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HANNAH’SHERBSfrom the Woolsthorpe Manor garden to kitchen and medicine cupboard

Fennel

Foeniculum Vulgare

Comfrey

Symphytum Officinale

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It’s part of a Heritage Lottery-funded Lincolnshire’s Age of Scientific Discovery research project into the 17th century of Sir Isaac Newton and his family, with findings feeding into Gravity Fields Festival 2014.

The wide use of herbs in the 17th century has been well chronicled through a series of free project events

covering gardening, cooking and apothecary practices.

Lincolnshire’s Age of Scientific Discovery also traced Newton-related history of the era, developed the Newton Tree Party for those who shared his name, transcribed the historic Grantham Hall Book for his school years and mapped out walking routes in his footsteps.

Hannah’s Herbs celebrates the

creation of a fragrant new herb bed

at Woolsthorpe Manor by National

Trust volunteers.

#newtontreeparty www.southkesteven.gov.uk/heritage

In the 17th century villages were self-reliant, looking after their own sick and poor. The Lady of the Manor in this case Hannah Newton (Isaacs mother) used herbal recipes for medicines, cooking and preserving food. Professional medical help from physicians, surgeons and midwives was scarce, expensive and not recommended as very little was understood about hygiene. People were not so aware that germs, which thrived in dirty conditions, spread disease.

Most families collected useful tips and recipes from friends and forebears. Mostly remedies were based on plants,

but snails, woodlice and worms were common ingredients, often together with mythical concoctions such as ‘horn of unicorn’.

Nicholas Culpeper, a radical in his time, published two books, The English Physician (1652) and the Complete Herbal (1653), in an attempt to make medical treatments more accessible to ordinary people – interestingly modern studies have since proved that many of the remedies contained ingredients which were effective and are reproduced in modern drugs today.

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Culinary

Dried calendula petals are used as an alternative to saffron wherever a golden yellow colour is required in a dish. Saffron has always been an expensive spice as it is difficult to grow and the yield is very low per plant. Calendula is much more prolific and easy to grow; in fact if it is regularly harvested flowers can be produced until September or October.

Medicinal

The antifungal and antibacterial properties of the flowers are put to use as a wound healing herb in poultices and ointments. Calendula ointment is extremely effective at closing open wounds as long as they are spotlessly clean. Culpeper used the flowers in cases of small pox and measles and to strengthen the heart.

CALENDULA OFFICINALIS -

Pot Marigold Annual up to f lowering season

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COMFREY – Symphytum Officinale Perennial up to 1.5m F lowers - April to September

Culinary

Shoots and leaves would have been used as a spring vegetable. Don’t try this today as it is thought that eating comfrey could be hazardous to the liver.

Medicinal

Comfrey’s long history of use as a medicinal herb is being born out by new discoveries in science today. In the 17th century the herb would have been used for a number of complaints both internally and externally, chiefly

healing broken bones and relieving inflammation. Comfrey is a powerful herb, even helping gangrene.

Other

The large amount of comfrey that can be seen growing in our hedgerows is said to have come from the gypsies who fed it to their horses. Comfrey is very invasive in a garden situation. Being high in trace minerals it makes an excellent liquid feed for garden plants.

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Culinary

Stem bases, leaves and seeds are eaten either as a vegetable or flavouring depending on variety. Fennel blends very well with oily fish and white meats.

Medicinal

The seeds are chewed to allay hunger, and digestive problems. Fennel is the herbal component of gripe water. Culpeper recommends fennel for nursing mothers to increase both quantity and quality of milk.

Boiled in wine fennel seed is said to slow the effects of snake bite and poisonous herbs. Distilled water of the herb will clear the eyes of ‘mists and films which hinder the sight’.

Other

Fennel was included in the bunch of herbs which was hung over the door to ward off evil spirits on Midsummer’s Eve. Putting seeds in keyholes was believed to keep out evil spirits.

FENNEL - Foeniculum Vulgare

Perennial up to 2m

F lowers – July to October

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Culinary

Locally known as Lincolnshire asparagus it is rich in iron, calcium, and vitamins B and C. The leaves can be eaten in a similar way to spinach. Flowering spikes are boiled like asparagus,

Medicinal

Poultices were made from the leaves to heal chronic sores, boils and abscesses. The seeds are mildly laxative so were considered safe for children.

Other

Lincolnshire asparagus has been recommended as a cough remedy for sheep. The whole plant was used to fatten poultry. The whole plant can be used as either a red or golden dye.

GOOD KING HENRY Chenopodium Bonus – henricusPerennial up to 60cm F lowers May to June

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Culinary

Lavender is not a traditional culinary herb, but may have been used in the past more than now. Lavender adds a nice flavour which complements soft fruit and goes well in biscuits, cakes and scones.

Medicinal

Lavender was traditionally used to prevent vertigo and fainting. The oil is used to soothe and sedate, to help heal burns, insect bites and headaches. Culpeper used lavender to help women deliver a stillborn child and the afterbirth. This may have been more likely to help with the trauma. It is still used to aid sleep and relaxation.

Other

Lavender has antiseptic, antifungal and antibacterial properties to ward off pestilence and disease including the plague. Lavender has long been used as a moth repellent, and bunches of lavender were hung up in the house to repel insects.

Having a particularly pleasant fragrance when dried, lavender was included in nosegays with a number of other herbs. Huge fields of lavender have been grown in France since the 17th century for perfume production. English grown lavender has always been considered to have a superior fragrance.

LAVENDER -

Lavandula officinalis

Perennial 20 – 60m

F lowers June - August

Culinary

Rosemary combines well with meat, particularly lamb. It retains its flavour when cooked so it is useful in casseroles and other slow cooked dishes.

