History
Inevitably the history of the Walled Garden is tied up with that of Hillsborough Hall, originally Hillsborough House, as such it is difficult to find specific mention of it in any archives. What we do know is that it started life as the kitchen garden of the Hall but is also described as a pleasure garden. This implies that, whilst it was mainly functional, it was also meant to impress. The area outside the walled garden itself, now containing the long borders, seasonal meadows, Squirrel Green, the pond and the Woodland Walk, was the orchard.
By the time it was built at the end of the 18th century, there was nothing new about walled gardens, such hortus conclusus (enclosed gardens) have been in use since pre-Christian times. Examples date from some 3000 years ago in Egypt, Babylon and Mesopotamia as well as in both ancient Greece and Rome. These were built as places of sanctuary and contemplation with fruit trees, pools and places to sit.
The earliest known examples of such gardens in the UK appear to date from the thirteenth century and were often enclosed by hedges (Lambeth Palace 1236, Bishop Auckland 1241) or wattle (St Albans 1214-35). Although Walled Gardens were beginning to appear from the end of the 13th Century on (Silksteed 1276, Westminster Abbey 1315, Kettering 1319), these were mainly associated with ecclesiastical institutions, universities or royalty, Kettering was built for the Black Prince. It wasn’t really until the
Sixteenth century however that they begin to be developed in any number. Whilst the technology had been known for centuries it was probably the turbulence of the post Conquest era that made it difficult to apply in Britain, from the Harrying of the North to the Wars of the Roses made life difficult. Their origin probably coincided with the development of country houses. These were beginning to replace castles during this period, partly because castles were becoming obsolete due to increasingly effective artillery. This combined with the relative peace of the sixteenth century made their evolution possible. Aspen and DeWit date the evolution from about 1400 in Europe when the political situation became sufficiently stable for their development. Such development however was probably delayed in Britain because of the Wars of the Roses. With the succession of Henry VII however the dynastic issues underlying them had finally been resolved and, whilst it was quite dangerous to be close to the monarchy, particularly for Henry’s wives, life for everyone else, apart from the poor, which was most of them, was relatively safe. Things did however get a bit hairy after Henry’s bust up with Rome and even more so over the execution of Mary Queen of Scots (who probably visited the area during her stay at Sheffield Manor). Henry had however developed an effective navy to deal with any external threats. Elizabeth could always rely on the wind to defeat the Armada!
The rich and powerful no longer needed to build defensively but could afford to build houses of style and comfort, including all mod cons. They now had the time and leisure to indulge their interests and walled gardens weren’t cheap, just consider how much all those bricks, all hand made, would have cost! Of course there may have been some building materials going cheap after the monasteries had been dissolved.
An early example of a Tudor Walled Garden was at Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire begun in 1511. It is thought to have been derived from Henry VII own garden at Sheen. It was described as “On the east side of the castle...is a large and goodly garden to walk in, closed with high walls embattled”. It is also interesting that Thornbury was the last castellated building built in this period. We know about it because its unfortunate owner, Edward Stafford was one of those who fell foul of Henry and was executed for treason. As a consequence his lands were confiscated and the quote came from the associated commissioner’s report.
Henry VII own garden at Richmount supplied him with “Damsons, grapes, filberts, peaches, apples and other fruits and flowers, roses and other sweet waters.” Unusually the name of the “Kings Gardyner” is also known his name was Lovell.
The walled garden from its inception has never been purely functional it served other purposes. It served as a “hortus ludus” where games were played and courtly life took place. As a “hortus catologi” where planting was geometric for classification purposes and “hortus contemplationis, a place of reflection describing the hierarchy of the universe.
As they became more common overtime, their potential became increasingly exploited. With use came knowledge, generations of gardeners each adding their experience and expertise to the sum total. So, by the time our Walled Garden was built, they had developed to a degree of sophistication. In particular they had learnt how to take advantage of the different climatic conditions achievable whilst employing fairly basic technology. This not only extended the picking season but also made possible the cultivation of exotic and tender plants from different parts of the world. The fact that a rare example of a heated wall was also included is also evidence of this. Whether the heated wall was used in conjunction with a greenhouse is unclear, glass would have been expensive and the amount required to cover the entire length of it would have been very expensive indeed! Although there are examples during this period, (Cally kitchen garden in Kirkbrideshire).
