Page:Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.djvu/203

Rh headed windows, with wide internal splays, have recently been discovered and opened. They do not correspond in position. The building contains E.E., Dec., Perp., and late Perp., portions. 326. .—(A.D. 1291) "Ecclia de Tenham cum capella." The first orchards known in England were planted here, namely, 105 acres in ten parcels, of cherry, pippin, and golden rennet trees, by Rich. Harris, fruiterer to K. Henry VIII, A.D. 1533. (Lambarde.) The spot was a piece of ground called The Brennet, planted in quincunx order. (Harris.) Such are the statements given us on this subject; but, there is sufficient evidence to prove, incorrectly. It has been suggested to me, that ortgeard is a genuine Saxon word in frequent use, and doubtless the thing signified is at least as old as the term: also, that the English word often occurs long before the period of K. Henry VIII; as, for example, in Perse Plowman's Crede written temp. K. Richard II, where "Orcheyardes" and "erberes" are mentioned as constant accompaniments of a monastery. This testimony is confirmed by the very curious plan of the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland in the ninth century, published by Professor Willis in the Archæol. Journal, (V, 85.) In this plan we find indeed no orchard, strictly so called, but fruit trees are placed in regular order all round the cemetery, and the contiguous inclosure on one side is a garden, uniformly arranged in beds for different vegetables. It is true, St. Gall was situated in a foreign country, but the founder, to whom the establishment was afterwards dedicated, was a native of Ireland, one of that "noble army" who migrated from the British Isles for the purpose of benefiting the dark parts of the European continent by their spiritual labours; and it will hardly be contended, that the model, selected for the new institution, would be the system adopted on the continent alone, and not one, with which St. Gall had been familiar in his native country. But whatever weight may be allowed to this inference, without denying the authenticity of the above-named plan it must be acknowledged, that much attention was paid in religious houses to horticulture so early as the ninth century; and, if among other nations, the custom would not be very long in travelling into England, if previously unknown there, which however could hardly be the case. The Archæol. Journal, (V, 295, &c.) contains "Observations on the state of horticulture in England in early times," which tend still farther to show, that orchards