Langham in the Past - Langham Village History Group

Langham in the PastDon MantlePage 1

About the AuthorDon Mantle was born and bred in Langhamand lived in the village until five years ago. Hecomes from a family which has lived andworked in Langham since the 1700s andwhose members have always taken a keeninterest in the history and affairs of the village,serving as parish and district councillors formany years. He and his wife, Pat, haverecently celebrated their Golden WeddingAnniversary and have three children and eightgrandchildren, three of whom are currentlystudying at university. One of Don’s ancestorsopened the first Post Office in Langham and another, as well as beinga farmer, was landlord of the Noel Arms for many years. Althoughnow living in Cottesmore, Don still takes an interest in village affairsand is a valued member of the Langham 2000 committee.IntroductionLangham, as a village, was first established in Anglo-Saxon times asis clearly shown by its name. Of course nothing is known of itsearliest days since written records were not kept until manycenturies later. One man of whom we have some knowledge isSimon de Langham. He is reputed to have been born in the villagein the 1300s, and went on to carve out a remarkable careerbecoming successively a monk and Abbot at Westminster, Bishop ofEly, Chancellor to Edward III, Treasurer of England and finally wascreated a Cardinal by Pope Urban V and translated to the See ofCanterbury as Archbishop.Although the building of our church was commenced in the 1200s itwas, as were so many of the local churches, considerably rebuilt andenlarged in the 1300 & 1400s and the magnificent building we havetoday no doubt owes much to Simon’s support and influence.* * *Langham in the Past was first published in May 2000 for the Langham 2000village history exhibition by Mike Frisby.© Copyright Don Mantle - 2000All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotography, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, withoutpermission in writing from the publisher:Page 2

Mike FrisbyPage 3

Major Changes to Village LifeUntil 1925, Langham had been, for about three hundred years, anestate village forming part of the Exton estate. This was, at one time,the largest of the local estates extending to some fifteen thousand acreswith its wealth largely in the good quality farming land. It did not havethe vast mineral resources, particularly of coal, which were enjoyed bythe likes of Lord Londonderry in Northumberland and Durham and LordLonsdale in Cumberland and Westmoreland. It is true that ironstonewas found in and around Exton and, due to the enormous demandcreated by the industrial revolution, it was quarried commercially fromabout 1860 onwards, but the returns were relatively small comparedwith the enormous returns derived from coal.Matters were further complicated in the middle 1800s by the Earl ofGainsborough marrying Lady Norah Bentinck. She was a member of oneof England’s foremost Roman Catholic families and, as a result, the Noelswere converted to that religion and, as is often the way of enthusiasticconverts, made considerable benefactions to that faith. In the early1900s the then Earl died, having lived to a great age and consequentlyhis son, who succeeded him was already well into his sixties. Sadly heonly lived for another seven or eight years and in about 1920, the familywere faced with an enormous demand for death duties. It was totallyimpossible for the family to meet this demand from their own resourcesand part of the estate had to be sold. Langham, Braunston, Brooke andRidlington were all sold in 1925 and thus came about what was probablythe greatest upheaval that our own village had ever known.Lady Campden has kindly made correcions to the above paragraph:“The Noel family did not marry into Roman Catholicism, but they wereconverted by Cardinal Newman in the late 1850s. It was Charles, 2 nd Earlof Gainsborough and his wife Lady Ida Hay the daughter of the 18 th Earlof Erroll and grand-daughter of Mrs Jourdan and William IV who were theones who converted. Mr Mantle is correct in saying that they made“benefactions to that faith”as they then built the chapel adjoining ExtonHall, the chapel adjoining their house at Chipping Campden, the church inOakham, the RC school in Exton, the church in Chipping Campden andhaving promised to build a C of E church in Broad Campden he said hewould not go back on his word and built that too. This Lord Gainsboroughdied in 1881. Lady Norah Bentinck was his grand-daughter and was borna Roman Catholic and died in 1939. The 3 rd Earl of Gainsborough, CharlesWilliam Francis, died in 1926 to be succeeded by his son Arthur EdwardJoseph, 4 th Earl of Gainsborough who died only a year later, and wassucceeded by his son, the present Earl of Gainsborough, who was then alittle boy of nearly five.”Page 4

As this was the year in which I was born, I have no memory of thevillage prior to the sale but my father described it as “a model village”.Not all the Parish was included in the Estate but seven farms were, andthey ranged in size from just over seventy acres up to the largest ofabout three hundred acres. One of the largest farms was the ManorFarm and the other, which did not at this time belong to the Estate wasLangham Lodge. (This latter farm has an interesting history which isdescribed later.) In addition there were eight or nine smallholdingsranging in size from about twenty acres to fifty acres. From this it canbe seen that quite a number of people were able to earn their living astenants and quite a number more as workers on the larger farms. In1925 several farmers were able to buy their farms as sitting tenants, myfather amongst them, but one man through his agents, purchasedalmost half the total acreage of the parish plus three of the largesthouses and a considerable number of cottage properties.He was Mr. Owen Hugh Smith, a merchant banker who helddirectorships in a number of large companies including the LMS Railway.He also owned, or had a controlling interest in, Hays Wharf, a largedock and warehousing complex in the port of London and wasreportedly a millionaire. His connection with Langham was due to thefact that he had for several years previously, taken a lease for thehunting season on the Old Hall. He purchased the Manor Farm, which ofcourse included the Manor House, Ranksborough Farm though notRanksborough Hall and its stabling which were privately owned, andthree further farms which were not part of the Exton Estate namedrespectively, Holbeck Farm, Rocott Lodge and Northfields farm, thislatter one being in Cold Overton, not Langham parish. He bought boththe Old Hall and adjoining property and also Langham House, spendinga considerable amount of money enlarging and altering them. He alsobuilt seven further cottages to house workers he was to bring into thevillage.From being a village in which a number of people were able to earntheir livings as tenants, quite independently of one another, suddenly,one man came to own almost half the farmland in the parish and a verylarge proportion of the property in the village.Having acquired his land, farms and property, Mr Owen Smith set aboutorganising his estate. One of his first actions was to engage theservices of Captain the Honourable Fitzroy as estate manager andproviding him with the Manor House as his residence. The foreman ofManor Farm was housed in a substantial cottage. Holbeck, Northfieldand Rocott Farms all had good farmhouses and in each of these heinstalled a farm foreman. The fifth farm, Ranksborough, had nofarmhouse so three cottages were erected, one of which was theforeman’s home. Each foreman was responsible for the everydayPage 5

management of his particular farm and answerable directly to the estatemanager.Mr Owen Smith then proceeded to purchase a stable of pedigree SuffolkPunch draught horses, a herd of pedigree Suffolk Red Poll cattle and aflock of pedigree Suffolk Blackface sheep. Along with them he broughtto the village horsemen, stockmen and a shepherd and so set aboutorganising a gentleman’s model farm. A considerable number of newbuildings were erected on each of the farms. In the case of ManorFarm, apart from erecting further buildings in the yard behind ManorHouse, he also had built a complete new set of buildings on the northside of Manor Lane on what had previously been a stackyard, all thebuildings on that side of the road, apart from some later additions, datefrom that time.He sank a deep borehole at the top of the hill behind the village,installed pumping equipment and laid a pipeline to the Manor yard,taking off branches to supply water to all his fields on the way. In theManor yard he had a strong steel tower erected, about twenty five orthirty feet high with a very large steel tank built on top and a pipelinewas laid through the village to supply water to his various properties bygravity from this tank. The water supply was also made available toanyone else in the village who desired it at a charge, if my memoryserves me correctly, of 1/6 (7.5p) per thousand gallons. (The Breweryalready had its own water supply fed from a reservoir situated in one ofthe fields bordering Manor Lane so did not need to take advantage ofthis new supply). Concurrently, Mr Owen Smith was making extensivealterations and additions to his properties.Although owned for so long by the Gainsborough Estate, Langham was notan “estate village”in the usually accepted sense of the expression. Antrue estate village was, of course, a village almost totally owned by thelocal squire who lived in the castle or manor house and spent a good dealof his time in running his own farms and overseeing life in the village ingeneral. The everyday running of the estate would be undertaken by hissteward and all orders were transmitted through him. A very sharp eyewas kept on both farms and the village and any action of which the squiredisapproved was rapidly brought to the attention of the offending parties,and if the parties wished to keep their homes and tenancies or jobs theysoon complied with the squire’s demands. All properties were maintainedby the estate and there was a case in the 1920s, in a Rutland village whichshall be nameless, where some of the cottagers objected to the colour inwhich their properties had been painted. They, therefore, went out andbought paint in a colour of their own choice and repainted doors andwindow frames etc. themselves.Page 6

