Supplying Milk to Derby, the farmers tale.

A modern Longhorn Cow and Calf [1]

In recent days, I have found the following description of one of my maternal 4 x gt grandfather William Greatorex's (1742-1822) cows.

The cow was an "Old Longhorn Cow" which came from a breed that is seen today as being endangered because is some rare these days. These cattle were probably the origin of the far more common Texas Longhorn, but the two breeds have both diverged from their common roots.

The situation for Longhorns in England had become absolutely critical about 30 years ago, when they nearly disappeared. My parents and I were fortunate enough to live near to two of the very few remaining herds that were then in existence, and so we used to see them often, and my mother used to visit them to draw them. They became firm family favourites.

It is quite sad not to be able to tell my late mother that her great great great grandfather had had these cows on his farm, as she was quite passionate about them.

The description of the cow comes from a book called General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire: with ..., Volume 3, by the Board of Agriculture, written by John Farey and printed in 1817.

Sadly, I cannot date the life of this cow precisely, however it was probably born in about 1798 and and would have lived throughout most of the Napoleonic War period.

The original description of the cow in John Farey's work. [2]

I have been aware that my maternal ancestors from the Greatrex (or Greatorex) family [4] had lived at Littleover in Derbyshire for several years, after finding an entry in the Census Reports for my great x 3 grandfather, Francis Greatrex who was then living in Hornsey.

I had been unable to locate his parents farm, as I did not know its name, and had been searching unsuccessfully in the centre of village of Littleover itself, which was where I had been expecting to find the farm.

Having the actual name of the farm has finally allowed me to locate the correct farm at Littleover.

The farm went by the rather unprepossessing name "Foulbrook Farm" and was located well away from the actual village of Littleover itself, in a position right up against the parish boundary on the Uttoxeter Road as it comes out of Derby right on the boundary between the villages of Littleover and Mickleover.

An extract from the 1899 Edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of Derby. [3] (For a larger version of this image and any of the others, please click on this image)

A side by side version of the images, showing the relationship with modern maps.

The extract above shows the location of the farm on the 1899 Edition of the Ordnance Survey Map of Derby and compares that map with a modern aerial photo.  It demonstrates that the farm was very well located for servicing the town of Derby with milk.

It also shows just how much Derby has grown since 1899. In 1800, when this cow grew up Derby only had a population of between 11,000 and 13,000, so that it had been very much smaller still.  Many of the houses shown on 1899 map had been built over fields which had been full of cows and horses when William was farming here.

Farey makes it clear that dairy farming was the major farming occupation in Derbyshire. He states that farmers within two to three miles of Derby were able to make the highest achievable income per acre from their farms by selling their milk to the households of Derby, and this is what the description of the cow suggests William Greatrex was doing.

Most farmers in the more rural areas of Derbyshire were unable to transport their milk into Derby quickly enough for it to arrive in a saleable state in the form of milk due to the dire state of the roads. It would be very difficult to stop the milk going off or separating due to the jolts it would have been subject to as it travelled to the town in churns on pack horses or in carts. 

These farmers had to convert their surplus milk into cheese, which could be transported more easily without going off, and which could be sold at one of the three major fairs held annually in Derby at which cheese was sold.  It is possible that William Greatrex may also have supplied butter and cheese to Derby.

At the commencement of the 19th Century, a cow worth £4 to £6 was expected to be able to make £26 of annual income for the farmer, compared with only £20 if the milk had to be made into cheese. [5]

The surveys by the Board of Agriculture of the farming in each county were started by Arthur Young (1741 - 1820) who was small scale struggling farmer from Suffolk, who eventually became a hobby farmer and journalist on agricultural matters. He wrote thousands of letters to farmers all over England inclosing questionnaires from about 1805 onwards. This led to his becoming a highly successful author and advisor on farming matters.

As a young man Young was a close neighbour of my Rodwell ancestors who lived just north of Bury St Edmunds at Great Livermere. Young was the second son of Arthur Young, the rector of Bradfield Combust, which was just ten miles away. Young corresponded later on with both my gt x 4 grandfather Josiah and my 3 x gt grandfather Joshua Rodwell (from my paternal family tree) who were both improving Suffolk farmers.

Some of these letters still survive and I have found some of them in the British Library. Extracts of others appear marked "J.R." in the footnotes in the Suffolk volume of the survey.

John Farey (Senr) who wrote the three volumes on Derbyshire took over Arthur Young's role at the Board of Agriculture. He was not primarily a farmer, but a Surveyor. He worked for the Duke of Bedford who lived at Woburn in Bedfordshire.

