Day 100. Bare Bones

These bone fragments have all been found associated with the Romano-British community discussed over the past few days. They probably came from livestock reared  and slaughtered by this community.

Two thousand years ago, these people gathered around a fire and feasted on the fruits of their year's toil. Late autumn was the traditional time for slaughtering all livestock too weak to last the winter. And a final feast was held before the struggles of winter began. 

Our long-ago forebears laughed and chatted over a drink and roasted meat, and reinforced the bonds that would enable them to survive through the winter months. Friendship and community spirit epitomised this early culture. Life was hard, and without these bonds the settlement would crumble.

 

The discarded bones lay in the soil for hundreds of years. Above them, the descendants of that early community continued to plough and reap and sow as the seasons passed. And so they reached today.

The bones were brought to the surface by people from the village they helped forge, two thousand years earlier. And in that time, human nature hasn't changed. Community and friendship are valued as much today as they were in the distant past. We share a common bond with those first inhabitants, formed by more than the village we have all shared. The past has forged the present in more ways than one.

And this concludes these hundred days of history. If you've enjoyed reading these pages, Preston on Stour: A Two Thousand Year History, is available to order from bookshops or online, or contact me on lightonecandle339@gmail.com

 

Day 99. The Mill Stone

This mill stone stands by the church gate on the village green. How it came to be there is a mystery, but it has been in this location for at least a hundred years. Local historian and vicar  Harvey Bloom wrote in the early 20th century that it was part of a cider mill. The stones were used to crush apples and the juice was collected and fermented into cider.
It may have belonged to a communal mill or large scale enterprise rather than a single farmstead, considering its size. Documentary evidence of a cider house in Preston exists from the 18th century. Perhaps when this fell into disuse, the stone was moved to the church gate, and it has remained ever since.

Day 98. The Church Bells

                  

                            Preston's bells.

 

The church tower, showing the door and windows for the bell chamber.

 

Preston church has three bells. The bell chamber is reached via the steps on the outside of the tower, and then by a spiral staircase. Each of the bells has its own inscription:

Prosperity to this place. A.R. [Anna Regina, the Queen] 1713

Cum iuncundissima voce prosequor [I proceed with a most pleasing voice] Henry Bagley 1635.           

Henry Baglee made mee 1653.

Bell-ringing has attracted a long succession of loyal followers. In the late 19^th century, the bell-ringers, along with the village choir (see Day 97), were entertained to supper every Boxing Day in the servants' hall of Alscot Park. 

Bell-ringing was a gruelling job. There were often three Sunday services as well as weddings, christenings and funerals. In the 1940s, Denis Maton, Tony Ashfield and Tom Walton  were the regular ringers. Then Bob Stredder, a skilled bell-ringer who had recently moved to the village, began to teach more young men to ring the bells. John Horseman, Derrick Ashfield and George Nason began to 'learn the ropes'.  George remained a regular ringer for nearly fifty years. The bells still have a regular following of ringers today.

Day 97. The Organ

Music was once a key part of religious worship, and organs commonly found in early churches.

Following the Civil War (1642-49) England was governed by a Puritan parliament. The Puritans believed that music was a distraction from divine worship and all organs were removed, often with great violence.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, religious ideals were altered again. Music was again permitted. To replace the long-desecrated organs, choirs were set up to lead the singing. They were often accompanied with home-fashioned musical instruments such as fiddles. The choir stalls in the chancel of Preston church date to  the mid 18^th century.

Preston had a thriving church choir in the late 19^th century, and this continued well into the mid 20^th century.  Mrs Olive West of Alscot Park was a trained singer and led the choir in the early 20^th century.

In 1895, James Roberts-West installed a new organ in the church at his own expense. Organs had been growing in popularity from the mid 19^th century, as communities or landowners gained the capital to purchase them. They were considered more respectable than the rustic choirs they were replacing. They were often unfavourably met by the local communities who loved their home-spun music, but the thoughts of Preston's community went undocumented.

The organ needed a supply of pumped air in order to produce a good sound. It was a boy's job to work the bellows during the service. The more enthusiastic the player, the more frantically he had to pump. The bellows were eventually replaced by an automatic system which is still used today.

Day 96. The Railing Stumps

 Several tombs in Preston's churchyard, generally those belonging to wealthier landowners, were once surrounded with iron railings. 

 

            Preston School was also once fronted with railings.

 

This is another relic of the Second World War. Britain was in desperate need of metal to make tanks, bullets and other armaments, and  a nationwide collection of all ironwork deemed unnecessary was instigated. This was all melted down for the war effort. A similar drive had taken place during the First World War –  the tracks of the obsolete tramway (see Day 17) were removed around 1914  – and now  the government officials returned with a more critical eye.

