House Magazine No. 4 - Winter 1974

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Cover Illustration

This illustration of a wind pump was published in 'The Relative Advantages of Wind, Steam and Motive Powers', by Samuel B. Goslin in 1881. It is almost identical to the Pevensey wind pump now under repair by Peter Stenning, and is due for re-erection in the Spring. The Pevensey wind pump is mounted on much lower brick piers and will be sited on the edge of the lake.

This article entitled 'Copse Cutting' was written by Albert West, second son of F. W. West, who lived in East Dean all his life except for three years in New Zealand, 1899 - 1902. He spent his whole working life in England engaged in the underwood trade, commencing at the age of nine. His brothers, Arthur, Alfred and Henry were also underwood Workers. Both Albert West's grandfathers followed the trade.

F. W. West worked most of the time on the Goodwood Estate, and it is to this area that the article applies.

Albert West commenced work in the woods in 1941 after spending two years on the farm. He has now emigrated to New Zealand where he is engaged in apple growling in Hawke’s Bay.

Character of Woodland used

There was considerable variation in the character of woodland used from one area to another and in the subdivisions of individual copses, too. Some parts were about 90 per cent chestnut with a little ash and birch.

There are still areas of this remaining in the Valdoe Copse on the Goodwood Estate and much more in places between Midhurst and Fernhurst.

Other copses consisted mainly of hazel and these were used for hoops, hurdles and spars. Most underwood was mixed consisting of hazel, ash, chestnut, maple, birch and a little oak. These woods were all useful for various purposes. Birch was very good for making faggots; ash, chestnut, oak and maple were used for stakes of different sizes, chestnut and oak being the best for fencing posts and rails. Among the more unwelcome species were running privet, bramble and old mans beard. 

The coppice lands were formerly very extensive and covered many acres of steep country unsuitable for farming; as well as good flat land. Most of this has now been overplanted by the Forestry Commission with beech and different varieties of conifer. The coppice wood was allowed to grow for eight to twelve years for suitable material for hurdles, hoops and spars, etc. For fencing wood grown to twenty five years made better posts because more heart timber was formed. 

Method of Sale

Areas of standing timber used to be sold by auction, but this method had ceased before I could remember. During the period when I bought underwood from the Goodwood Estate purchase was by tender. A catalogue containing the areas for sale duly numbered with the measurements and location was sent to those engaged in the work. Tenders were normally presented in person on a set Saturday about the middle of October and payment made at the time. There were also opportunities for private purchase. cutting could commence immediately after the sale but most copsemen preferred to wait until the leaves were off the trees. 

Methods of Cutting and Tools Used

The cutting season extended from October to mid March. The copseman's tools were few. They consisted of a four-pound axe and a ten inch billhook, usually parrot beaked for cutting down and half moon shaped for tying up. For sharpening the old hands used a "blue" (simply a suitable piece of slate). There is still a piece in my shed at East Dean. In more recent years we used carborundum stone or a worn file.  During the early part of this century and before, tools were hand made to individual requirements at Liphook, Hampshire by a man named Hoss. These tools had a reputation for being good tempered. It is possible that there may be some around in old people's woodsheds and they would be very suitable museum material. Later, tools were mass-produced by Whitehouse, Ellwell and Brades. The quality of these varied quite considerably. 

When commencing cutting a copseman always began from the higher side and worked towards the lower. Since the wood was felled and laid in tidy rows, this ensured that his head faced uphill when tying up.  When hoops were in demand three rows were made.  A ‘cant’ (narrow strip about 30 feet wide) was  cut down through the coppice.  In the centre was a row consisting of top suitable for faggots; bunts and pea-sticks. Hoop rods were tossed in a row on the right side of this and hurdle rods on the left. Hoop making had ceased before I began copse work so I had no experience of that side. There were fascinating names given to the different sizes of hoop cut out but I do not remember them. 