The Duke had a huge estate encompassing Woburn and several neighbouring villages so Farey had an excellent job, with very great responsibilities. He had previously trained in surveying under John Smeaton who was the most important of the newly emerging professional Civil Engineers.

The Duke was interested in Geology, so he had invited William "strata" Smith, who was the first man to understand the importance of strata and the new science of Geology to inspect the Duke's estate and to report on any minerals that might be present under it.

Smith was a self taught geologist, who had been a foreman on a gang of navvies digging canals in Somerset near Bath.

The geology is really complex in the Somerset Coalfields, and from observing the changing layers in the muck as they were uncovering as he and his men were shifting it to construct the canals he had learnt how strata worked. Smith at his own expense then set off for many years to walk from one end of the British Isles to the other mapping the surface geology, and from these notes he produced the very first geological map of England.

Apparently Smith interested Farey in geology by showing him how the geology worked on the Woburn Estate.

Farey then used this knowledge to good effect in his work on the three volume Survey Derbyshire, which started in 1811, which includes a great deal on the mineral wealth of Derbyshire.

I am trying to track down the report by Thomas Brown the text refers to.

The yields are not easy to convert into metric, as some special measures were used that were unique to the wholesale milk trade in those days.

A barn gallon equalled 17 pints.
A normal gallon equals 8 pints (or at least it did when I was at school.)
A barn gallon equalled 2 Imperial gallons.
A barn gallon equalled a dozen quarts

The 17th pint in the barn gallon was supposed to compensate the milk man for the milk that had adhered to the sides of the farmers barrel or to the milk mans jug when he had poured the milk into the jug as he delivered it the Derby housewife.

The concept was a bit like that of a "Bakers Dozen." made up of 13 buns rather than say 12 eggs in a dozen.

I expect that poor cow was a very poor producer by the standards of today. However, in the early 19th Century Longhorns were seen as a very advanced breed.

Robert Bakewell who had started to revolutionise the breed (which is believed to have originally come from Westmoreland, where my Nicholson ancestor's almost certainly bred them at Kirby Thore) lived only 17 miles to south of Littleover at Dishley near Loughborough on the main road from Derby to London which is called the A6 today.

There was a lot of controversy at that time amongst the general run of farmers, and the "Improving Farmers" like Bakewell, over the relative importance of characteristics like producing more milk, or more meat, or even its hauling ability,  over which characteristic should be the primary aim in developing new cross breeds at that time.

Some farmers feared that the newly bred cattle varieties would require better grazing than the older unimproved Longhorns needed. I expect that William Greatorex was still using the old unimproved variety.

The following photo shows the location of the farm. Sadly today it almost entirely lies under the asphalt of the public car park at Derby General hospital. While I might like to get an archaeological dig underway to find the farm, I don't think I could mobilise quite the level of interest that was behind the recent campaign to undertake an excavation under the car park in Leicester. [6]

The original farm was only about 30 acres, which was a small farm in the 18th Century and one that was only just viable as a  farm at that time and in this area.

William Greatrex was a tenant farmer who rented his farm from a Charity called Houghton's Charity.

Many villages and towns had received bequests of land in the Tudor or even Medieval period, which were used to fund charitable work for the destitute or for things like providing education to villagers.

When villages were enclosed, it was common for these charities to receive small packages of land on the outskirts of the villages as compensation.  It appears that Foulbrooke Farm was one of these farms.

As the following advertisement from the Derby Mercury in December 1796 shows, William was the sitting tenant.

Advertisement for Letting the Farm in 1796. [7]

On 1st of October 1789, William Greatorex at Foulbrooke was listed as having a Game License. This may have been at the commencement of the previous seven year period of his tenancy.

In notices of his death in 1822, he was stated to have been 80 years old.  This would mean that in 1789 he would have been 47 years old. I have been unable to trace the history of the farm at an earlier date, however he might have had the tenancy over several of the previous seven year tenancy periods.

Was he farming at Foulbrooke from about 1760?

He was able to secure the farm once more in 1796.

It appears that William Greatorex had had some standing in the local community. In the absence of a police force, life was often very difficult for farmers, who were frequently robbed on their way back from market of the cash they were known to be carrying.  Their farms and livestock were very often plundered for valuable animals, in times of shortage by local villagers or by gangs from the nearby towns.

In order to protect themselves farmers would band together to form Societies for the Apprehension of Felons.  The members of these societies would join together to offer rewards for the tracking down and prosecution of thieves who had attacked one of their members persons or property. They organised search and pursuit parties in some cases.

