Display of Cereals

These two pictures show the displays of cereals that have been constructed in the Garner Display area. The display on the left, based on specimens grown in the Miller's Garden, describes the Evolution of Wheat, from the ancient wild grasses and goat grasses, through to modern Durum Wheat and Bread Wheat.

The display on the right contains three other cereals, two of which are grown in Britain. Barley, the central item, is an important and common cereal used for animal feed and in beer brewing. Oats, on the left, is now less common since the loss of the working farm horse.

Rye, displayed on the right, is now very rarely grown in Britain. However, some excavations at Coleshill Street in Sutton Coldfield revealed the remains of an oven behind a medieval house dating from the 13th/14th century. Although the clay dome of the oven had collapsed, charred grains of rye were found in the oven. It is not known whether the oven was used for baking bread or for drying grain.