John Rix: Farming in the Stour Valley

The Results of the Nayland Test Pit Digs
Dr Carenza Lewis,
Access Cambridge Archaeology

There were almost 100 people in the Village Hall on Monday 29th September to hear Dr. Carenza Lewis's review of the Results of the Nayland Test Pit Dig which took place last October. The audience included volunteer diggers from outside the village along with site owners, representatives of Nayland Primary School, the Parish Council and the Nayland Scouts.

Dr. Lewis described the finds from each of the 33 pits which have been analysed by experts at the MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge and an interesting picture of the origins of Nayland has emerged.

There is evidence of Roman activity in the form of shards found in undisturbed layers on the west side of the village, near to the A134/Bear Street junction and then on the Stoke Road in the east but nowhere in the village centre.

There were only 2 sites in the village showing evidence of the late Anglo Saxon period (Thetford Ware), one of which was not far from Court Knoll which is thought to be a Norman moated site.

The grand finale of Dr. Lewis's fascinating talk was to discover how the Nayland finds compare with average finds of each period in the context of the bigger picture in East Anglia.

• 6% of Nayland pits produced 2+ sherds of Roman pottery (regional average is 7%);
• 6% of Nayland pits produced 2+ sherds of Late Anglo-Saxon pottery (c. 850-1100 AD) (regional average is 9%);
• 50% of Nayland pits produced 2+ sherds of High Medieval (c. 1100-1350 AD) pottery (regional average is 35%).
• 72% of Nayland pits produced 2+ sherds of Late Medieval (c. 1350-1550 AD) pottery (regional average is 19%).
• 76% of Nayland pits produced 2+ sherds of Post-Medieval (c. 1550-1800 AD) pottery (regional average is 51%).

The general feeling of the meeting was that we should arrange another smaller dig in the future to advance our knowledge of the origins of the village, if funding can be found. It would also be good to dig some test pits in Wiston.

Speaker: John Walker, architectural historian: Ten Years with Suffolk Timber Framed Houses

John Walker gave a really fascinating talk. His presentation cleverly showed how buildings have evolved over the centuries and what they would have looked like in their original form.   He also highlighted the difference between the framing styles of North and South Suffolk.  For instance, chimneys tended to be at the High End in North Suffolk and in South Suffolk they were at the Low End of the building. 

He showed us several buildings in Hadleigh, particularly those in the High Street, where the wall tiles in the butchers shop hide the original timber studwork and what appear to be Victorian brick built houses are actually medieval timber framed buildings with a brick outer skin.  He went on to demonstrate the development of kitchens which were attached to the house and often had no windows and no direct access to the main house.  Evidence of this was clearly seen in photos of partly sooted roof timbers.   Inventories with descriptions of buildings are also used to identify what the original structure looked like which helps to show what elements have been lost. 

Speaker: Neil Catchpole  on 'Trees and the Stour Valley'

About 90 people were in the Village Hall to hear Neil Catchpole, Landscape and Biodiversity Officer of the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project give a fascinating talk about the Trees of the Stour Valley at our Joint Meeting with the Horticultural Society on November 13th.  

He explained the difference between pollarding and coppicing and how these methods of controlling tree growth are suited to different species.  i.e. ash, oak and willow can be pollarded,  but hazel and elm are more suited to coppicing which also helps to control the beetles which spread Dutch elm disease.   The local hotspot for ash dieback is Arger Fen and he advised the best method to deal with this airborne disease is to rake up and burn ash leaves in gardens and woods which will help to stop the spread of the fungal spores.

Neil's talk about trees in the Stour Valley was booked over a year ago, and how topical it turned out to be.

Speaker: David Cawdell on
'The Lost Bands of Suffolk'

There has been a huge reduction in the number of brass bands not only in Suffolk but in the country generally. To a large extent this has arisen as a result of the population migrating to towns from the villages and the consequent reduction in the rural population. David's research was quite extraordinary. Working from old photos of bands (sometimes obtained on the internet) he has managed to trace former band members to obtain their memoirs. Highlight of the evening was the production of a band jacket which had featured in the film "Brassed Off" …..purchased on Ebay for an undisclosed sum!

26th June 2012

Speaker: James Grinter
on 'Royalty and Reemans'

About 60 members and friends heard the fascinating story of how Reemans came to be the only auctioneers in the country to have specialist royal sales.    James Grinter said it all started 4 years ago when they were asked to sell the contents of  William Tallon's flat.   He was the Page to the Backstairs to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and had been with her for 51 years until her death in 2002.   During this time he had saved numerous notes, letters and photographs, some of which made several hundred pounds auction in 2008. The collection realised a total of £440,000.

James told us that Reemans have a mailing list of 700 people from all over the world who bid on line, on the telephone and in person, at royal sales.  He showed photographs of an red investiture chair which made over £100, and several photos of the Duke of Windsor.

