A journey through thyme for the garden detectives

Armed with the illustrated manuscript and the Old English Leechbook of Bald, the medical herbalist began pulling together a blueprint which will now turn a small corner of the St Ives Estate near Bradford into a monastic garden.

Offering more than the usual rosemary and thyme, Jane, with help of two other historians, has brought back borage – the herb it was hoped would instil courage in the Knights Templar and meadowsweet, believed to Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite way of removing the smells of 16th-century life from her private rooms.

“It’s been a bit of a detective story,” says Jane, who works at the National Trust property East Riddlesden Hall. “We believe the estate’s mansion was built close to the site of where a monastery once stood, which had links to Rievaulx Abbey. The idea was to go back in time and plant the kind of herbs the monks would have used.

“The Book of Kells is an invaluable resource because it contains a lot of information about their daily life and the Leechbook dates back to Anglo Saxon times and details cures for everything from headaches to chilblains and shingles.

“Centuries ago people invested a lot of importance in herbs and while its easy to dismiss it as folklore, many of the remedies have since been proven to have scientific basis and it does make you wonder, ‘How on earth did they know that?’

“Borage or borago officinalis to give it its Latin name is a good example.

“When the knights went on the crusades they were given a container of holy water sprinkled with borage. It was known as the plant of the heart as the idea was it would give the knights courage on their journey. As it turned out, modern research has found it can help with cardio-vascular and respiratory problems.

“Ancient physicians learnt so much just by watching and analysing the effects of herbs and plants that it’s really quite incredible.

“Queen Elizabeth I apparently insisted on her bedroom floor being covered in meadowsweet. Only later did scientists discover it contains salicylic acid which became the basis for aspirin.”

The recreation of the monastic garden is just one part of a £250,000 restoration programme on the St Ives Estate. The scheme has been funded by WREN, an non-profit organisation which uses money generated by landfill tax to fund community, heritage and environmental project across the UK.

At St Ives, the money has been used to improve access to the 500 acre country park’s pond area, as well as building a new adventure playground and walkways. Planting on the monastic garden is well under way and the final stage of the project also includes the restoration of an old court house as a visitor and information centre. None of the work would have been possible without the grant, but many of the experts have given their time and knowledge for free.

“We had so many ideas to improve the park, but the grant has allowed us to bring them to life,” says Pam Laking, chair of the Friends of St Ives committee. “We have been overwhelmed by people’s generosity and after four years really hard work it’s incredible to see how much the area has changed.

“As well as improving the area for visitors, we have also been careful to preserve and encourage wildlife. The banks of the coppice pond had been eroding for some time, but the work we have done now means the rare English white crayfish which breed there are protected and we have also created a new wildflower meadow.

“The monastic garden is one of our final projects and it’s not just about recreating history. We hope to use the garden as a way of educating people about how we used to live, but once it is mature it will also be a haven of quiet. The mansion house on the estate is now home to disabled adults and the garden will be the perfect place for them to enjoy.”

Last year WREN handed out more than £1.9m to 54 projects in Yorkshire and Humberside.

Ben Walker, WREN grant manager, said: “Often it takes just a few hundred pounds to transform an area, but St Ives is definitely one of our bigger projects. The one thing we always look for are ideas which will leave a lasting legacy and the work which has gone on there will certainly do that.”

Herbal remedies from Leechbook

Compiled in the 9th-century only one manuscript of the Leechbook of Bald survives in the British Library, but the pages contain a raft of cures for medical complaints and ailments.

Headaches: Bind a stalk of crosswort to a red handkerchief.

Chilblains: Should be treated with a mixture of eggs, wine and fennel root.

Male Impotence: Agrimony boiled in milk

Shingle: A potion comprised of the bark of 15 different trees, including aspen, apple, maple and elder.

The Leechbook of Bald also recommended to its followers they should take a broth of carrot (or mint) to cure a hiccup which came from having a chill.