This was soon noticed by the Lady of the Manor during a walk around thevillage and word was soon sent out that this action would not be toleratedand, if the offending cottagers wished to retain their homes and jobs, theirpremises would immediately be repainted in the colour chosen by theestate. This may seem unreasonable and overbearing to us today, butthat was life in an estate village! Langham, in this respect, was morefortunate. Although the steward visited the village fairly frequently,provided that matters were conducted in an orderly manner, villagers wereleft to run things more or less in their own way within, of course, the limitsof their tenancies and jobs.When Mr Owen Smith purchased a large proportion of the land andmany of the properties, many of the villagers thought that, with bothlandlord and steward now resident in the village, they would be muchmore restricted. In fact , this was not the case and provided they didtheir work satisfactorily and looked after their properties they wereallowed to carry on much as they had done hitherto.Mr Owen Smith, having bought the Old Hall, the Manor, Langham Houseand a considerable number of houses and cottages chose the Old Hallas his own residence and set about altering and improving it inaccordance with his own wishes. The house, as it originally stood, wasquite large but not large enough to suit his requirements andconsequently he had built a completely new set of kitchens anddomestic premises at the eastern end. He also added a new wing,running on a north-south axis, at the western end nearest to New Lane,to provide further residential accommodation.There were five old cottages standing in the grounds and butting end onto Burley Road, these were gutted and rebuilt as a guest annexe, for, inspite of the enlargements to the Old Hall itself, there was insufficientroom to accommodate all the guests at the parties he frequently held.At the same time the grounds, which cover almost three acres, werelaid out afresh and included an enlarged kitchen garden and additionalglass houses.Prior to 1925, the entrance to the Old Hall had been situated half wayalong New Lane and opened out to the front of the Hall. This entrancewas built up by extending the existing wall but its position can still beseen as, for some reason, the left hand gate pillar was left in place. Thepillar, surmounted by a stone plinth and stone ball can still be seen inthe wall along New Lane. Below the gates, the boundary had beenformed by a thorn hedge which continued down New Lane and roundthe corner into Church Street until it reached two old cottages whichstood roughly where the present archway and tower now stand. Thesewere demolished to make way for the present buildings which were setPage 7

ack from the roadway, garages for his cars being built on the righthand side between the archway and the road. The older building, onthe left, he retained to house his private electricity generating plant.The buildings, of which the archway forms a part, were extended behindthe house on the corner and consisted of two storeys. The upper storeyformed service accommodation with access by means of the doorway tothe left of the arch. The ground floor, beyond the generator house,provided stabling, tack rooms and additional access to the serviceaccommodation.The house on the corner, which was built around 1900, was owned byMr. Tom Munday, the butcher, and contained the butcher’s shop. Theslaughterhouse was behind the house. Mr Smith purchased all thesepremises and installed a Mr. Giles as manager, with the intention ofretailing meat from prime animals on the estate. There was a roadwaybetween the house and the slaughterhouse which was opened out togive access to the stable yard. Here further stabling and tack roomswere built backing on to the house with even more stabling behind theslaughterhouse. An entrance to the stable yard from the Hall was madeby continuing the roadway right through. A large muck ring was builtbeyond the slaughterhouse and from there the boundary was formedalong the lane by a hedge planted on a bank to the point where the Hallgrounds joined The Limes property. This completed the alterations andadditions, the Old Hall appearing much as you see it today.Having got under way the works which he required for his ownresidence, Mr Smith turned his attention to his other properties. In thecase of the Manor, this involved the building of a completely new wingon the back of the house containing new kitchens and domestic officeson the ground floor with further accommodation above.Langham House presented rather more of a problem. He obviouslycould not build on to the front and the space at the back of the housewas very limited due to the proximity of Church Street, or Middle Streetas it was then known. His requirement was bathroom and bedroomaccommodation and he solved the problem by building a narrowextension, three storeys high, to the back of the property. Between theeast end of Langham House and the rear of the Noel Arms were twocottages, facing on to a paved yard; the smaller of the two heincorporated into the main house as further kitchen premises; the largerhe refurbished as staff accommodation. The stable yard, with stablingfor eight to ten horses, was situated behind the house to the north ofChurch Street and was improved but not extended. Additional storageaccommodation was built, along with a generator house to supplyelectricity to the house and buildings.Page 8

Mr. Smith made minor improvements to some cottages and to IveyHouse. Seven new cottages were built in the village; two standing backfrom Church Street opposite the Old Vicarage; two facing Manor Lanejust above the Manor Farm buildings; and three at the ManorLane/Melton Road junction. He also built two or three cottages atRanksborough as, of course, the Hall and stabling were not included inthe sale. New farm buildings were erected to the north of Manor Laneand in the Manor yard itself, as well as at Ranksborough. Existingbuildings at other farms were extended.Captain the Honourable Fitzroy, whom Mr Smith had appointed as agentfor the estate and farm manager, occupied the Manor and continued todo so until 1938, at which time he unexpectedly succeeded to the title ofthe Duke of Grafton, the then Duke having been killed in an accident.Consequently, he left Langham for Euston Hall in Suffolk to take up hisinheritance. His successor as farm manager was Mr Harry Slaney whohad trained on Messrs Chivers farms at Histon near Cambridge. Histraining had been in horticulture as well as agriculture, something hewas able to put to good use later. A trend towards a more commercialfarming policy had begun under Captain the Honourable Fitzroy and thetransition was rapidly completed by Mr Slaney, the estate being run oncommercial lines from then on. When meat rationing was introducedearly in World War II the butcher’s shop was closed, the number of beefcattle reduced, and a herd of Jersey dairy cows introduced. Theslaughterhouse was cleaned out and refitted as a dairy and a milk roundstarted in Oakham and Uppingham. Following the installation of asecond dairy herd at Ranksborough, the milk round was extended toinclude Corby and developed into a substantial business, employing amanager and four or five full-time staff.During the war, a considerable amount of grassland had to be ploughedup. Further staff were engaged, more machinery purchased and thefarms became mainly arable. Later in the war, Mr Slaney introducedthe growing of strawberries and black currants which resulted in moreland-girls being taken on. The number of staff rose to over twentyincluding a farm office manager, an assistant and two lady typists.Mr Owen Smith died in 1948 and as there was no-one to take over, allthe farms, with the exception of the Manor, were sold. Mr Slaney left totake up another appointment and Mrs Smith continued to farm ManorFarm for a few more years engaging Messrs Shouler and Son of MeltonMowbray as agents in charge of a younger man acting as farm manager.A second manager was employed when the first one left but Mrs Smithwas now becoming elderly and Manor Farm and the Manor House weresold.Page 9

Mrs Smith retained the Old Hall and two small paddocks adjoining ManorFarm, Langham House having been sold some years previously. Ex-staffoccupying estate cottages remained as tenants, each cottage being soldindividually upon the death of the tenant. Mrs Smith lived in the Old Halluntil her death when the remaining property was inherited by a nephew,Mr Abel-Smith.Thus, in a period of less than fifty years, the village returned tomore-or-less the state in which it had been prior to 1925, except thatoccupiers were now owners rather than tenants. Very few smallholderswere left as, in the main, their holdings had been absorbed into thefarms. In many ways this is a pity, as these small but independentfarmers added colour and variety to the life of the village.Unfortunately, present-day circumstances do not permit a continuationof what was a traditional way of village life.Page 10

Langham LodgeLangham Lodge has had a very long history, one which almost certainlydates back to 13 th or 14 th centuries. Unfortunately there is, as far as Ican ascertain, no documentary evidence before the early seventeenhundreds. Two very different theories have been advanced regarding itsorigins and I offer both for your consideration.The first is that the property began as a grange. At the time of which weare speaking there were three local religious establishments. CroxtonAbbey, Newbold Priory and Launde Abbey. Of the first two, CroxtonAbbey, near Croxton Kerrial and Newbold Priory situated betweenOwston and Harefield nothing remains. They were both small housescontaining only an abbot or prior and perhaps less than a dozen monksand in common with dozens or even hundreds of similar establishmentsup and down the country they rapidly disappeared when Henry VIIIdissolved the monasteries and turned out the inhabitants in the 1530s.In the case of Launde Abbey - a somewhat larger establishment - thereare still a few remains of the mediaeval buildings and of course it stillretains its religious connections.Granges came into being because, by the 13 th or 14 th centuries abbeysand monasteries were being granted or willed large tracts of land bywealthy local land owners and these eventually became so extensivethat they could not be controlled and administered by the abbey itself.A practice therefore developed by which a dwelling and outbuildingswere erected at some suitable place to undertake and control activitiesin that area. Lay brothers were sent out from the abbey to undertakethe everyday work and two or three monks accompanied them to directthe work, deal with administration and report back to the abbey.Once established, this system continued right up to the time of theReformation when Henry VIII finally broke away from the church ofRome, one of his first actions was to dissolve the monasteries, turningout their inhabitants and seizing all contents of value, even down tostripping the lead from the roof. He did not want the vast areas of landwhich they by then owned and these he sold off to his retainers andsupporters, no doubt at a handsome profit, and this is how many of ourgreat landed families of later years came into being.A second theory put forward is that Langham Lodge occupies the site ofa former drovers inn. A considerable number of these were erected inmediaeval times to serve the needs of the drovers and other travellersusing drove roads or trackways for moving animals and goods to fairsand markets and it has been suggested that Mickley Lane formed partof a trackway from the salt producing areas of Worcestershire to theeast coast ports of Wisbech, Kings Lynn and Boston. Salt in those daysPage 11

