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FARMING: LIME AND FURZE - 1798 DIARY
When the land is cultivated entirely by
the spade and no horses
are kept, a cow is kept for every three acres of land.
(Political Economy – Flemish Husbandry
John Stuart Mill 1806-1873)
Recently I have been privileged to read diaries for the years
1798, 1801 and 1822 by kind permission of Carol and John Wills of Landcombe
House. The diaries were found in the house and were written by members of the
Cornish and Oldrieve families who owned and occupied the house from the 18th
century.
Each diary gives a daily weather record in detail, the weather being of the
utmost importance to the farmers whose livelihood depended on it. Details range
from January 1798 – “It hath been the mildest winter ever remembered – it has
rain’d almost ever since last March”! to March – “an uncommon storm of wind and
rain; some snow showers and smart frost” and to July – “sober, verdant days
ideal for the harvesting”.
Two farming items mentioned frequently are lime and furze (or gorse) and this
prompted me to look further into their use in our area. From about 1650 lime was
used to sweeten the naturally acid soil and by the mid 18th century it was
widely used.
Lime. – The construction of lime kilns along tidal estuaries or on the coast
began in Devon during the 18th century. The nearest ones to Strete were at
Slapton Cellars and Slapton Bridge. Limestone from Berry Head, Brixham was
shipped in and landed at the “hard”, a causeway of stone leading to the Cellars
(near where the memorial is). Ships ran themselves aground at high tide and
unloaded over the side! Coal from South Wales came by the same route and that
was needed to burn with the limestone in the kilns. After about five days the
powdered lime was ready to be collected by horse and cart. It was used by
farmers to spread over the fields and by builders who mixed it with mortar to
render houses but not farm buildings.
In April 1798 it is recorded “while carting lime a horse drownded in the Marsh”
(the Ley) and in the 1801 diary “a gale blew for two days; a lime boat came
ashore and was unable to leave, but eventually it was saved with great
difficulty and launched without injury”.
Furze or Gorse – During the 16th and 17th centuries open moorland stretched from
Dartmoor to the South Hams and coastal heaths covered land as far as Start
Point, in fact large areas remained until the end of the 18th and beginning of
the 19th century. Evidence of this can be seen in gorse and patches of heath
(ling) even to-day. (At the moment it is in flower on the hedge bank near
Cornish Post, just before Eastdown Barn).
Heathland was probably used as “common” land with several people having the
right to graze animals on it. Common land could mean an area in strips and
farmed but with no tenancy – land was often shared out once a year.
Common land was always for rough grazing and was never ploughed up. The land on
the Ley side of the Line was an example of this and eventually a gate was placed
at the bottom of Old Hill to prevent cattle from straying up into the village –
hence Strete Gate or Street Gate as shown on a map of 1765. In some cases rough
grazing was valuable to get the animals off the meadows and better grass and
furze “brakes” (copses) were common and useful. “Brakes” were sometimes ploughed
or “broke” and a crop of corn grown then the stubble or arrish was allowed to
revert to rough grass. Furze made good fences through which only the hardiest of
cattle would venture. Ricks of furze were made and used gradually as a source of
fuel.
In September 1798 the owner of the diary sold ½ hundred furze for 7/6d and
bought a quantity of lime for £13-0s-4d, quite a sum when he was paying £30 a
year rent to Mr. Toll (as he had not yet bought Landcombe).
These are just a couple of farming aspects I gleaned from the 1798 diary and I
will give more when I have had time to peruse it more closely.
Jean Parnell.
This article first appeared in the Strete
Village magazine StreteWise
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