Surrey Homes | SH49 | November 2018 | Gift supplement inside

Jane Howard’s
Fables from
the Farm
Ever seen a tantony running in a platt?
Jane digs deep into agri-history
Sitting having my morning cup of coffee, I picked up the
paper and on the Games pages came across Wordwatch,
where you get shown different words with three possible
meanings for each and you have to choose the correct one
One of the words was ‘tantony’. Turns out t’s another word
for ‘runt’ as in the little one in a litter of pigs. Not one I’d
ever heard, but then neither was a ‘shut’ which my friend Bill
informs me is another name for a weaned pig. So you could
have a pen of shuts with hopefully no tantonies.
I just love all the agri-history stuff. How about
walking down a traid (rutted path), to a platt (grass field
between woods) to find your missing swingletree (part
of a horse harness)? The history of Sussex cattle is every
bit as fascinating. Sussex are one of several red-coloured
breeds found as far back as Roman times roaming across
southern England. The others include the Red Poll, the
Lincoln Red and the North Devon.
The South Devons were evidently rather more promiscuous
as they now sport a rather fetching
Caramac (that dates me) coloured coat. But
back to the Sussex. Across the Weald and
into Kent these cattle, called oxen – a word
I’m sure you recognise – were primarily
a draught breed used for ploughing and
hauling timber.
In his work A Tour of Great Britain
published in 1724, Daniel Defoe talks about seeing a tree
drawn on a timber ‘trug’, four wheels upon which the trunk
was laid, pulled by twenty-two oxen – quite some tree and
just imagine what would happen if that lot had decided to
take off!
Gradually horses replaced draught cattle in most parts of
the country, but because of the thick clay, horses struggled
in the Weald so oxen were used for far longer here. They
Draught oxen in an old picture Jane
found in her aunt’s house 50 years ago
“Oxen were also a
common form of
transport, and not just
for the peasants”
were also a common form of transport, and not just for the
peasants. Not far from Lewes, Defoe spied an ancient lady of
good quality going to church in a coach drawn by six oxen.
But by far the most inspiring snippet is an article by Lord
Sheffield written at the end of the 18th
century. By all accounts, a young Sussex
ox broke all previous records when it ran
the four-mile race-course at Lewes, sadly
closed in 1964, in just under 16 minutes.
Ok, so the fastest racehorse recorded in
history was galloping along at just under
44mph and this cow was clocking only 15
but even so that has to be impressive. A new opportunity for
Channel 4 racing?
So in many ways these cattle have always been dual
purpose, the original multi-taskers, only fattened for eating
once they were no longer strong enough for the yoke. Fast
forward now and many of our native cattle are still doing two
jobs. Livestock grazing plays a key role in maintaining speciesrich
habitats in many environmentally important parts of the
South East like the Pevensey Levels, Surrey Heathland and
South Downs.
In these areas they eat many of the aggressive species like
coarse grasses to allow others to flourish, their trampling
creates gaps which allow seedlings to grow and by removing
plant material much more gradually than topping or cutting
for hay, it gives mobile species like mice and beetles a chance
to move to other areas within the habitat.
So they’re doing a really good job in maintaining the
landscape…and then we eat them. Plus ça change.
Follow Jane Howard – and the farm – on Instagram @coopersfarm
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