Rose Garden and Rose Arbour

BOLTON CASTLE – ROSES

Medieval roses included wild roses, like the dog rose and the sweetbriar, grown alongside garden roses and would only have flowered for a few weeks once a year. They were prized for their beautiful scent and also their medicinal qualities, as they were thought to cure many ills including catarrh, sore throats, mouth sores, and stomach disorders.

The varieties in Bolton Castle’s formal rose garden include old-fashioned species with wonderful scent such as Rosa Mundi, Tuscany and Rosa Ricardii II along with a selection of Damask roses, (another old group of roses said to have originally been brought from the Middle East by the Crusaders) such as Ispahan, Celsiana and Mme. Hardy. 

The especially fragrant red rose, still known as the Apothecary’s Rose (Rosa gallica officinalis), is said to have been brought to France from Syria in the thirteenth century by Thibaut IV, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne. Sometimes called the Rose of Provins, where it was cultivated intensively for six centuries after its introduction, it was of great economic importance. 

Roses have featured throughout history but it is during the medieval period where their symbolism became really pronounced. The Rose becomes a political symbol as the opposing sides of the House of Plantagenet used the white rose and the red rose as their emblems in the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487).

Planted at opposite ends of Bolton Castle’s vineyard, you can see these two rose species:

Alba Semi Plena – pre 16^th century and thought to be the White Rose of York.

Rosa Gallica Officinalis – Red Rose of Lancaster, also known as the Apothecary’s Rose.

Following the Wars of the Roses, a Tudor Rose emblem was created by Henry VII of England (1485-1509) to symbolise the unification of the Houses of York (white rose) and Lancaster (red rose).

Above all other flowers, the rose was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, herself the rose without thorns. Red roses also signified her charity and white roses her chastity. The red rose also became a potent symbol of the wounds of Christ.

The Rose Arbour

An important feature in the gardens of the Middle Ages was the arbour. It was traditionally based around a pergola or trellis-work and then covered with scented plants.

Bolton Castle’s rose arbour is created around living willow, in keeping with the medieval period, amongst which the roses can clamber.

Arbours covered with roses are frequently depicted in medieval garden representations. The centrepiece of an arbour was traditionally overhanging and could hide a secret lover or give a convenient shelter against sun or bad weather.