I have always liked the idea of losing the divisions that separate history from other disciplines. Nowhere is this more so for me than when I talk to my pal David Bishop who is a passionate botanist and walks the open land by the Mersey. It was he that first introduced me to Richard Buxton the working class botanist who catalogued and wrote about the plants of south Manchester, but more about him another.
David and I have often discussed the relationship between my research on the township in the early 19th century when we were still an agricultural community and his on the botany of the area. So for instance up by Southern Cemetery he has found examples of arable field plants which fit the historical record. Likewise he has posted a lovely story of the last possible example of a cottage garden plant on Beech Road, which can be read on his site at http://friendsofchorltonmeadows.blogspot.com/2009/09/greater-celandine-chelidonium-majus-is.html
Picture; Greater Celandine, found in what was Mrs Sutton’s cottage garden from the collection of David Bishop.
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