Bobservation No. 113: Badgering the Post Office


Badger Cull
You may be unaware that the badger cull in England is proceeding without any proof that it is effective in reducing TB in cattle, whereas vaccination is successful. I do exhort you in any way to protest this wicked and cruel way of eliminating our largest native wild mammal. I am currently protesting via AVAAZ but you will have your own method.

Post Office Scandal
It should come as a salutary lesson to all of us that, in spite of living in a democracy, if a government or government agency wishes it can inflict grossly unfair treatment on any individual or group of individuals it cares to. Such is what has happened to the 900 or so Sub-postmasters over the last twenty odd years and is still not resolved in a fair and appropriate fashion. Whilst remaining apolitical, I would encourage you, when given the chance to cast your vote in a General Election, to consider yourself in the position of a post office sub-postmaster, and decide who you would want representing you in Parliament.

Not only this scandal has been with us but some immigrants involved with the Windrush situation are still waiting for a just and financially sensible solution to the appalling way in which they have been treated. I like to think that the racial inequalities of the past are long gone but Windrush smells of prejudice. All of the three main political parties have, over the course of time, been in a position of power during both of these miscarriages of justice and all three need to get them sorted quickly before we put our ballot in the box later this year.

Wine from Wolstonbury (2022 update)

Wolstonbury vineyard

Weeks of hot, dry weather means vines are “flourishing”, setting winemakers up for a bumper yield of grapes this year .. The drought has helped to keep mildew and pests at bay, while the hot weather has helped grapes to ripen, said Ivan Weightman, co-owner of Wolstonbury vineyard in West Sussex. “So far, so good with the heat,” he said. “The vines are certainly loving it, the bunches are swelling, and yeah, it looks great.” [Click here for the full MSN report.]

LEAF Open Farm Sunday – Perching Manor Farm


LEAF Open Farm Sunday - Perching Manor Farm

Click image above for the full poster

VISIT A FARM AND DISCOVER THE WORLD OF FARMING

Come and join us at
Perching Manor Farm,
Edburton Road, Fulking, BN5 9LR
Sunday 12th June 11am to 3pm

Tractor and trailer rides.
Farm machinery display.
Sheepdog display.
Learn about beekeeping and wild birds on the farm.

BBQ and refreshments, bring a picnic rug and enjoy the lovely scenery.
Forest school activities for the children and much more…

Free entry but please register at www.trybooking.co.uk/BOUZ
Email Angela, hello@footofthedowns.co.uk

LEAF Open Farm Sunday is managed by LEAF (Linking Enviroment And Farming). Charity no 1045781

Perching Birds

The story of how a local farm changed its farming methods and the effect on birdlife

Henfield Birdwatch are organizing a talk on Friday 25th February at 7.30pm in the Garden Room of Henfield Hall. The event is free for members and £3.00 for non-members. Refreshments will be available.

Grow at Saddlescombe

The farm hosts eight-week programmes in partnership with local charity Grow to give support and respite to people of all ages who are dealing with depression, anxiety and stress .. for the past 10 years, it has become a source of respite for hundreds of people from the city.

Lambing time and dogs

Sheep in this field

David, the farmer at Perching Manor Farm, would like to politely ask you that if you are walking with your dog in a field in which there are sheep then your dog should be on a lead. This is especially important at this time of year as there will be lambing and lambs. Notices have been posted on the field gates.

Edburton Tithe Map

This website frequently makes use of clips from the Edburton Tithe Map of 1842 to illustrate posts. Not a lot has changed hereabouts in the last 180 years so the map is still both useful and attractive. If you have ever wondered how such a map came to be, then the West Sussex County Record Office has an interesting recent post by Abigail Hartley, their Searchroom Archivist. She uses Edburton as an example of a tithe map that is still in superb condition. The map shows the ecclesiastical parish of Edburton, the area served by St. Andrew’s, and thus shows all of Fulking, together with Edburton proper.

The map is still available from the Record Office (details via the link above). Local walkers are probably best advised to order the JPEG version and copy it to a tablet or mobile phone for consultation in situ. Unlike a large scale OS map, the tithe map does not mark the status of routes as ‘bridleways’, ‘public footpaths’, etc. If you are relatively new to the area, and plan to use the map for walking, then you may want to use an image editor like Photoshop to copy those indications over from OS Explorer 122.

A tithe map, like the Domesday Book, is ultimately about taxation. To that end the Edburton map uses colour to distinguish between the buildings then used for human habitation (red) and all the others (grey), typically agricultural buildings for animal accommodation or feed storage. That distinction alone tells us quite a lot about mid-C19 activity in the central section of The Street (between the pub and the building now known as Yew Tree Cottage).

Another feature of the tithe map, not shared with any of the various iterations of OS maps, is that it records the names of (all!) the fields. These names are often full of information, thus ‘Fulking Mills’ is located just where two of the local spring streams merge, an ideal location for fulling mills; ‘Coneybeare’ and ‘Upper Coney Burrow’ were probably both once sources of rabbit meat, the latter conveniently placed for the Perching Manor dinner table; ‘The Rookery’ and ‘Hog Pasture’ need no translation; and nor does ‘Boggy Lagg’ if you make the mistake of traversing it in mid-February with the wrong shoes on.