Location | Hatfield House |
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Variety | Nigra |
Access | Private |
Site class | Ancient, Heritage |
Ancient (1611) Morus nigra at a cornerof the formal West Garden, probably the sole survivor of four (one at each corner), Popularly said to have been planted by Elizabeth I as a princess, when she lived at the Tudor Old Palace, but more likely to have been planted by John Tradescant the Elder when he became Head Gardner for the first Earl of Salisbury, Lord Robert Cecil. There are semi-mature mulberries in a plot near to the car park. The Hatfield House archives contain bils from Tradescant for the purchase of several Black mulberries from Leyden and Paris nurseries. There are unconfirmed reports of 500 mulberries also being purchased, presumably for a sericulture enterprise, but there is no more information at present. A 1973 memoir by David Ceci, son of the 4th Marquess of Salisbury, recalls "...Sunday afternoons in the summer with tea spread on two long white-clothed tables in the shade of a mulberry tree, planted, it is said, by James I, and my mother pouring out tea from asilver teapot with an ivory handle."
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