Following the appeal for further information on roses being demanded as rents (see Knollys Rose Ceremony, 2024), the note below, received from Charles Nelson in August 2002, is of interest:

‘This is an ancient practice.  In the context of Ireland, there are records of roses paid in rent as far back as the thirteenth century …  In my book An Irish Flower Garden Replanted (1997, pp.4-5), I noted …

Indirect evidence for the cultivation of roses is found in property deeds dating from the thirteenth century. A number of these documents stipulate the payment of roses, either in the form of chaplets or as single blossoms, as rent for land.  The flowers were usually handed over on the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, 24 June, the traditional Midsummer Day.  The roses were ‘paid’ in the same way as ginger, cummin, cloves and peppercorns.  While these spices were imported, the red roses were surely freshly picked.’

Image:  cultivated, Church Road, Upper Norwood, London Borough of Croydon, July 2024.