London’s Market Gardens
Ronald Webber describes how, from the banks of the Thames, London was supplied with asparagus, melons, artichokes, carrots, beans and berries.
A worn and narrow footpath, leading off Sandown Road, just outside the old defensive ramparts of Sandwich in Kent, makes its winding way to the quayside of what was once a prosperous port. Along this path, it is believed, local market-gardeners of the sixteenth century humped or trundled their loads of cabbages, carrots and celery to put them on to hoys, the small sailing vessels that plied for trade between Sandwich and London.
Market-gardening in Britain in the sixteenth century was confined almost entirely to the vicinity of London. So why should anyone have chosen an area such as Sandwich to grow vegetables which could not be disposed of locally? For Sandwich at this period was depressed; its harbour had silted up, and little work was available to the dwindling population. The town had been famous in earlier days.
During the Roman occupation Rutupiae (Richborough), a mile or so outside the present town, was an important military station. In 851 a fierce battle had been fought at Sandwich against the Danish invaders; in 1009 King Ethelred assembled a powerful fleet, in the then deep Sandwich Haven, vainly hoping to repel the invasion of Sweyn of Denmark.
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