Sir Walter Raleigh’s medicinal garden at the Tower

Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the most famous explorers of Elizabeth I’s reign. He was also a scholar and a poet. However, he managed to displease both the Queen and her successor James I, and so found himself a prisoner of the Tower of London – no less than three times!

As a gentleman, he was deprived of his liberty but not his comforts: his family could visit and he grew exotic plants in a medicinal garden within the Tower walls.

Raleigh endured over 13 years of imprisonment at the Tower of London. During this time, his physical and mental health suffered.

Raleigh brewed his own herbal remedies using plants from the garden. This included his Balsam of Guiana, a potent medicinal cordial of strawberry water, and his ‘Great Cordial’ a mixture of 40 ingredients, including herbs, spices and powders. He used these medicines, and many others, to treat himself as well as fellow residents (and prisoners) at the Tower.

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Видео Sir Walter Raleigh’s medicinal garden at the Tower канала Historic Royal Palaces