Whilst cutting down the underwood it was normal to cut out all cord wood, poles, clothes posts, fencing posts, clothes props, stakes from six feet to ten feet for pergola work, etc., and also larger wood for faggots.  Spar making timber was also cut out and tied up in bundles.  The old copsemen cut the posts and stakes out by eye with their billhooks. In latter years we measured with a notched rod and sawed to required lengths with a bow saw. 

Conditions of sale required underwood to be severed from the "stam" (root) in a workmanlike manner. 

There was usually enough dry wood and rubbish to keep a fire going - welcome during cold spells, but a nuisance when wind blew the smoke where you were working.   Leather glove was often used on the left hand when clearing away dry wood, brambles and rubbish from the useful timber. Hands suffered from severe chapping and needed frequent applications of suitable ointment. 

In the middle of the Winter it was dark when you arrived on the job and dark when you left. When not stripped to your shirt you wore a "slop" (a loose fitting jacket). Rough rag bandage and some ointment were the copseman’s first aid kit. Cuts were not uncommon and stitches were needed on occasions. My father used to make his own ointment from brown pitch, bees wax and olive oil.  This was wonderful for rubbing on the hands to prevent chapping and good for any poisonous cuts or sores. He also made home-brewed beer to take to work until the 1939 - 45 war. A thermos of tea and a bottle of beer were the usual drinks. This was not a strong brew, but healthy thirst-quenching body-building drink. I can remember the preparations for brewing - cleaning out barrels and the copper and the appetizing smells of the hops in the copper as the brew was being made. 

The woodman carried his food tied up in a napkin and put in a straw plaited bag which was carried across his shoulders.

Rarely were heavy raincoats carried, but a large four foot diameter umbrella was extensively used. These were light, rainproof and provided shelter when it came on to rain and you were far away from home. 

A copseman did not come home unladen.  A bag “ends” (short pieces of wood suitable for the home fire) was carried tied to packer sticks which rested upon both shoulders.  At other times a “shoulder stick” (usually a good dry piece of beech or other firewood) was carried home for the fire. 

Tying Up and Cutting Out

This normally commenced in March and continued until June by which time the top was getting dry and the withs hard to wind. Hurdle wood was cut out and stood upright in a circular pile. These piles were often covered up with bunts to keep the wood fresh until the hurdle maker was able to use it.  The top from the hurdle rods was cut out for pea-sticks and bunts. Pea sticks were cut in two sizes, long for tall pea varieties and short for smaller ones. The large bundles were counted twenty to twenty-five sticks per bundle.  With the small you used your judgement. 

There was skill in cutting out and tying up these sticks so that they looked rjght and handled well. All bundles were tied by "withs" (small rods wound and turned to form an eye through which the butt end was put and pulled tight around any bundle being tied up). Faggots were made from birch top and odds and ends of all the other species of woods. This top was commonly called “thriff”.   Five sticks 1 1/2  inches to 2 inches diameter and just under four feet long were laid on a with. This formed the base of the faggot. Small top was then cut and placed. on the sticks, care being taken to cut below the forks so that a springy bundle resulted which pulled up neatly and stayed tight. One more one and a half inch diameter stick was placed on the bundle when the required size was obtained and the butt of the with was then put through the eye and pulled hard. 

At the same time the faggot was kicked with both boots to ensure sufficient tightness so that the wood did not slip about. This required strong arms and tended to make shoulders round. 

Boots were made of kip leather seamless at the back.  It was hard on the leather and boots usually lasted only one season. 

After tying the faggot it was trimmed neatly with the billhook to enable it to be placed whole in the baker's oven. Most faggots were used for bread baking but some were used for household purposes. Bunts were made like a faggot without the large wood on the outside. Sometimes the faggot wood was split and this made a very good looking product. 

“Bavins” (large untrimmed bundles of wood) were sometimes tied up. These were used for kindling wood.  Bush bavins were used in brick kilns. 

Bean rods were cut out eight feet long and bundled up in twenty-fives.  “Legers” used under the thatch on houses; tied up in bundles of fifty; these were four feet long. Tomato and flower sticks were tied in fifty and twenty-fives respectively. 

It was a great sight to look up the long lines of faggots stacked in fives and tens. Three lying down and two stacked against them for five, and six lying down with four standing against them for tens. 

