At Bede's World we aim to grow some of the plants which were grown in Anglo-Saxon England as a source of food, as medicines, as building material and as raw material for crafts such as the dyeing of textiles.
Bread wheat was a staple of the period but varieties grown then had a longer stem of straw than we are used to seeing today. Along with the bread wheat, spelt was still grown. This had been the main crop of the Iron Age and Roman periods. Barley and oats were also grown.
Amongst the vegetables, peas, leaks and onions were grown. There was a black bean known as the "Celtic Bean" and wild cabbage (which even now grows wild on the headland at Tynemouth); also a white carrot and wild celery.
There were no tomatoes or potatoes or sprouts in Anglo-Saxon England.
Fruits of the period included gooseberry, currents (red, white and black), wild blackberry, raspberry, strawberry and elderberry. Crab apples, quinces, sloes, damsons, greengages and pears grew wild or in orchards. Figs and grapes are known from the period (Bede refers to vineyards); but they are not likely to have grown this far north.
Reeds and sedges of various sorts and also the coppice strands of hazel and willow were all useful in the building industry, while flax could be used boh for its oil and for making textiles. Woad, madder, weld and other dye plants were then used to colour the fabrics.
