FROM WEALDEN COPPICE TO THE BATTLEFIELDS OF FRANCE
During World War 2, the chestnut fencing industry, which drew its raw material from much of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, geared itself up to a huge demand from the Ministry of Defence. Prior to D-Day, problems were foreseen in maintaining transport links over rough terrain and roads made unusable by bomb or shell damage. In World War I at the battle of Cambrai, where British tanks appeared for the first time, major obstacles were the massive German trenches which acted as "tank traps". To counter these, large bundles of brushwood were carried on the front of each tank, to be laid across the trenches to provide ersatz bridges. Smaller bundles of faggots were used as standings for the very considerable number of horses employed in that era.
Churchill VII AVRE with fascine on tilt-forward cradle
The military application of these "fascines" goes back to classical
times. They were used by the Romans to build up defences or to fill in ditches
for impeding attack (the word fascine derives from the Latin fasces - a bundle).
During the 1939-45 war, there was available a ready-made "fascine",
namely a convenient roll of chestnut pale fencing, also to be carried and dropped
where required as fill-in or as a "bridge". Also, chestnut fencing
unrolled over muddy or soft ground, made an effective trackway for wheeled
traffic. In its manufacture, palings are wired together, most often 75mm (3")
apart, but spacing can be varied from "close" (i.e. touching) to
125mm (5"). The number of lines of twisted wire was increased for greater
strength, in order to be load-hearing. To meet the demand, fencing manufacturers
were encouraged to convert any suitable timber into palings, even as sawn battens.
This was a notable departure from normal, as the British Standards Institute
had strict rules governing the use of sweet chestnut only, for those manufacturers
who sold fencing to BSI configuration.
Wadhurst and the surrounding district has many ancient sweet chestnut coppices,
originally planted to provide charcoal for fuelling the Wealden iron industry.
When coal replaced charcoal, the industry moved away to the Midlands. Fortunately,
the introduction of hops to "fuel" the brewing industry, gave impetus
to the coppice owners to maintain their still valuable source of this adaptable
timber. Hop poles were needed in large numbers, especially in the early years
when each hop "hill" (plant) had its own pole to climb. Now, sadly,
the requirement for chestnut products has dwindled. Whereas hop-growing was
once one of the major occupations of the Wealden farmer (witness the converted
oast-houses around Wadhurst alone), the acreage of hops has fallen drastically.
Alternatives to chestnut fencing abound: fewer coppices are being harvested
regularly on the optimum 12-14 year rotation; sweet chestnut, when allowed
to grow on indefinitely, becomes useless for any other purpose than as charcoal,
another declining home product.
As a postscript to the use of "fascines", the Gulf War of 1991
provided pictures of allied tanks going into battle carrying very large bundles
of plastic piping, to be dropped into the "berms" or defensive
ditches, history repeating itself! Michael
Berks
Sources: Henry Hodges, "Technology in the Ancient World", Michael
O'Mara Books Ltd. 1996.
David Shermer, World War 1, Octopus Books Ltd., 1975.
The Wadhurst Rate Book 1759 - 1772
Among the interesting items in the library of Hole Park is this Rate Book, which records the rates paid for all the property, in private ownership or tenanted, across the Parish, listed by Quarter.
The book was obviously in poor condition but has been thoroughly and professionally restored and most of the text is reasonably clean and legible; it is on loan to the Society for three months.
It will certainly repay detailed study and it may prove worth a full analysis, not only for the names of local residents and landowners of the period but also for the additional information that can be gleaned from the detail. It will also show the extent of individual’s land holdings - and, maybe, of significant changes in them over the period covered by the book.
Professional help may well be needed in interpretation and, indeed, in deciphering parts of the text - and there will be an interesting challenge in matching the place names to today’s geography of Wadhurst; we shall need all the collective memory and knowledge of our members!
A
few random entries for 1772:
Lord Combe Pratt for Stivers Gages Shoesmiths
Burgises & Buckland #Cotts Rent £17..--- Rates £1..11..2 ;
Go. Stace
for the windmill Rent £8 Rates £.. 14..8 ;
Mrs Tompsett for ye Pitfield Rent
£1..-- Rates £.. 1..10 ;
Mr Vigor for his House & ye Town fields Rent
£10.. 10.. Rates £1.. 1.. ;
Jno Elliott for the Windmill Land &. Woods
Rent £12 ..-- .. Rates £1.. 4 .. MJH
The Entrance Hall - Snape
from a sale catalogue