No scrap of metal was deemed too small. All the railings surrounding the graves in the churchyard were appropriated for the war effort, as were those outside the village school. They were never replaced. Just the forlorn stumps remain embedded in the stonework today.

Day 95. The Water Tower

By 1938, war considered inevitable. The Aerodromes Board began searching Britain for suitable sites to be used as military airfields. One of the 400 sites chosen was in Preston on Stour and Atherstone on Stour, and was eventually known as RAF Stratford. It was intended as a training base for the crews of Wellington bombers, and became operational in 1941.

Around 1600  from the RAF, RCAF (Royal Canadian Airforce) and WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Airforce) were stationed on the site. Accommodation, medical facilities and amenities had to be installed as well as the hangars, runways and defence systems.

Water was supplied to the site by means of a lattice steel Braithwaite tower, 18 metres high. This fed water by gravity to the entire airfield. The tower is still present although the water tank on top has long since been removed. 

The airfield was operational as a military base until November 1945. The buildings and runways were gradually demolished and the land returned to agriculture. A few buildings remain; other features are betrayed by crop marks. But the water tower, visible for several miles around, remains a distinctive feature of the landscape.

Day 94. Pottery of More Recent Times

A shard of medieval pottery (11^th - 12^th century) found in Preston.

This pottery is coarser and of poorer quality than the Roman pottery discussed on Day 92, despite the progress of over a thousand years.

By the Medieval period, pottery was little favoured by the better-off classes. Household dishes and other wares were typically made of pewter, or silver if especially wealthy. This trait continued well into the 18^th century. The poorer classes who couldn't afford pewter used wooden wares or pottery vessels. This pottery was basic and poorly made – anything of better quality would be unaffordable – and no attempt at beauty or style was made. Where many crafts had advanced considerably over the past several centuries, the art of the potter had remained stagnant.

Staffordshire Slip Ware found in Preston, 18^th century.

In the 18^th century, this began to change. Growing overseas trade from the early 17^th century led to the growing popularity of china – imported from its namesake country – among the higher tiers of society. Elegant porcelain was a feature of many homes. Josiah Wedgewood founded his Staffordshire factory in the mid 18^th century to emulate the imports, and the fine porcelain that became a key feature of that region was eagerly sought. China replaced metal dishes for fine dining, then began to filter down through society until it became the standard household feature which it remains today.

Day 93. The Mortaria

Shards of mortaria found in Preston

Following from yesterday's post, today we shall look at another relic of the Roman Empire.

A mortarium (plural mortaria) was a vessel used by the Romans for preparing foodstuffs. The inner surface of the dish was embedded with pieces of quartz to grind spices and other foods – a forerunner of the pestle and mortar.

Examples were imported into Britain before the Roman conquest, but became increasingly common as Roman settlers spread across Britain, and the native Britons adopted the Roman culture. A few pieces have been found in a field above Preston,  suggesting a strong Roman influence on the earliest inhabitants of the area.

The use of mortaria declined following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century.

Day 92. Roman Pottery

A large quantity of pottery shards dating to the Roman period have been found in a field near Preston – possibly relics of the first inhabitants of the area. The site was likely a modest-sized farmstead.

Fine quality pottery was a hallmark of the Roman culture. Tableware, amphorae or storage vessels for foodstuffs and wine, and other wares spread across the Roman Empire with the conquerors. The Iron Age Britons had the skill to make pottery, but the finer craftsmanship of the Romans soon influenced British potters, and native Britons began to favour Roman-made or imported wares.

The Fosse Way is a major Roman road passing a few miles from Preston, with several trading posts along its length, and probably the hub of communication between the settlement and the wider community. Pottery and other goods most likely arrived here via this route.

The majority of pottery found in Preston is Severn Valley Ware, produced in the nearby Severn Valley and used across west Britain from the 2^nd - 4^th centuries. Grey Ware, named for its colour, was commonly used domestic ware and several pieces have also been found in Preston.

 

Two shards of Severn Valley Ware – the base of a pot and a rim. 2^nd - 4^th century.

 

A shard of Grey Ware. The marks made by the potter's wheel can be seen. 2^nd - 4^th century.

Black Burnished Ware, once a wide, shallow container. This was a commonly found coarse ware, used for basic domestic purposes, and was often hand-formed rather than wheeled.

 

Shards of Samian Ware

A few pieces of Samian Ware have also been found in Preston. This was a fine, painted tableware, exported from Italy and later Gaul (modern France) in large quantities. Only the wealthiest people owned Samian Ware, although the less well-off could aspire to own one or two pieces.

Following the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century, the art of the potter largely disappeared. Pottery was still produced, but was of much inferior quality to that previously known. It would be over a thousand years before fine pottery tableware was again found on Britain's tables.

