Norman Conquest Gardens: Early Castle Terraces and Herb Cultivation

Norman Impact on English Landscapes

After 1066, Normans introduced superior architecture and horticulture. Early castles were crude hilltop forts—impractical for gardening. Once stone castles replaced wooden ones (post-insurrection), garden spaces emerged.

Berkeley Castle: Prime Example

• Keep dates to William the Conqueror.
• Terrace walk served dual purpose: exercise and preventing wall mining.
• One terrace, grass-covered with yew hedge clipped as battlements, became a bowling green.

Terraces: The Ladies' Domain

• Only safe outdoor space for noblewomen.
• Often a reserved "Ladies Walk" (e.g., Castle Carlisle—Mary, Queen of Scots exercised there).
• Bridgenorth: Terrace >½ mile circling walls, admired by Charles I.

Herb Cultivation on Terraces

Chatelaines grew herbs along terrace borders for medicinal use and flavorful sauces—early integration of utility into ornamental spaces.

Significance

These terraced gardens represent the genesis of English garden tradition: defensive origins yielding to cultivated beauty, with herbs as the first intentional plantings.