Day 63. The Wool Trade

These entries in the parish registers from neighbouring Whitchurch, recording burials in a woollen shroud, were mirrored in Preston and every other community across Britain. This illustrates how, by the 18^th century,  the world was shrinking and how a country across the Atlantic could rewrite the British economy.

Britain rose from obscurity on the back of the wool trade. Th trade had been thriving since the 13^th century and many fortunes had been made, especially in the Cotswolds, a short distance from Preston. The quality British wool was in high demand by the weavers of continental Europe and sheep comprised the majority of livestock in Britain until the 18^th century. Many farmers kept vast flocks and humbler labourers kept a handful of sheep on their village's common pastures. In some areas, particularly during Tudor times, villages were forcibly depopulated and their arable land converted to more valuable sheep-walks.

 

            The Cotswold sheep, carefully bred for its quality wool.

 

By the 16^th century, Europeans were settling the newly-discovered lands across the Atlantic. The value of cotton was recognised and exploited. Within a century it was flooding into Europe. Cheaply produced on vast plantations using slave labour, it swamped the market and the wool trade began to collapse.

An Act of Parliament in 1678, a desperate measure to boost the trade, decreed that all corpses were to be buried in a shroud of wool. That this had been done was sworn before the rector and noted in the burial registers, as shown above. A £5 fine was payable if it wasn't done.

The Act was widely unpopular among the wealthy, who wished to be buried in all their finery. 'Odious! Woollen! 'Twould a saint provoke!' wrote poet Alexander Pope in 1735. Many of the wealthier classes opted to pay the fine.

The Act did little to help. The fortunes made were now lost, and the vast sheep-walks began to disappear. The Cotswold sheep, once so carefully cherished, clings on today as an endangered breed.

Day 62. Horse Shoes

               This shoe is seven inches across.

Horse shoes are regularly picked up across fields. Some are modern; others were cast from one of the thousands of heavy horses which once worked the landscape.

The horse began to replace oxen as a beast of burden from the 17^th century, as increasing prosperity meant more farmers could afford the horse's more costly upkeep. They were used to draw wagons, ploughs and harrows. They provided a means of transport. From the 19^th century they reduced labour requirements by pulling reaper-binders and driving rotary mills. And, something lamented by farmworkers when tractors began to replace them, a horse could be a friend.

A prize-winning heavy horse at Stow Fair, held by Bert Morse, a farm worker for the Ashby family of Wimpstone.

Each horse needed iron shoes to prevent the hoof wearing down too quickly, and the farms provided a great deal of work for the village blacksmiths, who would forge the shoes, pare the hoof then nail the shoe in place. When they became worn, they could work loose and were cast, lying unnoticed in the soil for decades until picked up by chance.

Tractors began to appear on British farms during the First World War, and the Second World War spurred a drive for efficiency which heralded the end for the heavy horse. They had all but disappeared from the rural scene by the 1950s. But their shoes still adorn doorways as an ancient symbol of good luck.

Day 61. Summer holidays

How many people have fond memories of the endless summer holidays?

For children well into the 20^th century, the holiday wasn't an idyllic time of fun and play. The original purpose of the school holiday was to free the children to work in the fields to help with the harvest. Preston's school registers in the 19^th century record that attendance was falling by early August, and the school closed soon afterwards. With few children in class, there was little point remaining open.

Prior to the invention of horse-drawn or tractor-drawn machinery, harvest was the most labour-intensive task of the rural calendar. No available pair of hands could be spared, and for poorer families there was no question of losing those few extra pennies their children could earn.

Endless hours bent double in the scorching sun, with hands, bare feet and shins cut by razor-sharp stubble, was brutal work for an adult, let alone an eight-year-old child, but these children had it easy compared to their forebears – before the Education Act of 1880 (see Day 39), labourers' children were often in full-time work aged four.

The back-breaking slog of scything and binding the corn was man's work, but women and children were employed for gleaning – picking up the individual dropped ears of corn from across the fields. Gleaning could provide up to half the family's annual income, which was meagre to say the least for 19^th century labourers. Beans and barley ears were taken to the farmers. Wheat was kept by the gleaners to provide their flour for the winter months. 

So when you look at children lounging in parks and playgrounds this summer, spare a thought for their bygone counterparts to whom they have to thank for the privilege.

Day 60. Ponds

                              Patch Pool.

