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LITLINGTON,
CAMBS.
In
the Litlington area early in the nineteenth century there was a report that, ”farmers were reluctant to improve their land by using
artificial fertilizer,• but when they discovered the coprolites under their
land from which this fertiliser was made, things certainly changed. and these pits may well have attracted workers from
Litlington but the first records of diggings in the village came many years
later.
The
coprolite diggings, whenever they started, have been recorded as the reason for
halting the emigration from the countryside to the towns during the
mid-nineteenth century. There had been a decline in Litlington‘s
population from 790 in 1851 to 693 in 1861 but by 1871 it had risen again to
768. Of the 400 males 17% were agricultural workers and 13% were involved in
the coprolite business. George Sharp, aged 35, was the ”Foreman
of the Fossil Works” and there were 51 coprolite diggers with John Cole the
eldest at 65 and Walter Smith, aged 9, the youngest. The average age was 30.4,
quite a bit higher than in many coprolite villages. There were seven lodgers
who were from outside the area but with 71% born locally and 55% of them
married it was generally local employment for the older men. (1871 census;
V.C.H. Cambs.,vol 8.pp.54,61.)
As
there was work going on in the surrounding parishes of Bassingbourn and
Abington Pigotts at the time it is almost certain the landowners and farmers of
land along the junction of the chalk marl and the Gault
clay would have made arrangements to have the coprolites raised. By 1881,
however, the industry was showing signs of decline as there were only 14 men in
the parish involved. Two of them were portable engine drivers, who may well
have been looking after the fossil mills or pumps at the diggings where water
had become a considerable problem when the seam was found progressively deeper.
(See Bassingbourn.) The import of cheaper phosphates
from the late 1870‘s had reduced demand for local reserves except where they
were in large enough quantities or where costs could be kept low enough to make
it still viable.
There
must have still been reserves of the mineral worth exploiting in the 1890‘s as
there was a record of work going on as late as 1893 when Mr Russel‘s
fields were being dug by Mr. Colchester, the Suffolk Coprolite Merchant who had
been involved in the works in this area since the 1860‘s. He had a Coprolite
works on Russel‘s land under the charge of William Dellar, his foreman who had appeared at Arrington Petty
Sessions charged with selling beer without a licence. Mr. Gibson, the Superior
of Excise of Hitchin reported that
“...The
works were a long way off from a public house, and a cask or more of ale was
obtained from a brewery (Fordham‘s? Ed.) and the men obtained the beer from Dellar, who deducted money from their wages at the week‘s
end, according to the amount they had had. The beer was invoiced to Dellar, who admitted making a slight profit out of it.
Profit, or no profit, however, that was of no importance, the sale of the beer
was on Mr. W. Russel‘s ground and that gentleman had
been warned by both the excise officer living at Ashwell and by him, Mr.
Gibson, that it was illegal. George Collins of Bassingbourn employed by Mr.
Colchester at the diggings stated that if more was required then Russel sent on
for it.”
(Royston Crow 24th March 1893 p.6 col.1)
It
was revealed that it was sold at 2d. a pint and the money was deducted from the
men‘s pay on Friday, with Dellar paying Russel for
the beer having deducted 2 shilling in the pound commission. In fact, the
prosecution felt there was not enough evidence to proceed against Russel or
they would have done so, and in the circumstances, he had to convict him but
regretted doing so and instead of being fined the maximum 20 fine, Dellar was fined 10 shillings with £1.10.6d. costs with the hope expressed that Russel would help him
pay! (Royston Crow,24th March,1893,p.6)
When
Colchester‘s men actually finished the diggings is not certain but by 1894 most
work had stopped completely. These workings would have certainly helped
stimulate the local economy over the thirty or so years the coprolites were
raised. The higher wages the labourers received and the large royalties the
landowners received for allowing the fossils to be raised would have been a
welcome addition to the villagers at that time.