Back to Cambridgeshires publications
THE
COPROLITE INDUSTRY IN REACH, CAMBS.
Although there were coprolites being raised in the
fen to the north of the village as early as 1846 by Messrs. Ball and Mason of
Burwell, there was no indication whether farmers were raising them from Reach
until 1857. Documentary evidence shows that they were being worked extensively
in the area. Anyone with enough capital available to either purchase coprolite
land in the fen or to purchase the necessary plant and machinery needed to
raise them could make a considerable fortune given the demand for them by
manure manufacturers who were willing to pay up to several pounds a ton for
them. Three local figures must have been involved as in December of that year
the following report from the Cambridge Chronicle appeared:-
Coprolite Diggers Receive Surcharges. - We find an impression exists
that the coprolites at Reach, (a hamlet in this parish) produce such gain to
the persons getting the seam there, that all of them who are digging fossils
have this year received surcharges under schedule D of the Income and Property
Act and have with others, on the 7th inst., made a journey to Bottisham Swan to
appeal. We understand that, with the exception of the three persons, there were
no other appellants in the district except from this parish.
(Cambridge Chronicle 12th
December,1857,p.5)
In many villages the coprolites washmills were
rated by the parish Poor Guardians and the money raised from the contractors,
50 for a horse mill and up to 100 for a steam powered mill, was used to help
the poor of the parish. How much was raised from those involved is not known
but the parish clearly benefited from it when a brick works was normally rated
at 5.00. The employment opportunities of this new industry were great as it
was very labour intensive providing work for many men and boys. Many came in
from surrounding parishes to find work. They needed accommodation and many
would have lodged in local cottages. In many cases gangs were put up at the
public houses, in farmers' barns, in mobile barracks or even stayed in tents on
the roadside. Better wages were often spent in the beerhouses and there were
many cases of social unrest, drunkenness and brawling. In early May, 1858, one
of the diggers had been found guilty of raping a married woman and was
sentenced to three years hard labour. This must have spread amongst the diggers
and have been responsible for the mens better behaviour the following week at
Reach Fair.
600
Diggers In The Neighbourhood - Reach Fair. The public houses got well
patronized; and what is more, good order seemed to prevail amongst the
coprolite diggers numbering nearly 600 in the neighbourhood, and we hear of no
disturbances taking place of any consequence. This may be considered due,
partly, to the good and excellent precaution and management of Inspector Dade,
of this division who had several officers on the spot in readiness if required.
(Cambridge Chronicle, 15th
May 1858, p.5)
Whether it was Inspector Dade or not is uncertain,
but there are stories that the first policeman sent to take up responsibilities
in the area was murdered and his body disposed of in the kiln at the Burwell
Chemical Manure Works. Clearly, some of the diggers had a deservedly fearful
reputation. It has been said that the fair was often an occasion for a great
fight between the locals and the Irish, who, it has been suggested, made up
some of the coprolite gangs. (Conversation with Major Jones, Far Gallions,
Reach)
In October 1858 one local landowner, Mr. Allix,
was offered 50 per acre by one of the major manure manufacturers, Edward
Packard, from Ipswich. He wanted to raise them from nine acres of land in the
parish. Clement Francis, a Cambridge solicitor and Lord of the Manor of Stow
cum Quy dealt with Nathaniel Johnson, Mr. Packards agent, who eventually
agreed on 60 per acre. It was,
...on the understanding that he should turn over the blacksoil in a
workmanlike manner into ridges from 2 - 3 yards apart running the slough in
between them.
(Cambs.R.O. Francis & Co. Bill books, 1858
pp396-8)
The tenant farmer, Mr. Galley, agreed to give up for 15 and was taken on by Mr.
Johnson to excavate the coprolites. By November it appeared that Mr. Allix had
also allowed Packards competitor, William Colchester, the right to work some
of his land as his agent, Henry Bright, was reported to have taken away 50 tons
in three weeks. (Ibid.p.198)
Surprisingly, when the census was taken, three
years later, the only person described as involved was 35 year old David
Picken. He must have owned land in the fen as he described himself as, Grocer and Coprolite worker employing 35 men
and 7 boys. However, none of the men or boys in the parish described
themselves as coprolite or fossil labourers. The bulk were described simply as
agricultural labourers or simply labourers, who, in the circumstances, may very
well have been involved. It is worth noting that in several Suffolk villages
where the coprolites were extracted, there was a decline in population noted in
the 1861 census, and a migration of labourers into Cambridgeshire, where more available deposits have been
discovered. (1861 Suffolk Census Vol.1.p.353) These may have been seasonal
winter labourers in the coprolite pits, back in Suffolk for the Spring and not
showing up on the census.
In March 1863 Mr Ball contacted Mr Allix on behalf
of Mr Masters, manure merchant from Kings Lynn, regarding him working five
acres f the 6a.3r.17p. held by Allix under lease from the Dean and Chapter f
Ely. Perhaps because of his arrangements with Colchester, Allix allowed Masters
coprolite land in Sedge Fen, Swaffham, instead. (Cambs.R.O. Francis Bill Books
1863 p.181) Little other evidence for the 1860s has emerged but other
landowners must similarly have exploited the deposit and by 1865 there were
workings on Mr Fullers land where the following accident was reported.
Fatal
Accident. - We have to record another sad accident, his time attended with loss
of life, occurring in the fossil pits f this district. A gang was at work here
on Tuesday morning last, on land in the occupation of Mr J. Fuller, when the
earth was observed to crack and give way; but before those employed in the work
of excavation could have notice of the danger, the side of the pit caved in,
burying a labourer named James Mann in its fall. He was speedily extricated by
his companions, and carried home where he was attended by Mr. Lucas, surgeon of
Burwell, who found that, though no bones were broken, he was dreadfully crushed
and bruised; and we regret to report that he died in the course of the night,
leaving a widow and eight children, wholly destitute of means of support. These
somewhat frequent casualties, occurring in the coprolite pits, suggest he
necessity of every precaution being taken to protect the lives of the labourers,
and some remarks have been made on the discontinuance of watchers, the. men
who superintend the progress of the work and give due notice at the first
symptom of insecurity.
(Cambridge Chronicle,14th
January 1865,p.5)
The work was still going on in 1871 when the
census revealed there had been another accident as William Todd was described
as an Invalid Coprolite labourer.
Altogether there were 43 involved, four from the Burwell part of the parish and
the rest from the southwest part of the parish in Swaffham Prior which not only
confirms the general spread of the pillage but gives one an indication that
this latter area was inhabited by more labouring families. It could also hint
that by this time there were more workings to the west of the village. The
eldest of the all male gang f diggers was 47 with the youngest, an 11 year old
coprolite boy. Their average age was 30.2, quite a lot older than in other
parishes but with only 44% born locally and 55% from other Cambridgeshire
villages, it confirms there had been an inward migration of diggers to the
area.
The following year, 1872, the diggers began work
on a second coprolite seam some depth below the one being worked previously
which, because of its better quality, renewed interest in the work and
attracted the attention of visiting geologists.
At a spot in the fen about half a mile north of
Reach, there coprolites were worked in 1872 -3, the Cambridge greensand was
only a few feet from the surface, and was underlain by light grey Gault; in
this and about 8 ft. below the Cambridge bed there had been discovered another
layer of nodules, and both were worked at the same time, so that the washed
heap contained nodules and fossils from both seams. Many of the nodules were
light buff-coloured phosphates, which, being softer than the black stones, were
worn in the washing process but did not present a worn appearance in the
unwashed material.
(Pennings and
Jukes-Browne,Mem.Geol.Surv.1881,p288)
This area would have been in Burwell fen not far from
where the two fossil mills were located, seen on the map on page . They occupied just over two acres of the 11
acre field 175, about a quarter of a mile northeast of the Manor House. A third
mill was located in the 10 acre field, 261, on the other side of Blackberry
Droveway, about 400 yards west of the Manor House and a fourth just northwest
of Spring Hall. Later geological papers suggest the workings also took place
around Toft Farm and on the Broads where the seam was found between two and
three feet thick, which would have yielded quite a sizeable deposit. (Worsam
and Taylor,1969,p55)
One of the coprolite pits in Burwell, Victoria
Quarry, between the windmills at Burwell High Town, was worked in 1878 where
the phosphatic nodules, as the geologists preferred to call them, were found 12
feet down. It didnt seem to have a profitable seam as Pennings and
Jukes-Brown, two local geologists reported in their book on Cambridge's geology
in 1881 that
...none of these beds are used for building and the nodule
bed is carted away as rubbish for it will not burn into lime. The nodules are
similar to those found at Reach and described by Prof. Hailstone. These nodules
were called brassel by the workmen and is only quarried to be carted into the
fens for road metal for it does not burn to a good lime.
Pennings and Jukes-Brown, (1881), Geology of the
Neighbourhood of Cambridge, Mem.Geol.Surv.,p.46
When the seam was eventually exhausted is
uncertain but it tended in most areas to coincide with the agricultural
depression which brought coprolite prices falling to make it uneconomic to
continue. In Richard Groves book he pointed out that
"Both at Reach and Stow cum Quy the value of
coprolite mined was such that the landowner left the his land derelict after
working, letting the trenches fill with water. The attitude of a quick profit
without interference changed to a quick profit and never mind what happens
afterwards!
(R.Grove,The Cambridgeshire Coprolite Mining
Rush,1976,pp24-5)
This accounts for the many long lakes and uneven
ground in the fen even today as most of the fen edge was turned over in the
rush to extract this profitable resource.