Ponds were an essential feature of the farming landscape. They provided drinking water for pastured livestock and also the working horses and oxen which cultivated the fields. They were typically large and often surrounded with willow trees, which thrive in wet areas and were an invaluable resource for making hurdles and other implements prior to the Industrial Revolution (see Day 58).

Ponds were also a common feature in many villages, and can often be considered contemporary with the village origins. Preston has no village  pond,  but Patch Pool, a large pond next to house numbers 1 & 2, is of considerable antiquity. The name is of uncertain meaning, but the element patch in some place names is of Anglo-Saxon origin. A road called Patchway and an area of the open field called Patch Pool Butts were found nearby.

 

A small post-enclosure pond in the Little Churchground.

Following the enclosure of Preston's open field (see Day 54), smaller ponds were dug in most of the new fields. Each needed a water supply for the now-enclosed livestock. Many of these gradually silted up following the installation of piped water, and others were filled in. Some are now being reinstated as an environmental initiative.

Day 59. Hedgerow Trees

Mature trees are a common feature of British hedgerows. The majority of Preston's hedges were planted around 250 years ago (see Day 57), and many of the trees were planted at the same time.

Timber was a valuable commodity in the 18^th century, but the national forests had now dwindled to a fraction their original extent. The trees planted in coppices (see Day 58) were intended for harvest after ten years or so, but large mature trees were vital for buildings, ship's timbers, wagons and many other purposes. Their presence boosted land values considerably. Many farmers planted trees in their newly-planted hedges as a long-term investment for the future generations. Without competition from other trees, they would grow quicker and stronger than those in a woodland.

The most commonly planted species were oak, ash and elm. All are durable timbers with a wide range of uses. Oak was the timber of choice for both building and ships. Fruit trees – pears were especially common in the Midlands – were also often planted.

The majority of mature hedgerow trees today are oak and ash. Thanks to Dutch Elm Disease, all the mature elms planted by our ancestors disappeared a generation ago.

Day 58. The Coppices

          A coppice on Park Farm.

Timber provided the raw material for houses, tools, fires, furniture, gates, farm equipment, shoes, baskets and countless other products for many centuries. After the Enclosures in the 1750s, (see Day 54) areas were designated as coppices and planted with trees – oak, ash, hazel and birch to name a few –  to provide each farm with the raw materials it needed and others which could be sold.
Coppices can still be seen in many fields although their trees are mostly overgrown or fallen. 'Coppice Ground' is a commonly found field name, often where no coppice now remains (see Day 56).

To harvest the wood, the straight stems of the young trees were cut through, either at ground level or at six feet up, known as coppicing and pollarding respectively. Rather than killing the tree, this encouraged it to send out many new stems which in time would be harvested themselves. Pollarding prevented deer and other animals browsing the vulnerable new stems.

 The regrowth of a coppiced tree.

Each species had its own management needs. Hazel, used for fencing and hedge-laying, could be harvested every six years. Birch, mainly used for brooms, needed a little longer. Oak, used for furniture and tanning, is slow-growing and was cut every 25 years. 

Farmers and farm labourers were necessarily skilled at this work.  Other men forged a full-time occupation from woodcrafts. Ray Russell from Whitchurch was a sheep hurdle-maker in the 20^th century. He would regularly buy trailer-loads of 'withies' (willow stems) from Harry Smith at Lower Farm.  Ray would sing as he worked, most often a song from Shakespeare's The Tempest:

Where the bee sucks, suck I.
In a cowslip's bell I lie.
Several woodsmen were employed on Alscot Estate, and the craft, which relied heavily on intuitive experience, was often carried on from father to son for several generations.

Woodland crafts largely died out in the 20^th century as plastic and metal replaced wooden products. The coppiced trees now grow freely, untouched for fifty or a hundred years. The multiple thick trunks, sometimes now twelve inches in diameter, shooting from a single butt betray a tree's former use for coppicing in once-managed woodland.

Day 57. The Hedges

 A flowering hawthorn hedge. The blossom is known as 'May' for the month in which it flowers.

The hedge, that typical rural feature whose disappearance attracts much controversy today, is a relatively modern addition to the countryside. In arable areas such as the Midlands, the farmland typically comprised vast open areas of cultivation, up to a thousand acres in size, with hedges enclosing only the perimeter and any pasture or meadow land. In the south-west and the north, drystone walls performed this role.

