The Impact of the 19th Century Coprolite Diggings on the Church.

Poking around in the pebbles on the beach one rarely discovers any momentous finds but one such discovery in the early-1840s was to have an impact, not just on the man who found it but on much of this country and the world. What follows is the story of this find and the social, moral and economic implications that were to result in the employment of thousands, the introduction of new ecclesiastical legislation, the improvement of many churches and buildings, increased the livings as well as private incomes of many vicars and rectors and, both directly and indirectly, brought improvements in the lives of millions.

It was the University of Cambridge Professor of Mineralogy and subsequent Professor of Botany, Revd. John S. Henslow, who made this interesting find. On holiday in the Suffolk seaside resort of Felixstowe in 1842 he found some spiral fossils at foot of the red crag cliffs. He thought they resembled those found at Lyme Regis in 1828 by the Dean of Westminster, Revd. John Buckland. These fossils included the remains of ichthyosaurus including what Buckland termed “coprolites,” the creature’s fossilised droppings. The word “coprolite” comes from the Greek “kopros” meaning dung and “lithos” meaning stone. Within the droppings Buckland found the bones of baby ichthyosaurs. That meant that they were dinosaurs. This contradicted the established belief in religious circles that life at the time of Adam and Eve was one of peace and harmony, where the lion lay down with the lamb. To have cannibals did not fit in with the bible story. This stimulated considerable discussion.

Buckland was Professor of Botany at Oxford University and was fascinated by the coprolites. He had a table inlaid with slices of polished coprolites and even had earrings made out of them. It was not mentioned whether he wore them. Guests were entertained for dinner and amused by a brown bear and a monkey walking round the room. It was reported that some meals started at the bottom of the food chain and worked their way up. They claimed that bluebottles and moles tasted the worst. Given the extensive use of animal bones and manure to improve plant fertility he suggested that the deposit could have agricultural potential. The quantities of fossil bones that Revd. Henslow found in Felixstowe made him suspect they could be a useful source of manure for the nation's agriculturalists. A sample was sent to the Cambridge chemist, Mr. Deck, for analysis.

At this time animal manure was the most common form of fertiliser but ground and burnt animal bones were being used in increasing quantities as a means of increasing crop yields. The rapidly growing urban populations had such a demand for food that agriculturalists were experimenting with whatever they could to increase yields. It had only recently been discovered that bones and other phosphatic material, like the newly introduced guano, phosphate-rich bird droppings from islands off the Peruvian coast, could be dissolved in sulphuric acid to produce superphosphate of lime. This was the world's first artificial chemical manure. Mr. Deck's analysis found the “coprolites” to contain earthy phosphate varying from 57 to 61 per cent, a lot higher than that found in guano. As those investing in the guano trade were receiving 100% returns and the bone trade provided similar profits, Henslow recognised that enormous sums could be made from these “coprolites.”

In an 1845 lecture to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Cambridge he suggested that this discovery of coprolites could be a matter of commercial proposition. The same year William Colchester, an Ipswich manure manufacturer, began making large purchases of Felixstowe coprolites. Landowners were offered a few shillings a ton for this new raw material. When hundreds of tons could be found in one acre the search was to determine the extent of this fossil seam.

Charles Kingsley, one of Henslow's students, related how the professor had been shown some fossils by a farmer but did not make it clear whether he was from Suffolk or Cambridgeshire.

“He said at once, as by inspiration, “You have found a treasure - not a gold mine, indeed, but a food-mine. This bone earth, which we are our wits' end to get for our grain and pulse; which we are importing, as expensive bones, all the way from Buenos Ayres. Only find enough of them, and you will increase immensely the food supply of England and perhaps make her independent of foreign phosphates in case of war.” His advice was acted on; for the British farmer is by no means the stupid personage which townsfolk are too apt to fancy him. This bed of phosphates was found everywhere in the Greensand, underlying the Chalk - and is peculiarly rich in the neighbourhood of Cambridge and furnishes a greater part of those so-called “coprolites”, which are used now so extensively for manure, being ground up and then treated with sulphuric acid until they become a “soluble super-phosphate of lime” - the preparation of which gives constant employment to thousands of persons. So much for the useless “hobby” as some fancy it of poking over old bones and stones, and learning a little of the composition of this earth on which God has placed us.”