was a valuable commodity and was frequently transported over longdistances.One may wonder why this particular site was chosen, but it must beremembered that apart from accommodating the men, adequate andreasonably secure grazing was required for the animals in their charge,whether they were cattle, sheep or pack horses. This would not beavailable within the village itself and of course, in the case of Langham,the open fields were all situated to the east of the village where the landwas lighter and more easily cultivated. The inn was therefore built justbeyond the boundaries of these fields in open country where grazingwas available. The trackway would have passed quite close to wherethe present house stands and vestiges of it beyond that point can stillbe traced.An interesting point in relation to this is the position of Loudall Lane. This isanother ancient drove road or trackway which runs along the top of the hillbehind the village, passing close by the deserted hamlet from which itderives its name. This hamlet is shown on maps drawn by John Speedand others in the early sixteen hundreds, it is omitted from maps drawn inthe early eighteen hundreds and nothing of it now remains above ground.According to the early maps, Loudall would appear to have been situatedsome two to three hundred yards to the west of the point where the roadfrom Langham to Ashwell reaches the top of the hill before descending intothe valley towards Ashwell and I think its site can be determined by thefact that the double hedge bordering the trackway takes a ninety degreeturn at this point and, after travelling in a southerly direction for forty tofifty yards, takes a right hand turn back to its original course. Thereappears to be no logical reason for this diversion unless it was to avoidsome obstacle such as buildings and it is from this that I deduce that thiscould well be the site of the lost hamlet.The trackway emerges onto the present road at the top of the hill andcrossing it, descends into the valley in a south easterly direction to theside of the spinney. I believe that it joined the trackway passing LanghamLodge just before crossing where the railway now is by the means ofTambourine Bridge. From there it passes along a short lane down to theOakham/Ashwell Road and crossing this, follows a trackway up to the topof the hill emerging somewhere near Burley Toll Bar. From there I believeit would have headed for Stamford, a town of very ancient origins, andbeyond to Peterborough and possibly even Norwich. Situated where it is,Langham Lodge would have been well placed to server travellers on eithertrackway. Unfortunately, the only facts we have are the existence of thetwo drove roads and the three local abbeys and priory. The rest, althoughextremely interesting is of course pure speculation which sadly is unlikelyto be resolved.Page 12

Now we must turn to that part of the Lodge’s history of which we have afactual information. The present house was designed and built by agentleman of some means named William Chapman. As a point ofinterest, there is a field up the Ashwell road that still carries the name ofChapmans but whether there is any connection I don’t know. It wasbuilt in the early 1700s and Mr Chapman, who was related to the thenCountess of Gainsborough, had been trained as an architect and hadpreviously undertaken several commissions for the Gainsborough family.Whether he farmed the land is not known, but after living there forseveral years at a peppercorn rent he returned to Exton and built therea house very similar in design to Langham Lodge. This was later namedthe Presbytery and whilst it was being built he resided in the house atExton facing the Green which is now the Fox and Hounds Inn.The tenancy of Langham Lodge was awarded to a Robert Rudkin who, inhis early years had been brought up by General Bennet Noel and hiswife who lived at North Luffenham.Langham Lodge had formed part of the Gainsborough estates untilbeing sold away in the 1870s. Successive generations of Rudkinsremained as tenants and may have remained so until the time of thesale. Who actually purchased the lodge when it was sold away I am notcertain, but a tenant in the early 1900s was a Mr John Smith. Sadly hedied of pneumonia when in his early fifties and his widow was obliged togive up the tenancy. He had three children, Stafford, Alan and Lillian.Staff Smith, as he was known farmed at Langham and Hambleton inpartnership with his brother Alan, and he and his sister, who married aMr Cloxton, lived in Langham all of their lives until they died a few yearsago. Staff Smith and Lillian Cloxton will no doubt be remembered bymany older villagers. In 1910 Langham Lodge was purchased by fatherand son William and Philip Williamson. Philip died in 1925 but the familywith Philip’s nephew Fred continued to live and farm there until William’sdeath in 1930 when the property passed to Walter Williamson ofAshwell. Fred stayed until 1934 when he took a farm at Exton.Walter Williamson was, by now getting on in years and, farming being ina very depressed state, he decided to sell rather than seek a new tenant,and the property was purchased by Captain and Mrs Whadcoat. Theyhad been living for a number of years in the house, now known asLangham Cottage, and Mrs Whadcoat, being a member of the Playersfamily of Nottingham meant that there was no shortage of money. Theytherefore set about making considerable alterations, building entirely newkitchen premises and generally enlarging the house. They also built twocottages next to the farmyard and put down a roadway from Burley Road,which is the present driveway to the Lodge.Page 13

It may now be difficult to imagine, but until this time the only access toLangham Lodge was along Mickley Lane. I do not remember it myselfbut my father told me that when he was a young man, the entrance toMickley Lane was fenced off, a ten foot farm gate being hung in thecentre, with fencing on each side of it. There was no question of itbeing a bridleway or footpath, the only people other than the tenantbeing entitled to use it being my father and my uncle, Mr Cyril Squires,who had land on either side of the lane before it reached Lodgeproperty.Captain and Mrs Whadcoat also improved and increased the number offarm buildings and erected a Dutch barn. Due to the extensivealterations being made to the house, they lived in the new cottageswhilst these were carried out and did not actually move into the houseuntil 1936. They remained at the Lodge until Captain Whadcoat’s deathin 1948, at which time Mrs Whadcoat sold the property and moved toHambleton.Langham lodge was then purchased by a Suffolk gentleman namedMr Buxton. He made further additions to the house and buildings,including a grain drier. He also built four further cottages, two facing onto Burley Road next to the drive entrance, and a block of two at the endof Mickley Lane near to the house. He remained there farming until1960, when the property was purchased by the present owners, Mr andMrs Hemsley, who have continued to improve the property and are stillin residence, hopefully for many years to come.In conclusion, I must gratefully acknowledge all the help andinformation given by Mr and Mrs Hemsley and also their interest shownin the compilation of thisarticle. Also thanks to ReneO’Neill née Williamson.In 1910, Langham Lodge waspurchased by father and son, Williamand Phillip Williamson. Phillip andhis wife Annie had five children,Phyllis, Bernard (died in infancy),Irene, Frank and Emily. FredWilliamson, a cousin, son of Phillip’sbrother George of Hambleton, alsocame to live with the family on hisfather’s death. Phillip died in 1925,but the family continued to live andfarm at Langham Lodge untilWilliam’s death in 1930 when theproperty passed to Walter Williamsonof Ashwell, with Fred remaining tofarm until around 1934.The Williamsons at Langham LodgePage 14

HuntingI want to tell you something about hunting and the part it played in the lifeof the village in years gone by. Nowadays, of course, hunting is a subjectwhich arouses very strong feelings and considerable acrimony between theopposing parties.In the late 1600s, certain gentlemen gathered together somewhatnondescript packs of hounds for hunting on their own estates, but theearliest knowledge we have of fox hunting in this area is of the 3 rd ViscountLowther bringing his pack down to Fineshade from Lowther in 1695.Thomas Noel, a cousin of the 4 th Earl of Gainsborough, started a pack atExton in 1732 but there was no connection between the two packs until SirWilliam Lowther, later the 1 st Earl of Lonsdale, bought the Exton pack on thedeath of Thomas Noel in 1788. He built kennels for them at CottesmoreHouse, now sadly demolished, though some of the buildings still stand. Bythis time, fox hunting had been placed on a more formal footing and thepack was given the title of The Cottesmore Hounds - thus was founded theCottesmore Hunt. The kennels moved several times, going to Stocken Hall,Normanton Park, Little Bytham and Barleythorpe before the move to thepremises which they still occupy between Oakham and Ashwell.Fox hunting really started in the 1720s and ‘30s. Until then deer had beenthe usual quarry and the sport was retained by the monarch for his ownpleasure. Certain prominent and favoured noblemen were granted licenceto hunt on their own estates but the situation was kept under very tightcontrols and penalties for poaching were very severe indeed. However, bythe early 18th century more advanced methods were being introduced intofarming and that, together with a rising population, meant that the deer’snatural habitat, which is mainly woodland, was being severely reduced andthe numbers of deer were falling rapidly. Two or three deer can do anenormous amount of damage to growing crops in a very short time andwere, consequently, very unpopular with the farmers. There is no doubtthat, where it could be safely done, quite a number were shot to protectcrops.Many more people, particularly farmers, were taking to horse-riding forpleasure as well as business and were looking for something to hunt whichwould give them a good gallop.More and more land was being cleared and brought into cultivation and,since quite a lot of the cleared land was put down to grazing, theopportunities for hunting became more numerous and foxes became thefavoured choice for a number of reasons: they were plentiful; no-onewanted to preserve them; being an imported species they had no normalpredators to keep their numbers down; and they caused considerabledamage to farm livestock. Last, but by no means least, when flushed fromPage 15