Hedges  gradually became commonplace following the enclosures of the open fields; in Preston this took place during the 1760s (see Day 53). Each landowner was ordered to plant hedges and create fields as he saw fit, and hawthorn was  grown in commercial nurseries for this purpose.

Hawthorn will branch into many stems when cut, so quickly forms a thick, stock-proof barrier. Its use has ancient origins: its name derives from the Old English word haye, meaning 'hedge', and today it comprises the majority of hedgerows.

A blackthorn hedge, relatively unusual in Preston. This hedge once enclosed ancient meadow ground and long pre-dates the Enclosures. Note the curve – it was planted along a ridge once ploughed by oxen (see Day 53).

A hedge doesn't form naturally. Left untouched, hawthorn will revert to a tree, useless for impeding livestock. Hedge-laying was a highly-skilled job. The hawthorn stems had to be severed almost at ground level, laid flat and woven around the other stems. They would shoot and form many new stems which would fill all the gaps. Woven hazel laths supported the structure. The hedge would soon become entirely stock-proof.  A perfectly neat job was a matter of pride.

 

         A hawthorn hedge, around five years after it was laid.

A now-common sight: the thick horizontal stems indicate how much time has passed since the hedge was laid, and the large gaps show a once unacceptable problem, now easily rectified with fence posts and wire mesh.

But unlike many traditions, hedge-laying has far from died out. Courses and competitions are a regular feature in rural communities, and the skill displayed by the entrants has in no way diminished from its earliest days.

Day 56. Field Names

Some of Preston's fields. Current names are in bold, with earlier names indicated if known. The dates indicate the first known use. Note the kinks in the boundaries of Barn Hill and Watching Hill (see Day 55).

Every field has a name, as did every furlong in the open field. Some of these names date to Medieval times, although others are relatively modern and have been changed several times over the centuries. These names offer a wealth of information about the landscape, its quality, ownership, and many other things besides.

After the Enclosures of the 1750s, discussed over the past few days, many of the old furlong names were transferred to the new fields. Many current field names contain the element 'furlong', indicating this antiquity. Examples in Preston include Brook Furlong and March Furlong. Names including the term 'close' – an enclosed field (see Day 54) – probably also date to this time.

The term 'field' as we define it today originated only in the 19^th century, and only a few of Preston's field names actually include the word 'field'. These names are generally modern. Allotment Field was renamed such in the late 19^th century; Mushroom Field in the mid 20^th century. The word 'ground' is instead the most common term used in names.

March Furlong and March (or Marsh) Meadow were pre-enclosure names near the Marchfont Brook. A nearby field is called Marsh Furlong today. These names are of considerable antiquity. This may be the area called 'The Marshe' in a document of 1597 – if so, it is the oldest known field name in Preston. March refers to a border land; the brook has long defined the boundary between Preston and Radbrook manors as well as the counties of Gloucester and Warwick. 

Day 55. Wandering Field Boundaries

The field called Long Greenhill. The hedge has a sudden kink in it.

The field layout was revolutionised in Preston in the 1750s, as discussed yesterday, but many clues remain in the landscape as to the ancient furlongs.

A straight hedge with a kink in it, as pictured above, indicates a boundary between two furlongs. This example marks the boundary between the ancient furlongs called Long Greenhill and Watery Butts. Many other examples are found in Preston's fields but are less obvious, sometimes only apparent when looking at an Ordnance Survey map.

The new hedge was planted along a ridge following the Enclosures. If the ridges of the next furlong were not quite in line with the first, the hedge had to be shifted slightly.

Roads can also offer a clue to the layout of the furlongs. The road from Preston to Admington, just after it crosses the boundary into Admington Field by Harbour Hill, takes two rapid 90° bends. This was to skirt around the old furlongs – the ridges still being visible in the adjacent pasture.

Day 54. The Fields

            Fields around Preston

A field, as we know it today, is an area of land enclosed by fences or hedges. This definition is a result of the Parliamentary Enclosures Acts, enforced in Preston in the 1750s. In the open-field system discussed yesterday, 'the field' was a term used for the entirety of a village's farmland, often a thousand acres or more. What we now call a field was previously termed a 'close' – enclosed land. 

The Enclosures Act forced the abandonment of the centuries-old communal system, and the land was divided into blocks by the parliamentary commissioners. Each block became the farmland for an individual farmer, to divide, hedge and cultivate as he wished. The present landscape of individual fields began to develop.