Several of my Suffolk farming ancestors were stalwarts of these Societies, which held bi-annual dinners in local pubs, like the Fox at Barking.

I think that it is possible that William Greatrex was in one of these associations, as on Thursday February 2nd, 1792 the following advertisement was placed in the Derby Mercury.

Derby Mercury - Thursday 02 February 1792 [8]

Note how his name is given as Greatrex. Presumably William had given the newspaper office the text of this advertisement, and therefore must have approved of its spelling.

What was a Red Stag doing in Mr Wade's barn?  In those days the ownership of stags, dead or alive was fairly restricted. Does anybody know who Mr Wade was, or where he came from?

I believe that William's wife was called Elizabeth. We don't know when she was born, or when they married, or even what her maiden name had been.

One possibility, is that it was Banning, and that she may have come from White House in Ticknell, which is a farm a little to the east of the village of Ticknell. We have in our possession several letters from this address from an Ann Banning, who appears to have been a relative of the family.

Elizabeth lived until August 1839, which is 17 years after her 80 year old first husband had died.  

I think that she might have been a much younger than he was, because in June 1831, she was still seen as being a lady who was eligible for marriage. Possibly, she had been William's second wife.

"Yesterday morning, at St. Peter's Church, by the Rev. Mr. Frizell, Mr. Thomas Richardson, of Littleover, to Mrs. Elizabeth Greatorex, late of Foulbrook House, near this town."[9]

We know that this Elizabeth Greatorex was originally William's wife as this fact is referred to in the notices published in the Derbyshire Courier on the 17th of August 1839 following her death. 

"At Long Eaton, a few days since, Mrs. Richardson, relict of the late Mr. Greatorex, of Foulbrook Farm, near Derby." [10]

An interesting advertisement appeared in the Derbyshire press in January 1831, which suggests that the farm carried a lot of trees during William's time.

Advertisement for the sale of trees from Foulbrooke Farm, January 26, 1831. [11]

The fact that a 30 acre farm was carrying 119 trees must have meant that it was fairly well wooded.  I have no idea how many cows, and horses the farm was carrying, but this number of trees must have taken up quite a lot of room, and have shaded a lot of the grazing.

There are some other tantalizing bits of evidence that the family were farming land in at least two other locations nearby.

In 1824 the road from Uttoxeter to Derby that ran past Foulbrooke Farm into Derby was realigned as it entered Derby.

The following extract comes from a much longer advertisement placed in the Staffordshire Advertiser dated Saturday 28th August 1824, as the process of getting access to the land was carried through.

"NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, Application is intended to be made to Parliament in the next ensuing Session, for leave to bring in a Bill for repealing an Act passed in the year the Reign of his late Majesty King George the 3d, intituled an Act for reviving the term, and continuing, altering and enlarging the powers two Acts passed in the 32nd year of his late Majesty, and in the third year of his present Majesty, so far as the same relate to repairing and widening the Road from the town of Derby, to the town of Uttoxeter, in the county of Stafford, and for granting further and more effectual powers and provisions for amending, widening, diverting, altering and otherwise improving the said Road,in which Bill provision is intended to be made for making a new Branch of Road commencing from the said Road at or near to a certain house in Stockbrook Field, in the parish of Saint Werburgh, in the borough of Derby, in the occupation of Joseph Harpur, and passing along or near to a certain Lane there called Dayson Lane, to and into the town of Derby, or near Saint Werburgh's Church. Also a deviation from the said Road commencing at or near to the south east corner of piece of land called the Near Booth Close, in the parish of Markeaton, in the county of Derby, in the occupation of the Executors of the late John Wallis, and extending in a westwardly direction to and into the said Road at or near the westwardly end of a piece of land called the Paddock, in the said parish of Markeaton, in the occupation of Elizabeth Greatorex. Also another deviation from the said Road commencing at or near the southeastwardly corner certain piece of land called the Intake, in the parish of Mickleover, in the county of Derby, in the occupation of John White, and extending in westwardly direction to and into the said Road at or near to the southwestwardly corner a certain piece of land called the First Day's Close, in the said parish of Mickleover, in the occupation of the said John White. "[11]

I cannot presently identify the location of "a piece of land called the Paddock, in the said parish of Markeaton, in the occupation of Elizabeth Greatorex" and I would be very pleased if any body reading this blog is able to locate the field. I am intrigued to know where it was, and how big it was.

When William Greatrex's death was announced in the Monthly Magazine, or, British Register, in 1822 it was in the following terms...