Day 91. The Quern Stone.

Today we will move further back into history, and look at some of the relics the earliest inhabitants of Preston left behind.

This piece of a quern stone was found in a field near Preston, and likely dates to the Iron Age or Roman period. A quantity of pottery shards from the Iron Age and Roman periods have been found in the locality.

People have harvested and eaten seeds and grains for tens of millennia, but our teeth and digestive systems aren't capable of extracting their full nutritional value. So human ingenuity had to provide a solution. At first, stones or wood were used to pound the grain into easily digestible flour. Then the quern stone was developed.

The grain was placed on a smooth, slightly curved stone and ground back and forth with a second stone. This was a woman's job, and the 'daily grind' would take several hours each day. The importance of the task was such that the phrase remains in common use today. Analysis of skeletons from the period repeatedly reveal damage to the lower spine, from the endless repetition of this action. 

Following the quern, a hand-operated forerunner of the rotary mill was then adopted; grain was poured between two stones and the women only had to turn a handle for an hour or so to produce their flour. Then a mechanical mill, using wind or water-power, delegated the task to one man in each community: the miller (see Day 2).

This quern may have been used by some of the first women to settle in Preston, around 2000 years ago. The stone was eventually discarded – perhaps broken, perhaps replaced by a better method. It then lay in the soil for centuries until chance caused it to be ploughed to the surface.

Day 90. The Village Bobby

PC Gibson, the village bobby, c.1950.

The village bobby was once a familiar rural sight. He was a figure of respect and knew everybody on his patch, and would enforce the law and discipline diligently.

PC Gibson was stationed at Alderminster police house and cycled through the local villages on his beat several times a week, on the look out for any wrong-doing or mischief.  He was strict with discipline – he kept a slipper in his back pocket in case he had to punish any misbehaving children – but generally his punishments involved a clip round the ear, as local residents with a more mischievous past recall. He would also stop and play a bit of cricket with the boys on the village green. Not one of them ever dared to steal his bicycle.

The local village bobbies were gradually phased out in favour of large police stations in the towns. Many lament that rural crime increased in consequence and children's behaviour was unchecked – much to their own and their community's detriment.

PC Gibson became a caretaker at the Hugh Clopton school, now Stratford High School.

Day 89. Tragedy for a Coachman

The gravestone of William Woodhouse in Preston cemetery. The inscription reads:

            In Memory of William Woodhouse,

            Late coachman at Alscot,

            Killed by a fall from a horse,

            November 9^th 1885

            Aged 40 Years.

William Woodhouse came to work at Alscot Park as a coachman around 1874. The coachman's position was one of the most lucrative for a career servant, and William would have been responsible for the care of all the carriage and riding horses, as well as overseeing the grooms and stable-boys. He also drove the coach, which made him a showcase of the family when they were out in public.

In November 1885, he delivered a carriage to the coach-builders' yard in Stratford, then stopped for a drink in a nearby pub before beginning the ride back to Alscot Park. On the Shipston Road, he met a coach belonging to surgeon Reginald Greene. William's mount was panicked by the lamps on the coach and began lunging about. Greene recognised William, knew he was an experienced horseman, and assumed he could handle his mount. A moment later his groom said William was down.

Greene turned back at once. William was on his hands and knees on the road and the horse was in a state of distress on the pavement.

'Where are you hurt?'

'In the stomach,' William managed to reply.

He was struggling to breathe and Greene tried to get him to drink some whiskey, but he was unable to swallow anything. A policeman arrived, summoned by Greene's groom, and they tried to lift William into the coach, but it was now obvious he was dying. He fell unconscious and a few moments later was dead.

A post mortem found that William had suffered severe internal injuries and probably brain damage, consistent with the horse falling on him. It was concluded the animal had tripped on the pavement when lunging about and fallen backwards.

William was not local – the 1881 census states that he was born in Richard's Castle, Shropshire – and nobody knew anything about his family, so he was buried in Preston cemetery.

His gravestone – a large and elaborate design – would have been far outside the scope of his wages, and was presumably paid for by his employers. This was commonly done for an esteemed servant. It bears the stark message, In the midst of life, we are in death.

Day 88. The Gamekeepers.

Gamekeepers on Alscot Estate, c.1880.

Many gamekeepers have worked on Alscot Estate over the past two hundred years. Like many crafts, the trade was learnt by long experience and sons often followed into their father's role.

As well as nurturing game birds and animals for elaborate shooting parties, the gamekeepers waged a constant war against poachers. Game was the exclusive property of the landowner, but many poorer people, with little other alternative to feed their families, would risk severe punishment to snare a rabbit or pheasant for their pot.

Others treated poaching as a professional business. Vicious fights could break out and it wasn't uncommon for a gamekeeper to sustain serious injury in the course of duty.