In answer to a question as to which royal subject is currently the most collectable, he said that any letters, photos or objects connected to Princess Diana fetch the highest prices.

Meetings change:  before the talk members approved the proposal to move all future open meeting to Mondays (from Tuesday) in order to accommodate the Nayland Youth Club who have booked the hall every Tuesday throughout the year from January 2013.

Meadow footpath cutting:  Members were asked to let the Hon. Secretary know when the public footpath beside the river gets overgrown, so that it can be cut by our contractor.   This might help to stop people using an unofficial track beside the fence which is damaging the wildflower belt and which was mistakenly cut by Suffolk County Council recently.

Tuesday 13th March 2012

Annual General Meeting
Speaker: Anna Kettle on 'Pargeting'

Martin Wright, as Vice-Chairman, stood in for John Alexander at the meeting which was attended by about 70 members and friends.

The White Hart continues to cause concern.  The Society has adopted the Wiston kiosk which will be re-instated in Bear Street in due course. We supported the change of use of the Church of the Sacred Heart to domestic residence.  Plans for our 40th anniversary in 2014 are already in hand. We are hopeful that the long awaited book by Leigh Alston on the timber framed buildings of Nayland, will be completed by 2014.

The Accounts were presented by the Hon. Treasurer and the Officers and Committee were duly elected. The Committee has lost Andrew Eldridge who stood down due to other commitments.

Richard Wiles was thanked for all his hard work on maintaining the planted areas near Horkesley Lock and the Nayland Meadow and in recognition of this we have decided to name the Meadow planted area Richard’s Wood, which he has graciously accepted.

In accepting the role of Life President, Barry Wakefield spoke about the importance of the Society’s Constitution and that he sees the Conservation area as an ongoing living entity. His words of thanks in accepting his election can be viewed on News page.

In her talk Anna Kettle explained that pargeting is really plastering with a decorative streak. Lime plaster is used because as the timber frame moves the plaster moves with the timber.  The lime is mixed with chalk and animal hair as a bond.   Later in the 19th century, sand was also added.  It becomes a sticky mixture and so can be moulded onto internal ceilings as well as walls.

Combs and wooden moulds were used to achieve the desired effect.  Popular patterns include, the fan, woolskein, and basket weave.  Colour was too expensive and often patterns were marked out in red or black.

Plaster in high relief needs support and on outside walls lead was used – or stainless steel today.   First floor decoration was favoured because it was less likely to be damaged, so the ground floor walls were often left plain.

History: 
The Assyrians first used pargeting – incised and built up plaster – to create different ways of creating shadows.   The technique died out after the Romans and was not re-discovered until the Renaissance, when it was copied from Pompei.

Henry VIII brought the skill to England and his Nonsuch palace was a sophisticated example of Tudor workmanship.  Blicking Hall in Norfolk has examples of panels showing mythical beasts entwined with strapwork (flat) ribbons of plaster.

The fashion died out during the puritan period but after Charles II highly ornamented Jacobean pargeting became more sophisticated.  The Ancient House at Clare is a fine example of an almost complete free flowing pattern in high relief.  The advantage being that the shadows thrown out are well defined in 3 dimensions, which is what makes pargeting different from painting.  The Ancient House in Ipswich and houses in Hadleigh and Lavenham feature a mixture of freehand modelling of figures with additional details moulded on a bench and added later.

The fashion died out in about 1780 when timber framed houses were replaced with brick buildings.   

There was a mini revival with the Arts and Crafts Movement in 1900 with plaster (and sometimes cement) panels being drawn into by hand.  Latterly colour was used but the shadows do not show up and the effect is lost.

Anna Kettle specialises in lime plaster repairs, plaster conservation, freehand modelling in lime, overmantels and pargeting.
Pictures of her work can be found on her website:  www.kettlenet.co.uk   She can be contacted on Anna@kettlenet.co.uk

At the joint meeting with the Horticultural Society on Tuesday 8th November Shirley Boyle, head gardener at the RSPB Flatford Wildlife Garden, gave an interesting talk on Gardening for Wildlife. She also introduced the Flatford project, their first dedicated wildlife garden, which is coming to fruition on land bequeathed to the RSPB 10 years ago.

Shirley bagan by explaining that gardens make up 300,000 hectacres of land in Britain so making them wildlife friendly is vitally important and can help create corridors to enable safe wildlife movement. As well as providing year round food, water and nectar from flowers, it is important to provide good shelter and places to breed in the form of bird and insect boxes, log piles, hedges and shrubs. By encouraging the wildlife at the bottom on the food chain it will benefit the predators all the way up the food chain. We will be rewarded by having a diverse range of insects, birds and animals who will naturally help control pests on our plants.