“At Foulbrook Farm, near Derby, 80, Mr. Greatrex, well known for many years to the sporting world" [12]

It is hard to be certain what was meant by the sporting world, however I believe it is a reference to horse racing. One of William's sons, John Greatrex became a very successful breeder and trainer of thoroughbred horses including Pocahontas during the 1830's and 40's.  [13]

One of his other sons, Francis who I am descended from was considerably less successful with horses, however he still appears to made much of his living from working with horses, as he is listed as a commission salesman for horses, and also as running a livery stable in Islington, with a small rented farm at Hornsey Lane.

It is very likely that William Greatrex was training horses on his land.  There are quite a few references to a Mr Greatrex running horses at racing courses like Lichfield, Leicester and Newmarket during the period when William Greatrex was likely to have been most active as a trainer, however because the papers refer to Mr. Greatrex, without giving his christian name it is not possible to be certain, which Mr Greatrex it was, and there were several other possible Mr Greatrex alive at this time.

"Mr. Greatorex’s chef. Colt, Cannon-Ball came third." in the Leicester Races in 1781. [14]

and "Mr. Greatex’s chestnut gelding, Harold, 5 years", that was running in the Newmarket Second October Meeting on Wednesday October 18, 1786. [15]

If I am correct in assuming that William was the Mr. Greatorex or Greatrex who was training race horses, it is very likely that he had access to other parcels of land rented nearby.

There are other indications, that this was so.

After William had died it appears that at least two of his sons tried to run farms of their own in the Littleover area. A Charles Greatrex was farming in Littleover a decade or more later in the 19th Century.

My own forebear Francis Greatrex appears to have continued to have run the milk delivery side of the business after his father's death, as he had been renting three small paddocks of land at Dunkirk in the Parish of St Werburgh's in Derby up and until shortly before April 1827, by when he had left for London.

Advertisement for the sale of land formerly rented by Francis Greatrex, milkman.[16]

The location of these three closes is intriguing because if you carry on down the Uttoxeter Road from Foulbrooke Farm past the paddock previously referred to at being located in Markeaton, you arrived in 1826 at Dunkirk Farm which was on the outskirts of Derby.

In 1765 it was described as being fit for a Gentleman's family, 

"with convenient Offices, Stables, Garden, Coach House, and a Seat in St. Weburgh's Church.  And also a House, Tan yard, two Cottages, and nine Acres of Meadow, and Pasture land, called Dunkirk Farm." [17]

An extract from Burdetts map of Derby in 1791, showing Dunkirk Span, and also a nearby Dairy House [18]

It appears as if 2 acres had been retained with the house, and that the other 7 acres had been rented to Francis Greatrex. Had it previously been his father's tenancy perhaps?

It is proving difficult to reconcile Burdett's map with modern maps of Dunkirk Street which is located just off the A601, adjacent to Dewry Lane. The area was extensively re-developed in the latter half of the 19th Century and is covered with densely brick built terrace housing from that period.

If you happen across this blog, and are interested in any of the topics discussed I will be pleased to hear from you. I would be especially happy to hear from you if you are a local historian in Derby, Littleover, Markeaton or Mickleover if you can help me locate any of the fields discussed above.

I can be contacted on balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

I would like to acknowledge the huge contribution made to this article, which would not have otherwise been possible, by the online British Newspaper Archive run by the British Library, from which all of the newspaper extracts come from, and for the maps from the National Library of Scotland. Paul Klein has also provided a considerable amount of information about William Greatrex children's lives in London.

[1] From https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_Longhorn_cow_and_calf.jpg">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_Longhorn_cow_and_calf.jpg

[2] From John Farey, View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire: with ..., Volume 3 published 1817.
[3] From the National Library of Scotland online OS Map collection. 

https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/
[4] My later Greatex ancestors who moved down to Hornsey & Highgate in about 1827 used the spelling Greatex.  However, my Derbyshire forebears used the name Greatorex.  My Grandfather Reginald Cuthbert Greatex Hancock, used to believe that the name had been acquired because one of his ancestors had been an illegitimate offspring of one of the Hanoverian Royal family probably via Hannah Lightfoot.  We now believe that this was a "cover story" to hide the fact that his grandfather, Ferdinand Greatrex, a servant in the house, had eloped with his masters daughter.  Researchers into the Greatrex name and its associated Greatorex, and Greatrakes variants which occurred frequently from at least Tudor times in Derbyshire suggest an origin in the Rakes, which were outcrops of lead ore that occur near Buxton and Wirksworth.
[5] Dairying in South West Derbyshire in the late nineteenth century: a study in historical geography.  A Master’s thesis by G. A. Tomson. 1986, especially Chapter 2. Although this Thesis is mainly about changes in farming brought about by the railways, it has a good section on the situation earlier in the 19th Century.
[6] The grave supposed to be of King Richard III was dug up in recent years from under a carpark in Leicester.
[7] Derby Mercury, Thursday 17th November 1796.
[8] Derby Mercury - Thursday 2nd February 1792

