The Maughold Garden – 6th century
The History
Today Maughold is one of the most important sites of this early period of Christianity and is thought to have been the principle monastery on the Isle of Man with elements dating back to the sixth century.
The Design
The planting scheme represents a beach landscape including the colours associated with the Manx tartan. (The colours in the tartan are: purple representing the heather, pale blue for the sky, yellow for the gorse, green for the hills, white for limewashed buildings and dark blue for the shadows on the water).
The visitor arrives at the start of their garden journey as if rising from the sea (represented by the grass Festuca glauca ‘Elijah blue’ and Erigeron karvinskianus ‘Mexican Fleabane’, representing the froth of the waves).
In the centre will be a spring/well head, representing the Holy Well at Maughold, being designed by Neil Milsom, while the seat takes its inspiration from the coracle, a boat used during this period and traditionally associated with the legend of Maughold.
Maughold, a violent Irish robber baron, was converted by Saint Patrick, and, as a penance for his previous life was cast adrift off the Ulster coast in a coracle and swept to the Island. (This image is visible in the Cathedral on one side of the Bishop’s crozier in the Treasury.)
The pebbles on the beach in this garden represent the key rock formations associated with the Isle of Man.
Maughold (like Patrick in Ireland) is connected with the tradition of expelling snakes from the Isle of Man. Some animal species, common elsewhere in the British Isles, are not found on the Isle of Man among them snakes, squirrels, moles, badgers and foxes.
Today
There has been a revival of Celtic spirituality in recent times drawing its inspiration from the natural world with its wild and elemental characteristics as a reminder of God’s gifts and continuing presence.