We don’t know exactly what was grown but we can make an educated guess based on other such gardens. Peaches and oranges (Cally kitchen garden, Kirkbrideshire, here the Peach Houses were 150ft, and Orangery 35ft) grapes, pineapples, melons and even pomegranates (Castle Howard North Yorkshire). Figs, mulberry and quinces grafted onto hawthorn stock (Cressing Temple Essex). "4 Ceader hedges, five Esplies of Pears, Eight Perimid Ceaders , and Twenty One standard Apples & Cherrys". "two Espalies of Nonparels, One Espalie of Pears, twenty seven standard Apples Codlins Cherrys & Plums"* (Chiswick House London). If it was possible to grow such plants from Essex to Scotland then it would certainly have been possible at Hillsborough.
The gardens weren’t only used to tempt the taste buds but also to fill the other senses, growing flowers to fill the house with colour and scent. Old favourites such as Chrysanthemum, Carnation, Begonia, Geranium and Dahlia but also species that would have been less familiar then, such as Arum and Agapanthus (Winsford, Devon).
But that wasn’t all, other innovations were included such as espaliers, mazes, knot gardens, topiary, armillary spheres (a bracelet-like concentric ring of flowers or plants) and pleached (intertwining branches) limes (Green Mount - Antrim) which had all to do with appearance and not function, enjoyment and not consumption. These would have been the elements that would have made it truly into a pleasure garden and been a source of pride to the owners and admiration from visitors.
The Hillsborough Walled Garden was built to serve Hillsborough Hall (originally House) by Thomas Steade, its first owner, in 1779. The associated estate, originally 103 acres, was mainly agricultural land, from which he and subsequent owners presumably derived a living. The Hall and associated buildings, including the Coach House, were built in the Adam style.
The Steades were a notable local family who took their name from a small hamlet on the Wentworth estates. The first mention of the family was a certain Peter Stede, in 1381, about the time the family moved to Onesacre. They appear to have remained there for some considerable time, until perhaps the early 17th Century, when an Arthur Stead was buried at Bradfield Church. The family finally arrived in the area when Thomas’ grandfather, also a Thomas, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Creswick, the Lord of the manor of Owlerton. Thomas Creswick built Burrowlee House (Borrow Leigh) in 1711, where Thomas, the builder of the House, was born in 1728. He named the house in honour of the first Lord Downshire, who lived at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, Ireland. He was an admirer of Lord Downshire, the reasons for which are not entirely clear, there is a suggestion that he was perhaps his patron.
Lord Downshire perhaps wasn’t the most admirable of men. According to the Ulster Biography He owned large estates in County Down, was an absentee landlord and was pro-Union. This turned out very much to his to his advantage. According to Steven Gwynn, author of Ireland Under the Union, “In 1800 the Union was carried—by what means it is superfluous to describe. A million and a quarter was spent in bribery, and, by a singular irony, this expenditure was charged to the public debt of Ireland. The sum was not widely distributed, since a very few persons controlled an enormous number of seats in the Irish Parliament. Lord Downshire, for instance, got £52,000 for his share..” over one fifth of the total. The next largest share went to Lord Ely who got £45,000. Whether or not he was worthy of it was because of Lord Downshire that Hillsborough got his name as the area took its name from the house.
After Thomas died in 1793, his son Benjamin Broughton, sold the estate to John Rimington, an attorney-at-law and banker, who was descended from the Wilsons of Broomhead, who owned or had interests in iron works in the Sheffield area including Wortley and Wardsend. The estate then passed to John Rogers who renamed the House Hillsborough Hall. The estate then passed to perhaps the best known owners, the Dixon family, local silversmiths. Two generations of the family lived there James Willis Dixon who died in 1876 and his eldest son also James who died in 1917. During their time the estate was broken up and parts auctioned. Local street names are named after members of the family.
