A modern garden rooted in an historic setting in Salford, Greater Manchester. A modern garden rooted in an historic setting in Salford, Greater Manchester.

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The Old Frameyard

The Old Frameyard opens up the behind-the-scenes workings of RHS Garden Bridgewater. The space includes a propagation house, horticultural trials area and potting sheds

Interesting facts...

A story to tell The Old Frameyard will include an exhibition space to showcase RHS Garden Bridgewater’s rich heritage
Supporting gardeners Generating quality advice for gardeners is at the heart of this area, with space for trialling plants

The Old Frameyard will be used for propagating, growing on and trialling plants

Restoring the Old Frameyard

Once the ‘engine room’ for the walled garden, the boiler rooms and associated chimney produced energy to heat the glasshouses and allow exotic produce to flourish.

Gardeners grew and potted on plants in the Old Frameyard, kept their tools secure, and stored vegetables in vast underground passageways through the winter months. Apprentice gardeners lived in the Bothy, keeping the fires fuelled and stoked through the night. The building is sited within the outer walled garden in the Old Frameyard and next to the towering chimney stack.

Today, we use the area in the same technical spirit – propagating, growing on and trialling plants here. The Bothy has been repurposed for horticultural staff; while the story of the garden will be exhibited in the restored Potting Sheds.

The historic Potting Sheds are now an exhibition space

Potting sheds

The RHS received a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to turn the historic Potting Sheds into an exhibition space. The sheds were original to the old garden. As well as the Potting Sheds’ restoration and re-fit, the grant covers an oral history project and volunteer-led site tours.

The oral history project aims to capture individuals’ memories of the site to help share its rich heritage from a personal perspective. From skating on the frozen lake to Scout escapades and beyond, there is a wealth of stories that will help bring Bridgewater to life and inspire new generations to create their own memories of being in the garden.

Glasshouses were once heated using the ‘Trentham’ system

The history of the glasshouses

Growing exotic plants was an essential part of a functioning Victorian walled garden. In Salford this requires both glass and heat. The vineries and peach houses of Worsley New Hall were heated by coal-fired boilers.

The first boiler was located underneath the tall chimney and fed hot air through skilfully engineered, hollow, flued walls behind the glasshouses. It was known as the ‘Trentham’ system. The heat-radiating, southern side of this wall was a single-brick skin; whereas the northern side was double skinned to help prevent thermal loss away from the original glasshouses.

A modern biomass boiler has been introduced

Today’s more sustainable solution

Around 1880 the ‘Trentham’ system was upgraded to a more efficient underfloor heating system fed by a new boiler room constructed at the western end of the potting sheds.

Today, further advancements have been made, with a modern biomass boiler heating three glasshouses – one in the Old Frameyard and two in the Paradise Garden. It is supplied with logs harvested from site as part of the ongoing restoration and management of the woodlands at RHS Garden Bridgewater and is infinitely more sustainable than the coal and diesel systems of yesteryear.

Trial beds within the Old Frameyard

Propagation House and Trials area

The Propagation House, which incorporates a new Trials Area, also sits within The Old Frameyard. Introducing plant trials has always been integral to the vision at Bridgewater. Quality advice for gardeners, especially for those who live in the North-West of England, regarding the best plants to grow in this part of the world will get a great boost from this activity.

Not only will local gardeners be able to base plant selection choices for their own gardens on the results of these exciting trials, they will also be inspired by visiting Bridgewater and seeing trials in progress as the plants establish and develop across the seasons.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.