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HIGHAM GOBION,
BEDS.
According to
the local historian, I.O‘Dell, the main occupation of
the village in the nineteenth century was agricultural until communications
were improved. When coprolites were worked in adjoining parish of Shillington
during the 1860s they provided a variety of alternative employment for men and
boys on a very large scale it naturally would have attracted some of the
locals.
Geological
interest in the area revealed that the diggings were in operation between
Higham Gobion and Shillington from 1868 - 1875 but there is evidence showing
they continued rather later than that. (Jukes-Browne, A.J. Cretaceous
Rocks of Great Britain,‘ Mem.Geol.Surv.
1903,p186) The 1871 census revealed no evidence of anyone involved in the
industry. Maybe local farmers employed their agricultural labourers
who didn’t consider the work “coprolite” or “fossil” labour.
Another reason could have been that they saw it as general labouring.
The local
historian, James Dwyer, of Luton pointed out he was
born in ”Coprolite Cottage" in Higham Gobion. It was then three cottages, ”a doss house”, as he called it in which he believed Irish
labourers lodged. There has been no written evidence
of the Irish connection but they certainly provided a source of migrant labour about this time. The ”Doss
House” was a two storey building with six rooms upstairs and six downstairs
with a bar in the middle. Like all cottages at the time there was no inside
toilet, he reported them using a toilet bucket. As the date 1864 was scratched
on the door outside he suggests the men must have been working the pits between
the village and Shillington.
There was
concern felt in certain circles about the increase in immorality occasioned by
this invasion of diggers into temporary lodgings and the increase in beershops and the Shillington vicar would have had the
assistance of the rector in fostering a distinct evangelising
spirit. This took such a hold in the neighbourhood
that in 1873 he reported to the Bishop, ”There is a
decrease in drunkenness and morality and the condition of labour
has improved.” (CUL. EDR. C3/25)
The najor contractor at Shillington, John Bennett Lawes, had
patented the use of the coprolites in the making of superphosphate and his
company was making a massive fortune out of the business. In the early 1870‘s
he won an agreement to work fields at Apsley End,
close to the eastern boundary of the parish and his agent took on more labourers to work this area. Although agreements have not
come to light, subsequent evidence revealed he won further agreements and at
least one rival contractor moved into the area as well, realising
Lawes‘ agent was not able to work the entire area. The
fossils were raised systematically along the southeast facing slopes east of
the village with royalties being paid of over £100 per acre, an immense profit
for the landowners concerned given that agricultural rents were only about £1
an acre.
The local trade
directory in its 1877 description of the parish included, ”Here
are extensive coprolite works,” and J.B.Lawes was
recorded as ”Coprolite merchant.” (Kelly‘s Directory 1877) They were also
included in the 1885 directory, ”Rich beds of coprolites are worked here,” but
it appeared they had in fact been worked out prior to that year. (J.Murray, Handbook of Beds. 1895; Beds.Mag.10,1965 p.38)
William
Reynolds, a farmer from Coton, near Cambridge, had become so involved with the
coprolite business that he came over to this area and made arrangements with at
least one landoner to raise the fossils. Who he made
arrangements with is uncertain as documentary evidence has not emerged but when
he had finished the work in that area he realised
there was more worth raising from under the
10a.3r.31p. of the parish glebe. In 1878 he approached
the rector, Rev. W. Marvin, with a relatively low offer of £35 per acre but
uncertain as how to procede, the vicar solicited the
opinion of Arthur Wade-Gery, the Shefford solicitor.
Acting on his behalf he wrote asking permission from the Church Commissioners.
”Revd. W.H.Marvin, Rector of Higham Gobion
anxious to demise a portion of about 10a. of
the glebe land of that benefice for the purpose of digging coprolites. For this
he would be able to obtain £350 out of which must be paid tenant‘s compensation."
(Church Commission,London,Church
Commissioners‘ Files, Higham Gobion.)
He went on to
say that Marvin proposed the money should be, ”laid
out in the repairs and improvement of the chancel of the church and the Rectory
house and premises.” Wade-Gery appeared to have had
experience in dealing with coprolite agreements on other estates and suggested
it be dug,
“...within
two years of next Michaelmas and the ground levelled
and the working plant and machinery cleared off within four years of that time.
Coprolites have been worked in the neighbourhood and
excepting that the Coprolite Merchant who is willing to take the lease has just
completed those works the coprolite in the Glebe would hardly be worth working.”
(Church Commissioners‘ Files, Higham Gobion.)