In November 1869, John Goldey, a long-time gamekeeper at Alscot, discovered several snares on the estate land at Whitchurch. No doubt there were more hidden elsewhere, and the culprits would be back that night. John's fourteen-year-old son Alfred and local labourer John Hathaway agreed to keep watch with him. It was prudent for a gamekeeper to have as many strong men with him as possible.

All three men hid themselves, John in the hedge, and Hathaway and Alfred a little way off in a ditch. They waited.

Several hours passed.  Then around 3am, John stiffened. A rustling, too loud for a deer. Then a faint whisper. He saw the faint outlines of three men approaching.  Each had a stick over his shoulder. John knew they would be slung with rabbits or hares. They drew level with his hiding place. He smiled.

'I've been watching you for some time,' he said. 'You're just the men I want to see.'

The men flung down their haul and bolted.

'Hathaway! Alfred!'

Both men leapt from the ditch. The poachers dodged past them. Hathaway seized one man's arm. He struggled free and struck out with his bludgeon. It caught Hathaway on the arm and he staggered back. The poacher struck out again, this time smashing into Hathaway's head. He fell to the ground. Alfred struck the man with his own stick. The poacher stumbled back. Alfred tackled him and both fell. Alfred managed to pin him down until his father came to his aid, and they were able to secure him. Hathaway recovered his senses and got to his feet. The other two poachers had disappeared into the night.

John went back and picked up their haul, which totalled twelve hares and three rabbits.

The poacher was identified as Charles Batchelor, 25, from nearby Honington, a farm labourer who lived with his widowed mother and two brothers. He was delivered to the custody of Inspector William Rawlings of Warwickshire Constabulary the next morning. Eighteen more snares  were found on him.

Batchelor was a notorious poacher with a string of previous convictions. Twice in1860 he was caught poaching at Honington, and was fined £5 on both occasions. On New Year's Eve 1864, he was fined £1 for being drunk and riotous. In May 1867, he was sentenced to seven days' imprisonment for the same offence. When the case was heard at the Warwick Winter Assizes, Batchelor  was found guilty of assault and poaching and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour.

Batchelor then returned to his mother's household and a life of increasingly notorious crime. John Goldey continued as a gamekeeper for another fifteen years until his death in 1885, aged 74. He was buried in Preston churchyard.

 

Day 87. The Smith's Trade.

 A hand-forged nail, possibly made in Preston smithy.

A nail was the first job of the apprentice blacksmith. A rod of iron was heated, forged into a point then hammered flat at the top to form the head. This was a deceptively difficult task. When the young smith had mastered this, he was allowed to attempt more complex work.

Forging iron tyres for cart and wagon wheels was another important task. A strip of iron was heated, curved, and welded into a hoop. The implement on the smithy wall, shown above, was used to shape the tyre. The holes on the bracket had pegs through them which, when the iron was fed through, would force a curve into the metal when pressure was applied. When a complete hoop was formed, the pegs were removed and the tyre lifted off.

 

Fitting the tyre to the wheel was usually the wheelwright's job. The tyre was heated in a fire until red-hot, then fitted over the wheel which was set on a stone plate. Water was poured over it and the metal was hammered as it cooled to keep it to the correct shape. As the metal shrunk, it compressed all parts of the wheel immovably tight.

In later years, when the forge had little work other than farriery, (see Day 86) the bracket was simply used to hang up the horses' harness while they were shod.

Day 86. The Smithy

                  Preston smithy.

From the Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution, a period of over 2000 years, all ironwork was crafted in small forges by skilled blacksmiths. These men made gates, tools, horse shoes, iron tyres and a hundred other things besides.

The first known record of a forge in Preston is during the 1580s. This wasn't the present forge, which dates only to the 17^th century, but may refer to an earlier forge on the same site.

Like most trades, the skills were learnt through years of patient experience, and boys started in their father's forge as soon as they were able to perform the simplest tasks. When they reached manhood, they were hopefully skilled enough to take on a forge of their own.

The Elvins family were the blacksmiths in Preston in the 18^th century. In the early 19^th century, blacksmith Henry Bryan took over the forge when he married Alice Gardiner, the widow of Preston's previous blacksmith. He remained for his life and his son James later took over.

James left the village in the 1870s, and James Winter from Loxley moved to the forge. He and his son Thomas James (Jimmy) both worked the forge for their lives.

Blacksmith Jimmy Winter outside Preston forge, early 20^th century.

The Industrial Revolution changed the future for the village blacksmiths. Factories could make iron goods far quicker and cheaper than the rural smith in his forge. These wares flooded into the countryside and the blacksmith's trade was decimated. After Jimmy Winter's death in 1937, the forge was run by William Gilks, a smith from Quinton who toured several local villages. There was no longer enough work for a smith in each village. The majority of the work now comprised shoeing the heavy horses which were still abundant on farms.