All produce had to be carried out to the nearest bridle path before the underwood began to grow again. This was a laborious process involving much back work. Cord wood and stakes, spar timber and pea and bean sticks were carried on the shoulder. Faggots and bunts were wheeled out on a long barrow specially made for the purpose. You could wheel five faggots or ten bunts on this. Otherwise a pitchfork was used and you carried two faggots on your back and one under your arm or three bunts on your back and one under each arm. This was hard work often on uneven ground.

Faggots were put up in stacks of one or five hundred beside the access roads. The top of the stack was brought to an apex to form a roof so that the water ran off. 

A good man wheeled out and stacked one thousand faggots a day. After the 1939-45 war we used four by four lorries for extraction purposes.

This work was formerly done by horses. There were many difficult places to get out of and getting stuck was a not infrequent occurrence. 

Hurdle and Spar Making

Hurdle making was done through many months of the year. Severe frosts and snow makes wood brittle and hard to wind.  Also after July winter cut wood deteriorates. Mr Ernie Austin would give you precise details about hurdle making. For spar making the timber was bundled into long for four feet and three feet and short for two feet. Sometimes spars were made on the spot in the copse and sometimes the timber was brought to a shed where the spars could be made in wet weather. Four foot lengths were used for corn and straw stacks; three feet for hay stacks and two feet for barns and houses. The timber was trimmed and cut to length on a post driven into the ground. It was then stood up against the cleaving block which was simply a post usually of maple driven into the ground and stayed on the front and left sides to keep it firm.  

Cleaving was by adze. These were made by the local blacksmith and had a hammer head on one side and the cleaving blade on the other. Size of timber would vary from pieces sufficient for two spars to pieces which could cleave into twenty. Twos to tens were preferred because vary large wood entailed more cleaving. When working alone about enough wood for a bundle of spars of two hundred and fifty was cleaved at a time.

A large leather pad, often an old gaiter, was hung under the arm on the left side of the body. This took the pressure when the body was used in conjunction with the adze to guide the splitting of the timber.  Pressure on one side or the other combined with manipulation of the adze while you were pushing the timber through kept the split straight down the grain. Hazel from some areas had a characteristic twist in the grain. This made cleaving more difficult. 

Pointing the spars was done in a sitting position. Pads were tied around the knees. These were usually the tops of an old pair of boots and were very necessary in order to protect the knee and make it firm for cutting on. Three rapid cuts usually made a fine point and then the spar was turned over, and pointed on the other end. This made six cuts per spar, two hundred and fifty to the bundle, and a bundle was sometimes pointed in twenty minutes although twenty five minutes was more normal for two feet and half an hour for four feet. 

Whilst pointing the spars were graded into three categories, facers, medium and crooked. The facers, approximately fifty in number were carefully laid on the withs first when tying up a bundle. Then twenty five medium, twenty five crooked and twenty five medium. This was repeated twenty five medium, twenty five crooked, twenty five medium on the next layer and then two handfalls of twenty five medium were placed on top. This ensured that crooked spars were in the middle of the bundle where they would straighten out a good deal under pressure. The facers made a good clean outside to the bundle. The spars were then placed on two pieces of wood above the ground and piled up in a heap after being covered up to prevent deterioration. 

Tallies

Copsemen were not usually paid by the hour but according to how much they did. This made a great incentive to work for high tallies. The work attracted persons of above average energy and of an independent spirit.

Eight acres was a good winter's work for cutting. Whey tying up, 100 faggots per day was normal. My father was able to make one hundred and seventy five in good conditions and once made fourteen thousand in a season. This was exceptional. He also once cut out a quarter cord of wood in twenty minutes. He was a very powerful man though only about five feet, three inches in height and extremely fast. He used to tie up twenty five to thirty bundles of pea sticks each in an hour often and he has topped two hundred bavins on occasions in a day. Hurdle makers used to make a dozen hurdles per day on average, two hundred dozen per season. There were two men, one by name of Wilson and another called Wheeler Wiles who used to make eighteen per day and three hundred dozen per season. Wheeler Wiles, used to arrive on the job often before daylight between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and work through non-stop till 12. noon lunch.  He was an unusual character but a good workman. Wilson used to push a barrow to work each day and take home firewood often long distances.