cover they would run well, giving the hunters the opportunity for a goodgallop.Hunting continued to gain in popularity and the size of the “fields”grew,although followers still comprised mainly local gentlemen and thosewealthier farmers with the larger farms. Hunting was fairly local due to thefact that the hounds had to be hacked to the meet and hacked home againat the end of the day. Followers had to adopt the same procedure, althoughsome of the wealthier would have their horses hacked by grooms while theytravelled to the meet by carriage. This state of affairs continued until aboutthe 1850s, by which time railways had reached virtually all parts of thecountry, allowing a whole new group of people to participate.The idea of being a country gentleman was gaining rapidly in popularity andwealthy business and professional men discovered that they could leavetheir offices and consulting rooms at about four pm on Friday and, bycatching an “express”, could be up in hunting country in comfortable time fordinner at a good hotel. In the early days they would keep two or threehorses at a local livery and, having had a good day’s hunting on Saturday,would return to their chosen hotels for a bath and a good dinner. Sundaywould usually be spent visiting hunting friends in the locality and the returnhome would again be by express train on either Sunday night or Mondaymorning.Within a few years a new idea, the Hunting Lease, came into being. Thiswas a six-month lease from the end of September running through to theend of March. It must be remembered that, in those days, relatively fewpeople owned their own houses and even large properties were, in manycases, held on lease.The advent of the Hunting Lease enabled wealthy people to take a largehouse and stabling in the best hunting shires for the season and to bringtheir families, so that they too could participate. The usual practice was tobring their personal servants, stud groom, coachman and possibly one othergroom, leaving the remainder of their staff at their town house on a “careand maintenance”basis. The rest of their staff would be recruited from localpeople, and this gave employment opportunities for housemaids, kitchenand scullery maids etc. in the house; and outside there was a need forgarden handymen, undergrooms and stable hands. These opportunitieswere greatly appreciated by local people, as much work was still done on acasual basis, and the arrival of the Hunting Lease families provided analternative source of employment at a time of the year when there wasrelatively little casual work available. As a result there was always muchinterest in the village as to who had taken houses and what their staffingneeds would be. These positions were keenly sought after.Page 16

Of course, benefits to local people did not stop there. Additional businesswas available to local tradesmen such as farriers; harness makers andsaddlers; boot makers and feed merchants; as well as grocers, butchers,bakers and various other traders. Farmers also looked forward to theopportunity to supply hay, straw and sometimes oats to the stables.Page 17

I remember my father telling me that, in many cases, the same tenantswould return season after season and their arrival would be the subject ofgreat interest and speculation, given the material benefits they brought.This was how Mr Owen Smith came to know of Langham as he had takenthe Old Hall on a Hunting Lease for several seasons prior to the sale of theEstate in 1925.When hunting people began to bring their families, they would often bringten or a dozen hunters with them as well as coaches and coach horses, andquite often the stabling taken with the house would be insufficient.Consequently, additional stabling would be required. It was quite commonfor two or three members of the family to hunt, as well as the lessee, andconsequently eight, ten, or even a dozen or more hunters would berequired, as well as coach horses. In addition, further accommodationwould be required for the coaches etc. so, in cases where stabling wasinadequate, further facilities had to be secured nearby.In Langham , the two properties which were usually let on a hunting leasewere the Old Hall and Langham House. The Old Hall had sufficient stablingon the premises and was, therefore, self-contained. The stabling atLangham House was situated in a yard on the opposite side of Church Streetand provided only eight boxes and little other accommodation. The NoelArms, next-door, having always been a residential inn, had extensivestabling and other accommodation on the premises and it was, more or less,a standing agreement that whoever took Langham House would also take asmuch stabling as was required at the Noel Arms.It is difficult to envisage now but the entrance to the pub yard wassomewhat narrower than it is today and, from that point, a range of boxesand stabling extended all along the roadside right up to the far end of theyard. It then continued along the end and down to the boundary on theLangham House side to where the pub buildings commence, thus providingstabling for a dozen or more horses, as well as three or four coach housesand other premises.The pub itself has undergone extensive alterations in recent years and at thetime of which I am speaking, the public entrance was by means of a stoutwooden door situated, more or less, where the glazed door of the restaurantnow stands. The door which now leads into the bar was the landlord’sprivate entrance. Going through the public entrance, a stone flaggedpassage ran the full width of the building with a window, which I believe isstill there, at the far end. On the left side of this passage was a stone wallwhich also ran the full width of the building, with a door at the far end givingaccess to what is now the restaurant, but in those days, was a somewhatlonger room with a fireplace in each end wall. This was known as the RentRoom for reasons I will explain later.Page 18

It was divided across the middle by a moveable wooden screen and whenthe hunting season commenced, the screen was erected, making the farend of the room available for storing hay, straw and feeding stuffs. In thehalf nearest the pub, a good fire was kept burning and it was used as asaddle room where the harness was cleaned and kept dry. It was also usedas a bothy when single grooms were employed, their meals being providedby the pub.This business was very much welcomed, as was the extra employment forthe villagers, since it fitted in well with the summer trade described later.In about 1900, when hunting was at the height of its popularity, a mannamed Mr Tommy Shuttlewood, decided to build further stablingaccommodation on a grass paddock which he owned. This long, narrowpaddock ran from Church Street, opposite the Chapel gates, right through toBurley Road. He built a row of stables, with storage above, along each side,with double wooden doors opening into the yard between them These boxesextended about a third of the length of the property. He then built an officeat the end of the left hand row, followed by a large muck ring, A further five,single storey boxes, standing somewhat further back, followed on the righthand side and beyond those, a large barn and more storage was built acrossthe property, facing towards Church Street. Behind this, on the right, hebuilt more boxes with storage above. On the left, he built a brick wallonwards from the muck ring, dividing the property from the front garden ofBriggins Cottage and the top end of Briggins Walk. To utilise the remainderof the ground, he built the three cottages facing on to Burley Road, withgardens behind, which still stand between Briggins Walk and Yew TreeCottage barn. The stables were in fairly constant use up to the end of the1930s but stood empty until after the end of the second World War. Early inthe 1950s, Ruddles Brewery bought the property and installed a soft drinksbusiness in part of the stabling nearest Church Street. This ran for severalyears and when it closed the property was again sold, this time to MrSeckington.Mr Seckington had the lower half of the property nearest Church streetdemolished while retaining the barn and upper block of stables, the latterhaving been previously converted by Ruddles into a house for the foremanin charge of the mineral water works. Mr Seckington used this house toaccommodate a groom and when he later sold the property, it became theprivate house it is today.Page 19

The Noel ArmsCatering for the requirements of the local hunting people became quitean important part of the business of the Noel Arms during the huntingseason. However, hunting, in common with many other sportingactivities, has a closed season which lasts from roughly the end ofMarch to the end of September. The Noel Arms, being an inn in thetrue sense of the word, had always provided residential facilities inaddition to the local bar trade, and my grandfather, William JosephMantle who, apart from his other business activities, was landlordthrough the 1880s and ‘90s, decided to develop this side of the businessfurther, in order to maintain the level of business throughout the year.Although not always realised, the continuing development of theIndustrial Revolution had brought into being the largely new professionof commercial travellers, or representatives as they are known today.In earlier years, the manufacture and distribution of the many goodsand articles required by the nation had been in the hands of individuallocal craftsmen working in villages and small towns throughout thecountry. Because of the small size of the businesses and the difficultiesof distribution, almost all manufacturers dealt directly with theircustomers, who were all fairly local and, therefore, intermediaries werenot required. However, with the advent of steam to power the variousprocesses, large factories were built, particularly in the larger urbanareas where labour was readily available. The increased manufacturingcapacity, coupled with greatly improved facilities for distribution, meantthat much larger areas could be covered and, as a result,manufacturers became more remote and employed staff specifically toliaise and maintain contact with wholesalers and retailers, and thus thecommercial traveller came into being.Today most “reps”are able to operate from home or office, returning atthe end of each day but in the latter half of the nineteenth century,railways were the only rapid means of transport and a systemdeveloped whereby companies, or the travellers themselves, wouldwrite to suitable inns booking a room for a week and also hiring a horseand trap. In the case of the Noel Arms, the traveller would catch a trainon Sunday afternoon to Oakham station where he would be met by aboy with a horse and trap and conveyed to Langham. After breakfaston Monday morning, a horse and trap would be waiting and he wouldset off for the day calling on customers, dealing with their needs,looking for new clients, then returning to Langham for evening dinner.This process would be repeated each day until Saturday when he wouldreturn in time for lunch after which he would be driven to Oakhamstation to catch the train home again.Page 20

