Note 1 — HENRY S. SIMMONDS. (continued 2)
Reading edition
"Among other branches of industry introduced by the Flemings at Sandwich, that of gardening is worthy of notice. The people of Flanders had long been famous for their horticulture, and one of the first things which the foreign settlers did on arriving in the place was to turn to account the excellent qualities of the soil in the neighbourhood, so well suited for gardening purposes. Though long before practised by the Monks, gardening had become a lost art in England. It is said that Katherine, Queen of Henry 8th, unable to obtain a salad for her dinner in England, had her table supplied from the low countries. The first Flemish gardens proved highly successful. The cabbage, carrots, and celery produced by the foreigners met with so ready a sale, and were so much in demand in London itself, that a body of gardeners shortly removed from Sandwich and settled at Wandsworth, Battersea, and Bermondsey, where many of the rich garden grounds first planted by the Flemings continue to be the most productive in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis."
"Some of the Flemish refugees settled at Wandsworth and began several branches of industry, as the manufacture of felts, the making of brass plates for culinary utensils."
"In addition to the Flemish Churches in the City, at the West-end, and in Spitalfields, there were several thriving congregations in the suburban districts of London; one of the oldest of these was at Wandsworth, where a colony of protestant Wallons settled about the year 1570. Having formed themselves as a congregation, they erected a chapel for worship, which is that standing nearly opposite the Parish Church, the building bearing this inscription on its front: Erected, 1573; Enlarged, 1685; Repaired, 1809, 1831."—Samuel Smile's Huguenots in England and Ireland, p.p. 85, 86, 88, 267, 4th Edition.