Tree labels help unlock past

The labels were found in the house and gardens

The discovery of 200 terracotta tree labels at Tyntesfield House will help restore the estate's Victorian gardens.

Gardeners and conservators at the National Trust property near Bristol unearthed the glazed tree labels in a variety of locations throughout the house and garden.

They date from the mid 19th Century - about the same time Tyntesfield's owner William Gibbs was rebuilding the property - and give the planting date for some of the trees on the estate.

Hollows in the lawn show the location of some of the lost trees and a survey is also offering pointers to where they once stood.

Holy lands

In addition to the find, boxes of zinc and cast iron labels have also come to light, some of which are for garden plants.

One of the recently discovered zinc labels talks of seeds collected by one of the Gibbs family in the Holy lands which were brought back and planted in the grounds of the Gothic mansion.

It is thought the resulting "cedars of Lebanon" they refer to might still be in the estate's Pleasure Grounds.

Deborah Evans, the estate's head gardener, said: "These labels are a factual record of what has been grown at Tyntesfield and are a crucial link to the existing trees.

"In addition to the useful information they provide us with, the labels are a real find for Tyntesfield as they have an aesthetic beauty in their own right."