Wheeler Wiles lived at Halnaker and Wilson at Cocking. For spar making, four bundles of four feet was a day's work and about six bundles of two foot spars. Often my father and I have made twelve bundles of four feet or sixteen bundles of two feet and I have made thirteen bundles of two feet on my own when the timber has been trimmed and measured for me. This would be working from 4 a.m. until 6 p.m. with two half-hour stops for lunch and tea. We once turned out three hundred thousand spars in one season between us.

General 

A high proportion of the population were employed in underwood work in earlier days. My father was in partnership with his elder brother Henry West and Torn Kennett at the turn of the century. They employed a number of men including about six hurdle makers who would make approximately twelve hundred dozen hurdles per season. They also handled forty or fifty thousand faggots per year. There were other men in the business - notably J. W. Blunden and Sons based at Halnaker. They employed a large number of men cutting and tying up and hurdle making.

George Thomson, Director of the Ulster Folk Museum.

Summary of a paper presented at the European Association of Open Air Museums Conference held in Graz in the summer of 1974.

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In 1958 the Government of Northern Ireland passed an Act of Parliament to establish an Ulster Folk Museum for purposes of "illustrating the way of life, past and present, and the traditions of the people of Northern Ireland”. As I have said on numerous occasions in the past, this was, in its own way, a remarkable event. In the first place Governments are not given to establishing museums; they may be encouraged eventually to give support to existing museums, but actually to create one by parliamentary decree is unusual and untypical. Secondly, Northern Ireland has few, if any, of the classic conditions which elsewhere have given birth to folk museums. Irish nationalism, for example, is by no means a popular concept to the majority of northerners.  Nor have they a strong sense of cultural identity, for they have been too concerned with political and religious identity to worry about cultural origins. 

Nevertheless a state folk museum now exists, and in retrospect one might be tempted to think that its emergence was prophetic, for in the past few years we have had a situation in Northern Ireland which, to an appreciable extent, has been generated and sustained by a basic ignorance of the subject matter that folk-life study and folk museums represent. 

Northern Ireland is a political entity, which, for a little more than fifty years, has been a self-governing part of the United Kingdom.  The population of approximately one and a half million is sixty five percent Protestant and thirty five per cent Roman Catholic. The Protestants generally favour remaining citizens of the United Kingdom.  The Catholics to a large extent incline towards an all-Ireland Republic.  Thus, in terms of religious identity and political objectives Northern Ireland has two communities. 

This division is reflected in day-to-day life in a number of important respects. In particular, education, except in Universities and Technical Colleges, is segregated on a Catholic / non - Catholic basis.  Despite the fact that school children all work for state examinations and therefore study the same general curriculum, there is still room for differences of emphasis which tend to distinguish Catholic school education from that of non - Catholic schools. The Irish language, for example, is generally taught in the former, and rarely if at all, in the latter. Regional history with its traditional concern for political and constitutional issues, or military conquest can be - taught either from an Irish or British viewpoint.  And so, formal education in Northern Ireland, already segregated into Catholic and non - Catholic schools, can be further divisive in terms of subject matter, and if one adds to this the supplementary educational influence of home and church, one recognises a situation which threatens to ensure that the Northern Irish problem will continue to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to solve by peaceful means. 

Several considerations arise from this:- 

1)   If education is a significant factor in the perpetuation of our problems, then it should also become a significant factor in helping us to solve them.  

2)  If schools are segregated on a religious basis, and if, as is presently the case, it is not likely that integration will occur in the foreseeable future, we should use educational institutions other than schools to achieve at least partial integration. 

3)  History has shown that community divisions derive largely from religious and political issues. But history also shows that at the level of day-to-day social life the influences, interests and activities which people share in common far outweigh those which cause divisions.   Unfortunately the history generally taught in schools pays little attention to this. .