This proved quite a lucrative business and Grandfather would havethree or four such customers staying at the Noel Arms each week.Travellers visited their customers less frequently than is the case todayand even those representing grocery and other foodstuffs companieswould only call once a month. Those representing companies dealing innon-perishable goods would have larger rounds to handle and might callat longer intervals, in some cases up to three months. A valuable partof the business of the Noel Arms, this continued right up to the middleof the 1920s when motor cars were being manufactured in quantity andat prices that made the previous system obsolete.Before leaving the subject of the Noel Arms, I should like to describe toyou the pub as I first remember it. Such drastic and extensivealterations were made to the interior in the early 1970s that anyonewho did not know it prior to that date will find it difficult to visualise itsoriginal form. I would guess it had been in the form which I remembersince the early 1800s or possibly even earlier.As I described earlier, the public entrance was a stout wooden doorsituated almost exactly where the present glass paned door givesaccess to the restaurant bar. On entering the original door, a stoneflagged passage went the full width of the building and was lit at the farend by a window which is still there. On the left was a stone wall whichalso went the full width of the building with a doorway at the far endgiving access to the Rent Room (more detail later). On the right handside of the passage was a wooden screen which reached three quartersof the way up to the ceiling. At the point where the passage turned tothe right was an opening which gave access to a room known as theTap. This had a tiled floor and was furnished with benches round thewalls, a couple of tables and several chairs. This was the room in whichlocal people used to enjoy their drinks and a game of darts ordominoes. There was no bar and drinks were served through a doorwaywhich opened into the small lean-to built on to the south side of themain building. Beyond this opening, the screen continued to where itjoined the main wall of the building just against the doorway givingaccess to the stairs and upper floor. Having taken a right turn, thepassage continued the full width of the building, ending at a doorwaywhich, down two steps, gave access to Church Street. On the righthand side of the passage, beyond the stairs, was a full height woodenscreen with a half glazed door in its centre which opened into what wasoriginally the residents dining and sitting room. At the point where thefireplace, now in the middle of the bar-lounge, is situated, a stone wallwent the full width of the building with a doorway in the right handcorner accessing the lean-to and landlord’s quarters. There was nofireplace in this wall, the fireplace for the residents dining room beingsituated in the centre of the north outside wall.Page 21

In later years, after the pub had ceased to cater for residents, this roomwas converted to a public lounge and shortly after the end of theSecond World War, a small bar was built in the corner where thedoorway had been.Beyond this point were the landlord’s living quarters. A large fireplacewas built on to the wall dividing it from the residents dining room. Thelandlord’s quarters were a large room, the full width of the building andstretching down just beyond the door, which now gives access to thepublic bar but was then the landlord’s private entrance. Just beyond itwas another wall through which was situated the kitchen and scullery.There was no access from inside the main building to what are now theladies toilets as this room was originally the brewhouse in which thebeer was brewed and conditioned. A large opening filled with woodenslats in the outside wall of the brewhouse allowed the steam, producedby the brewing process, to escape. The door of the brewhouse openedon to the yard. The final room, now the gentlemen’s toilet, was dividedinto two, one half being the gentlemen’s toilet the other the ladies.To return to the Rent Room, now the restaurant. As I mentionedpreviously, part of this room was used as a tack and harness roomduring the hunting season but when the alterations were undertakenthe stone wall bordering the entrance passage was removed and theadjoining room (formerly the Tap) was opened up to accommodate therestaurant bar. The large fireplace which had stood in the centre of thepassage wall was removed with it and the present fireplace on the westoutside wall has recently been installed to replace it.Until 1925 when most of the parish of Langham was owned by theGainsborough Estate, rents became due at Lady Day, 6 th April, andMichaelmas Day, 28 th September. The tenants were divided into twogroups; those whose rentals were less than £20 per year and thosewhose rentals were £20 or more. The first group, mostly tenants ofcottage properties, paid their rents on, or shortly after, thequarter-days. Those in the second group which, of course, comprisedall the farms and most of the smallholdings, came under a differentsystem. The Gainsborough Estates, being fair and consideratelandlords, realised that tenants would need to sell livestock or crops toprovide the rent money and consequently the dates on which the rentsbecame payable were set back to the third week in July and the secondweek in December. This enabled tenants to have fat lambs ready to sellor a stack or two of corn threshed to provide the necessary payment.Tenants having been notified of the actual date two or three weekspreviously, the Estate Steward would arrive at the Noel Arms on themorning in question and go to an upstairs room booked as an office forthe day. Tenants would go to pay their rents and discuss any relatedPage 22

matters one at a time, thus ensuring privacy. When all the Estatebusiness had been concluded, the Steward would come down to join thetenants who had assembled in the Rent Room - hence the name- andwould preside over a luncheon provided at the Estate’s expense andprepared by the landlord and his staff. The midsummer lunch was usuallycold meats, vegetables and salads with pudding and cheeses to follow,while the December lunch was a full hot meal with roasts, vegetables,puddings, mince pies etc. The lunch would be followed by several toasts.The Steward would give a short speech outlining the Estate’s activitiesand progress and take the opportunity to announce any changes inpolicies or conditions. A general discussion followed, ending in a vote ofthanks. The party usually disbanded at about half past three. Thisoccasion provided an excellent opportunity for the Estate and its tenantsto get together to discuss matters of mutual interest and was known asthe Big Rent Day.Whitbread Dray outside the Noel Arms c 1950Page 23

Allotments and the Use of LandI would like to explain how allotments came to be developed and thereasons why they became so necessary. Although a few early exampleswere started in the 1820s, the vast majority were brought into beingduring the 1830s and ‘40s. To discover why they became so importantit is necessary to go back sixty or seventy years to the 1760s at whichtime the Parliamentary Enclosures Acts were being brought into force.Up to this time the majority of the country had been cultivated underthe old “three open field system”. This was a system of communalcultivation started in a simple form back in Saxon times which becamemore highly developed during the Norman and Plantagenet periods andremained in that form right through until the 1760s. Under this system,each of the three open fields was divided up into strips of one acre inextent and every villager was entitled to rent such strips as he was ableto cultivate. The strips in each holding were divided up between thethree fields thus ensuring that everyone had a share of the poorer, aswell as the better, land and enabling the simple three course rotation tobe operated. Each year one field would be planted with wheat, thesecond with barley, oats or a mixture of grains known as dredge corn,and the third was fallowed. To us this seems a wasteful use of the land,but the cultivation of root and similar crops was not understood and thismethod was the only way in which the land could be kept clean, free ofweeds and in a reasonable state of cultivation. Due to the fact that verylittle feed was produced for over-wintering livestock, only a fewbreeding animals could be kept on. The vast majority of livestock,having been fattened, was slaughtered in autumn and the carcassessalted down for use during the winter. As a result of this, very littlemanure was available, and a complete fallow once every three yearswas the only method available to keep the land in reasonable heart.A small area of land was set aside as meadow, produced sufficient hayto feed those animals kept for breeding, and the rest of the parish wascommon land or waste, as it was usually known, and woodland. Thiscommon land was available to all villagers to graze their livestock. Inareas where there was peat or turf, this could be cut and carted homefor firing. The woods were available for villagers to run their pigs whichfed on acorns, beech mast and other foods - dead wood provided fuel.In this way it was possible for a man to keep his family housed and fedby his own efforts, since, by the use of his garden and such strips as hewas able to cultivate, he could provide flour for his bread, barley to feeda pig and sufficient vegetables to support his family throughout theyear.However, particularly during the 17 th and early 18 th centuries, waterpower was increasingly being used to drive woollen, cotton and otherPage 24

mills, and people moving into the towns to operate them meant that amuch larger proportion of the population was no longer in a position toproduce their own food.Determined efforts were being made to develop agriculture along morescientific lines, beginning in the 1500s under the influence of men suchas Thomas Tusser and continuing throughout the 1600s and early 1700sby men such as Coke of Holkham and Robert Bakewell of DishleyGrange. Research into new strains of seeds produced larger crops ofbetter quality. More root crops were being grown which wereparticularly important as their use enabled many more animals to bekept through the winter resulting, not only in more fresh meat beingavailable, but also considerably greater quantities of manure beingproduced which, being returned to the land, greatly increased the levelof fertility. This resulted in heavier and healthier crops and enabled amuch wider variety to be grown. The growing of root crops meant thatland could be kept clean during the summer, avoiding the process offallowing and also providing feed for more animals.Unfortunately, the old system of farming did not suit these methods andincreasing pressure from landowners and others resulted, in the 1760s,in the enactment of the Parliamentary Enclosure Acts. Under this newlegislation, Parliamentary Commissioners were sent out to every parishin the land, firstly to assess the total acreage and then to divide up theavailable land into suitable blocks. All the land in the parish wasincluded in the survey, not only arable fields, but also meadow land,common land and woods and this brought about three very importantchanges. Firstly, it led to the formation of farms as we know themtoday. Secondly it brought about the development of lodge farms sincethe land having been divided up into blocks, it was more economic andsensible for those whose land lay further from the village to have ahouse and buildings erected on the land they occupied. The third, andperhaps, from the point of view of the farm workers and others, themost important point was that it took away their ability to house andfeed their families by their own efforts.Under the new system, although the Commissioners tried to allocate theland, as far as possible, in accordance with the wishes of the villagers,the primary object was to provide farms of sufficient size to enable theoccupier to earn his living solely by farming that land. The old stripsystem had allowed tradesmen such as blacksmiths, carpenters andwheelwrights to do a bit of farming on the side. In view of theincreased business likely to become available with the setting up of thenew farms, most tradesmen sold their strips, which becameincorporated into the new farms, and concentrated solely on theirbusinesses. The most badly affected were farm workers and others whoheld only one or two strips. Those who elected to take the newlyPage 25

