There are few structures as delightful to sit in and enjoy as bespoke conservatories and orangeries in the summer months.
However, the earliest orangeries in the UK were practically minded and constructed less to enjoy a garden and more to protect orange and other citrus trees from the harsh winter conditions.
The earliest ever orangeries were constructed in Italy in the middle of the 16th century, taking advantage of not only the warmer climate but also the development of high-quality clear glass that could provide shelter, light and heat to the fruit trees, with this heat provided by using open fires.
The first mention of it in the UK came thanks to one of the last herbalists and first botanists in the country, John Parkinson. In his 1629 book Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, he described a method of protecting orange trees over the winter that resembled a temporary orangery.
He advised people to plant orange trees next to a brick wall similar to the fruit wall concept that had been used in orchards for years before a wooden shed was built around them covered with a waxed tarpaulin known as ‘cerecloth’.
However, he also described an alternative system of storage, where people keep the fruit trees in square boxes that are lifted or moved on wheels to a house or gallery building for protection.
This latter system took off in the 17th century, particularly with the end of the Eighty-Years War, as rich landowners and ambitious merchants imported more exotic fruits such as bananas, pomegranates and oranges and the bright sights and smells became a status symbol.
This brought to an end the more temporary solutions to protect citrus plants and the rise of the ornate, beautiful purpose-built orangery, which was used not only to house exotic plants but to entertain guests during the summer months, a purpose the buildings still have to this day.
However, were it not for the writings of one of the most influential botanists in the UK, the orangery may not have taken off the way it did.