THE monks of Furness Abbey and people living on manor estates, farms or cottages couldn’t drive to Tesco to do the weekly shop. 

Many of the products we take for granted had to be grown in medieval kitchen gardens. 

Monks would use plant cures on themselves and to help the local community in an era long before the National Health Service. 

An idea of what could be produced in the medieval era is provided by pictures from the recreated gardens at Cressing Temple Barns, near Colchester. 

There were plenty of medicinal plants grown in the medieval garden.

Feverfew would dispel melancholy, you took vervain for fever, mandrake – or devil’s apple – to kill pain, or liquorice for chest complaints. Henbane – or devil’s eye – was a sedative, elecampane aided digestion and comfrey – or knitbone – was good for the treatment of broken bones. 

Angelica protected against contagion and purified the blood. 

It also kept witches and evil spirits at bay. Horehound was a liver and digestive system remedy and was also used for symptoms of malaria. 

There are wild, yellow primroses everywhere at the moment but they were also cultivated as an important remedy for rheumatism and gout. 

The flowers were also used in a dish called primrose pottage, or added to a mixture of rice, almonds, honey and saffron. 

Perhaps the most unusual garden plant was the humble nettle – generally seen as a weed today. 

It has a fibre which is similar to hemp or flax which can be extracted, dyed and used for clothing. 

In First World War Germany and Austria, it was cultivated in vast quantities to make army uniforms. Beetroot – red, white and Roman – was widely grown. 

John Gerard, writing in 1597, said: “May be used in winter for a salad herbe, with vinegre, oyle and salt, and is not only pleasant to the taste but also delightful to the eye.” 

Many plants were grown for their ability to dye everything from textiles to hair and food. 

Celandine, or saffron, produces yellow, hollyhock turns your wine red, marjoram gives purple linen and woad turns cloth blue. 

Other uses for plants included wormwood as an insect repellent, sweet woodruff as an air freshener and sage for cleaning teeth. 

The tools used would seem familiar to gardeners today – sheers, rakes, hoes, spades and baskets. 

There was even an early version of a watering can called a thumb pot – made of clay with small holes at the bottom. 

You can find out about other aspects of life in a medieval monastery tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17, from 2pm in a talk by local historian Alan Crosby for the History of Kirkby Group at the village hall in Beckside, Kirkby. All are welcome.