crocus-coloured

1) The crocus may have a much longer history as a cloth dye than has been suspected, possibly using flowers grown in Holderness.

1257 Item pauperibus parochianis de Harpam vnum chalonem rubeum et croceum de ramis stragulatum

1341 unum coverlyt crocei coloris, Harpham. The crocus in this case was possibly the autumn-flowering saffron, yellow-orange in colour and used also as a medicine: 1395-6 Item pro xv uncis croci viijs vjd, Whitby. It was grown in several parts of England and there are references in wills to crocus gardens, for example: 1467 unum gardinum in Coddington lane [near Newark]plantatum cum croco. Saffron Walden in Essex was the best known place where it was cultivated but the prefix dates only from the sixteenth century.

dates 1257 1341 1395-1396 1467

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