And then even that work faded into obscurity. The relentless drive into the modern era brought cars, autobuses and tractors to the countryside. The Second World War forced farmers to abandon their horses for modern machinery, and more forges closed their doors. In 1948, Preston's forge closed for good.

Day 85. The Bakery.

Left: Richard Beavington. Right: his son Dick in 1956. Courtesy of Elizabeth Lyne, nee Beavington.

A purpose-built bakehouse was built in Preston behind No.50 in the early 19^th century, and this house became the home of Preston's bakers for over 150 years. The bakery supplied bread to Preston and other local villages, although domestic bread ovens (see Day 21) were still widely used.

The first recorded bakers in Preston are in 1813, although it is unclear whether they used the current bakehouse. In the 1830s, one Daniel Salmon was working as a baker; within a decade his son Henry, daughter Elizabeth and Elizabeth's husband William Davis were all working as bakers and living at No.50.

 

In the 1860s, widow Ann Hone from The Dell and her son James took over the bakery. It seems Ann started the grocer's shop which ran alongside the bakery for the next hundred years (see Day 84).

When James, a poor businessman, went bankrupt in 1887, the bakery was taken over by Richard Beavington, a farmer's son from Ebrington. Richard and his sons  Dick and Percy spent their working lives in the bakery.

The peel used by the Beavingtons to load the oven.

 

Freddie Herd outside the bakery, c.1930. Freddie (b.1920) was the son of Russell Herd and Gertrude, nee Horseman. The couple had met and married in London during the First World War, while Russell was on leave from the army, and subsequently settled in Preston. Freddie helped out at Preston bakery every day after school.

 

Percy (left) and Dick Beavington (right), outside the bakery. The identity of the second man in unknown.

The bakery closed in 1970 when Dick and Percy retired. The oven was never used again, but nearly fifty years after it closed, the Beavingtons' bread remains an iconic feature of Preston in people's memories.

Day 84. The Village Shop

Margaret Beavington, wife of Preston baker Dick Beavington, c.1960. The Beavington family ran a shop alongside the bakery at No.50 for two generations.

 

People have always made a business from selling to others what they cannot produce, grow, rear or gather for themselves. Many families were once largely self-sufficient for food and other household goods – they often didn't have the income to do otherwise – but craftsmen such as shoemakers and tailors ran successful businesses from their homes.

This self-sufficiency declined from the 18^th century, and the potential for a local shop selling general products arose. As one example most women knitted and darned their own clothing; they had also spun their own wool until the Industrial Revolution mechanised the process and the skill faded into obscurity. A market for spun yarn arose in concert.

Candles, made from beeswax or tallow, were also once produced according to the ability of each householder; they then became a standard item of purchase for even the poorer families.

More luxury items for purchase – oranges, raisins, tobacco, spices, tea leaves –  filtered down through the classes during the 19^th century, and the grocer's trade began to thrive. By the late Victorian era, 'convenience' items such as boxes of soap powder, tinned fruit, jam, biscuits, flour (once coming direct from the village mill) and dozens of other items provided a surge in potential for the shopkeeper.

The first recorded grocer's shop in Preston was in the 1860s. The village shop remained central to the community until the late 20^th century, when the desire for convenience which had fuelled their inception led to their downfall. The supermarket had arrived.

Day 83. Domestic Service.

            Maids at Alscot Park, c.1880.

In the 19^th century it became fashionable, in not entirely necessary, for wealthy households to employ as many servants as affordable. This was fuelled in part by the desperate need for working class women to find a source of income, as discussed yesterday.

In 1871, around 4% of the UK population,  mostly women, were in service, working as housemaids, cooks, nursemaids and many other roles. All of the farmers and many of the wealthier craftsmen in Preston employed one or more resident domestic servants. These girls and women did whatever menial tasks their employers had no inclination to do – preparing meals, serving tea, lighting fires, housework and countless other things. They typically slept in the attics and spent their time in the kitchen when not working in the 'best' rooms, and were 'rung for' by means of a bell.

The bells in the kitchen of Park Farm, probably installed in the 19^th century. One links to the front door; four connect to the main bedrooms; and two – his and hers – connect to the parlour. Each bell has a different tone so the servant would know at once to which room he or she was being summoned.

 

 

                       Some of the bell pulls.

The changing social structure, especially following the First World War, saw a drop in the numbers of women in service. Many other career paths were open for women; compulsory education gave the working classes better prospects; labour-saving foodstuffs and household appliances reduced the need for a large number of servants; and the better-off people were considered able to pour their own tea. Domestic servants largely disappeared from our culture in the 20^th century.