The arable-growing areas such as the Midlands, where the open-field system survived the longest, were most affected by the Enclosures Acts. Areas with poorer soil, such as south-west England, were more suited to livestock farming and the land had been enclosed for several centuries. In some arable-growing parishes, especially those with wealthy and foresighted landowners, the open fields had been gradually enclosed by private agreement in view of the obvious increase in efficiency. 

In other areas, the farmers stubbornly clung to the old ways. There are a few places – Laxton in Nottinghamshire being one – which still use the open-field system today.

Day 53. Ridge and Furrow

       Ridge and furrow in the Little Churchground.

Today we shall move onto agricultural history and the way of life which wrote our landscape. We shall start with the distinctive ridge and furrow patterns, 'fossilised' in permanent grassland and the most obvious relic of a long-gone farming system.

Preston's farmland was once worked under a communal open-field system. It was divided into long, narrow strips called lands or selions, grouped together into units called furlongs. The lands were nominally a furlong [220 yards] long and ten yards wide, but could vary wildly.  Each farmer's lands, sometimes numbering a hundred or more, were scattered around the entirety of the open field so everyone had an equal share of good and poor ground. Each land is one ridge in present-day fields.

The division of Upper Shakersway Furlong, named after the adjoining road called Shakersway (see Day 15). The furlong ran below the E-wood between the Atherstone Hill road and the Atherstone boundary hedge. Twelve men shared approximately eighteen acres of ground.

                   Upper Shakersway Furlong today.

The ridge and furrow pattern is a result of ploughing each land individually. The soil was turned into the centre with each bout up and down, which left a ridge in the middle and empty furrows on the edges. With passing decades and centuries, the ridges and furrows grew ever more prominent. It is a common belief that the ridges were to aid drainage, but they can actually hold water on the field, especially if the lands run parallel to the slope.

When the reversible plough was invented in the 19^th century, ploughing could move progressively from one side of the field to the other, as seen today. When the plough returns down the field, it turns the soil the opposite way to fill the furrow just left. The old method of circling outwards from a central line was abandoned, and the ridges were gradually levelled.

Some lands have a reversed 'S'-shape, such as those pictured above. These are commonly found close to settlements and indicate an early date for first cultivation: they were originally ploughed by oxen. The earliest beast of burden wasn't particularly nimble, so turning the plough had to begin early. Straight lands have been ploughed only by horses, which replaced oxen from the 17^th century. 

The open-field system survived in Preston until the 1750s. Then arrived parliamentary commissioners to instigate a drastic upheaval for agriculture. We shall look at this tomorrow.

Day 52. The Electricity Generator House

The generator house near the Atherstone weir. The sluice which fed it has recently been  modified for monitoring the water flow.

Today we will look at one more feature relating to the history of Alscot Park. It was the first house in Preston to have an electricity supply, installed in the 1890s.

Thomas Edison had patented the first incandescent light bulb in 1879, and a year later the first electrically-lit house – Cragside in Northumberland –  was engineered. A hydro-plant comprising a dam and sluice directed running water against a series of turbines, which spun a generator and produced electricity.
A similar system using the River Stour was designed for Alscot. The now-disused generator station with a sluice and turbines was installed in the grounds, by the weir on the Atherstone boundary.
This system generated just enough power for electric lighting, along with a full-time job for the estate's electrical engineer. Albert Jackson held this position in 1901; Percy Dove a decade later. Both men had moved to Preston specifically for the job. Albert Jackson met a tragic death in the Stour one night when walking home (see Day 1).

The generator system was used until the 1950s, when mains electricity was installed in both Alscot Park and the rest of the village, and then the pumping station fell derelict.

Day 51. Simkins' Farm

This oblong indent in the grass of the Lower Park is the remains of a long-gone farmstead.

Two farmsteads stood in what is now the park during the 18^th century. Both were owned by the lord of the manor. One had been rented by the Ryland family of neighbouring Whitchurch for at least two generations; the other was rented by the Simkins family. Both farmsteads were demolished, probably c.1760.  They were in the way of James West's proposed park extension.

In fairness, both farms may have been old and dilapidated. It seems John Simkins, the last of his family to farm in the village, gave up farming around the 1740s and left the farm, and there is no evidence the farm was subsequently occupied. 

