in Draining and Agriculture, Yncio and the animals not till of late regarded:
‘As an ornament to my canal, I have, wing-shot this winter (presented to me by my son-in-law Mr
Wallis, a member of our society) a beautiful diver, a water fowl a half bird…It lives, as my gardener
tells me, on worms; it gets them out of the walks by night…it swims incomparably and dives
dextrously and for its diversion will frequently swim underwater ten or a dozen yards at a time, hes
a bold bird, and a fowler told me called the Sea Nymph and the Drake of his Line. His upper beak
hooks a little over his under, and it is very sharp and strong, and I should have rather kept him in
other water than with good carp and tench, but that my neighbour the Fowler (who is also a
fisherman) assured me, he is harmless as to fish, of any size at least, and he is not in a breeding
pond.
John Nichols Reliquiae Galeanae
p.411
Letter to Thomas Birch 21 July 1750
Mentions
‘the [Leaviriis] of Africa flore pheenicio foliis balsamo occidentalis in full blow by Gardiner also the
Citisus verus Virgilii in 3rd Blossoms of the Yeare of a fine French yellow.
British Library Add MS 4310 ff292
Surtee’s Society 73 (1882)
Stukeley’s Letters and Diaries I
p.89
Letter of William Stukeley to Miriam:
2 October 1754
…That day I set two tulip trees in my garden at Stamford, two firs and a cedar of libanus, which the
Duke of Montagu sent me, …
p.209
Letter of William Stukeley to Samuel Gale:
Grantham 14 October 1728
…I spent Saturday morning last with Ivo Talbois [Maurice Johnson]… His garden is very curios and
entertaining. The greens are exceedingly fine and stately, and his collection of odiferous, and
exotic, plants, flowers, shrubs, etc., is highly delightful. He loaded me home with roots and seeds of
pomegranate, balm of gilead, etc., for my garden.
Surtee’s Society 76 (1883)
Stukeley’s Letters and Diaries II
p.306
Diary Entry
September 23 1742
Mr Johnson has the Naples medlar, the icy sedum, and a vast number of curios plants in his
garden
p.322
Stukeley, in paraphrasing his eulogy to Maurice Johnson upon his death in 1755 says,
…Mr Johnson was a great lover of gardening and planting, had an admirable collection of flowers,
flowering shrubs, fruit trees, exotics, an excellent cabinet of medals…
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
11 May 1751
Those fine elms…afford me many a shady morning walk, support me fragrant Woodbinds and,
…and from the terrace they stand on I’ve a delightful view of my Canal, which this last dry summer
scoured out to the very Springs and is full of good water…
Laying a flight of stone stepps to the very bottom of it which I bought from the demolition of
Duckhall, rendered it safe and useful for Batheing, and ready for the Gardiners constant service in
watering the trees and plants, without breaking and defacing the slope of the terrace which I have
made exact and beautyfull. By our great drought and want of water and loss of my fish I was so
discouraged…while as almost to be determined to plant the sides with Aquaticks I left it wild, but
my son prevailed upon me to set a gang of workmen well experienced and to bear the charge of a
scouring out the canal and repairing the slopes, which I do not repent of, and hope it will give you
pleasure and have your approbation.
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc.c.113.
Letter Book of William Stukeley Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
23 October 1719
A letter about Mr Atkinson, recently dead, who left a widow but no children. His house, with stables,
brewhouse and other offices and a pretty garden and orchard under, by his will given to the
Masters of the Free grammar school of this town..
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc.c.113.
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
16 April 1728
‘After term I came hither charmed with the delights of nature, though it be nature in the Fenns. I a
good deal cultivate vegetables of all sorte, from the Oak to the sedums, and have so encouraged a
love for gardening in my children that we are a family of Botanists, and perhaps it’s better for us
that our bounds are contracted by a river, a churchyard that tho’ we may […] the more spacious,
we have but small ground to cultivate. Between that very […] which gives to and I spend my time…
and rarely, very rarely, seek out any field sports or take the diversions of this town which are
Bowling, Billiards etc for I seldom, but so visit a neighbour […]from home…
We have fitted up a handsome square room… and we have a pretty little garden spott and a good
cellar belonging to it where we take a sober glass, are cheerful together, and communicate
thoughts to each other in a quiet and social way once a week.
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
5 January 1732
Refers to concerts held on the first Thursday in the New Year in the house, next to the Museum,
with tea and coffee, and a glass of wine…(his letters frequently mentions concerts put on by the
SGS here, with Members playing.
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc.c.113.
Letter Book of William Stukeley Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
9 January 1744
I’ve herewith sent you what variety I had in my nursery of Flowering Trees and Shrubs to yield
Sweet Odour, and give a beauty to your Boscage, being planted before your taller trees, mindfull of
Silvester’s saying
He who delights to plant, and set,
Makes after-ages in his debt.
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
15 March 1745
We brew our own ale and have a cellar and pipes and tobacco, for their must be some ale with our
history…and mentions the Society fees which ‘pays for…and keeping our own garden too.’ We
have our own Operator (Ever a Chyr. & Apothecary) having an hortus siccus, a coll. Of specimens
of the Materia Medica, …
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
A letter from Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
22 September 1750
(about how the hurricane …having blew done elm trees between the house and the churchyard
and branches from his walnut trees, and other trees blown down…)
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
13 October 1750
‘Our drought and consequently want of fresh water continues still, but having scoured out my canal
and deepened it a foot I came to a white quick sand which has afforded me and many of my
neighbours excellent soft, sweet, clear and well-tasted water both for washing and brewing and
allsorts of household uses, a great blessing…
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley:
9 March 1753
This has been a wet yeare, and wee had a greater number of small carp, taken in our wash…than I
ever knew which has given me an opportunity of stocking my Canal with them at a reasonable rate,
which I have done with Tench…
Letter Book of William Stukeley
Bodleian Library Eng. Misc. c.113
Appendix 3: A Selection of gardening books available in the
Spalding Gentlemen’s Society library
•
Bird 1648 Natural History of Brazil
•
Blackstone 1746 Specimen Botanicum
•
Blair 1721 Botanic Essays
•
Borlase 1758 Natural History of Cornwall
•
Richard Bradley (gardener) 1718? New Improvements of planting and gardening
•
Richard Bradley 1728 Botanical Dictionary (2nd Edition)
•
Hales 1727 Vegetable Stat
•
Hill 1751 On Plants
•
Laurence 1726 On Gardening
•
Malpigius 1675 Anatomy of Plants
•
Philip Miller 1720 Gardeners Dictionary
•
Thomas Moffett Insectorum Theatrum 1634
•
Parson 1745 On Seeds
•
Stephen Switzer 1724 Practical Fruit Garadener
•
Tournefort 1718 History of Plants (herbal)
•
Tournefort 1719 The Compleat Herbal