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From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
Email: open.country@bbc.co.uk
Postal address: Open Country,
大象传媒 Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
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| Sulgrave Manor | |
Helen Mark visits Sulgrave Manor in Northampstonshire to celebrate Harvest Home. The house is a Tudor mansion and was home to the ancestors of George Washington's family, which is why the Stars and Stripes flies from its flagpole. The manor estate was bought by Lawrence Washington, a wealthy wool merchant and Mayor of Northampton when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, and built the house. His great-great grandson emigrated to Virginia in 1656, and America's first president was born three generations later. In 1914, Sulgrave Manor was presented by a body of British subscribers to the Peoples of Great Britain and the United States of America in celebration of 100 years' peace between the two countries.
Helen steps back in time to meet Lawrence Washington himself, who explains some of the customs and traditions that surround harvest time. Harvest legends go back to Greek mythology: Demeter was the corn goddess, associated with the earth, vegetation and agriculture. (Our word cereal comes from her Roman name, Ceres). Her daughter Persephone's abduction by the Lord of the Underworld explains the seasons and the need to gather a good harvest before Persephone vanishes underground each year. Demeter/Ceres would mourn her absence until she returned in the Spring, and nothing would grow in this bleak time.
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| Lawrence Washington and his cooks | |
The first of August was Lammas Day in Tudor times, the first day of the Autumn and of the harvest. Some say the name Lammas comes from "loaf-mass", due to the breads made at this time baked with the first-cut corn of the harvest and blessed by the priest. Or possibly it comes from "lamb mass", as lambs were once dedicated at church on this day and large sheep-fairs were traditionally held. Lammas Day used to be a time for foretelling marriages and trying out partners. Two young people would agree to a "trial marriage" lasting the period of the fair (usually 11 days) to see whether they were really suited for wedlock. At the end of the fair, if they didn't get on, the couple could part.
Before automation took over, each harvesting day was usually heralded by a bell-peal from the local church. The days usually ran from 5.00am to 7.00pm, the work and rest periods being dictated by a foreman called the Lord of the Harvest, or King of the Mowers. His badge of office was a straw hat bedecked with poppies and bindweed. The Lord upended any newcomer to the team and struck the soles of his boots with a stone. The novice was released from the mock-showing only once he put a shilling towards the mowers' beer.
Great ceremony was always attached to the gathering of the last sheaf of corn. The Harvest-spirit lived in the field, and as the mowers progressed, the spirit was thought to be forced into the corn which remained, retreating until there was nowhere left to run. All the mowers would throw their scythes at the final stook so that no one person would be responsible for the corn spirit's death. The last sheaf of corn cut was treated with special respect and used to make Corn Dollies. Helen meets up with Tudor miller's wife Mary Course to learn about them. The original purpose of the corn dolly was to preserve the spirit of the corn throughout the winter. Come January, on the first Monday following Twelfth Night, known as Plough Monday, the corn dolly would be ploughed back into the soil so that its spirit would be released and ensure a good harvest.
The last wagon of grain brought in was held to be particularly important and was called the Horkey or Hockey Cart. The cart and the horses drawing it were decorated with flowers and ribbons and the last sheaf took pride of place on top. It would call at all the inns and public houses along the route; vast quantities of ale and cider would be drunk, and it would then make its way to the farm where everyone involved with that year's harvest would celebrate the Harvest Home.
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| The corn maiden on her cart | |
It wasn't only grain that was important to the harvest. Herbs, too were gathered to see people through a winter of coughs and colds, and needed to freshen and disinfect the houses and make sure the bed-bugs didn't bite. Cheryl Waller from the Herb Society tells Helen about the importance of herbs to housework through the ages.
The Harvest Home itself was a feast with the farmer footing the bill, somewhere between a show of thanks by the generous empoyer and a massive blow-out to take the labourers' minds off how little they had been paid for their work. Helen goes into the kitchen of the Manor to meet cooks Martha and Hannah to see what's on the table. The usual fare varied across the country. Many suppers featured boiled beef or mutton (a rare treat), whilst others would have a roast along with rabbit or hare pie. Special harvest breads were made and these too vary as one moves round the country, from the rich saffron breads of Cornwall to the bannocks of Scotland. Helen learns when to go nutting, when not to pick blackberries and where the expression "to drawn the curtains" comes from.
To bring things up to date, Helen also talks to some of the local people living around the manor today. The Rev Brian Eaves is vicar to six parishes and says people still celebrate the harvest, although the produce collected is auctioned for famine relief. Headmaster Stephen Wass uses the celebrations to teach children about the importance of agriculture. And farmer Roger Cherry explains how very different 21st century harvests are: just a few men and a combine harvester.
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| Paul Saunders | |
Throughout the programme, folk and medieval music is provided by:
This week's competition
What is the more common name for the herb that a Tudor Lady of the Manor would have known as knitbone?
Submit your entry by emailing open.country@bbc.co.uk
Last week's winner
As many of you no doubt frustratingly realised, as we did, St Ciaran was born on Cape Clear but no one knows the definitive date of his birth. The question had a range of possible answers so all your replies went into the hat and the winner is Mrs Grace Scott of Christchurch, Dorset.
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