I always thought they were for show. But after watching this DVD I changed my mind.
In the DVD it showed lots of wall grown trees; but they did it to heat the fruit trees in cold weather so rich people could eat their fruit. Brick walls held heat from the sun. One brick wall shown even had a heater and chimney built in.
Definitely practicality for the reasons you mentioned. In monasteries, every inch of space was utilized, and espalier trees were a practical way of making use of limited space. They’re definitely beautiful but in today’s world less necessary.
they are very easy to build if you’ve got local rock and you build some walls anyway around a place so putting fruit up against them to use the space and warmth seems like a real old idea. there’s very old ones all over the world too, or similar concepts. not always “espalier” as in perfectly shaped trees but “two dimensional pruning” more like, up against a rock or earthen surface.
you raise a bed and grow fruit trees along the warm side of it. or
you got a village of longhouses so you plant your warmth-loving trees near the walls you already had to build. and so on
I’m not sure how old the idea is but I would bet the first person to notice it was warm near a boulder, decided to plant the seeds from their pawpaw right there.
I am half done building a fruit wall from eco bricks and slats, painting it black, it’s two short walls inside against my fence corner and I want to put figs there to help them ripen and get started faster every year.
espalier as a pruning shape and the way it seems so specific seems like the “fancy” part of the concept. more recent.