The historian J. H. Fabre might have been speaking of Ireland when he said that "History celebrates the battle-fields whereon we meet our death, but scorns to speak of the ploughed fields whereby we thrive". 

We who are responsible for the development of the Ulster Folk Museum see our job as one of producing an institution whose function is ultimately to educate. It is still a young institution, in the early stages of physical growth, and in normal circumstances we would have hesitated to attempt any active teaching activities so early in the Museum's history. But as you may know; circumstances in Northern Ireland are far from normal; and we feel that the disturbing events of the past six years have compelled us to test the Museum’s educational value sooner than we would have wished. 

Our main objective was to promote awareness and knowledge of the broader social traditions in which divisive political and religious issues are reduced to proper proportions and seen in proper perspective. We wanted to illustrate that in quantity and importance the traditions which united people far exceeded those which caused division. In particular we wanted to transmit this simultaneously to groups of young people from opposite sides of the political and religious boundaries, for we realised that unlike our segregated schools; the Museum could involve school children of differing religions backgrounds in collective educational activities.

We began two years ago by arranging a conference for a representative group of teachers. We described to them the Museum’s resources and suggested how in the present Northern Ireland situation they were both relevant and important. We asked for their help and advice in arranging a preliminary teaching programme. 

As a result of this initial conference we organised our first experimental course for forty sixteen-year-old children, half from Catholic schools, half from non-Catholic schools. The course lasted one week and involved attendance at the Museum each day from Monday to Friday during normal school hours.  The young people were told at the outset that the course was experimental. This may or may not have been a wise thing to do. It is, perhaps, debatable.  We also divulged by way of an introductory talk that our general intention was to show them something of the cultural identity of which they were the inheritors. We were interested to know if in their eyes it either justified or challenged the concepts by which their community was being tragically and violently disrupted. 

The young people followed the course in small study groups, again arranged deliberately on an interdenominational basis. By the end the week they had been introduced to as many differing aspects of local material and non-material culture as time permitted. 

The afternoon of the final day was reserved for a critical discussion of the course, when we invited the participants to be as honest and forthright as possible in giving us their reactions to it. Personally I was pessimistic. I felt that perhaps the general purpose of the course would be a difficult idea for school children to understand. 

Furthermore, I suspected that they would hesitate to express their opinions. But in fact the results exceeded our hopes. Not only did they understand surprisingly well the thinking behind the course, but they obviously found a genuine fascination in things which for them represented an identity more fundamental than that of religious adherence, or political association. 

They were also critical but their criticisms tended to emphasise the surprising success of the experiment.  They felt, for example, that the course would have been considerably improved by being residential so that they could have supplemented formal daytime sessions and strengthened new inter-religious friendships with evening discussions and events. They suggested that such courses should not be confined in future to school children. They assumed, and expressed concern, that as sixteen year-olds leave school, and move into adult life they would thus become prevented from taking part in future courses. courses.   They further suggested that there should be a repeat course to which they might bring their parents. 

I would have liked to have had time to elaborate more fully upon the effects of this course, but since my time is limited I can only report briefly that as a direct consequence the study of Ulster folk life is now becoming adopted as a teaching subject in schools, particularly secondary schools. Teachers in Catholic and non-Catholic schools have already collaborated with each other in organising study projects to be carried out by combined Catholic and non-Catholic classes. 

These generally involve two or three full days attendance at the Folk Museum, and the emphasis is usually on practical work on such topics as traditional cookery, craft work and folk drama, which is actually carried out in one or more of the Museum's reconstructed houses. 

In one school local folk life has become an examination subject for the Certificate of Secondary Education. Pupils taking the examination are required to make use of the Folk Museum resources in preparation for a three part test comprising a written paper, an illustrated thesis resulting from individual study of an approved folk life topic, and an oral examination in which pupils identify and answer questions on a series of objects lent for the purpose by the Museum.  These developments are actually taking place in advance of a properly established educational department within this Museum.  However a specialist Education Officer begins work on the 1st October to expand and develop as fully as possible the foundations already laid. 