[9] Derby Mercury, Wednesday 22nd June 1831.
[10] Derbyshire Courier, Saturday 17th of August 1839.
[11] Staffordshire Advertiser, Saturday 28th of August 1824.
[12] Monthly Magazine, Or, British Register, Volume 53, 1822, page 89
[13] http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Pocahontas.html
[14] Stamford Mercury - Thursday 20 September 1781
[15] Stamford Mercury - Friday 27th October 1786
[16] Derby Mercury - Wednesday 9th May 1827.
[17] Derby Mercury - Friday 8th March 1765.
[18] From an article by Ron McKeown on the Derby Heritage Forum  http://www.derbyheritageforum.co.uk/Gallows.html

The Heath, Great Livermere

Spinney Lane leading up to Heath Farm Great Livermere.

It is all too easy to overlook the huge amount of effort that has gone into creating our English landscapes.

Many of us today drive down the lanes of East Anglia without giving a second thought for the millions of man hours of back breaking toil that was required to turn the surrounding land into productive farmland.

We are also inclined to believe that our countryside is a never changing place.

Whilst every day we read in our papers and see in our media tales of climate change and food shortages. These fortunately always seem to occur somewhere else.

What however we often overlook is that having a surplus of population, climate change, and famine are not a new phenomenon, but one that has stalked our countryside in times gone by.

We least once before we plundered the fertility of our land to the point where it became desert.

This is the story of one man's efforts to restore the land to fertility, and to grow food in a time of shortage and acute peril. It is a story of enormous effort and an incredible amount of manual work.

And where did this all take place?

In rural Suffolk, at the village of Great Livermere, some five miles north of Bury St. Edmunds.

The following story, is that of my great great great grandfather Joshua Rodwell, a Suffolk farmer.

Loading Hay.

I suppose that like very many other Englishmen starting out on a search into my family history, I expected before I got back very far to find a farm labourer and to become stalled in my research at that point. Imagine my surprise when I found the following report from 1800.

On Clay and Marle. By Mr. JOSIAH RODWELL, of Livermere, near Bury , Suffolk.
 

From the COMMUNICATIONS to the BOARD of AGRICULTURE.
 

The Gold Medal of the Board was voted, to Mr. Rodwell for this Communication.

BEING informed that you have voted to an excellent farmer in Surrey, justly celebrated for his exertions, a mark of your approbation, it has been suggested to me by some neighbours, who have for twenty-eight years viewed what I have done to improve a poor and almost waits tract of land, to send you, an account of my operations, which I have complied with, trusting that this is the most likely method of inducing others to examine well their soils, and whatever may be found beneath : my practice is confined and limited, but your attention can spread any knowledge throughout the kingdom, and render the exertions of an individual beneficial to a whole nation.

I wish at present, to call your notice to the effect of, digging and spreading marle and clay upon poor dry heaths, producing fern and gorse, but chiefly ling; originally of small value, at best yielding but a scanty support to ill-fed- sheep.

The Rev. Mr. Lathbury's father, about fifty years ago, was offered any quantity of this heath. at 4d. Per acre: the farm on which I have been working consists of 1400 acres, 700 of which were of this sort of heath ; it had been occupied by my predecessor, Mr. Garnham, for thirty-fix  years, at the rent of 140l. and never more than 150l. the landlord (Bapt. Lee, Esq.) paying tithe ; nor did Mr. Garnham at that rent do much more than make a living in it.  In 1771 it was valued for raising the rent, and 350l. a year demanded, not tithe-free, at which rent  Mr. Garnham refused it, as did several other farmers,  who examined the land ; and when I engaged  at that rent I was pronounced a ruined man by most of my acquaintance who knew the farm. I had a lease of thirteen years.

My operations at first were to inclose with thorn hedges, marle or clay, and break up 300 acres of the heath; and in the first seven years of the lease I finished what I meant to improve in that term; I marled or clayed 600 acres, at 70 loads an acre, being 42,000 large tumbril loads.  In this work I employed three teams, two of my own, and one I hired for several years.  It is severe work; and the -second year I lost nine horses, attributed to feeding on pea-straw from the new broken heath, a circumstance that deserves the attention of improvers.