(Anonymous note in Ipswich Museum, Robert Markham's coprolite file)

Some of his contemporaries noted that, as a man of the cloth, Henslow did not want to profit personally from this discovery. Potentially it would have a world-wide market. Although a careful examination by geologists subsequently showed his “coprolites” to be the ear bones of whales and an assortment of phosphatised marine organisms dating back to Cretaceous and Tertiary times, the term “coprolite” stuck. It was their trade name and this has led to misunderstanding ever since.

Landowners in Felixstowe and nearby parishes arranged to have their fields tested to determine whether this profitable fossil bed occurred on their property. When the surveyor with his corkscrew tester located a seam, arrangements were made with the landowners to raise them. In some cases, he was given a sixpence by cottagers not to test their gardens. Generally it was the farmers' agricultural labourers who were employed to dig them out of the crag, to wash and sort them and to barrow them onto barges to be shipped to the manure manufactories up the Orwell estuary in Ipswich, by the Thames in Deptford, London or elsewhere.

The landowner, initially, received a royalty per ton of a few shillings but later, when their true value was more apparent, up to several pounds per ton could be realised. By 1847 the same deposit was found, as Kingsley mentioned, in the Cambridge Lower Greensand along the edge of the Cambridgeshire fens in the parish of Burwell. Here extensive beds were found only a few feet below the surface. Colchester expanded his operations in the Cambridgeshire fens. Many experienced diggers from Suffolk migrated over the border to work the fossils. It was only a matter of time before other manure manufacturers followed suit. Coprolite contractors made arrangements to have the seam raised and then sold them direct to the manure companies. Coprolite merchants set up business to buy and sell the fossils. With pits springing up in many parishes around Cambridge in the late 1840s and early 1850s many religious academics from Cambridge, Oxford and other universities began to visit the pits. They hoped to find some interesting specimens for which they might offer a few pence. Labourers started to pocket the better finds and a new trade sprang up with fossil stalls at the Saturday markets in Woodbridge and Cambridge.

Another of Revd. Henslow's students, Charles Darwin, had his evolutionary theory cause such a stir in religious and academic circles at this time that it promoted a flood of interest in anthropology, archaeology and geology. Many of the better fossil specimens were bought by the curators of the growing number of new museums in London, Oxford, Cambridge, York and elsewhere. The keen fascination that the Victorians had for antiquity led to another ready market for the fossils to adorn the shelves of their drawing room display cabinets. Fossil collections were bought and sold. Such was their curiosity that Revd. L. Jenyns, the vicar of Bottisham, a small parish a few miles north of Cambridge, made observations of the diggings in his area. In some preparatory notes for a lecture on the subject for the Bath Field Group, he found them useful in affirming his religious message.

“The consideration of the subject impresses us with a sense of the vast and important results following in some cases from most trifling incidents - Here in this case vast mines of wealth discovered so to speak from a man of science handling and observing in his walks what to others was but an ordinary stone - It teaches us how all observation and learning may lead to most important practical results - but it teaches a far higher lesson too. - As we look at these shapeless stones they seem to have a voice which leads our thoughts above the world to its One great Ruler - even the stones cry out and speak to us how through countless ages He prepared the world for man - His greatest and last creation - how for man He hid beneath the surface of the earth treasure houses of precious things which from time to time he brings forth for their welfare and provision. Yes in these little stones let us see the tracings of the fingers of God - and evidence of His mighty power - and evidence of his care for man - one of the countless proofs of His loving Providence with which the earth is filled - and so to Him be all the glory.”

(Cambridge County Record Office (C.C.R.O.) Lecture notes of Revd. L. Jenyns, Bottisham)

The Cambridge workings were on a considerably greater scale than the more patchy workings in Suffolk. More formal agreements were drawn up which created a new line of business for many surveyors and solicitors. Many of the Suffolk manure manufacturers, like Fisons, Packards and Colchester expanded into the coprolite business in Cambridgeshire, wanting to monopolise the deposit. Experienced labourers were brought over to supervise the operations but, as there were tens of thousands of acres to be worked, many farmers and others got involved in this profitable new industry.

In 1854 Cambridge City Corporation gave their first coprolite licence to Frederick Laws, a Suffolk contractor. He was allowed to raise them from Coldham's Common. The following year evidence shows that they were being raised in the neighbouring parish of Fen Ditton. The parish authorities had allowed the Town Land to be dug and the following article in the Cambridge Chronicle suggested that the royalties be used for good purpose.

