IVINGHOE,
BUCKS.
The first to capitalise on the discovery of coprolites in Ivinghoe were two Leicestershire coprolite merchants,
Joseph Lee and Joseph Price. How they got involved has not been documented but
it is possible they were purchasing the coprolites from contractors in other
areas and processing them at their own works in the
The same seam outcropped not far from Wilkerson‘s works on the northern
boundary of the parish with Cheddington. Here, the
farm tenanted by Thomas Gale, now called Foxons Farm,
on the road south of Cheddington Station, the bed was
found in the Greensand between the overlying chalk marl and the gault clay. Whether it was put to tender is not certain but
quite possible seeing as though Lee and Price, in February the following year,
paid considerably more than Wilkerson for,
“...the liberty
to work, raise, manufacture and carry away all Coprolites which may be
found within or under certain lands situate in the Parish of Ivinghoe in the
(BucksRO.Ashridge Estate Papers P15/49)
It was interesting to note that there was concern about the behaviour of
the men. In many parts of the coprolite belt in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire
large gangs of men had descended into the villages resulting, not only in
problems of accomodation, but also drinking, fighting
and theft. Presumably, informed of this potential problem, the lease further
stipulated that they,
•...shall not employ for the
purposes of the workings more than six labouring Men or Boys residing at a
distance of more than eight miles from the Works and shall give the tenants of
the said lands the preference of carrying or carting Coprolites to the
neighbouring Wharf or Railway Station.• (Ibid)
They were given permission to use the water from the nearby brook to
supply their coprolite washing mill which was erected on half an acre beside
the stream at the roadside. Entrance to the works was to be at A on the map. (Ibid.) One particularly important factor, noticeable on the
maps, was the proximity of excellent communication links which would have been
of enormous benefit for transporting the washed coprolites to the
The competition from Lee and Price, whose men had only dug an acre or so
by 1871, undoubtedly accounted for Wilkerson making an even better offer to
Brownlow of £112 an acre for the land on the opposite side of the road to where
he was working. A fortnight later another agreement was drawn up allowing him
three years to work the thirty acre field, shown on the map below, which
covered five fields in the occupation of two tenants, Richard Burdett and Christopher
Buckmaster. (Bucks.RO.Ashridge Estate Papers P15/49)
He had to employ no more than twelve men or boys who lived more than
eight miles away and like Lee and Price had to allow the tenants the carting to
the wharf or station. There was a specification for a wash mill if he so wished
but it seemed most likely he would have had the fossils carted along tramways
to his works on the other side of the road where he already had a washmill and slurry pans on his initial site. Evidence of
these overgrown pans can still be seen in the woods today and they are locally
still known by that name.
All the agreements included specific instructions as to how to restore
the land so it was suitable for arable farming which entailed,
“...carefully removing the surface
soil on such land to the depth of sixteen inches at the least and shall
preserve the same on some convenient place until the workings shall be
completed and the lands restored to their original condition...” (BucksRO.P15/49)
The various tenants of the land were also compensated for their loss of
profits from the fields being out of cultivation.
By May 1871, Lee and Price had dug 4a.2r.23p. and the surveyor‘s tracing
showed two slurry pans and coprolite washing mill. By September they had dug
part of the adjoining field to the south but by that time it appeared that,
with their lease expiring, they won no further contracts. As it was Wilkerson
took over the digging, leaving them to exploit the available clay and continue
the brickmaking to provide for the booming housing
expansion that was going on across the county.
As a result of Wilkerson‘s financial problems, in August 1871 he was
compelled to sell his interest to the Wolverhampton based artificial manure
manufacturers, Morris and Griffin. They kept him on as their manager and
arranged a subsequent lease in September 1871 with Earl Brownlow to work just
over forty acres of his estate in Ivinghoe, Edlesborough and Slapton. The
agreement suggested a royalty of £100 per acre which meant over £4,000 revenue
for the Earl, a veritable fortune. The lease stipulated that they could be
allowed up to two washmills on up to two acres with six acres for slurry pans, ”for the deposit therein of the wash slush or slurry.•
As they were compelled to work at least ten acres a year and, like Wilkerson,
not employ any more than twelve men who lived over eight miles away it would
have provided very good employment opportunities for the local men and boys.
Wilkerson would have been responsible for their hiring and as he now was in
such an important position he had a house in Leighton Buzzard. (BucksR.O.Ashridge Papers P/15/49; Kelly‘s Directories
1870‘s)
It is interesting that the 1871 census returns for the parishes failed
to indicate anyone being involved in the work which suggests that farm
labourers had been engaged to do the work and they, presumably, did not see
themselves as ”coprolite diggers” as in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire
villages. Those men employed would have been working in many of the fields
along what could be called a coprolite belt running roughly west to east across
the parish and although Morris and Griffin had a lease from Brownlow, it is
quite possible that adjoining fields would have been dug where the seam was
worth digging but documentation of this has failed to emerge. Local farmers,
unlike the major landowners, had a tendency not to keep the leases, surveyors maps or account books, or if they did they were
not lodged with the Record Office.
One interesting piece of evidence was a letter from Morris and Griffin
to a Mr. Paxton, Brownlow‘s agent, requesting his influence over the matter of
their wish to economise on the matter of washmills. The owner of a piece of
land was unhappy about allowing them to cross it and they wondered if an
alternative solution was possible.
Ceres Works,
As there was no further reference one can envisage he was appropriately
recompensed should he have been able to have got the committee to accede to
their wishes.
Map tracings from the surveyors employed by Brownlow‘s agent showed that
by the September of 1874, Wilkerson‘s men had worked 9a.0r.12p of W. Burdett‘s Farm,
( 5 ) 9a.2r.24p. of Mr Buckmaster‘s Arable field ( 6 ) and 4a.2r.20p. of his Meadow
( 7 ). Other farmers fields were also worked but no
specific agreements for them have emerged. 7a.2r.2p. of Mr Harrowdell‘s
Meadow beside the Ivinghoe to Cheddington
Road was dug by 1875 ( 3 ) and a further 6a.0r.35p. of
Harrowell‘s Arable field ( 8
) just north of the present Grove Farm were dug by October. In Slapton, where Wilkerson first started, they had dug
10a.1r.31p. of Simeon and G.Brown‘s Farm ( 1 and 9 ) and, by February 1875, 11a.2r.25p. of Jason
Proctor‘s Meadow in Ivinghoe Aston. ( 10 ) An engine house ( 11 ) was marked on the map
suggesting the fossils were washed by a steam powered washmill,
the water coming from the adjacent Whistle Brook. (BucksRO
P/15/49)
By this time the lease had expired and subsequent map evidence showed
that Morris and