There is one element in all of this which I would like to make the subject of a final comment. Some of you may feel that, so far, our approach to the educational function of the Ulster Folk Museum comes close to using the Museum as an instrument of propaganda: or perhaps more accurately, counter-propaganda.  I am aware of this, just as I am aware that it is not a new idea; possibly even a dangerous idea, suggestive of social conditioning and collective brainwashing. However, if you recognise this tendency in anything I have said so far, I make no apology. 

The fact that something used foolishly and excessively is dangerous does not invalidate the belief that if used wisely and in moderation it can be beneficial. In relation to the present situation in Northern Ireland we see the Folk Museum as a social instrument with considerable and far reaching potential.  We feel that, like folk museums generally, its educational role is a complex, and still relatively unexplored subject, and that to determine that role we may have to challenge and set aside some romantic old-established and outdated ideas about the function of the Museum in modern society.

Many of you will have seen George Newell and Pam West working on the Museum site during the last few years and the blue survey pegs in the ground. 

Mr Newell has written an explanation of the work for the newsletter.

SU 872127

What is it? Or more accurately, where is it? Those who use maps will recognize it, for it is a grid reference from an Ordnance Survey sheet.

Commonly called the National Grid Reference; more formally, it is the intersection of the east and north coordinates measured from a false point of origin some hundred kilometres west of the Scilly Isles. In this instance it is the unique reference which gives the geographical position of Gonville Cottage on the Ordnance Survey maps of England and Wales. 

But where are Winkhurst, Hambrook Barn and our other buildings in relation to Gonville Cottage, or, for that matter, the rest of England?  We can be reasonably sure that they will eventually be plotted by the Ordnance surveyors but, in the meantime, our only reference is the 1912 Edition of the 1/2500 scale local survey sheet: even so, this sheet shows, in addition to Gonville Cottage, the tree clumps - now sadly depleted, the "Tree of Heaven" and the Cedar in the meadow between the Cottage and the Forge and also the Chestnut near Titchfield Market Hall. These features, however, are not good reference points and the development plans so far produced have made somewhat wild and erroneous guesses as to the true positions of the new buildings. 

To reduce the guesswork and for other good reasons, an accurate and large scale survey of the whole site became essential. Undaunted by the thought that some forty years had elapsed since my last exercises in this field, but spurred on by the fascination and the satisfying nature of the techniques involved, Pam West and I set about the task during the late summer of 1973 and with, I must say, some thankfulness, the survey apart from some of the woodland areas, is completed. I am happy to introduce Pam at this point because without her kind-hearted offer and continuing helpful cooperation, the work could not have been attempted. 

Much of the site slopes steeply and this fact together with the many trees and other landscape features increased the physical difficulties (personal and technical) and made a trigonometrical survey necessary. This method (on which the Ordnance Survey is based) depends upon overlaying the area by a network of triangles. Those who walk the downs and other high places will have seen the small concrete pillars with a circular bronze plate let into the top. These are national triangulation pillars, there should be one on the Trundle; and each is a focal point for several very large triangles. On the micro-scale of my survey of the site, the blue topped pegs scattered about, in what might appear to be unlikely places; are my triangulation points.  A lot of effort has been needed to establish them, and so, please, do not disturb them. Given the triangles and a base line measured from one of their sides, it is possible to calculate all the remaining sides and thus check the accuracy of the main survey lines before any plotting is started. The sides of the triangles are aligned to follow natural boundaries and other important features (buildings, tree clumps and roads) and the fieldwork is completed by measuring short offsets from the survey lines. The extent of the survey is about 750 yards east to west and 220 yards north to south. 

While the survey gives an accurate two dimensional picture of the site it is necessary to record a third one, namely, the differing heights of  the various  portions in relation to each other. This is obtained by taking levels and relating them to a common datum. Levels are needed to set out the cut-and-fill to form the level plateaux on which most of the buildings stand: they were required, in addition, to provide for drainage reasons, the almost unnoticeable fall of six inches on the Saxon Hall site: they will continue to be used to design the upper and lower ponds for Lurgashall Mill, where the height relation of the wheel to either water level is critical. Our instrumental aids solve these problems easily and accurately. If enough general levels could be taken it would be possible to contour the site. It would be nice to do this, but, for the present, levels (even now some hundreds) have been restricted to various strategic areas. 

