Early Days at Bodiam - 1
Early Days at Bodiam - 2 

EARLY DAYS AT BODIAM - 1

At the beginning of this century Daniel Hall, Director of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, was approached by the Dublin Brewery to find them an average hop farm in Kent, such as would be likely to reveal in its running the average troubles of the average grower. Hall had previously been the principal of Wye College which was founded in 1447 by Cardinal Kemp and which, in 1894, was opened as an agricultural college by the Kent and Surrey County Councils. Hall had, therefore, a wide knowledge of the hop growing region of south-east England.

He would know that the surrounding lands of ancient Colleges and Abbeys would not be of the worst and it may well be that the Abbey of Robertsbridge suggested to him the idea of making enquiry thereabouts. He was not to disclose the names of the interested parties. This wiped out the Abbey Farm, as the owner (a retired Indian Army Colonel) refused to proceed until he knew their names. However, there were adjoining two properties, "Udiam" belonging to a banker from Rye, and "Ockham," erstwhile country house of the Lambs of Rye.

These two farms were hired, and under Hall's direction, and the managership of S. Colyer, were taken over at Michaelmas 1905. Colyer was a farmer-cum-hop-grower, not a hop-grower; he increased the acreage of hops from its original 40 to 125 by 1910, but it was reduced again to 50 acres by 1917. (His successor in 1917, the author of this article, was, like Colyer, one of the original Wye students of 1894 and had been growing hops for himself in Kent since 1900).

The author has seen those 50 acres grow to nearly 800. The sketch map of the Hop Farms shows many fields, diversely named. The meanings of some of these fields have been lost in time or local knowledge: for example, "Garil Mead" has always gravelled the author - although a "garil" is a name, derived from the Gaelic, indicating a sub-division of land among the children of a chieftain - Irishmen in Sussex? Ockham stood for water (oc), not oaks! Hammer Brook was used for working the huge hammers for the local iron industry. Crainham was a haunt of herons or cranes. Udiam meant "the woody place" - even now many Sussex people speak of "ood" for wood. The Udiam Oak is an ancient landmark -not necessarily the same tree - it marked the limit of "Scotted" land, or land which was taxed for maintenance of drainage. Landowners up-stream got off "Scot-free." "Hope" was named by the author as an obvious neighbour to "The Wish" - mistakenly, because "The Wish" stood for "Wista" - a measure of land. "Pipers" comes - rather obviously - from "pipe," a small stream. St. James's Gate Brewery was built on "the land known as the Pipes" in Dublin. On the "Clappers" there were no doubt devices to control the flow of water, which are still known as clappers.

The two farms were not well provided with roads then but, in the course of the next twenty years many thousands of tons of brick and rubble, etc., were carted for road-making as the acreages increased. In 1905, if wet, it was necessary to go via the Junction Road and Bodiam Hill to get from one farm to the other. The road to Bodiam Church from Udiam was over the stepping stones behind the farmhouse on to the land which runs via Park Farm to Bodiam forge, or to Ewhurst Church via the lane leading out to Brasses. This was the drier way but it is said that a farm wagon used to wait to take the wouldbe churchgoers to Bodiam on the north side of the Rother near the Udiam Oak. The road from Bodiam Station to the village is known as the Ferry, and the landing stage is under the Bodiam Post Office, as they found when building it. The Lambs would have taken all day, and a long day, to travel from their town house at Rye to their country house at Ockham by road. It is more likely that they travelled by barge on the river. The last one was seen about 1930. According to a chart of the English Channel made in 1585, ships still carried cargoes to Robertsbridge.

In early days, the Rother was navigable as far as the Udiam Oak and carried out, among other things, the products of the iron industry long established in this area. The Sussex smugglers did a flourishing trade in guns with the French, and although few of the cannon (which were probably the years the most important products of the forges) now survive, there are many old iron firebacks to be found.

This iron industry depended for fuel on the ancient charcoal burning industry settled in the district, which later was used in the drying of hops. Large quantities of timber would be cut and piled in a heap like a shallow cone, with a central chimney. When the whole mass had been covered with damp weeds and turf, it would be ignited from the centre and would "burn" for 72 hours. The "Colyer" or "Collier" would keep a keen eye night and day to make sure that no actual flaming took place, which would destroy his pit entirely - the aim being partial combustion. Water was supplied by 100 gallon water bodges, horse-drawn.

The "Colyer" at no time seemed to use it except to regulate his pit fire. After 72 hours, the air-excluding material would be removed and the charcoal collected - four tons of wood would make one ton of charcoal. The "Colyer" would be most careful to select a spot for his own shelter to windward of the burning site and in front of its windbreak, otherwise he might share the fate of many tramps who sought shelter in warm lime-kilns at night and perished by carbon-monoxide poisoning - or the otter who slept beside the charcoal pit near Ockham and whose stuffed remains stood for many years in Ockham House as a handsome memorial to his own ignornace and misfortune.

Nowadays the charcoal burner has vanished from this part of the world and only a few fading photographs remain to tell us of this ancient native industry, although a movement is afoot to erect a charcoal factory in Sussex.

The Kent and East Sussex Railway was opened in 1900 - the removal of ballast from the top of "Hilly Field" made the quarry or pit that is there to-day. It runs from Robertsbridge on the London-Hastings Line to Headcorn which is on the London-Folkestone Line. It is much used by the hop-growers and pickers, and as a store - demurrage was not considered very much: the farmers unloaded on Sundays or on overtime if necessary. Affairs went very smoothly for many years, although at that time the sidings at Bodiam and Udiam used to be very crowded - much to the satisfaction of the Railway Company of course. Up to 10,000 tons of refuse from Southwark needed some elbow-room - of this, more later on! And in case of a strike on the Railway, Jim the Guard, would, by carrying some railway milk churns, convert himself into a milk train and so keep running. 