formed farms had to pay the costs involved and many of the poorerpeople were unable to meet these costs. In addition, they lost thebenefits of free grazing, formerly available on common land nowenclosed, and as a result were obliged to sell their rights to others forthe best price they could obtain. Previously, they had been able to feedand support their families by their own efforts but now they were forcedto rely upon the wages they were able to earn. Of course, the newlyformed farms were all requiring labour and this kept wages at areasonable level with plenty of work available.The process of Enclosures took a number of years to complete and bythe 1790s we were at war with France. This meant that many menjoined the army, either voluntarily or otherwise, and these recruits hadto be fed, thus creating a demand for higher food production. As aresult, prices of farm produce remained at a fairly high level and withfewer men available, work was plentiful and wages remained at areasonable level.However, following the end of the war, the situation began to changerapidly for the worse. Men were being discharged from the forces, andin those days it meant that they were simply paid off and left to fend forthemselves. Many went to the towns to work in the mills and factoriesthat were being erected as the Industrial Revolution developed andexpanded, but many returned to their own villages. The increasedcompetition for the available work coupled with the fall in prices of farmproduce due to lower demand meant that wages began to fall and bythe 1820s many farm workers were finding it increasingly difficult toprovide food for their families. Wages were only eight or nine shillings aweek, on average, and in some areas were as low as seven shillings.There was no guaranteed wage and if no work was available, because ofbad weather or some other reason, men were simply sent home withoutpay - the loss of a day’s pay was a very serious matter. This appallingstate of affairs was observed by a number of more enlightened menwho were in a position to do something about it and it was a number ofthese men who came up with the idea of providing allotments.The first allotments in Langham were up the Ashwell Road, commencingnext to the stream in the hollow, thus bringing into being the names ofAllotment Hollow and Allotment Hill by which they are still known today.They were in a small field of about four acres on the left hand side ofthe road and extended from the stream up the hill to the top hedgesome fifty yards or so beyond the point where the road takes a sharpright-hand bend towards Ashwell.Just opposite this bend was a gate giving access to the field and insidethis was a wide grass baulk which ran right across the field to the farhedge; thus diving the field into two halves. The allotments on the lowerPage 26

half ran from the stream up to the baulk, and those on the upper halffrom the baulk to the top hedge. The baulk was provided to allow freeaccess to the individual plots or for carts or light implements. Theseallotments were greatly welcomed by the villagers and were all, verysoon, taken up, providing much needed help.In the 1860s, another field was brought into use, as the original fieldproved too small to provide allotments for all who wished to acquirethem. This is the field lying between Mickley Lane and Burley Roadwhere the remaining village allotments are situated. This field haddistinct advantages over the original allotments since, not only was itmuch nearer the village but also, the soil was a lighter, easily worked,good, red loam. It proved to be extremely popular and the allotmentswere rapidly taken up. Like the original allotments, it was divided intotwo halves, the gate being situated on the Burley Road, more or lessopposite to where the entrance to Sharrads Way is today. Inside thisgate was, again, a grass baulk extending right across to the far hedge;one block of allotments being situated between Mickley Lane and thebaulk and the other between the baulk and Burley Road. In its originalform, the allotment land stretched right across to include what, in lateryears, became a tree planting area, children’s play area and mostrecently the new burial ground development.Apart from new allotment holders, most of the originals holders, whoseplots were situated on the lower side of the Ashwell Road, gave up theirholding and moved to the new field, partly because it was closer andpartly because, although the soil on their original plots was good, it wasstiffer and much more difficult to work. By the time that I firstremember them, all the lower half had been given up and the landreturned to general agricultural use. The upper half, being a lighter,more easily worked soil, continued in use until well after the SecondWorld War, with a single allotment still being cultivated today.In 1925, when parts of the Gainsborough Estate, including Langham,were sold off, the New Allotments, as they were known, were purchasedby Mr Tom Munday who had a butchery business in the village and,upon his death, were inherited by Mr Eric Munday, who was headbrewer for Messrs. Ruddles. In 1937 or 1938 Eric Munday decided torepossess parts of two or three allotments in the corner adjoiningMickley Lane and Burley Road, where he built the bungalow which stillsstands there.The remaining allotments remained in full cultivation until the 1950s butby then, the increases in wages had made allotments more of a pastimethan the necessity that they had previously been and many were givenup. Houses were built on those bordering the Burley Road and the farside of the field given over to the uses I described earlier. Those thatPage 27

are left are tended by those who regard gardening as a pleasant andhealthy hobby.Thus has an idea, which originated as a desperate necessity, almostceased to exist. There are still allotments in existence in many parts ofthe country but they are much fewer in number now than forty yearsago.Ben Walker & Mick Burdett discussing allotment tacticsPage 28

Spring CleaningAlthough gas was brought to the village in the 1890s, mains electricitydid not arrive until 1933 and so few families had the help of such thingsas vacuum cleaners and other electrical appliances. The fact thatvirtually the only source of heating was by open fires or solid fuel rangesmeant that much more dust and dirt was produced than is the casetoday. Central heating was unknown except in one or two of the biggerhouses and even that was operated by solid fuel boilers. A moremodern version of the old Victorian cast-iron range was becomingpopular in the 1920s and ‘30s. The frames of these ranges were heavilyenamelled and had tiled hearths and doors and were consequentlymuch easier to keep clean but they were still dependent upon an openfire for their operation. There were several different makes but they allbecame known as Triplex ranges. They all had two ovens andoccasionally, in the larger versions, three. A back boiler, situatedbehind the grate, was available as an extra and this was capable ofproviding hot water for the kitchen and also the bathroom where onewas installed, although many houses lacked the facility in those days. Itdid not, however, provide sufficient hot water to supply radiators.Spring cleaning really was a major operation in those days and it wastackled one room at a time. Firstly, the heavy winter curtains weretaken down and thoroughly shaken and brushed outside in the garden.If they were of suitable material they were washed, if not they werehung on the clothes line to air. They were then ironed and folded withcamphor balls, or other moth protection, and put away in chests ordrawers ready for use again next winter. Next, the bed was completelystripped down to the frame and the linen and blankets washed. Pillowsand mattresses which were almost always filled with feathers or flockwere examined and any repairs needed were undertaken. These werethen taken outside to air and all moveable furniture taken out of theroom as well. Large items of furniture such as wardrobes were coveredin dust sheets. Ceilings, walls, floors, curtain rails and beds were allbrushed down and washed or polished as appropriate. All mats andrugs were taken outside and thoroughly beaten, brushed and shaken.The room then having been, to use a popular term “thoroughlybottomed”, the bed was made up with lighter blankets; lighter summercurtains were hung; rugs and mats re-laid; furniture dusted andpolished and brought back in.I have described the process for one room - this would be repeated inevery room in the house. Carpets were much less common than they aretoday and, in households which possessed them, their use would beconfined to the sitting room and would consist of a square or rectangleappropriate to the size of the room. (The wall-to-wall carpeting, universaltoday, did not appear until many years later.) At spring cleaning time, thePage 29

carpet would was rolled up and carried outside, along with its underlay,and laid out on the lawn where it received a thorough beating beforebeing carried back inside. The ornaments in each room were taken outand either washed or polished.Since it took most, or the whole of the day to complete each room, theprocess involved a week or more of hard work. Scratch meals were theorder of the day and apart from moving heavy furniture and perhapsbeating the carpet, men were expected to keep well out of the way.Today almost all houses have central heating, gas or electric fires and awide range of domestic appliances and these, together with easy toclean surfaces and fabrics make this job, where it is still undertaken, amuch easier and lighter process.Page 30

PigsMy thoughts on spring cleaning brought me to the realisation of how manyevents in village life, which were commonplace years ago, are now things ofthe past. One such event was pig-killing; most villagers were involved inthis until about fifty years ago.Pigs have provided a major source of food since before the dawn ofrecorded history and, not requiring the area of land needed by grazinganimals, could be kept by many more people. In the days when the oldopen-field system of communal farming was practised, pigs were able toobtain a considerable amount of their food by foraging for acorns, beechmast and roots in the woodlands and common land in the parish. Followingthe Enclosure Acts, this extensive and valuable source of food was deniedto many farm workers and cottagers and the increasing difficulty of manyto feed their families led, in the 1820 and ‘30s to the introduction ofAllotments. These were eagerly taken up as, not only could they provide afamily with vegetables throughout the year, but also provide land on whichsufficient grain could be grown to feed a pig. This was of prime importanceas butchers’meat was expensive and many families relied almost entirelyon home cured bacon and hams to supply the meat in their diet. As thepigs were no longer able to range the woods and common land, thecottagers had to erect pig sties at the bottom of their gardens and feed thepigs entirely by hand.The pig’s basic diet was barley meal ground from the grain grown on theallotments, mixed with a small proportion of weatings. This lattersubstance was, in appearance, rather like fine bran and was a by-productof wheat which had been milled to produce flour for bread. It containedvirtually all the protein contained in the wheat grain and served the dualpurpose of providing the only protein in the pig’s diet and also lighteningthe barley meal, making it more easily digested. This was fed, inappropriate quantities, accompanied by a couple of bucketfuls of mixturefrom the swill tub or the same amount of plain water. The swill tub was abarrel kept filled with water, into which was tipped all garden vegetablewaste, household food scraps and any other edible waste. Not everyonefavoured the use of a swill tub and those who did not, supplied clean waterand gave vegetable waste direct from the garden.The pigs were brought in as weaners, at eight to ten weeks old, andwere installed in the sty with a generous supply of straw for bedding.This was of utmost importance as the young pig was on its own, awayfrom the litter, for the first time and unless provided with plenty ofwarm, dry bedding was very apt to catch a cold. This, combined withits separation from the rest of the litter, and removal to strangepremises could lead to its death - a circumstance to be avoided at allcosts. Most families had to save for some time to accumulate thePage 31