Farmer William Ryland's widow Mary was granted the copyhold of their farm for her life, but relinquished possession to James West in the 1750s in return for an annual sum of money. The farm was quickly demolished and the surrounding area landscaped.

No evidence now remains of the existence of these farms except a few indents in the ground.

Day 50. The Lench Gully

 To continue the story of the park, we will look at the conspicuous dip running through the Lower Park towards the river.

This was once the Lench Ditch, an ancient waterway which ran from a pond further up the hill,  now almost silted up. It probably helped drain the ancient road of Shakersway (see Day 15). It  was recorded on a 1721 land survey, and was  named after the area of scrubland near the river, called The Lenches in the 18^th century and now known as Linch Bank. The name derives from an Old English word meaning 'a terrace of sloping ground'. The area was used for common grazing until incorporated into the park.

                                Linch Bank.

The ditch was probably filled in when the park was landscaped in the 18^th century, apart from this lower section which was presumably too deep. A culvert was installed to drain the water from the pond, which can still be seen emptying into the river.

Day 49. The Wellingtonias

Another feature of the former park is the row of Wellingtonia trees, not far from the folly mound discussed yesterday.

In 1852, naturalist William Lobb discovered a conifer rumoured to exist in California, a tree of massive proportions which is today the largest tree species in the world. One of these trees had a diameter of 30 feet, and when felled a section of its trunk was used to accommodate a piano and an audience of forty people.

Lobb was soon rushing specimens back to Britain. Within a few years thousands of saplings were being snatched up by wealthy landowners to adorn their estates. James Roberts-West of Alscot Park probably planted these specimens in his park around this time.

The newly-discovered tree needed a scientific name to complement the common name of Giant Redwood, now used worldwide. Washingtonia was proposed, after the first US president, but the un-American Wellingtonia was eventually chosen, after the Duke of Wellington who had died in 1852. The name Sequioadendron giganteum eventually replaced this, but in Britain the original name stuck, and the trees are still known as Wellingtonias today.

Day 48. The Folly Mounds

Continuing with the story of James West's parkland started yesterday, today we shall look at a conspicuous relic of the elaborate park. This mound of earth, in the Lower Park near the footpath, gives the field its alternative name of 'The Mound'.

Mounds of this kind, like the other buildings James erected, are often known as 'follies' – they had no purpose other than an ostentatious display of grandeur. This section of the park once had its own herd of fallow deer – old photographs show the unevenly heighted wooden palings which deer will never jump over – and this mound was erected for the rutting stags for fight on. It was carefully positioned to be visible from Alscot Park, so the family and their guests could admire the spectacle in comfort.

Another mound stood on the brow of the hill, now obscured by the E-Wood, and was intended as a viewpoint. Before the wood was planted in the 1970s, a view of several miles could be admired in all directions.

Day 47. The Park

Today we shall move onto a once -conic feature of Preston, of which just a few clues remain as to its former presence.

Antiquarian James West purchased Alscot Park and the village of Preston in 1747, and he soon set about creating an elaborate parkland, then an essential feature of stately homes. He incorporated some riverside meadows into a deer park which survives today (see Day 14), and this was followed by several acres of farmland rising above the river in the 1760s. The latter is now farmland again.

 

       The elaborate park gate posts, which hint at the story behind this farmland.

James set his architects to work designing various structures for the park in accordance with current fashions.

Several millennia earlier, obelisks had been built in the newly-explored country of Egypt in honour of their sun god. Antiquarians began to carry them off to England, and replicas were built by those who couldn't procure an original. James' obelisk was designed by a local architect in the 1750s.

A Chinese-style temple, with steps leading up from the river, was also commissioned. Its location can be seen beside the footpath as a raised mound of earth. Chinoiserie, or Chinese-inspired buildings, became fashionable in the mid 18^th century.

A rotunda was built near the temple. This fifty-foot high octagonal building had a domed roof and a marble floor, on which children would secretly dance.

Another small building, colloquially called the 'Kissing Seat', was built by the river. This was intended as a place to admire the river and the deer park opposite, and is the only structure in the park to survive.

                        The Kissing Seat.

The remainder of the display of 18^th century elegance and grandeur is now long gone. It seems the buildings were removed by the late 19^th century, and only raised mounds of earth betray their former existence.

Day 46. The War Memorial

The 4^th August 1914. The war to end all wars began.