“FEN DITTON. Coprolites being dug. - The piece of town land is in process of digging for these valuable fossils. It is to be hoped that the parish authorities will be able to supply the proceeds to a thorough renovation of the town houses near the church. If they were properly restored, it would add a very pleasing appearance to the entrance to the village, and be deservedly applauded by the poor.”

(Cambridge Chronicle 7th April 1855, p.4)

Whether such improvements were made or what was done with the money is not known. In nearby Coton, a few miles west of the city some villagers, who since 1849 had refused to pay rents on the newly enclosed common land, found coprolites beneath it and started raising them themselves. Apart from the fact that the parish coffers received no royalties, there was another reason why it caused some consternation amongst the farming gentry. The churchwarden, John Reynolds, brought the matter to the attention of the rector, Samuel Rusby, who wrote off to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

“Coton Rectory

4th May 1856

Gentlemen,

At the request of the churchwarden I beg leave to state that the tenants of “the Church and Town Estate” have commenced digging in their allotments for Coprolites to the great damage of the soil. Should they be allowed to persist in doing this they may in a few weeks turn up the whole ground some feet in depth. Moreover, there will be great inconvenience to the farmers during the operation from the absence of their labourers, all of whom are interested in the matter. Under the circumstances the Churchwardens urgently request immediate instructions from you how they are to act...

Samuel S. Rusby.”

(C.C.R.O. Coton Vestry Minute Book)

The response was not encouraging. It was suggested that court action could be taken but only from Westminster and with the advice of Counsel. This was going to incur expensive legal costs which the church could not afford. The churchwardens were advised that, if there were less than twenty people involved, then an “ejectment at law against each claimant” would work, with “an extra action to restrain the digging.” However, it was pointed out that, “if any one has been in adverse possession for 20 years it would be difficult if not impossible to disturb him.” (King's Coll.Mun. Coton)

It was ten years later, 1866, before Mr Martin, the inspector, came up with an acceptable solution in which he suggested the land be used as allotments.

“...This cannot be if the lands are sold. It is just possible that the lands be preserved to the Charity if the labourers will at once admit that they hold them as tenants to the parish officers. Should they do so I suggest the coprolites be worked, and the proceeds applied in part payment of the costs, and that the lands be mortgaged to pay the rest... that the labourers be enabled to occupy these lands as allotments under proper regulations and fair rents... the back rents be abandoned... Mr Reynolds should take the coprolites and write off £600 of his debt; that the land should be let at 30/- (1.50) per acre which rent Mr Reynolds should receive for 30 years and a liquidation of his debt be then cleared off. Mr Reynolds agree to find the labourers a piece of land during the time that theirs was being used for digging coprolites.”

(C.C.R.O. P49/25/17)

By this time John and William Reynolds had become important coprolite contractors themselves! In nearby Whitwell, part of Barton parish, the Governors of the Charity for the Relief of the Poor Widows and Children of the Clergy, in March 1861 allowed Henry Bright to work five acres of their land in Barton. He was a Cambridge coprolite contractor and agent for William Colchester. He had workings already in nearby fields as well as on Coldham's Common. The agreement stipulated the sum of £315 15s. 0d., the equivalent of £60 per acre. However, two months later, he refused to continue over the two acres he had dug because of the increased depth. John Reynolds expressed an interest in taking it on but the Governors eventually allowed William Coulson, a machinist from Milton, to finish the work. He agreed to pay the same £60 per year.

Eight years later in June 1869, they entered another agreement with Joseph Tebbit and his son Benjamin Fuller Tebbit. They were farmers in Whitwell who agreed to dig 2a.1r.0p. at £60 for the first acre, £70 for the second and £80 for the rest. Over eight years the Governors would have benefited by almost £500, the value of a considerable estate. When agricultural labourers might only get £25 in a year it makes one realise the profits being made in the coprolite business.(Greater London Council R.O., A/CSC/1163-1166A)

The Greensand deposit extended south-westwards across much of South Cambridgeshire, a small part of North Herts. and into South Bedfordshire. In 1856 Revd. Clutterbuck, whose family owned a large estate in Hinxworth, Herts., arranged to have it drained using the newly mass produced clay pipes. The trenching work exposed a bed of coprolites between the chalk marl and the clay which he allowed his surveyors to work. They gave him £20 for each excavation and every quarter one eighth of the coprolite's sale price. There was a stipulation that it should be no less than five shillings (0.25) per ton. (Herts.C.R.O. 28250, 28252; Herts. Guardian,12th May 1857) How much he made was not determined nor what it was spent on but knowledge of the wealth to be realised from having church, charity or town land dug could not possibly have failed to have spread amongst the clergy.