A later letter
pointed out, ”Mr Reynolds,
the coprolite tenant, had been working the adjoining lands and in consequence
has all the plant he needs. The thing is too small to dig independently.” The
diary of Lawes‘ surveyor, the Hitchin-based George
Beaver, indicated at that time that Reynolds was not the only contractor in
that particular area and confirmed that the seam was all but exhausted,
”On the 11th
July 1878 I make a final survey of coprolite lands on Mr. Trustram‘s
Farm at Higham Gobion. I think this is nearly if not quite the last survey I
make on Mr. Lawes business.”
(Hitchin Museum, G. Beaver‘s diary, p115b.)
A fortnight
later, William Reynolds was successful in gaining the licence,
paying 50/- an acre rates and taxes, £4 for the timber and £362 10 0 for the
coprolites. Mr Young, who farmed the glebe and the
fields to the south, decided to act as Marvin‘s agent in the matter and
commented to the Commissioners, that he thought the rent, ”sufficient
as the digging of coprolites improves the land but the price of coprolites
seems to be little.” (Church Commission files)
£36 per acre
was very little compared to the £130 Lawes had paid in 1873 in Shillington. The
lower prices at the end of the 1870‘s were partly the effect of the
Agricultural Depression. Mostly it was due to the increase in supply of cheaper
foreign phosphates, which were flooding the market, and the exhaustion of the
seams. It seems very unlikely the ordinary farmers knew of the market
strategies of the manure manufacturers, but, having to give up the tenancy of
the glebe land without notice, Young was very keen to get compensation. He was
eventually allowed £6 per acre. Marvin‘s plans to improve the chancel were not
approved by the Commissioners. They would not even loan him the money to pay
for the improvements. They had not paid him the dividends on the investment of
the money Reynolds had given and their admission that it hadn‘t been invested
yet provoked his wrath. Describing their 20% office charges as ”so rapacious,”
he arranged an interview and much to his chagrin they again turned down his
request as the 1858 Ecclesiastical Leasing Act did not allow such use of the
funds.
By 1881 the
matter still hadn‘t been satisfactorily resolved and his request that the money
be put towards the erection of a farmhouse or cottages on the glebe was again
refused. What improvements, if any, were made in the parish were not referred
to in the correspondence but Marvin died in 1889. (Church
Commission File; Beds.R.O. P125/3/1) A Mr. H.
W. Bowman of Letchworth recalled that a bill for £800
for repair to Higham Gobion church was largely met by letting the glebe land
for coprolite raising.
There is
evidence showing that during the period 1875 to 1885 Reynolds was selling
coprolites to the Farmers Manure Company in Royston. An analysis of their
records shows that he sold them about £16,000 worth over that period but there
was no indication as to what proportion came from Higham Gobion.
Farmers Manure
Co. Royston
Coprolite
Purchases from William Reynolds 1874 -1885
Years
£. s.
d.
1875 - 6 1,372
9 1
1876 - 7 2,056 18 11
1877 - 8 2,635
4 3
1878 - 9 2,441 14
2
1879- 80 ˜˜˜˜˜
1880 - 1 930
13 0
1881 - 2 740
15 2
1882 - 3 3,499 8
2
1883 - 4 2,116
0 7
1884 - 5 689
8 3 (Herts.RO.D/Eky.B1)
I. J. O‘Dell
recorded how in 1873 his grandfather had his leg broken in the coprolite pit in
the Pightle, a field on the north side of Higham
Gobion Hill. He also described his tool.
"For
many years his coproliting shovel lay about at home.
It was about three feet long, had a knob at one end ,
a couple of decorative rings, and a round-shouldered blade about nine inches
long by six inches wide. All of one piece, iron, it would seem that it was used
wholly by hand, but pickaxes were certainly used as well. “
I. J. O‘Dell, Beds. Mag. A Vanished Industry‘1951 p.312.
These iron
shovels, according to Cyril Croot, market gardener of Potton, used to wear out
after about three years of use in the pits.
Alfred Brightman‘s correspondence with I. O‘Dell, 31/10/1936, says
that ”coproliting
was carried out in the fields East of Manor Rd. (Barton) 50-60 years ago
(c1870). There were 5 or 6 mills in the neighbouhood
of Higham Hill and one in Longfellow fields. They were tested by boring and
found about 3-5 feet down. Tons are still in the ground since coproliting ceased to be an economical proposition. “ (Wayfarings, p147?) What were
thought to be prehistoric barrows on the parish boundary between Hexton and Higham Gobion, near Ashby‘s Farm (Ravendale Farm?) were, he said, spoil heaps left over from
the industry. There were reports of a washmill on the
north end of Hexton Common too. He also indicated
there was a relationship between the industry and the increased birth rate for
the area.
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