Walled garden

A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls.

These walls may serve a decorative or security purpose, but their original function in the north temperate zone was to shelter the garden from wind and frost. This shelter can raise the ambient temperature within the garden by several degrees, creating a microclimate that permits plants to be grown that would not survive in the natural climate. Most walls were constructed from stone, but by lining walls with brick, which absorbs and retains solar heat, the temperature against that wall was raised, allowing peaches, nectarines and grapes to be grown against south-facing walls as espaliers as far north as southeast of Great Britain and south of Ireland.

The traditional design of a walled garden, split into four quarters separated by paths, and a wellhead or pool at the centre, dates back to the very earliest gardens of Persia. The "hortus conclusus" or "enclosed garden" of High Medieval Europe was more typically enclosed by hedges or fencing, or the arcades of a cloister; though some protection from weather and effective protection from straying animals was afforded, these were not specifically walled gardens.British examples of elaborate walled gardens include Shugborough (England), Bodysgallen Hall (Wales), Alnwick Castle (England), Luton Hoo (England), Myres Castle (Scotland) and Muchalls Castle (Scotland). In the United Kingdom, many country houses also had walled kitchen gardens, distinct from the decorative gardens. They received their greatest elaboration in the second half of the 19th century. [Susan Campbell, "A History of Kitchen Gardening"; Jennifer Davies, "The Victorian Garden" (1987, based on a BBC series)] Many of these fell into disuse in the 20th century, but many have been revived as decorative gardens, some of which also produce fruit, vegetables and flowers for cutting.

Croxteth Hall in Liverpool (England) has a walled garden that has openings on the inside, where fires are lit to heat the wall further where fruit is growing against it; there are also chimneys or flues to allow a throughflow of air and to provide a means of escape for the smoke.

In literature

In the story of Susanna and the Elders, a walled garden is the scene of both an alleged tryst and an attempted rape. Because of the walls, the community is unable to determine which actually occurred.

In John William Waterhouse's interpretation of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche lived in Cupid's walled garden.

Much of the storyline of Frances Hodgson Burnett's children's story "The Secret Garden" revolves around a walled garden which has been locked for ten years.

See also

* Drystone wall

Notes