Within a few weeks, in response to Kitchener's call for volunteers, eighteen young men from Preston and the neighbouring villages enlisted in the new army, and to resounding cheers marched to their fate.

Four years later, thanks to volunteering, coercement and conscription, almost all eligible men in the area had passed through the military machine. Not all came home.

Carpenter William Paxton had lived in Preston, where his family had long connections, until his marriage when he moved to Stratford. He  volunteered in March 1915 and was posted to the Royal Engineers. He was killed by a shell in France on 1st July 1916. He left a widow and two small children.

Thomas Kingston was the son of coachman Henry Kingston of Alscot Lodge. He volunteered in 1915 and was posted to the Machine Gun Corps in Greece. He died on 28^th November 1918, a fortnight after the armistice was signed. He left a widow and two daughters.

Francis William (Will) Porter was the son of Aubrey and Margaret Porter of No.8. He emigrated to Canada in 1912, and volunteered for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in March 1916.  He was killed in France in October 1918 and was posthumously awarded the Military Medal. He left a widow and a young son.

Richard John Green from Peckham moved to Preston in 1915 to become the farm pupil of Thomas Salmon Smith at Park Farm. He was conscripted in April 1916, just after his eighteenth birthday, and posted to the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was killed by an exploding shell on 2^nd November 1918. 

As a permanent reminder of the tragedy, war memorials were raised in communities across Britain to commemorate their fallen men. Preston erected their war memorial on the village green in the 1920s, and the above four names were inscribed on it.

Thirty years after the war to end all wars, another global conflict began. Another generation of young men was taken from the towns and villages to fight for their country. Three more names were added to Preston's war memorial.

Major William Reginald James (Reggie) Alston-Roberts-West had served in the Grenadier Guards before inheriting Alscot Estate. He rejoined his unit at the outbreak of war and was killed in a counter-attack on German lines near Flanders in May 1940, aged 39. He left a widow and two young sons.

Private Reginald Henry (Reg) Maton, the son of Ernest and Emily Maton, was enlisted into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and served in Burma. He was killed in January 1945 aged 24.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilfred George Newey, whose family had lived at Whitehill Farm, had served in the Royal Artillery then became involved in staff work. In February 1945 he was on board an aircraft carrying personnel involved in the Yalta conference, which crashed into the sea. He was one of many fatalities. 

 

The panel added following the Second World War.

Day 45. The Beacons

          A beacon lit for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 2012.

 

               The beacon for the Queen's 90^th birthday, 2016.

Beacons have a long history in Britain. They have been built on prominent places to signal messages across the country, probably since prehistoric times. The most famous incident is the response to the Spanish Armada in 1588. A century earlier, beacons were built in expectation of an invasion from France. When the inventions of radio beacons, telephones and cable communication made this function obsolete, beacons took on a celebratory role.

King Edward VII called for a nationwide chain of beacons to be lit for his coronation in 1902. Preston built their beacon on top of the hill near Atherstone Hill Farm, from which dozens of other beacons could be seen.

In 2012, a similar event was organised for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Another was built in 2016 for the Queen's 90^th birthday. This time, Preston's beacon was built in the field called Watching Hill, probably named for its prominent location and near 360° visibility. It may have once been the site of a signal beacon.

As flames roared up and smoke billowed, it was easy to imagine, several hundred years earlier, a watchman lighting another beacon as a vital message raced across Britain.

How often has this happened in Preston's history? We shall probably never know.

 

Day 44. The Harvest Supper

The harvest supper at the Coronation Hall, c.1980. Local farmers Joe Spencer, Bob Spencer and Harry Smith had the honour of carving the meat.

Harvest is the culmination of the agricultural year and its successful end has been celebrated for millennia. A celebratory harvest supper, comprising boiled beef and plum pudding, was at one time given by each farmer for their workers, after the back-breaking slog of harvest was completed.

 

The prevalence of the harvest supper had declined by the 20^th century. Harvest was now more mechanised, thanks to the Industrial Revolution, and a large and willing labour force was no longer necessary.

In the 1960s, perhaps inspired by the memories of intermittent suppers recalled by the older folk,  the Village Hall Committee arranged a harvest supper for the village. The traditional fare of cold roast meat and puddings was cooked in the villagers' kitchens. The local farmers had the honour of carving the meat.

The harvest supper is still an annual event today, and its format has not changed.