In the eleventh year of my lease I applied to my landlord for a renewal; on which the farm was valued again by Mr. Hare, the surveyor at Peterborough, and I took a fresh lease of fifteen years, to commence at the termination of my old one, at the rent of 400l.
 

I immediately clayed and broke up 200 acres more, at 100 loads an acre, 40 bushels per load, inclosing all with quick hedges, and ditches 5 feet wide, and 4 deep ; after this, I improved 100 acres more in the same manner.
 

In the two leases of twenty-eight years, I clayed or marled 820 acres ; and I have clayed or marled so much over the second time, at 70 loads an acre, that the quantity I have carried in all is very little short of 140,000 loads.

Upon taking a third lease, I was, in 1798—9, particularly steady to this work, and, in forty- nine weeks and three days, carried 11,275 cubical yards, paying by measure of pits, and not by loads, which were filled and spread by 'four men and a boy, and carted by fix horses and two tumbrils.

In this business of carrying clay or marle I have practised handbarrowing; the men can make good earnings at 10d. a yard, wheeling it thirty rod; and down to 7d. a yard at shorter distances; and I am much inclined to think, .that if we had workmen used to the operation,, and handy at it, like those employed in navigations, that this method would be of all others the cheapest, especially on heavier soils. But by far the greatest part I have done by tumbrils, the expence of which put out is 5d. a yard for team, and a 2¼d. a yard for labour, and paying for laying picks, wedges, &c. also for stones that rise, increase the whole expence to 8 d. per yard, which is at least  ½d. per yard cheaper than I can do it with my own teams: the reason of which is, that the man who contracts with me drives his own horses, and looks after them; at 8 ½d. per yard, 140,000 yards have cost me £4958 excepting the small proportion hired at ½ d. a yard lower.

I come now to mention a few circumstances which I hope may tend to render this paper useful to others,, not having the experience which I have acquired, : I shall use but few words, but  they shall be founded on positive experiment, or  attentive observation.

Clay is much to be preferred to marle on these sandy soils, some of which are loose, poor, and even a black sand. By clay is to be understood a grey clayey loam, some of it brick earth, and all has with vinegar a small effervescence. Marle is & a white, greasy, chalky, substance, that effervesces strongly with acids: I make a universal rule, on a second improvement, to lay clay on the fields marled before, sometimes marle where clay was spread before ; but this not general, as clay answers best on the whole.

In the tillage of improved lands, I am attentive never to over-crop. My usual rotation has been,

1. Turnips.

2. Barley.

3. Clover, rye-grass, and trefoil, one or two years.

4. Peas.

 5. Wheat.

On some I have sown oats on the layer, and omitted peas and wheat, which is more favourable to the land; and I should with longer leases have done more so. Peas, it is true, are an improving crop, but the two coming together are perhaps working the marle too quickly. I have broken some heaths up; and sown oats, and even wheat, designing to improve on the stubble ; but sowing four bushels of oats I have gained but ten, and of wheat not more than three coombs at first breaking.

The coomb is 1/2 a quarter.  My crops, by managing attentively, have been good; I have had 11½ coombs of barley an acre, and even 14, and these over large fields ; I have had seven coombs an acre of peas over six score acres, and fine wheat after them.

On 90 acres, clayed 100 loads an acre, I have had after two crops, the one turnips, the other barley, cole-feed, and sold it on the ground for 1000 guineas; then turnips, a famous crop, followed by barley, on 75 acres, 16 coombs an acre; and by bats on 15 acres (poorer land)  10 coombs an acre. These crops are for the soil great; but in general my products have been highly to my satisfaction.

In regard to other manures, my farm has had the fold of from 40 to 48 score sheep; they manure, one year with another, 150 acres; and I am never without bullocks for increasing. the farm-yard dung. I top fold wheat from the beginning of November till Christmas, and even till February, and venture it on clayed land at the hazards of frosts at sun-rife, which sometimes injures it much, but the effect in general is great.

Of all mucking, that for turnips pays me best, particularly on clayed land : I know many farmers in Norfolk prefer laying it on for wheat, the turnips to have it at second ; but I prefer the other method.. And let me note, that I use long muck to choose, which I think far better than turning, mixing, and rotting muck; here also are different opinions; I speak only from my own experience. Wheat stubble, I think, should always be whelmed in for turnips.

I once ploughed in a fine crop of buck-wheat for turnips, and the crop was so much worse than the rest of the field, that they .were not penned regularly for the sheep ; yet, with this disadvantage, the barley, following was better than where the turnips were much superior.

I have dibbled largely, and with good success, and think it the best method; and I approve much of the drill roller as the next best.

