Abbots Garden Now Open

After three years of hard work by Church members and local volunteers, the Abbot’s garden is now open to the public.

 

The garden has been designed to give a sample of plants that would have been grown by the Benedictine monks and lay servants of St Mary’s Priory from 1087 to its dissolution in 1543. The garden is principally an outdoor learning space, for use by schoolchildren and other learners in conjunction with workshops provided by the St Mary’s Priory Learning Service situated in the Tithe Barn

 

A priory, like all monasteries, was a self-sufficient organization. The gardens were a key element in this, supplying the priory kitchens with herbs, fruit and vegetables that constituted the main part of the monk’s diet, as well as cider and ale to drink. The garden also provided the infirmarian, the monk who looked after the sick and infirm, with a supply of medicinal herbs and plants from which he could create his medical treatments (ointments, salves, infusions, poultices etc.). Another element that was required was herbs for domestic purposes such as dying wool and linen, the woad and gypsywort we have planted, and herbs for making soap such as soapwort.

 

Most monasteries would also have had orchards. In some monasteries monks were buried in the  orchard, so that in death they could become part of the cycle of life. Although we have no evidence of monks’ burials in this garden, we have, however, planted some historic species of fruit tree: quince, medlar, mulberry, and two heritage apple varieties. We have also planted redcurrants, blackcurrants and blackberries: all common within the medieval diet.

 

The earliest record of a garden explicitly called a Mary Garden involves a 15th Century monastic accounting record of the purchase of plants for St Mary’s Garden by the sacristan of Norwich Priory. As the Priory Church in Abergavenny is dedicated to St Mary, we have planted flowers with an association to Mary below the east window of the Church; a leaflet is available from the Tithe Barn to help you understand the symbolic meaning of the plants and their representation of Mary’s virtues.

 

The garden will be officially opened by the Mayor of Abergavenny and the Vice-Chairman of Monmouthshire County Council on Tuesday 13th July at 11am. Please come and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of this hidden garden.

 

The project was not possible without the funding from the Tidy Town’s initiative in association with Adventa.