Day 43. Bonfire Night

 Garry Maton, David Monks and Peter Maton build the traditional bonfire on the green, c.1965.

Celebrating the timely discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, threatening Parliament in November 1605, was met with carefully patriotic enthusiasm across Britain from its earliest days. In Preston it was no less so. By a strange quirk of fate, one of the conspirators, Robert Catesby, who was fatally wounded in a subsequent gunfight at Haddington in Worcestershire, was the son of William Catesby, who had once owned Alscot manor.

 

                                    Robert Catesby.

In the 1880s, the annual bonfire was built on the green in front of the school. A former pupil reminisced to the Stratford Herald sixty years later that schoolmaster Joseph Webb would get permission for the children to go into the fields to gather wood for their bonfire.

Several more generations upheld the tradition, which was kept until the 1960s. Many people still have fond memories of the annual bonfire – the children would start building it in the summer holidays – which come rain or shine was one of the highlights of the year.

Day 42. May Day.

May Day has an antiquity of over two thousand years. It was one of the eight major festivals of the Celtic calendar, marking the flourishing of life at the height of spring. The May Queen, who still leads the traditional procession today, represented the ancient Mother Goddess in all her earthly glory. The May Pole symbolised the link between heaven and earth.

Once a celebration for the entire community, the May Day celebrations in this area declined to a festival for children by the late 19^th century. Revd Harvey Bloom of Whitchurch wrote in 1906 that 'the May Pole has become a dressed-up broomstick and the May songs a nasal gabble sung entirely out-of-tune.'

Even so, May Day was as anticipated as Christmas today. The May Pole, with a crown-shaped garland decorated with tulips and daffodils, was carried by Charlie Roberts, the village sexton, at the head of the procession. The May King and May Queen were chosen by the schoolteachers.

The assembled procession went to Alscot Park where they were all given a penny and a glass of wine, and they sang the songs they'd spent ages learning:

Happy May, blithesome May,

Winter's rain has passed away,

Hip hurrah, hip hurrah, let us all sing together,

Bright springtime is here.

The procession toured the bigger houses of the local villages, and the younger children were reduced to exhausted tears at the end of proceedings. The day finished with tea  and games.

 

May Day Procession, c.1910. Charlie Roberts holds the May Pole. Joe Newland from Radbrook Cottages is first left, front row. Baker's son Percy Beavington is second left, back row.

World War One brought this all to an end. The last record of this May Day parade is 1915.

A smaller celebration was revived by the 1940s and continued intermittently until the 1970s. It was revived as an annual event in 1989 and is still held today.

Day 41. A Song and Dance

 An advertisement in the Stratford Herald, 1906.

Before regular and affordable public transport and the ownership of private cars, rural communities provided their own entertainment. Unless  people were well-off enough to own a horse or a gig, the only means of transport was their feet, no matter the distance. After a twelve-hour day of manual work, few people had the inclination to travel further than necessary.

Like most villages, Preston had regular dances, concerts, dramatic performances and fetes, and annual celebrations such as May Day, the Wake Feast and Guy Fawkes' Night were very popular.

Concerts and dances were held in the schoolroom. Some were organised as fund-raising initiatives and attracted attendees from Stratford and beyond.

These attractions were usually held in winter. During summer, the working day on farms could begin before dawn and continue until after dusk, and nobody had time to socialise. In winter, when the workload was much reduced, there was more opportunity for fun.

When the village hall was built in the 1950s, the social events were held here, but they were now declining in popularity. Buses, bicycles and cars meant people could easily leave the village for a night out. Television provided for those who remained at home. There was no need for village entertainments any more. A concomitant decline in the sense of community is often lamented by those who remember the 'good old days'.

Day 40. Charity and Kindness

Women collecting soup from Alscot Park, late 19^th century.

Each parish had a duty to provide work and 'poor-relief' for those parishioners unable to support themselves and their families. This often provided little more than basic sustenance – the parish would stop people from starving, but little more.

The plight of the poor raised controversy and debate for centuries. 'Sturdy beggars' were stripped and whipped. Those who refused work were imprisoned. But those genuinely unable to work – sickness and disability  resulting from poor living conditions, malnutrition, endemic disease and crippling work were very common, and many young widows were left with large families to provide for – received Christian charity. The poor were also remembered in the wills of wealthier people; most would bequeath money, corn or bread to the poor families of their home parish. With the forthcoming Judgement Day in mind, this final good deed was particularly important.

