Home
Enjoy
Ambassadors
Business
Live

Historic crops returning to Kirkleatham Walled Garden

Grapes of the past returning to Kirkleatham Walled Garden

Kirkleatham Walled Garden’s Head Gardener has been scouring local and national newspaper archives for information about the gardeners who worked in the walled garden in the past and the crops which they cultivated in the garden.

One historical find has led to an interesting group of plants being reintroduced – Hazel says “I was particularly excited to find a journal article from 1875 which noted a 20lb bunch of grapes grown at Kirkleatham which was so renowned that a picture of them was actually displayed in the house”. The article, along with other records of prizes won for grapes from the garden, at Darlington and Guisborough horticultural shows throughout the 1860’s and 70’s, show that grapes we’re a very desirable crop at Kirkleatham.

Hazel added, “This year we’ve planted two new productive grape vines in the garden and hope to be able to harvest grapes in the summer months in years to come – we don’t have the luxury of growing ours in a glasshouse but the varieties we’ve chosen should do well outside on a south facing wall. It’s really great to be able to grow some of the crops which we know did well here in the past, it feels like a real link to the gardeners who worked in these walls previously. I’m not sure we’ll be able to cultivate a 20lb bunch, but what a challenge to have!”

Redcar & Cleveland Council Horticultural Apprentice, Anne, planting a new grape variety in the garden.

“I’ve found loads of lovely pieces of information about some of our previous gardeners – from Thomas Brown who in 1793 was paid £ and 10 shilling for two years of his work as a gardener, all the way to John Todd – who came from a family of Richmond Market Gardeners to be head gardener at Kirkleatham at the age of 29, in 1871”

Kirkleatham Walled Garden is set for its busiest year yet after reopening after a large scale restoration in 2019. We’re adding to the planting across the garden all the time and are developing our kitchen garden to grow more fruit and vegetable crops for the future. The Garden is managed by a small team of gardeners who are assisted by Horticultural Apprentices from Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, with the help of an amazing group of garden volunteers.

Kirkleatham Walled Garden is managed by Elior UK Holdings

 

Board Information

Privacy Policy

We regard your privacy as important and any personal information you give to us will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulations.

We do not store personal information about individuals who visit this site except where they provide contact information via our contact us page and contact forms available on various pages throughout the website.

Any information you provide will only be used for the reasons specified and it will not be shared with any third party without your consent, unless required by law.

Your contact details are kept securely and are only accessed by authorised members of staff as part of the provision of school services. If you do not wish us to keep this contact information please tell us.

This website uses Google Analytics which provides statistical data about the usage of the site. This information is not used to identify individuals, but is collected to provide us with an understanding of the areas of interest on our site and how our site is being used.

If you are connected to the internet you will have an IP Address. This may take the form of a figure, such as 333.333.22.1. The address will be automatically collected and logged as part of the connection of your computer to our web server and may be used to determine the total number of visits to each part of the site. This data is not collected and used for other purposes.

This website contains links to other websites. The School is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites or organisations and recommends you consult the privacy information on those sites.

This policy will be reviewed and updated versions will be posted on the website.

If you have any questions about the use of your personal information, the Information Commissioner is the independent regulator for both Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

Our full GDPR and Data Processing policy for customers can be found by following this link: Link to GDPR Policy