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LITLINGTON, CAMBS.

In the Litlington area early in the nineteenth century there was a report that, ”farmers were reluctant to improve their land by using artificial fertilizer,• but when they discovered the coprolites under their land from which this fertiliser was made, things certainly changed. and these pits may well have attracted workers from Litlington but the first records of diggings in the village came many years later.

The coprolite diggings, whenever they started, have been recorded as the reason for halting the emigration from the countryside to the towns during the mid-nineteenth century. There had been a decline in Litlington‘s population from 790 in 1851 to 693 in 1861 but by 1871 it had risen again to 768. Of the 400 males 17% were agricultural workers and 13% were involved in the coprolite business. George Sharp, aged 35, was the ”Foreman of the Fossil Works” and there were 51 coprolite diggers with John Cole the eldest at 65 and Walter Smith, aged 9, the youngest. The average age was 30.4, quite a bit higher than in many coprolite villages. There were seven lodgers who were from outside the area but with 71% born locally and 55% of them married it was generally local employment for the older men. (1871 census; V.C.H. Cambs.,vol 8.pp.54,61.)

As there was work going on in the surrounding parishes of Bassingbourn and Abington Pigotts at the time it is almost certain the landowners and farmers of land along the junction of the chalk marl and the Gault clay would have made arrangements to have the coprolites raised. By 1881, however, the industry was showing signs of decline as there were only 14 men in the parish involved. Two of them were portable engine drivers, who may well have been looking after the fossil mills or pumps at the diggings where water had become a considerable problem when the seam was found progressively deeper. (See Bassingbourn.) The import of cheaper phosphates from the late 1870‘s had reduced demand for local reserves except where they were in large enough quantities or where costs could be kept low enough to make it still viable.

There must have still been reserves of the mineral worth exploiting in the 1890‘s as there was a record of work going on as late as 1893 when Mr Russel‘s fields were being dug by Mr. Colchester, the Suffolk Coprolite Merchant who had been involved in the works in this area since the 1860‘s. He had a Coprolite works on Russel‘s land under the charge of William Dellar, his foreman who had appeared at Arrington Petty Sessions charged with selling beer without a licence. Mr. Gibson, the Superior of Excise of Hitchin reported that

“...The works were a long way off from a public house, and a cask or more of ale was obtained from a brewery (Fordham‘s? Ed.) and the men obtained the beer from Dellar, who deducted money from their wages at the week‘s end, according to the amount they had had. The beer was invoiced to Dellar, who admitted making a slight profit out of it. Profit, or no profit, however, that was of no importance, the sale of the beer was on Mr. W. Russel‘s ground and that gentleman had been warned by both the excise officer living at Ashwell and by him, Mr. Gibson, that it was illegal. George Collins of Bassingbourn employed by Mr. Colchester at the diggings stated that if more was required then Russel sent on for it.”

(Royston Crow 24th March 1893 p.6 col.1)

It was revealed that it was sold at 2d. a pint and the money was deducted from the men‘s pay on Friday, with Dellar paying Russel for the beer having deducted 2 shilling in the pound commission. In fact, the prosecution felt there was not enough evidence to proceed against Russel or they would have done so, and in the circumstances, he had to convict him but regretted doing so and instead of being fined the maximum 20 fine, Dellar was fined 10 shillings with £1.10.6d. costs with the hope expressed that Russel would help him pay! (Royston Crow,24th March,1893,p.6)

When Colchester‘s men actually finished the diggings is not certain but by 1894 most work had stopped completely. These workings would have certainly helped stimulate the local economy over the thirty or so years the coprolites were raised. The higher wages the labourers received and the large royalties the landowners received for allowing the fossils to be raised would have been a welcome addition to the villagers at that time.