EARLY DAYS AT BODIAM - 2

L. P. Haynes continues his reminiscences of the early days of the Hop Farm

Hop-growers have found that hops pay for feeding and thousands of tons of crushed refuse from London boroughs have been composted by Kent growers. Many hop-growers have lost money in fattening cattle in order to feed the hops well on the resulting dung. Shoddy waste from Yorkshire mills, turkey feathers from Ireland, guano, slag, potash and phosphates in various forms, meat and bone meal, hair, hare and rabbit flick and skins cut up, fish heads and guts from fishing ports are all useful. These are now dried, ground and delivered in bags as "manure," but between 1920 and 1939 they were delivered in all their natural condition. They were made up in huge compost heaps, mixed with other waste from the farm and were ready to spread over the ground in from nine to twelve months' time. A strong growth of grass and weeds was encouraged, to hold the manures and stop erosion, and this too was ploughed in each year, to enrich the soil in its turn. Up to 10,000 tons per year of such refuse, especially when it contained rotting fish, bone and cotton seed husks, was a source not only of magnificent food to the growing hop bines, but, as can well be imagined, of a rich and powerful odour capable almost of being seen. This led, however, to no harmful results: in fact, the ground prospered as it grew in acreage, and the noses of those who worked on the compost heaps developed a new and splendid tolerance.

Many different systems of growing and cultivation have been tried in the past. In 1917 there were German hops being tried in "Lodge Field" - leaves of rhubarb appearance - but no hops. Also, in the "Forges" were some of the earlier Wye hops known as the "Foundlings."

They, like many other trial hops, have been grubbed out as not satisfactory - or have died. There was but little wirework up to 1917. A piece of "Butcher", behind the Ockham Oast was of the kind introduced by a man of that name at Faversham in 1875, and a piece of "Umbrella" work was erected by an outside firm on Crainham in 1905, made of deck timbering imported from Norway. Some is still in existence. Eventually the present system was adopted, of erecting a wood and wire frame over the plants from which coir yarn could be suspended to support the bines on their upward climb. About 10,000 miles of this string, made of Indian coconut fibre, would be used each year, and this would be disentangled and balled during the winter. The work was done at a slightly higher cost than that charged by the importers, but the womenfolk had a rich harvest at the job. Moreover, it was work well done, because the husbands would have the task of fitting the yarn to the wirework in the spring, and bad balling and knots would lead to trouble.

This system enables the pickers to go to the hops, instead of having the bines cut and brought to the pickers. It was found that the cutting of the hop bine led to loss of sap and so to weakening of the hop plant, and many hop-growers feel that in this respect hop-picking machines are not desirable.

Picking machines have been on the market since 1894, but few seem capable of dealing with an English crop. There is a tendency to make the machines, which are used only for three weeks out of the fifty-two, much too massive - "battle-ships for shrimping", as has been said. The first picking machine we ever purchased, in 1937, was designed and made in Worcester and although not perfect was by no means the worst ever made. Others have been tried and experiments are still being carried out to find the type most suitable to our needs. No effort has ever been spared to improve the methods used either in planting, cultivating, picking or drying our hops. The McMullen Oasts, for example, were of entirely new design and were built economically with a view to easy adaptation or alteration to coal or oil, or any other fuel which might come along.

As the acreages increased, so did the demand for water for hop-pickers. For spraying or washing we always had the Rother on our side. The water-diviners helped out for a time (no water, no pay) and drew the attention of the Hastings Corporation who, as usual, were panting for water. However, Professor Sollas in his Chair at Oxford got out a great set of maps, suggesting that it would be better if the Corporation tried elsewhere. This they did, and employed a firm of well-sinkers putting down bore pipes opposite the Inn door at Bodiam. They are still there, many, many feet of them, but at the end of a year no water in sufficient quantity was found. The geological map showing the "fault" which takes the Rother explains why.

Feeding of visiting hop-pickers was a problem, as numbers grew so did the difficulties: but all came into line in due course. In 1904 one shop was used by a local grocer and sheep were killed for those desiring meat. This, of course, was quite impossible as the acreage spread, so two grocers brought round foods, then three, until even they were overcome. One butcher came from Ewhurst and another from Robertsbridge. By 1940 we had reached five shops, run very well by one of the big grocery companies' Hawkhurst branch. In 1945, they supplied the growers with:

23,600 loaves of bread
17,400 bottles of milk
3,500 lbs. of biscuits
20 tons of potatoes
4,000 lbs. of cake
3,800 lbs. of jams
4,000 eggs
6,300 lbs. of sugar
8,250 lbs. of cheese
4,500 lbs. of margarine
2,150 lbs. of butter
1,000 lbs. of lard
25 cwts. of bacon

There were 76,000 cigarettes supplied and some 4,000 registrations made, while nearly one million coupons had to be counted - and all this in three weeks!

In spite of all the changes which have taken place over the years in the cultivation and drying of hops and the development of new and improved strains, one thing has not altered. Hop-pickers still come down to the country from London to enjoy a working holiday in the fields, and they are not only a welcome supply of labour during the critical three weeks of the season, but also a vigorous and colourful addition to the life of the neighbourhood. The communal system has never been very popular with the hop-pickers. Each family, or related group of families, still prefers to manage its own affairs in its own way, and the joy of camp-fire cooking and camp-fire sing-songs will not be replaced, at any rate for some considerable time, by the canteen and recreation room of the organised camp.

Back to Guinness and Bodiam