The following year, Revd. Thomas Preston, the vicar of Harlton, a small parish southwest of Cambridge, found the deposit on his church land. Aware of the profits to be made he sought legal advice as to the possibility of him profiting from it.

12th December 1857

Opinion Doctors Commons

I am of the opinion that a fossil substance in the nature of coprolite comes under the considerations of law as a mineral substance and that the raising of such substance to the surface of the Glebe is not waste nor is the incumbent liable to account for it to his successor, but may dispose of it to his own advantage.

Travers Cross

(Jesus Coll.Mun.livings 9. Harl. 2)

With his hopes high he felt he had a strong case and wrote to the bursar of Jesus College, Cambridge, who had given him the living.

“I send you on the other side Dr. Travers Cross' opinion, which secures, with two other superior authorities which I have consulted, to give me the sole and unreserved right to raise the coperlites [sic] and dispose of them. Whatever however the decision may be, I am quite prepared to expend the money for the benefit of my successors and the spiritual interests of the parishioners. I am proposing to enlarge my Vicarage House, and as the sum to be expended is not sufficient to borrow from the Bounty Office, (They will not lend less than a year's income), I was proposing to lay out a portion of the coperlite [sic] profits in this way and have my plans etc. all ready for the b/c [?] to see.”

(Ibid.)

The bursar accepted this proposal, aware that, as patrons, part of the royalties would come to the College. James Ind Headley, a Cambridge iron founder, was allowed to work them. Also in 1857 the fossils were found just west of Cambridge on Rectory Farm, land belonging to the Lord Bishop of Ely in St. Giles parish, Cambridge. The following May Headley was given a licence to work the 25a.2r.18p. field on the farm, paying £85 per acre. This was many times its agricultural value. When an agricultural labourer only earned about £25 in a year one realises how valuable such deposits were. (St. Catharine’s College, Muniments, Coton and map; London Church of England Record Centre, (C.E.R.C.) file 18328. St. Giles parish). Headley compensated the two farmers, Swan and William Wallis. The normal rate was a few pounds for every acre out of cultivation. A few months later, however, they too got a licence to work the 8a.3r.4p. field for £746.

The royalties received by the bishop had to be acknowledged and brought to the attention of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In a report on the farm in July 1859 it was stated that,

“...the Land Agent of the Bishop has already received £1,058 17s. and he may possibly receive a further sum of between £500 and £600 during the present and next years. The monies so received have by desire of the Bishop been kept separate and not carried into the customary account of the Income of the See. His Lordship feeling that an excellent opportunity is thus afforded of augmenting the Income of the Incumbent of St. Giles - and to affect that object His Lordship seeks the cooperation of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It must be borne in mind that after the Coprolites are taken up the land will be restored to the See in as good condition as before and in the meantime the tenant pays the same amount of Rent, he receiving compensation from the Purchasers of the Coprolites. The Bishop leaves it to the Commissioners to do what is suggested either on the principle of the Local Claim cases or otherwise as they may think best.”

(C.E.R.C. file 18328.)

In fact, the previous July, as a result of a number of church glebes being worked for coprolites by tenant farmers without the authorities being notified, they introduced the Ecclesiastical Leasing Act (21 and 22 VICT. C.57) This stated that the application of royalties received from working glebe minerals was henceforth to be governed by Section 2 which stipulated that all such royalties should go to the Commissioners and

“...be laid out by them in the purchase of other lands, houses, and heridatements... and until the money so to arise or be produced or received as aforesaid shall be laid out in such purpose, the same shall be invested, as soon as conveniently may be after the same shall have been carried to account in the books of the said commissioners, in the names of the said Commissioners for the time being in public stocks or funds, and the dividends thereof shall be paid to the person or persons to whom the rents and profits of the said hereditaments to be purchased would go or belong in case such purchase were actually made.”

