Lead Mining Guided Walk on a dry, beautiful Sunday afternoon 28th April

The group meet outside The Barley Mow pub Bonsall

What a good turnout for the guided walk on Sunday! About 20 local residents turned up to try out the first of the guided walks to promote the local history trails around Bonsall. After a quick pint in the Barley Mow http://www.barleymowbonsall.co.uk we were ready to face the hills and dales…….

Walking past the site of the Calamine Mine near Puddle Hill just up hill from the Barley Mow

One of the many capped lead mine shafts on Bonsall Moor – using railway sleepers from the disused railway line nearby, closed as a result of the Beeching Act. D.H. Lawrence wrote about the lead mining landscape in his short story ‘The Virgin and the Gypsy’.

Peering down the shaft – this one is about 80ft deep with a corner at the bottom

Mike reads a poem written for the (mostly) illiterate lead miners to help them remember the lead mining laws, customs and liberties – he only read a short section from this very long poem.

Mike Lynch of the Bonsall History Society reads the lead miners poem by Edward Manlove.
 Titled: The Liberties and Customs of the Lead-Mines within the Wapentake of Wirksworth in the County of Derby.
London: 1653.

To find out more about Edward Manlove, a lawyer residing in Ashbourne and the full text of the poem visit https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Manlove,_Edward_(DNB00)

The dogs were engrossed

A picnic by the restored Lime Kiln near Hollowchurch Way

The official launch of the 6 History walks around Bonsall will be on Sunday afternoon 19th May – all welcome!

Plough the fields and scatter – The Landscape of Bonsall Walk number 5

Ridge and Furrow field in Bonsall – a remnant of medieval farming practice

In walk number 5, The Landscape of Bonsall, you can see examples of different archaeological features on view, some made through medieval farming practices.

One landscape feature to look out for is the ‘corrugated’ look on some fields, created because of the ridge and furrow method of farming.  There are a few of fields with a corrugated look dotted around the village. “Each field was divided into furlongs (long furrows), which in turn were split into strips. An individual’s strip was not in one parcel but scattered throughout the open fields to include both good and less-desirable land.”

 “As oxen, and later horses, trudged up and down pulling a plough, earth was banked up forming characteristic ridges and furrows.”.  Bonsall – A Village and its History

Horse ploughing – courtesy of Pegtop Farm, Woodeaton http://www.pegtopfarm.co.uk/

For further information on Ridge and Furrow in the UK see:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridge_and_furrow or more reliable source: www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba33/ba33feat.html

Plough Plays, mummers plays and the like were performed in January for entertainment:  “Twelve Night was the period of celebration between the Winter Solstice and the New Year until the Reformation. Farm work traditionally resumed in England on the first Monday after Twelfth Night (January 6th), which was the end of the Christmas season. This was the time of year when plowing began for the spring grains. This isn’t really the most appropriate time to plow in England, where the winter rains are likely to make the ground too wet, or even worse, it may be frozen. Still this was the custom”. For more information see http://piereligion.org/plowsongs.html

Here’s a lovely performance of an old Plough song…….

Old Shops and Pubs in Bonsall: History Walking Trail No 1

Thought you might like to see some photos of Bonsall, showing the old Fountain Inn then and now. This is just one of the pubs that features on the ‘Old Shops and Pubs in Bonsall’ history trail.

The Fountain Cafe 2013, formerly a pub called The Fountain

Researching for Bonsall History Trails in the snow

Bonsall covered in a mantle of snow, researching the ‘Historic Routes of Bonsall Trail‘, view of Bonsall from Stepping Lane, this path was rebuilt by German POWs.

Extract from ‘Bonsall  – A Village and its History’ published by The Bonsall History Project

“Because it was such a hot summer Evelyn Gration would often leave her newly-born daughter outside in  her pram to enjoy the fresh air. The German POWs, who had been separated from ordinary family life for so long, were enamoured of the little girl, and made a fuss of her, in German, of course. One of the POWs however spoke good English and Evelyn and her husband struck up a friendship with him, inviting him to their house for lunch on a number of occasions he was working in Bonsall. Wili Eberweuer had served in the Luftwaffe, and had been shot down over the English Channel. To begin with he had been sent to the United States to work in the cotton fields, but now, in 1947, he found  himself in Bonsall.”

Bonsall Trails Geology and Landscape Walking leaflet

Working on the first Bonsall Trails walking leaflet

Designer/Illustrator Jonathan hard at work on the Geology and Leadmining trail. Jonathan said “In years gone by the Lead Miners of Bonsall Moor would dig deep and follow rakes of lead – we’re going to do the same thing with Bonsall’s Heritage”.

In the Bleak Midwinter on Bonsall Moor

Part of the route of the Geology and Leadmining walking trail

Bonsall Moor is looking beautiful and wintry today – lots of snow and lots of prints of hare, rabbit and fox.  There is a large white barn owl flying around at dusk too. The photo above leading up to Bonsall Moor, is part of one of the walking routes about Geology and Leadmining being devised as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Bonsall Trails project. Highlights of this walk will be the numerous leadmines on Bonsall Moor and the rare flora that has evolved because of the geology and leadmining. The Bonsall Trails will be 6 walking routes with 6 themed leaflets to go with each route which will explore different aspects of the history of Bonsall. There are lots of activities and events planned as part of this project – have a look at the Programme of Events page on this blog to find out what’s happening.