purchase price of a weaner and its loss meant a year without a majorpart of their diet.If an animal died through accident or disease, in the case of many families,the purchase of a replacement could not be afforded. To cover thiseventuality, most villages organised a Pig Club. All families who kept a pigwere entitled to membership on payment of a small weekly subscription ofa copper or two. Although the benefits available varied from village tovillage, depending on the level of subscription, one which was common toall was that, should any member lose his pig, for whatever reason, the Clubundertook to replace it free of charge. A simple form of insurance but onewhich removed the main risks.The rearing and fattening of a pig for killing at home was a totally differentprocess from the modern commercial practice. The cottager required hispig to grow slowly and reach the greatest possible weight by the time ofslaughter, thus providing him with the greatest amount of bacon and hamto feed his family throughout the year. For this reason the Large Whitebreed was a popular choice as it would continue to grow and develop until ithad reached a weight of about fourteen or fifteen stones, at which point itwould have developed all its muscle, or lean meat, and bone and from thenon it would produce almost entirely fat. Most people liked their pig to reacha weight of about twenty-five stones by the time it was killed so theproportion of fat to lean meat was high. Some would run their pig on tothirty or even thirty-five stones but most people considered that such pigsproduced a coarser quality of bacon.The killing season ran from mid-November to mid-February but whereverpossible December or January was chosen. There were two sound reasonsfor this. Firstly, the carcass of a pig killed during cold weather cooled andset more quickly thus improving the quality of the resulting bacon;secondly, the dry-salting method of curing was a somewhat lengthyprocess and it was necessary, not only to complete the curing but also toget the bacon well dried and bagged before the weather began to warm upin the spring. The flitches and hams were enclosed in closely woven linenor cotton bags and then in a hessian, or similar, outer cover and mostfamilies kept bags specifically for this purpose, washing them after use andputting them away for use again the next season. The reason for thesesomewhat elaborate precautions was to avoid attack by the bacon fly! Thisis a species of fly which chooses, if possible, to lay its eggs on exposedflitches of bacon and, if it succeeds, the whole side will be spoiled anduneatable. Every effort was therefore made to ensure that the bacon wassecurely bagged and stored before this could happen.The actual process of pig killing began with the animal being stunned with ahumane killer, a process which became obligatory. The carcass was thenbled, otherwise the meat would be inedible. The next process was toremove all the course external hairs. (In the case of most animals the skin,or pelt, is removed after slaughter but with pigs it is retained.) There werePage 32

two ways of removing the hairs. The first, and probably the mosttraditional was to place the carcass on a thick bed of dry straw and, aftercovering it with a further bed of straw, to set it alight. This burned away allthe hairs leaving a clean, if somewhat smutty skin. This was used onlywhere boiling water was not available. The more common method, whichwe adopted, was to lift the carcass on to a cratch and here I must digressfor a moment as this article will not be familiar to many people.A cratch (there are variations in spelling, a common occurrence where localterms are in use) was a wooden platform approximately four feet by twofeet supported on four short, stout legs about eighteen inches in height.The outer sides, formed by lengths of wood about four inches by two incheswere extended by about two feet at each end and shaped like barrowhandles. The centre being formed by stout planks, its original purpose wasto enable two men to convey heavy loads over ground unsuitable for awheeled vehicle such as a wheel barrow. It also served very well for thepurpose in hand.When using the scalding method of hair removal, it was necessary to havecopious quantities of boiling water available and this was obtained from awashing copper previously filled and heated. Four or five buckets of boilingwater were poured over the carcass and two or three people wouldimmediately start to scrape it clean. The butcher himself usually used oneof his larger knives but a variety of instruments were brought into use. Oneof the more unlikely ones was a metal candlestick which was gripped by thestem, the edge of the base being used as a scraper! An unlikely toolperhaps, but one that was surprisingly effective. When one side had beenthoroughly cleaned the process was repeated on the other. The horn, ortoe nails, were removed and a slit cut through each hind leg just above thehock. The ends of a strong, scrubbed piece of wood about two feet longinserted into the slits, a rope or pulley was attached to a bracket in thecentre and the carcass was hauled up and secured to a suitable beam, orbranch if the operation was being carried on outside. Then began the workof dealing with the meat and offal.The three or four days following the killing were ones of concentratedactivity which required careful planning and extra help. Although it involvedmuch extra work, this was tackled with good humour since it meant that alarge proportion of the family’s food for the ensuing year was secured.After the pig had been killed, the first things to be taken into the housewere the small intestines to be cleaned and prepared as skins for thesausages. The offal, consisting of the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys andsmelt were next, and lastly the leaf. This large piece of hard white fatsurrounding the kidneys was rendered down to provide lard.As soon as everything had been taken in, preparations were begun;one lady being detailed to clean and prepare the sausage skins; asomewhat lengthy process involving repeated washing and cleaning inseveral lots of salty water, the skins being turned two or three timesPage 33

during the process. A second job, one which my mother usuallyundertook herself, was the preparation of the pig’s fries. This consistedof thoroughly and washing the various types of offal which were thencut up into small pieces, a mixture being placed on dinner plates. (Somefamilies also included the lights but we did not, these were put to oneside and cooked for the dogs.) Apart from our own share, plates weremade up for relatives, who would be killing their own pigs later andwould return the compliment, and for older friends who were no longerable to keep a pig of their own. When these had been prepared theywere covered with a piece of caul, a thin lacy substance forming theinner lining of the stomach, and placed somewhere to cool and awaitthe final ingredient. This consisted of small pieces of pork which wouldbecome available when the pig was cut up on the following morning.The preparation for the rendering down of the lard would be undertakenby a third person. A large iron pot would be placed near the fire towarm and the leaf placed on a wooden board. The outer edges wereremoved and any small pieces which had traces of meat adhering tothem, these being put aside to be dealt with later. The best of the leafwas then cut into small pieces and placed in the pot over the fire.Whilst it was heating, the lard crock was brought out and placed ready.This crock was a large earthenware vessel which was reserved for thisspecific purpose and never used for anything else. When the lard wascompletely rendered and had become a clear, colourless liquid, it wastransferred into the waiting crock. This, in itself, was a delicateoperation as great care had to be taken not to touch the bottom of thepot with the ladle and so disturb the residue. When all the lard hadbeen extracted, the crock was carefully carried away and placedsomewhere cool- in our case the dairy - to cool and set. It produced asuperfine white lard which was reserved for use in all the best cookingthroughout the ensuing year.Once this was safely out of the way, the residue in the bottom of the potwas removed with a slotted spoon providing small crisp pieces of fatwhich were placed on a dish to cool. The remainder of the leaf was cutup, placed in the pot and rendered down in its turn. If, as sometimeshappened, a small amount of the previous year’s lard was left over itwas removed from the crock, which was washed out and scalded, andadded to the second batch of leaf to be re-rendered. When ready, thesecond batch was removed to the waiting crock and taken away to cooland set. Although excellent lard, it was not as fine as the first batchand was used for frying and more general cooking purposes. Thescraps from the bottom of the pot were removed as before and as thesehad small pieces of meat attached to them they were darker in colourand slightly harder and were known as lean scraps. These were addedto the scraps from the first rendering . (I know that some people todaywould not fancy them but I can assure you that they provided a coupleof very tasty teas and were eagerly anticipated.) When the lard crocksPage 34

were completely cold and set, a piece of greaseproof paper was placedon top of the lard and the mouths of both crocks were covered with twoor three sheets of clean newspaper tied firmly down. They were placedon a cold slab until required for use. This completed the first day’swork.When the butcher returned next morning the carcass would be takendown and placed back on the cratch for cutting up. First to be removedwas the head which was taken off close to the shoulders. After the eyeshad been removed the lower jaw was detached and sawn in two halves,these we called chops but were known in the trade as Bath Chaps.They were placed to one side then carried into the house to be lightlysalted and were the first portions of the new bacon to be eaten. Theears were removed and the remainder of the head was sawn andchopped in half lengthways. The brains were then extracted and placedin a saucer. In our case, they were taken into the house to be cookedlater for my father who was very partial to them. Otherwise they wereincluded with the head, trotters, tail etc. to be stewed along with thebones and any other pieces to make brawn and gravy for the pork pies.The hams were next to be removed and these were carried straight intothe house and placed on the salting trough. There remained a largeportion of meat of an irregular shape which was cut off square acrossthe carcass and, when cut, provide two or three roasting joints and themeat for the sausages and pies. The rest of the carcass was sawn inhalf along the centre of the backbone, proving the two flitches. As wasgenerally the case with dry salting, the shoulders were not removed butleft as an integral part of each flitch. When these had been carried intothe house the cutting up was complete and the cratch was scrubbedwith hot water and soda, thoroughly dried and put away for the nextpig.Before returning to the kitchen, my next job would be the preparation ofthe salt for curing. This was of great importance as the thorough saltingof the carcass was essential if the bacon was to be kept dry and sweet.Father was most particular about this and insisted that a block of puresalt, weighing about a stone (14lbs 6.4kg) was purchased from KenHale, the baker, for this purpose and there were very good reasons forgoing to this extra trouble. Firstly, it was pure salt without any of theingredients which were added to household salt to enable it to runsmoothly. Secondly, as a block wrapped in a paper covering, it was lesslikely to absorb moisture and thirdly, having been stored in the loft overthe bread ovens it would be as dry as it was possible to get it. Thismeant that it was in the best possible condition to extract the moisturefrom the meat, something which is essential if the bacon is to be keptfresh in the ensuing months. In order to achieve this, the block wasunwrapped and placed in a large galvanised bath where it was first cutinto blocks and then crushed by a heavy rolling pin, or other heavyPage 35