In tilling these improved lands, it is a common observation in Norfolk, that shallow ploughing is necessary to preserve the pan: I have not found this the case here ; but, on the contrary, that the clay and marle works the better the more soil it has to incorporate with.

Having thus stated, shortly, the general managements of my improvements, I now come, with your permission, to the general result. Rent will speak this:

It is stated, that, twenty-eight years ago, the rent of farm was £150 a year, tithe free, and that it was then raised to £350 a year, tithe payable.  I may venture to assert, that, at that rent, without  improvement, it might have so stood on my landlord's rent-roll till doomsday, for a mere living could only be made on it even in good times. But upon my taking the third lease, commencing 1799, it was raised to £600 a year, at the same time that to the full value of £100 a year was taken from it; in other words, the present rent is £700 a year. Thus, while, with the blessing of God, I have done well in the farm, and have put five children into the world out of twelve living, I have added £350 a year to the value of the estate, which, at thirty years purchase, is 10,500; and, relative to the public at large, I may venture to assert, that these 1400 Acres have, in the last twenty-eight years, yielded £30,000 worth more of corn, meat, and wool, than they did in the twenty-eight preceding.  A fact which tends strongly to shew the national importance of improvements in agriculture, and also the wisdom of establishing a public board for promoting and encouraging such exertions as may be deemed laudable.

                                                I have the honour to be,

                                                                My Lords and Gentlemen,

                                                                Your most obedient servant,

Livermere, near Bury, Suffolk,                                                   Josiah Rodwell

                Nove. 18^th, 1799.

(The Gold Medal of the Board was voted to Mr. Rodwell for this communication.)

140,000 cart loads is an awful lot of digging. Carts were much smaller in those days than our current trailers, but must have each carried at least a tonne at a time. Marl weighs about 2.2tonnes per cubic metres, which meant that there has to be a considerable number of holes at Great Livermere to find.

This proved to be the case when I made a visit out to the farm about a decade ago. They show up even more clearly in aerial photos, with the photos made by the RAF at the end of World War II being particularly clear.

1945 Aerial photographs showing the dark oval patches caused

by excavation of marl. [photo courtesy of Google Earth.] 

Spinney Lane is the diagonal lane running from NW to SE across the photo.

Indeed the pits in Spring of 1944 were sufficiently deep to be able to provide crews of Churchill AVRE tanks preparing to land in Normandy with valuable training in how to cross major craters. [1] 

Heath Farm in 1999 still showing clear traces of the Marl Pits.

The pits are still visible in the fields in 2012, although I have noticed that even over the past decade since I first visited the site that they are being lost very fast as tractors and ploughs have become very much more powerful in recent years.

One of the former marl pits, can be seen in the foreground, as the crops dip down.

Josiah was married to Elizabeth Medows.  Elizabeth Medows who had been born on March 13^th 1751, and she was eventually to die on February 18^th 1838 aged 87 at Livermere.

Josiah Rodwell appears to have been a considerable sheep farmer, before he commenced his arable activities at Livermere. He knew and co-operated with Arthur Young the agricultural journalist, who had been born in 1741 Bradfield in Suffolk.  Josiah was five years younger than Young having been born in 1746.

Josiah Rodwell had been born on the 5^th of October 1746, probably at Mendlesham, where his parents John and Catherine Rodwell lived. His parents seem to have also been substantial tenant farmers, so that it is probable that they had moved in much the same circles as Arthur Young.

Josiah had started out as a sheep farmer, however the pressures of falling prices drove him eventually to change over to arable farming.

 

WOOL

BURY, Feb. 14, 1787

At a Meeting of some of the principle Wool Growers near Bury, held this day at the BELL INN, to take into consideration the bill now depending in parliament, relating to wool.

I.       Resolved, That we consider many of the clauses of the said bill, as injurious and oppressive to the growers of wool.  That it needlessly and wantonly multiplies restrictions, fines, forfeitures, and punishments.  Is entirely adapted to lower the price of wool; but not at all calculated for its pretended purpose, that of preventing the practise of smuggling.

II.    Resolved, That we do earnestly request the wool-growers in other parts of the country, to unite with us in our endeavours to oppose a measure that would be so generally detrimental; and we hope for the support of all land owners and others in opposing the bill, to procure a county meeting for rendering such an opposition regular and effective.

III. Resolved, That another meeting be held at the Angel Inn at Bury, on Wednesday the 21^st day of this instant February, at Four o’clock in the afternoon, on the said day.