Day 82. The Spinster.

 

Today we shall leave agriculture and look at some other occupations which have left their mark on history. The first of these is the traditional occupation of women.

Today's dictionary defines a spinster as an unmarried woman, but it acquired this meaning only in the 18^th century. The term originally applied to any woman who spun wool or flax into yarn. The wool trade drove the British economy for several hundred years – through exports of raw wool and finished cloth – so spinning was a ubiquitous source of income for both married and unmarried women, although those unmarried were more likely to have to work to earn their bread.

'Spinster' gradually became a derogatory term for a woman who  was unable to find herself a husband, at a time when marriage was considered an essential achievement for all women, and then it took on its present meaning. That the word remains in  our everyday language is evidence of the former importance of spinning.

The majority of women in Preston – unmarried, married or widowed – spun wool and flax in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Weaving was a thriving cottage industry, and the weavers were supplied by the local women.

The invention of the spinning jenny during the Industrial Revolution had ominous consequences for the countryside women. Spinning and weaving were rapidly shifted to the factories and mills. This vanishing source income for rural women was concomitant with the rising population and falling wages for the farm labourer, so helped fuel a rise in rural poverty.

From the 19^th century, the only source of income for the majority of women was domestic service, which we shall look at tomorrow.

Day 81. Getting Steam Up.

The steam engine was the first man-made source of power. The concept of heating water to produce steam, which would then drive pistons for any number of purposes, quite literally changed the world, and became permanently etched into our language with phrases such as 'getting steam up' and 'running out of steam'.

 

The steam train is an iconic image of bygone Britain, but as well as revolutionising overland transport, the steam engine revolutionised agriculture, shipping, mining, and many other industries.

The first stationery steam engine was built by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and his engines were soon routinely used to pump water from mines. Richard Trevithick pioneered the steam locomotive in 1801, which was again first used by mine-owners, to haul laden wagons. Locomotives were adapted for passenger use from the 1830s.

The railways provided a fast and reliable alternative to Britain's often notorious roads (see Day 13). The country grew smaller and the divide between distant communities lessened. People travelled to the countryside for recreation; rural people moved to the towns to find work. Manufactured goods and food – cheaply produced thanks to the Industrial Revolution – could reach all areas of the Britain. The rural craftsmen such as the blacksmiths, weavers and tailors found their livelihoods crumbling, never to be restored.

            Threshing corn, c.1930s.

In the agricultural world, steam engines were first utilised to thresh grain from the ears of corn, once one of the most arduous tasks of the farming year (see Day 70). Threshing engines were affordable only on the largest farms, but portable engines were commonly touring farms by the 1830s.

Then followed steam-ploughs: two engines at opposite ends of a field hauled a plough to and fro. Heavy, stony ground beyond the capabilities of horses was soon under cultivation. Engines to grind beans and oats and chop turnips for animal feed also became widespread.

Cheap grain from the corn-growing expanses of the USA and Canada began to flood across the Atlantic thanks to steam ships. This signalled disaster for the UK farmers. Thousands lost their farms in the 1870s, unable to compete with the plummeting market prices.

Then in the 1850s, the internal combustion engine was developed. Cars, tractors and diesel locomotives soon appeared. The bitter-sweet dominance of the steam engine was over.

Day 80. Fox Hunting

           The Hunt outside No.40 Preston, c.1960.

People were hunter-gatherers tens of millennia before we settled to farming. The ability to successfully hunt was one of the most vital factors for a community's survival, and this deep-rooted affinity is has remained strong in our collective consciousness.

Riding with dogs has been a key feature of life – particularly for the higher classes – since recorded history began. Deer were a popular source of meat; hares and gamebirds also provided good meals; wolves, bears and wild boar could terrorise a village. The age-old scene of mounted hunters gathering with their dogs and weapons to ride after food or foe was an awe-inspiring one, a key aspect of popular culture and legend, and one which could make the difference between survival and death for a community.

This aspect of hunting declined after the Middle Ages. The bears and wild boar were near extinct. The vast forests and heaths – carefully nurtured by the Normans for their deer –  were dwindling. There was now little scope for a sporting chase of deer across country, and the established deer parks were gradually broken up, especially during the Civil War period of the 1640s.  Another beast of the chase was needed.

Foxes had been trapped as vermin for centuries, but from the 1660s, the fox chase began to grow in popularity. Wealthy gentlemen kept packs of hounds for this purpose, and carefully bred them for the stamina and persistence for which the foxhound is known today. A chase of ten or twenty miles was not unknown.

During the 18^th century, district Hunts were established, popular with all those who had or aspired to have gentle blood. A sporting number of foxes was needed, so landowners began to set aside areas for them to lie up – known as covers or coverts. Odd corners of land overgrown with scrub today were often once intended for this purpose.

