Historic English Monastic Gardens

There are not lots of traces or exact records of English monastic gardens left today. A twelfth-century plan of Canterbury presents only a vague notion of the planting and structure; it demonstrates the cloisters containing a herbarium and a conduit—with the fish-pond, orchard, and vineyard outside the walls. However, even though this is an uncompleted record, it is the best we have from this earlier period. The various parts of all monasteries belonging to the same order were as invariable as circumstances permitted, leading to the conclusion that the plans and specifications further of those on the mainland additionally give us an idea of the design of the English monastic gardens. An ancient monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland left behind its design, which presents significant information into the design of the large religious compound that belonged to the Benedictines in the ninth century. The monastery was created in a valley and its cultivated grounds were broken into four areas: the cloister-garth, the physic garden, the vegetable garden, and a burial ground that was also an orchard. A savina was in the middle, providing fresh water for washing and eating.