WILLIAM MACRO,	JOHN CANHAM,
EDWARD PUGH,	JAMES DEEKS,
WILLIAM STUTTER,	JOH NUNN,
J. PYTCHES, Jun.	JOSEPH PAWSEY,
WILLIAM ADAMS, Sen.	JOHN SIMPSON,
JOHN STUTTER,	ROBERT HOWLETT,
JOHN STUTTER, Jun.	JAMES CLIFT,
THOMAS COCKSEDGE,	THOMAS HARVEY,
W.ADAMS, Jun.	LEO BIDWELL,
GEORGE WYARD,	WILLIAM KEMBALL,
ROBERT ROPER,	WILLIAM BROOKS,
JOSIAH RODWELL,	J PYTCHES,
JOHN HARVEY,	G, CORNELL,
ROB. LANCHESTER,	JEREMIAH PAINE,
JONA. COOPER,	JOHN WORLLEDGE,
WILLIAM CORNELL,	MICHEAL HOUGHTON,
JOHN FILBY,	JOHN SPARHAM,
JOHN WHISTLER,	R. KEDINGTON.

Josiah was active in the Suffolk farming community, and corresponded with Arthur Young. Several of his comments appear as footnotes in Young's General View of the Agriculture of the County of Suffolk.

"The importance of this subject cannot be too much enforced; and it were an object worthy of the Board of Agriculture, to obtain a Bill from Parliament, permitting a general inclosure throughout the whole county, of waste lands.  Where the common consist of good lands, the advantages of converting them to private property, would be prodigious; and the poorest, by being so converted, would, I am persuaded, produce double their present value; whereas, at present, the profit is extremely small indeed.  And whenever a landlord lets a farm with a common right, which is valued with the rest of his premises, I believe every good farmer who makes use of it, would be a loser instead of a gainer." [3]

He went on to write:

"The importance of inclosing waste lands, is evident too from another consideration, supposing an equal profit only would be the result: the men who usually reside near a common, are the depredators of the neighbourhood: smugglers, sheep-stealers, horse-jockies, and jobbers of every denomination, here find their abode."

A Rodwell family tree drawn up in about 1845.  

[Please click on the image for a larger version.] 

 

 

 

The farm house at Heath Farm, which we believe Josiah Rodwell built.

Josiah appears to have been very interested in trees. The garden at Heath Farm contains a number of very large trees including Copper Beech, Wellingtonia and other fir trees, and he planted the magnificent lime avenue that leads up to the farm.

 

 

The trees in Heath Farm gardens.

 

The Lime Avenue at Great Livermere.

 

Josiah was an extremely effective tenant farmer, who was extremely fortunate that his career in farming coincided with the French Revolutionary Wars, resulting in a number of years of excellent prices for his crops.  He believed that he had made £30,000 in 13 years, which was more than most of the local landowners would have expected to have made in rents.

He went on to bring up a large family, of whom several of the boys were able to be sent to Cambridge University, which must have been unusual for this period.

 

Josiah was also widely employed to value and to sell farms over much of Suffolk, as well as serving on Grand Juries at the nearby Bury Assizes.

 “In his 56^th year, Mr. Josiah Rodwell, an opulent farmer at Little Livermere, and highly distinguished for his agricultural knowledge.  He was at Woolpit fair the preceding evening; and, on the morning of his death, was as well as usual.”

Josiah Rodwell had died on the 21^st of September 1802, which was the day after the Fair that was run annually at Woolpit. I hope that he had had a really good time at market.  He was buried at Livermere. [4]

His memorial was described in 1827 as being at the church at Livermere on the south side.

“Also a flat stone to Josiah Rodwell late of Livermere Parva who died Sept 21 1802."

However time seems to have removed the gravestone as despite extensive searches it is nowhere to be seen today, unlike this mans magnificent trees.

If I could leave a legacy in 200 or more years like the trees that Josiah Rodwell planted, I would be a die a very happy man. You cannot believe the thrill that I felt when I found them.  Much as I enjoy written archives, trees and holes in the ground are also an extremely powerful way to leave ones mark.

I would very much like the opportunity to visit and photograph Heath Farm one day. I have been unable to find out who owns the house at present.  If you live there and are prepared to let me visit the house and gardens, I would love to hear from you. I can be contacted at balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/28/a2690228.shtml

[2] Davy’s Suffolk Collections LXXI, page 80 onwards. Davy, David Elisha (ca.1840) Suffolk Collections.  British Library Add. MSS. 19147. Davy lived from 1769 to 1851 and was both a botanist and antiquarian.

[3] Young's General View of the Agriculture of the County of Suffolk. Page 167.

[4] A concise description of Bury St. Edmund's, and its environs, within the Distance of Ten Miles. Published 1827, page 242.