wooden implement, until it was fine and smooth. This processcontinued until sufficient had been prepared for the first part of thesalting, the remainder being wrapped back in its covering and storedsomewhere warm and dry. The bath was carried down to the dairy andleft next to the salting trough ready for use.My next job was to deliver the plates of pig’s fry to the friends andrelatives, the ladies helping with the work, of course, taking theirs homewith them. I quite enjoyed this task and was occasionally given a pennyfor doing it. A somewhat peculiar superstition had developed in relationto this which was that the plate containing the fry must be returnedunwashed. How, or why, this had arisen I do not know but it wasalmost universally observed.However, to return to the kitchen; the first job was to prepare thesausages. Once the roasting joint had been cut and taken to the coolslab in the dairy, the requisite amount of meat for the sausages wasremoved from the bones and cut up into small pieces. We usually madeabout twenty pounds of sausages to an old family recipe. When the meathad been diced it was put through a large mincer and placed in a largeearthenware bowl. Dried bread crumbs, previously prepared, were addedin appropriate quantity, (about a quarter the weight of the meat) choppedsage and finally salt and pepper, the whole being thoroughly mixedtogether. A sausage making tube having been fitted to the mincer, alength of sausage skin was fitted over it, the outer end was knotted andthe mixture put through the mincer again. When the length of skin hadbeen completely filled the other end was knotted; the length folded in halfand the individual sausages formed by giving the skin a couple of twistsat the required position. As the length had been folded over, thesausages were, of course, formed in twos and after the first ones hadbeen formed all subsequent pairs were threaded back through thepreviously formed pair until the end of the string was reached. Thisprocess was repeated until all the meat mixture had been usedwhereupon the strings of sausages were taken to the dairy and hung upto cool and set.Whilst this was being done, preparations for making the pork pies gotunderway. The large iron pot which had been used for rendering thelard was again placed on the fire with the appropriate amount of water.As the water was heating, the meat was cut from the bones into smallpieces. Unlike the sausage meat, this was not minced but left in smallpieces with pepper and salt thoroughly mixed in. No other ingredientswere added. As soon as the water was heated, lard from the secondrendering was added and the mixture heated until the lard had allmelted and combined with the water. Plain flour was sifted into a largepancheon, salt and pepper were added and the pancheon placed nearthe fire to warm. When the lard and water mixture had reached thecorrect temperature (which was decided by experience) a hollow wasPage 36

made in the centre of the flour and the mixture gradually added to theflour until a stiff paste was formed. This was then lifted on to a flouredboard and thoroughly kneaded for eight to ten minutes before beingreturned to the warm pancheon, covered over with a cloth and left torise for about an hour.Whilst the paste was rising, the pie moulds were prepared. We madeabout fourteen or fifteen pies, some 2lb in size and a smaller number of1lb size. The 2lb pie was about six inches in diameter and six incheshigh when completed and the 1lb pie was two inches smaller each way.When the paste had risen sufficiently, it was removed from thepancheon, given another kneading and returned and recovered. Piemaking then commenced! A quantity of paste (again decided byexperience) was taken, placed on a floured board and rolled into a circleabout ¼ inch thick and eight inches in diameter. A pie mould wasplaced in the centre and the paste gradually worked up the sides of themould, great care being taken that an even thickness was maintainedthroughout. This was a very skilled job and took a considerable time tolearn to do it properly. When the sides had been raised to the top, themould was gently twisted and turned by one hand whist the othergently held the case until it could be lifted out cleanly. The completedcase was left to cool and set.Once all the cases had been formed and set, the prepared meat waspacked in , care being taken to completely fill the case. Further pieces ofpaste, which had been kept warm, were then rolled into a circle andplaced on top of the filled case to form a lid. The top and sides of thecase were pinched firmly together, after trimming, to form a seal. Fourholes were made in the lid by a steel or other sharp, circular implementand the pies were placed on a baking tray ready to be taken to the bakehouse. The time for them to be delivered was arranged with the bakerbeforehand as the pies had to be placed in a cooling oven after the day’sbread had been made. They also needed to be put into the oven assoon as possible after delivery because the paste would soften and thesides of the pie sag and bulge if they were left standing in the warmbake house for any length of time. I remember that my motherinspected them very closely when they were brought back and she wouldhave sharp words with the baker the next time he called to deliver breadif this had happened.The next day, after the pies had cooled and set, about four of themwould be wrapped in greaseproof paper and placed in biscuit tins; acouple of sheets of newspaper would be placed over the tins and thelids firmly replaced. This formed a virtually airtight seal and, kept in acool place, the pies would keep fresh for up to four weeks. Theremainder of the pies were then gravied by pouring the reduced stockthrough the holes in the lids by means of a funnel and as soon as theyhad cooled they were ready for use or to be dispatched to relatives. APage 37

proportion of the stock was allowed to get cold and was put on one sideto gravy the stored pies when they were brought out. Using thismethod we were able to have fresh pork pies for a month to six weeksafter pig killing.The final job was to make brawn out of the remaining meat and apartfrom the curing, the job was then complete. Father always undertookthe curing himself, with my assistance when I became old enough, andthis was always started on the evening after the pig had been cut up.The flitches and hams were lifted off the salting trough, which had adrain hole in its centre, and after placing a large bowl under the drainhole, a layer of dry salt about three or four inches thick was spread allover the trough. A flitch was then replaced on the trough, skin side upand dry salt was worked, or rubbed, into it until it would not take anymore. The flitch was then turned over, flesh side up and a small pieceof salt petre was placed in any veins or cavities and pushed well up witha finger. This was done to withdraw any impurities, such as dried blood,which might remain and be detrimental to the keeping qualities. Freshsalt was then rubbed into the flesh until it too would take no more. Theprocess was repeated with the second flitch and both hams but in thecase of the latter, a good quantity of soft, brown sugar was rubbed in aswell as the salt. Finally, the chops were well salted and placed besidethe flitches, the whole being covered with a final thick layer of salt andleft to cure.After ten days the flitches and hams were lifted and as much salt aspossible cleaned off them. They were laid on one side and all the salt,which was now very wet , was cleaned off and discarded. The drainingbowl was emptied and replaced and fresh dry salt from the remainder ofthe block was spread thickly all over the trough. The hams and flitcheswere replaced, skin side up, and re-covered with a thick layer of drysalt. The chops were removed at this point and, after thoroughcleaning, were hung up to dry. After a further ten days in salt, theflitches and hams were lifted, thoroughly cleaned of loose salt and ahole was cut in the end of each flitch. A loop of thin rope, attached to apiece of wood, was passed through the hole and they were hung up sothat air circulated all around them in a warm place to dry them out. Thehams were treated in the same way except that, in their case, a loop ofrope was placed round the leg just above the hock. The drying out timedepended upon the weather. If it was cold and damp the drying wouldtake longer than if the weather was warm and dry. Once they weresufficiently dried out a closely woven linen or cotton bag was placedover each flitch and ham. This was drawn up and the neck tied tightlyround the rope. A second coarser hessian bag was then drawn overthe cotton one and this in turn was tied tightly round the rope. Eachpiece was lifted back so that it hung just clear of the wall and left tomature. (I have already explained that the reason for double baggingPage 38

was to prevent a species of fly from laying its eggs on the flitches andhams.)I make no apology for having described this process at some length andin detail. Until little more than fifty years ago, it had been a normal andvery important part of rural life for centuries and indeed, up to the earlypart of the twentieth century, provided almost all the meat available tomany village families. Very few, if any, people cure bacon at home nowand unless documented, present and future generations will have noidea of what was involved. I trust that I have not offended those oftender sensibilities and, of course, such bacon as I have described,would not be acceptable to many people today. However, there aremany older folk, like myself, who regret its passing. The hybrid type ofpigs produced today are not suitable for home curing; slaughtering isonly allowed in public abattoirs and the handling of the carcasses is notsufficiently careful to allow the preservation of the meat for any lengthof time. Another part of everyday life has passed into history.Page 39