The Lily-picking Industry at Middleton Hall

One of the more unusual industries to take place at Middleton Hall was the commercial production of water lilies. These water lilies were sold to hotels, such as The Savoy and The Ritz in London, who used them as table decorations. It is believed that this trade began in the Victorian era and continued for decades until just after the Second World War, when it became commercially unviable.

Middleton Hall was most noted for its white water lilies. In fact, when Middleton was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1973, one of the plants noted was the white water lily (Nymphaea alba). In the summer of 1893, the gardener and journalist William Robinson visited Middleton Hall. In his book The Wild Garden he wrote:

“At Middleton Hall, Tamworth, I saw the finest example I remember of its beauty, not only in growth and large flowers, but in effect over a lake – in masses and sheets divided by open water – an enormous sheet of Water Lilies, and the picture, in association with a pretty old manor house, was lovely. The flowers were very large, and of two forms – one with a bronzy-green outer division of the flower, and a flush of delicate pink inside; the other, a smaller form, pure white with outer dark green divisions; so we have at least two forms of our native Water Lily, and there may be others.”

It is thought that the larger white water lily that Robinson described was Nymphaea alba and the smaller one was possibly Nymphaea candida.

Local women were employed to harvest the water lilies on Middleton Pool. They used little boats that were reported to be very unstable and the boats were kept along the edge of the Walled Garden. It is known that multiple generations of the same family partook in this occupation over the decades. Early in the morning, the women would harvest the water lilies and the lilies were then taken to an area that is now in the Small Walled Garden, which at that time was filled with small buildings. One of those small buildings was a packing shed. In the packing shed, six lilies were placed in a box and covered in tissue paper. The boxes were then transported to Tamworth train station and were put on the 12:30 train to London. They were then sold at Covent Garden. Visitors to Middleton Hall have reported that the water lilies were also sold to hotels in Birmingham and Manchester and even exported to South Africa.

Harvesting waterlilies on Middleton Pool at Middleton Hall, c.1939. Photograph taken by Sheila Groves.

Following the highly publicised first cultivation of the giant Victoria amazonica water lily in England in 1849, a water lily craze developed in Britain. This craze eventually progressed to the desire to bring that exoticism to the dining table, which resulted in the replacement of the standing table vase of flowers with water lilies. However, there were very substantial technical challenges that needed to be overcome to enable water lilies to be a table decoration.

The first problem was that once water lilies were cut, they were exceptionally short-lived. Furthermore, water lilies also naturally closed their petals at dusk. Hence, the harvesting of them was highly specialised in order to ensure that the blossoms would be viable for high-society evening dining. In order to achieve the desired result, the blossoms had to be cut when they were still tightly closed in daylight and, because of the limited time they would survive once cut, the train was vital to get them to market and hotel in time. Once purchased the water lilies would be placed in warm water under light to encourage the buds to open just before evening dining. They would then be presented as floating centrepieces in elaborate glass troughs or mirrored glass basins that would look like a miniature pond on the table.

The trade peaked in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras and venues such as The Ritz, which opened in 1906, are known to have received daily shipments of fresh water lilies to maintain their tables. The end of this trade came about for two main reasons. First, in the 1920s, the fashionable trend began to move away from mimicking nature to one of minimalism and the fashion turned towards thin vases and long-stemmed flowers. Secondly, the intensive cost of labour to harvest and package them, transport them quickly and use artificial light to force them became financially unviable when compared to the hardy, long-lasting greenhouse grown flowers. This latter aspect is what finally ended the trade at Middleton Hall.

White water lilies on Middleton Pool, Middleton Hall, 2002. Photograph taken by Ken Harris.

The historic white water lilies on Middleton Pool are unfortunately no longer as prolific as they were. When the M6 Toll road was constructed, a large amount of sediment and other pollutants entered the Langley Brook. This Brook feeds Middleton Pool and, because of its designation as a SSSI, Middleton Hall Trust is forbidden to dredge it and remove the extra sediment. White water lilies require deep water to grow and the consequent build-up of this sediment reduced the depth. As a result, the white water lilies on Middleton Pool have diminished substantially. However, we believe that they are only dormant because in the summer of 2020 after severe winter flooding, to great surprise, some white water lilies appeared in the centre of the moat.

Further Reading: William Robinson, The Wild Garden, 1894. p.103-104.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

Please consider supporting Middleton Hall Trust by sending us a donation.