The fox hunts soon became an institutionalised feature of rural life. They remained so until hunting was made illegal in 2007.

 

Field names near the Admington boundary, showing former fox covers. Old Cover is now partly incorporated into Preston Bushes; Fox Cover is now farmland.

Day 79. Preston Bushes

This woodland along the Admington Road near the parish boundary was arable land, part of Preston Pastures Farm, until the late 19^th century. It doesn't seem to have been intentionally converted to woodland, and this may be explained by the agricultural crisis of the 1870s.

A converging series of events led to the ruin of many British farmers around this time. Poor weather caused a series of crop failures. Farm labourers had successfully campaigned for higher wages. The vast prairies of the USA and Canada were producing huge quantities of grain, which was now flooding across the Atlantic thanks to the revolution in steam shipping. And new refrigeration techniques were bringing imports of meat from Australia and New Zealand.

British farmers couldn't compete with the plummeting prices. They no longer had the capital to cultivate and tend crops to a good standard. Yields fell, and their downward spiral continued. Farmers were forced to abandon a great deal of land, which reverted to scrub. Preston Bushes, once the most distant fields of Preston Pastures, may well be an example. The name 'Bushes' implies that it was once exactly that – bushes and scrub growing on untended ground.

The farm was rented by the Ashby family during the depression years. They were astute farmers and ultimately pulled through the depression, but this woodland is perhaps a relic of their struggles.

 

Henry Ashby, his wife Hannah and probably their twelve children, c.1887. Henry's father Robert took over Preston Pastures c.1860. Henry continued to lease the farm, followed by his son Fred who eventually purchased it then gave up farming in the 1930s. 

 

Day 78. Locke's Farm

Locke's Farm, a timber-framed farmhouse built c.1600, crowns the village green and is one of the most prominent architectural features of Preston. It was once the home of the Locke family, an ancient farming family who have long since disappeared into history – with the exception of their family name.

The rise of the Locke or Lock family is fairly typical of yeoman (freehold) or husbandman (tenant) farming families of the 16^th-18^th centuries. The first mention of the family in Preston is on a court roll of May 1499, when one William Lock leased an area of land which had previously been held by his father. Henry VII was then on the throne, and England was at the start of her rise to national prosperity which was a hallmark of the Tudor period.

The next record is of Thomas Locke, a husbandman or tenant farmer and likely a descendant of William, who married  Isabel Wells in 1566. Thomas lived in the present Locke's Farm or an earlier house on the same site, the latter perhaps more likely, for at least the later part of his life. This was leased from the lord of the manor.

When Thomas died in 1602, his son Allen, now married and with a family of his own, continued to lease the farm, and purchased it a few years later. He may have rebuilt the house in its present state after the purchase. The lords of Preston manor were at this time in dire financial straits, and several farms and tracts of land had been sold off. These were snapped up by the more foresighted tenant farmers, who saw a golden opportunity to acquire status and wealth that would advance their families for generations.

 

Locke's Farm on a map drawn c.1760. The green is at the bottom; Church House to the left. Several farm buildings, now demolished, surround the farmyard to the rear of the house (see Day 74).

Allen died in 1625 and his son Thomas inherited the farm. He married wealthy farmer's daughter Katherine Smith, and his son, also called Thomas, was one of the wealthiest farmers in Preston by 1695. The family purchased land in neighbouring Wimpstone and leased a large house at Milcote.

The Locke family remained in Preston for two more generations. Thomas' grandson, another Thomas, inherited the farm from his father in 1735. He never married but remained at Locke's Farm until his death in 1781, aged 71. He was the last of his family. The farm passed to his married sister Elizabeth Timbrell and was then sold.

Thomas' grave still stands in Preston churchyard, and his parents'  memorial stone lies in the nave of the church. But the family's legacy lives on, in the house their forebears built.

 

                    Thomas Locke's grave.

Day 77. The Bacon Rack.

The bacon rack in Park Farm's kitchen. It hangs from the ceiling by means of hooks.

 

Following on from yesterday's post about pig-keeping, we shall now look at the fate of the fattened pig.

Pig-killing or 'pig-sticking' was a skilled job. The 'pig-sticking man' would tie and manhandle the pig onto the pig-killing bench for the job to be done. It was usually a boy's job to collect the gushing blood in buckets, then stir it as it cooled to prevent it coagulating. This was used for black pudding.

The hairs were singed from the hide and the dirt and skin scraped away. Then the carcass was systematically butchered into joints for preserving. 

It sounds gruesome to our delicate modern tastes, but in the days before meat was available shrink-wrapped from a supermarket, this was the only way a family could acquire a good nutritious meal.

 

           Pig-killing on Alscot Estate, c.1880.