Ordnance maps are contoured to show lines of equal altitude. But, again, the question is, altitude above what? Apart from the contours the whole country is covered by bench marks, each indicating and having a fixed value above and related to the mean sea level at Newlyn, Cormvall.  It gives me quiet pleasure to remember that it was possible for me to arrange for the Museum to be graced with its own officially recorded bench mark, namely, the milestone near the Toll Cottage. When Mr Armstrong brought it to the site from its old location at Upper Beeding, I noticed that apart from indicating mileage, it carried the broad arrow of a bench mark and that the small stud on the top indicated the actual datum. The mark has been levelled and registered by the Ordnance Survey and will appear on future revisions of the larger scale maps: its value is 204.42 feet above Newlyn. All the site levels are related to it and hence to the national network. 

The linear extent of the survey has been mentioned. It may be of interest to give a few details concerning the slopes; for, the estimation of levels by eye can be deceptive. The ground level at the milestone can be assumed to be about 202. The level of the southern boundary, beyond the new car parks is 298. The threshold of Bayleaf is 214, the centre of the floor of the Saxon Hall 253. Other than the car parks which have some precipitous slopes, the rise from the clump below Winkhurst to the house itself, is perhaps one of the steepest, a rise of 33 in a distance of 264 feet. 

Kim Leslie

Probate Inventories (continued)

Part 1 of this series briefly explained the reason behind the creation of this type of document and showed something of their value to the historian through the inventory of John Glover, a Singleton farmer who died in 1777. In this article a further Singleton inventory is given, this time of William Goodger (alias Goodyer), who was a carpenter. 

The Inventary & Praisal of all ye Goods & Timber of William Goodger of Singleton in ye County of Sussex, Carpenter. Praised this thirty Day of January 1705/6 by us whose names are here underneath written, 

Imprimis as Followeth 

Besides giving an extremely detailed picture of Goodger's Singleton home, complete with its own private brewery – ‘ye Drink house', a common feature in many country houses at this time - the particularly valuable point of this inventory is its itemised list of the contents of his carpenter's workshop and timber in stock. So often inventories simply list ‘working tools’ without any further information. With his saws, axes, grinding stone and other implements we are given a good idea of a small country carpenter’s workshop. One of the problems with such an inventory, however, is understanding unfamiliar technical terms. Some of the less obvious terms which have been identified are as follows:

Pottle        : a pot for storing liquids
Tunnel       : a funnel
Renlett      : a storage container for beer
Kever        : probably a keeler : a shallow tub for cooling beer
Frou          : a froe or frow; a tool for cleaving
Spitter       : a spade

Whilst ‘too Reggs, too Fleeches’   probably refers to rugs and fleeces, there still remains the problem of identifying ‘Serches’  kept in the kitchen, and the 'Post Ladle' in the list of his working tools. 

Ideas from Volunteers will be welcome including any recommendations for books with information on carpenters’ tools in history which might help.  

Finally the date. This is given as the 30th January 1705/6.   Before the reform of the calendar by legislation of 1751 there were two reckonings for the beginning of the new year - either the 1st January or the 25th March. The practice of giving an alternative reckoning for the period between 1st January and 24th March is quite common in documents from the mid-17th century until this mid-18th century reform. 

The original of this inventory is preserved in the West Sussex Record Office, Chichester, and is reproduced here by courtesy of the County Archivist, Mrs Patricia Gill. This transcript, which follows the original in spelling, has been slightly modified in punctuation and in certain contractions to give a clearer rendering. 

In the original there is an inconsistency in the number of zero marks in the pence column which have here been made uniform in style. The words 'In ye Kitchen' appear as an added marginal insertion one quarter of the way down the first page of the inventory. Most probably this should be placed immediately after the first entry as given here. 

The following are recommended for those wanting further information on inventories: