Wednesday,
24 July, 2002 14:00 BST
Snakes alive! |
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| The
model of Brusher Mills in the New Forest Museum |
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Many
interesting characters have inhabited the New Forest over the years
- none more so than 'Brusher Mills'.
大象传媒 Southampton's Simon Marks investigated the forest's legendary
snakecatcher. |
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Harry
Mills, better known as 'Brusher Mills', became famous for his strange
occupation - snakecatcher.
Harry was born in 1840 and lived near Lyndhurst. When he was in his
40s he took up a strange lifestyle. Harry found an old hut in the
forest and made it his home.
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| Brusher
Mills with his snakes |
Armed
with a sack and a forked stick, he set about catching snakes.
Some he sent to London Zoo as food for their birds of prey. Others
he boiled so that he might sell their skeletons to curious tourists.
Some reports say that he knew how to make valuable and requested ointments
from parts of the snakes.
It is estimated that he caught tens of thousands in his lifetime,
though nobody knows how many times he was bitten, if at all. He would
carry the snakes dangling from a stick over his shoulder.
It was another of Harry's pursuits which earned him his nickname.
When there were cricket matches at Balmer Lawn he would attend to
brush the wickets.
Harry was a regular at the Railway Inn, Brockenhurst.
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| The
Snakecatcher, Brokenhurst.
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A popular
story is that he once emptied a bag of snakes onto the floor in order
to clear his way to the bar.
Today the pub is called The Snakecatcher.
One day Harry returned home to find that his hut had been destroyed
by vandals. Nobody was ever caught but it has been suggested that
the damage may have been done to prevent Harry from using forest law
to claim ownership of the land on which he had lived for so many years.
Harry was heartbroken and died soon after, in an outbuilding of the
Railway Inn.
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| Brusher's
Headstone |
A
marble headstone, paid for by locals, marks his grave in the churchyard
of St Nicholas, Brockenhurst.
The task of snakecatching apparantly passed to Brusher's friend,
George Wateridge, who also inherited the sack and stick which Brusher
had used.
If Brusher were alive today he would have to seek other work as
all forest wildlife is protected by both the Wildlife Act and local
byelaws.
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