In 1890 Sheffield City Council bought 50 acres of the estate and subsequently developed it into a public park, Hillsborough Park as we know it today. The Walled Garden however wasn’t made public but was retained for many years as a nursery and training centre until the 1980’s, after which it fell into disuse. When it’s future came up for discussion in the early 1990’s local people felt that the best use for it would be as a Community Garden. Under the leadership of the Hillsborough Community Development Trust this idea was successfully proposed to the local authority and, over the winter of 1990-1, the Garden was completed and formally opened by the Duke of Kent in 1993 Many agencies helped in the development of the Garden with donations of money and materials, most notably the Hillsborough Disaster Fund without which it would never have been possible. Over the years since the Garden was fortunate to have been supported by a number of other grants notably Key-Fund, Single Regeneration Budget and the Land-Fill Tax Rebate Scheme** as well as many other smaller grants and donations from a wide variety of sources.
Whilst such grants have helped to keep the Garden going they have never made it possible to employ more than one gardener at a time and sometimes none at all. With an acre and three quarters to maintain, that is a lot of garden for one person! To fill this gap we have relied on voluntary work and placements of various kinds, including school children, students and individual placements from the Social Services Department and the Probation Service. Our main source however has been employment training through NACRO and Sheffield Futures through the ILM programme. It is due to their efforts, supervised by the gardener, that has made it the award winning garden it is.
As well as well loved local resource (see What Others Think) the Garden has been used for a wide variety of activities and events from the Bunny Hunt to theatrical productions; garden parties to the Xmas Festival; music to the Easter parade; exhibitions to circus skills. It is also often used as a venue for the activities of the local authority’s Ranger Service, from making bird boxes to pond dipping.
The Garden has won a number of prestigious awards*** and in the year 2000 the Independent on Sunday named it as one of the top gardens in the country! An accolade indeed for a small project run on a shoestring with voluntary help.
As a pleasure garden it was always intended as a place for people to visit, enjoy and to admire the plants and plant arrangements. It is perhaps difficult to imagine now but, originally it would have been gentlemen in frock coats and ladies in crinolines perambulating there, taking the air. It was always intended as a place to visit very much like today, with its development as a community Garden it has come full circle, the only difference being that today the gardens are open to all and not just to the select few.
Whilst there have been times when the Garden has been well supported financially there have been other times when it has been a struggle to stay alive. In 2005 the HCDT faced yet another financial crisis, in a long line of such crises, only this time there was no obvious Fairy Godmother to come to our rescue. Having over some 14 years raised between a third and a half a million pounds to develop and maintain the Garden as well as run all the activities and events within it, the pot finally ran dry. Perhaps the HCDT was the victim of its own success, but funders had other priorities and community gardens are not cheap to run, needing tending every day of their lives and someone paid to tend them. But without any alternative source of funding on the horizon the HCDT, not for the first time, was on the verge of having to close the Garden. So, with no other option the HCDT turned to Sheffield City Council, who did indeed turn into our Fairy Godmother, and agreed to take on the Garden and maintain it for the Community. It is ironic that that year was perhaps our most productive with the “Month of Sundays” Festival with an event on most Sundays throughout the Summer.
This history is inevitably sketchy and to some extent speculative. Whilst we know something about the owners of the Walled Garden and how it may have been used we know absolutely nothing about the ordinary people who worked there for over 100 years, the generations of gardeners, under-gardeners pot boys etc. Descendents of such workers must still live in the area and it would be fascinating to hear from them, or anyone who has photographs, documents or anything else which may help us build a better picture of the Garden’s history.
Contact us at hillsboroughwg@fsmail.net
References:
The Enclosed Garden - Aspen and DeWit
A History of British Gardening – Miles Hadfield
Mediaeval Gardens – John Harvey
*Quotes and references from their various websites
**This isn’t an inexhaustible list if anyone knows of any other substantial funding sources please let us know
*** 1993 Colonel Sanders Environmental Award.
1993 Improving the Local Environment Award’
1994 ILAM Open Space Management.