Tradition states that you can use every part of a pig except the squeak, and everyone who kept a pig made sure they did exactly that. Sides of bacon were a common sight hanging from bacon racks in farmhouse kitchens or beside the fireplace in cottages, where the smoke helped preservation. The cellars of large houses would be full of joints packed in salt for preserving (see Day 20). Strings of sausages hung from hooks. Brawn, black pudding and pig's trotters provided nutritious meals using those parts which couldn't be preserved in pre-refrigeration days.

Bacon  –  the traditional British breakfast food – was taken from the back or the belly of the pig. It was salted then rolled tightly, and slices were taken off as needed.  It was ideal to keep for several months – the reason it became a staple food in rural communities –  although it wasn't uncommon for flies to find their way into the rolls, and the occasional maggot to drop down the neck of anyone sitting beneath.  

Day 76. The Pigsties

The pigsties at Park Farm, now demolished. Note the courtyard structure of the farmyard (see Day 74).

Pigs were an invaluable asset to rural people of all classes, and were kept almost ubiquitously by all who could afford them.

Pigs once roamed freely in the woods, where they fed on acorns and beech-mast, and on the common ground of the village. Villagers each had the right to keep a certain number of pigs in this manner, known as pannage. All pigs had to have a ring in their noses to prevent them rooting up the turf; failure to comply was heavily fined.

Following the enclosure of the common grounds into privately-held fields (see Day 54), this common right was revoked. Pigs now had to be kept in sties by the farmstead or in cottage gardens. Pigs would eat all household scraps including the whey from cheese and butter-making, so sties were always close to the farmhouse.

The  Second World War induced a surge in domestic pig-keeping as part of the nationwide drive to feed the nation. Pig Clubs – one was formed in Preston to cater for several nearby villages –  were set up to encourage this. Members reared a pig and had a supply of meat when the animal was slaughtered, in return for forgoing their meat coupons and giving some meat to the government. Membership provided insurance, an allocation of meal, and pooled expertise in pig-keeping. Many abandoned sties were returned to use.

After the Second World War, domestic pig-keeping declined. Preston's Pig Club closed around 1948. Increasing prosperity in the post-war years meant that meat was easily affordable from the butchers. Many sties were knocked down; others still exist as garden sheds.

Day 75. The Cartshed

The north side of the farm buildings along the Admington road. The barn (see Day 69) is in the centre; the cartshed is at the far end.

Cartsheds were used to house valuable farm equipment. They were commonly built from the mid 18^th century, when farm sizes began to grow and farmers became more prosperous. They could now afford costly equipment and had the means to erect a building to store it. In earlier times, equipment was either stored on the barn's threshing floor or under rudimentary coverings outdoors.

The provision for carts is an indication of a farm's prosperity at the time of building. Park Farm had a three-bay cartshed. The larger Preston Pastures Farm had a six-bay cartshed; Sweet Knowle Farm a four-bay.

Cartsheds are similar in appearance to the shelter sheds (see Day 74), but with the crucial difference that they opened away from the yard rather than onto it. This was so itinerant livestock didn't damage the equipment. They almost always faced north, to protect the equipment from the sun and rain-laden southerly winds.

A granary was usually built over the cartshed. The dry air circulating beneath was far better to preserve the grain. When a granary was built over a cowshed, for example, the warm damp air would quickly send the grain mouldy.

Day 74. The Farmyard

Cattle housed in the yard at Park Farm, 1980s. It has been used continuously for its intended purpose for over four centuries.

The farmyard was the central point of the farmstead, and was surrounded by various farm buildings. The early farmhouses were built adjacent to the yard. The farmer couldn't afford to be too far from his livestock or grain at any time. Park Farm, built in the 17^th century, is an example (see Day 73). From the 18^th century, farmhouses were built apart from their buildings, thanks to increasing prosperity. Farmers could now afford liberal labour, and had the time and money to indulge in gentlemanly pursuits such as fox-hunting and reading. It was no longer necessary nor believed appropriate to live entirely on-site.

The barn was typically on the north of the yard, or against the prevailing winds, to give shelter to the livestock. Cowsheds and shelter sheds – open-fronted sheds for wintering livestock  – were usually on the west as discussed yesterday. The house and other buildings were arranged round the other sides. The yards today are often much lower than the surrounding farm buildings – centuries of trampling livestock and the annual removal of muck has lowered the ground level.

Water supply was an important concern. Many yards had deep wells sunk outside their walls, with a pump to draw water into a trough. A stone trough at Park Farm was filled from the soft-water well outside the house.

19^th century shelter sheds, with mangers and hayracks. They face east to maximise exposure to the sun. The brick pillars were rounded to prevent injury to livestock.

A 20^th century shelter shed. Its value in winter is clearly appreciated!