The West family, lords of the manor of Preston from the 18^th century, were known for their altruism towards the poor. They provided soup for poor families in winter, collected in large pans as shown in the photograph. In harsh weather it could literally be a life-saver. For a few pennies, people could also buy dripping left over from the elaborate roasts in the house.

The family also distributed blankets, shawls and flannelling to the villagers on St Thomas' Day [21^st December]. It was a long-standing tradition for the poor to go from door to door on St Thomas' Day, collecting money or food – known as 'a-Thomasing' or 'a-gooding'. This was a relic of the winter solstice celebrations which had been celebrated in Britain since the Iron Age.

This ancient tradition, along with many others, came to a sudden and permanent end following the outbreak of the First World War.

Day 39. The School.

Preston School was built by James Roberts-West, the owner of the Alscot Estate, in 1848. The building comprised a central school with teacher's houses at either end. There were originally two schools, one for boys and one for girls, which catered for children from Preston and the neighbouring villages. The two schools were later combined and children segregated by age.

 

School photograph, c.1910. Baker's son Percy Beavington is on the far right, middle row. The expressions on some of the boys' faces suggests something amusing is happening to the left of the photographer.

Lessons covered the 'three Rs'; woodwork, geometry and gardening for boys; needlework for the girls; and the all-important religious education. Prizes were awarded each Christmas for each subject and general achievement.

 Rudyard Kipling's Selected Stories was awarded to gamekeeper's daughter Vera Noyce.

A formal education  system was lauded as vital for the lower classes as a means to climb out of poverty, and schooling became compulsory for five- to ten-year-olds in 1880. In 1893 the leaving age was raised to eleven; in 1899 to twelve; and in 1918 to fourteen. In 1944 it was raised to fifteen and children had to attend a secondary school from age eleven.

Smaller families, better transport and the growing popularity of larger schools in Stratford meant that by the 1970s, only twenty or so children were taught at the school. At its peak it had 120 pupils. The school was deemed non-viable, and closed in 1974. It then became the village shop.

Day 38. Preston's Yew Trees

The yew trees lining the church path.

These yews are characteristic of many churchyards in Britain. These probably date to the mid 18^th century, when the church was largely rebuilt and the gates relocated.

The yew has an ancient association with the supernatural. It was also linked with immortality and eternal life – it is evergreen and has a potential lifespan of over a thousand years. It also has another association with death: all parts of the tree are deadly poisonous. For these reasons, it has been planted in Christian churchyards since the earliest times. But this symbolism long pre-dates the Christian era. Yews were planted by the Celts along roads and on burial mounds over two thousand years ago.  

 

Yews outside Locke's Farm.

 

The same house in the 19^th century.

More unusually, a pair of yew trees also flank the doors of many houses in Preston, including those built in the 1850s by  James Roberts-West. This suggests they were planted around this time.

The yew was often planted outside houses in more superstitious times, as it was believed to protect against attack by fairies, witches and such like.  It is tempting to link this with Preston's yews, but James Roberts-West was probably not the superstitious type, so their purpose remains a mystery.

Day 37. The Death of a Farmer's Son

 The funeral card of Thomas Churchill Smith.

Thomas Salmon Smith, a draper by trade and the son of Giles and Sarah Smith (see Day 36), took over the tenancy of Park Farm on his father's death in 1900. He and his wife Phoebe had one child, Thomas, who was much-liked and enthusiastic about farming. In August 1907, when he was seventeen, he had a tragic accident.

He jumped on his bike at first light – around 5.15am – to go and feed his fowls in a nearby field. His foot slipped off the pedal and he fell and cut his knee. When he got back home half an hour later, he said to his father, 'I've smashed my knee again.'

His father washed the cut with disinfectant, then had him seen by the local doctor. The wound seemed to be healing.

A few days later, Thomas complained of stiffness in his back and jaws. He couldn't eat his dinner properly. He was taken to the doctor at once.

Tetanus (lockjaw) was diagnosed. An infection caused by soil-borne bacteria contaminating a deep wound, tetanus triggers uncontrollable spasms in all muscles, which lock rigid. It was very common in the local area, and in the 1900s it was untreatable.

Within four days, Thomas was dead.

 

Thomas' gravestone in Preston cemetery.