Medicinal Rosemary is a stimulating herb, easing tired limbs by increasing blood circulation. A solution of rosemary, if gargled, will help reduce halitosis. Culpeper recommended dried rosemary smoked in a pipe to help respiratory complaints.

Other Rosemary was thought to ward off ‘bad air’ which caused the plague. It was burnt in

gaol houses, court rooms and even in the street to ward off disease. Many people also carried rosemary with them, either in a bag around the neck, or in a nosegay, a practice which continued until the 1900s. It was said to grow well where a woman ruled the house – perfect for the Manor! Rosemary had a reputation for improving the memory and has long been used as a symbol for remembrance.Rosemary makes a good hair tonic for dark hair.

LAVENDER -

Lavandula officinalis

Perennial 20 – 60m

F lowers June - August

ROSEMARY –

Rosmarinus Officinalis

An evergreen shrub

up to 2m F lowering season

April to May

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Culinary

Sage is the traditional accompaniment to onion in a stuffing for pork. Sage also works well with apple. It is another herb with a strong flavour which would have been used to mask the smell of any food which was slightly off. Lincolnshire sausages owe some of their unique flavour to sage. Sage has quite strong antibacterial properties so would have been used to prolong the shelf life of many foods in the 17th century.

Medicinal

Sage is also known as the saviour, which is a reference to its healing properties. Sage is used today for sore throats, colds, and other throat complaints. Culpeper suggested many uses for sage including helping women conceive and carry a child, ease consumption, rheumatism and poisonous bites. Sage was also used against the plague.

SAGE - Salvia Officinalis

Aromatic shrub up to 70cm F lowers May to July

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Culinary

As one of the inedible wormwoods, southernwood has no culinary uses.

Medicinal Culpeper used Southernwood to ease muscle cramps and sciatica as well as an antidote to counter poison. Southernwood is also said to drive away serpents and venomous creatures, both in the form of a tea and as a burning herb. The tea was also used to expel worms and bring out splinters and thorns. The name ‘Lads Love’ comes from the old belief that the plant was an aphrodisiac.

Other Southernwood is also an effective moth repellent and as a rub to deter mosquitoes and flies.

SAGE - Salvia Officinalis

Aromatic shrub up to 70cm F lowers May to July

SOUTHERNWOOD –

Artemesia abrotanum

Semi-evergreen perennial up to 1m

Rarely f lowers

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Culinary

Woodruff is the essential ingredient of Maibowle which is a traditional drink on May Day in some parts of Europe. The flowers are also edible.

Medicinal

A tea made with the leaves is thought to ease gall stones and relieve stomach pains. Culpeper considered woodruff ‘nourishing and restorative and good for weakly consumptive people.’

Other

Records dating back to the 14th century suggested that sweet woodruff was used as a strewing herb, to stuff mattresses and fragrance linen. Sweet woodruff does have a pleasant aroma of its own which is only apparent when dried. Woodruff also has the ability to ‘fix’ and enhance other pleasant odours, so it is very useful in pot pourri.

SWEET WOODRUFF – Galium OderatumPerennial up to 30cm tall F lowers – April to May

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SWEET WOODRUFF – Galium OderatumPerennial up to 30cm tall F lowers – April to May

Culinary

Thyme has been used for centuries in cooking, usually to flavour poultry, fish and in stocks, stews and marinades.

Medicinal

Culpeper approved thyme for use with respiratory complaints. Thyme was used from the 17th century to ease muscular and rheumatic pain. Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is said to be good for hangovers.

Other

Thyme has a long history of being burnt in sickrooms to purify the air, so it is not a surprise that thyme was included in nosegays and was burnt in houses.

COMMON THYME –

Thymus VulgarisEvergreen shrub up to 30cm F lowers – May to October

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This recipe will fill about a dozen sachets.

• 2 tbsp. dried rosemary

• 2 tbsp. dried mint

• 1 tbsp. dried thyme

• 1 tbsp. dried ginseng

• 4 tbsp. whole cloves

Strip leaves and crush. Mix herbs and

place some in the centre of a muslin

square and tie with a ribbon.

RECIPES

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Rosemary

Thyme

Mint

Moth repellent:

• ‘A poultice of roasted sweet apples, with powder

of frankincense, remove pains of the side’

• ‘The pulp of boiled or rotten apples in a poultice

is good for inflamed eyes, either applied alone or

with milk, or rose or fennel water’

• ‘For a rheum in the head – stew onions in a close

pot and bathe the head and mouth and nose

therewith’

• ‘For the tooth-ache – take the inner rind of an

elder-tree and bruise it and put therto a little

pepper, and make it into balls, and hold them

between the teeth that ache’

Collect and dry herbs:

Southernwood

LavenderDried orange peel

HyssopRosemaryMintThymeStrip leaves and crush. Mix together in a bowl

Place a tablespoon full in a piece of muslin.

Tie with ribbon. Use in wardrobes and drawers.

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Dried orange peel

Poultices:

Herbal Moth Balls

Woolsthorpe ManorBirthplace and family home of Sir Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born in this modest Manor House in 1642 and he made many of his most important discoveries about light and gravity here in the plague years of 1665-66.

As well as his ground-breaking scientific work, Newton went on to roles as diverse as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, President of the Royal Society and Master of the Royal Mint.

The Manor House, his family home, is furnished as a 17th century farmhouse might have been at this time. Visitors can still see the famous apple tree that inspired his thoughts on gravity from the bedroom window, and explore some of his ideas in the Science Discovery Centre.

Woolsthorpe Manor also has a small shop and coffee shop.

Woolsthorpe Manor, Water Lane, Woolsthorpe by Colsterworth, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG33 5PDTel: 01476 860338www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor Images were supplied by Peter Forster, volunteer ar Woolsthorpe Manor

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