A very cultivated woman, she ran a London practice as well as the sanatoria which she visited twice a week up until her death in 1936.   The East Anglian and the Maltings Farm Sanatoria continued without her until 1943 when both were bought by the British Legion to treat women with TB and they finally closed in 1957 when antibiotics produced a full cure for the disease.

Speaker:  Rosemary Knox on  'Dr. Jane Walker and her hospital'

Dr Jane Walker was one of the early women doctors who had to qualify abroad.   She studied the new German method of treating TB through diet, fresh air and exercise and was the first to bring it to England where in 1901 she founded the East Anglian Sanatorium at Nayland.   Assisted by her friend Millicent Fawcett she eventually added both a sanatorium for working people and a children’s sanatorium and developed a system whereby patients were trained in useful skills and encouraged to work on the hospital farm when they were partially cured but not able to return to the outside world.

AGM Report and talk on
The Tendring Hall Estate

Our AGM on Tuesday 8th March was one of the best attended ever with almost 100 people packed into the Village Hall.  

The Officers and Committee were re-elected with the addition of Mike Hunter as a co-opted member as follows:
Chairman  John Alexander, Vice Chairman Martin Wright, Hon. Treasurer Jennie Jenkins, Hon. Secretary Andora Carver, Committee: Margaret Dowding, Pauline Heigham, Jill Badman, Clemency Doxey, Andrew Eldridge. 

Hector Wykes-Sneyd gave a fascinating talk about the history of Tendring Hall and the Estate which comprises 3,000 acres of land and woodland, 45 buildings (including 25 listed buildings), 1 ancient monument and employs 3 full time workers.

The Manor of Tendring was mentioned in Domesday and in 1749 Admiral Sir William Rowley purchased the Estate.   The family have owned it ever since.   The house was designed by Sir John Soane in 1784 and built at a cost of £9,000.  The park was laid out by Humphrey Repton.

The house was used by the army in the War and the decision was taken to demolish it in the 1950s because the cost of repairs was prohibitive.  Unfortunately all that remains of the house today is the front door portico which is a listed building. 

In 1968 Sir Joshua Rowley entered into a contract with the National Trust to protect the landscape and buildings.

Tenanted farms range from the highly technical production of onions and potatoes to
traditional farming using draught horses.

The water meadows are predominantly let for summer grassland grazing and there are also bat willow plantations which bring in a regular annual income.  There is a 10- 20 year rotation with 150-250 trees being harvested annually.

The shoot has benefits for both estate vermin control and land habitat which results in very diverse birdlife on the estate.  There is also a collection of veteran oaks on the estate which are several hundred years old.  The woods are managed to produce final crops of largely oak and chestnut.

Redundant barns are conserved rather than demolished and the 17th century watermill at Thorrington Street is still in working order.   There is an 18th century dovecote in the park and the estate has provided many local amenities including village allotments, a cricket ground, and a hardcore road from Shaddelows Farm to the A134 to relieve traffic in Nayland.

The ethos of the Trustees of the estate is to be aware of their obligations towards their tenants, staff and the local communities whilst operating a successful business to safeguard the Estate for future generations.

Hector Wykes-Sneyd gave a fascinating talk about the history of Tendring Hall and the Estate which comprises 3,000 acres of land and woodland, 45 buildings (including 25 listed buildings), 1 ancient monument and employs 3 full time workers.

The Manor of Tendring was mentioned in Domesday and in 1749 Admiral Sir William Rowley purchased the Estate.   The family have owned it ever since.   The house was designed by Sir John Soane in 1784 and built at a cost of £9,000.  The park was laid out by Humphrey Repton.

The house was used by the army in the War and the decision was taken to demolish it in the 1950s because the cost of repairs was prohibitive.  Unfortunately all that remains of the house today is the front door portico which is a listed building. 

In 1968 Sir Joshua Rowley entered into a contract with the National Trust to protect the landscape and buildings.

Tenanted farms range from the highly technical production of onions and potatoes to
traditional farming using draught horses.

The water meadows are predominantly let for summer grassland grazing and there are also bat willow plantations which bring in a regular annual income.  There is a 10- 20 year rotation with 150-250 trees being harvested annually.

The shoot has benefits for both estate vermin control and land habitat which results in very diverse birdlife on the estate.  There is also a collection of veteran oaks on the estate which are several hundred years old.  The woods are managed to produce final crops of largely oak and chestnut.

Redundant barns are conserved rather than demolished and the 17th century watermill at Thorrington Street is still in working order.   There is an 18th century dovecote in the park and the estate has provided many local amenities including village allotments, a cricket ground, and a hardcore road from Shaddelows Farm to the A134 to relieve traffic in Nayland.

The ethos of the Trustees of the estate is to be aware of their obligations towards their tenants, staff and the local communities whilst operating a successful business to safeguard the Estate for future generations.