(Ecclesiastical Law, (Part 5) pp.1109-1110)

Whilst this resulted in the benefices of many coprolite parishes being dramatically improved, in many cases incumbents had to plead, sometimes unsuccessfully with the Commissioners, for any large scale improvements. It was not until 1875, however, before St. Giles' parish received a significant benefit. The Commissioners agreed to pay a yearly sum of £106 to Revd. Stuart Jackson, and “a grant of £1,500 be secured towards the cost of providing a house of residence for the vicar.” (C.E.R.C. file 18328.)

Revd. Preston was one of many entrepreneurial figures who speculated in coprolite land. An article in the Cambridge Chronicle the following year revealed that he owned land to the Northeast of Cambridge. In the parish of Swaffham Prior, “...men raising coprolites in fen land belonging to Revd. T. Preston, discovered some four or five feet in the clay, the skeletons of two humans.” (Camb. Chron. 15th May,1858)

Whether the skeletons were recently deceased was not mentioned. On the same page was an article referring to the notorious Reach Fair which “was attended by over 600 coprolite diggers who were working in the neighbourhood.” As shall be seen such large numbers had quite an impact on village life! Neighbouring farmers and landowners must have been aware of the profits being made by Revd. Preston and other contractors and in 1859 there was evidence confirming another clergyman's involvement. It appeared that Revd. Frederick Maberley had been involved in raising them from 30 acres of Sedge Fen and Turf Fen, about four miles to the Northeast of the village by Reach Lode. This was in forfeit of a £3,000 mortgage he had on the property with the Dean and Chapter of Ely Cathedral. Their treasurer and agent considered him “incapable of managing his affairs” and suspended the forfeiture in January 1860. He was made to pay £30, the estimated value of the coprolites. (C.C.R.O. 283B12/64) This was surprisingly little in the circumstances and other church figures, as we shall see, more especially when they owned freehold land, were to realise the value of quite sizeable estates.

The map on page .. shows the location of those parishes where church or charity land was worked but little evidence has emerged for the Northeast of Cambridge. In Cherry Hinton, just outside Cambridge, the diggings spread in 1871 onto the 10a.1r.31p field, Augur's Close, part of the glebe land. The contractor, William Smith, agreed to pay the vicar, Revd. W. Parish, £1,000 to work the field. This was invested in consols, a sum which by 1876 had reached £1,462, and used to restore the nave of St. Andrew’s Church. (C.C.R.O. P39/3.1-2, P39/1.2) Workings were also taking place to the Southwest of Cambridge in Grantchester parish where the vicar, Revd. William Martin, in a report to the bishop in July 1873 about the state of his parish, wrote,

“To the Answers to the Questions relating to Income add the following:

Besides the sources and amount of income already stated, the patrons (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,) hold £850 Consols, the produce of Coprolites raised on the Glebe, for the benefit of the Living. I relinquished the share of the Capital, to which I was by law entitled, for the good of my Successors. I receive yearly the Interest of the above sum from the College. More of the glebe land is now being dug and a sum of £130 (I believe) has been paid to the College on this account, for the same object.”

(Cambridge University Library (C.U.L.) Ely Diocesan Register (E.D.R.) C3/25)

He revealed that £350 worth of stock had been bought, with the interest going into the College's Coprolite Fund but there was no indication as to how it was spent. There were, however, a number of improvements made to the church during this time to which part, if not all, of the funds probably went. The famous Grantchester church clock was installed in 1870 at a cost of £100 and it would be interesting to find whether it had been paid for from coprolite work. Revd. F.G. Howard, another Grantchester landowner, had land in Long Close and Home Close worked which allowed him to benefit personally by £110. (C.C.R.O. Bidwell 28 p.174)

On the south side of the River Cam, in Hauxton parish, James Lilley, a local farmer, had the 10a.1r.31p glebe tested in 1872. He wrote to the Commissioners, “desirous to work the coprolite,” on four and a half acres. This he was allowed but at only £50 per acre, not much when land in some areas was going at up to £200 per acre. Whether anything locally was done with the money has not been determined. (C.E.R.C. Hauxton 46167; C.C.R.O. L70.58.b)

On the opposite side of the Cam, just west of Grantchester, Revd. Clements and the trustees of Haslingfield Charity Farm, in 1870 allowed James Headley to work the coprolites for £155 per acre. Their fund amounted to the enormous sum of £6,160 17s.0d. by 1878, in what was by far the largest Charity scheme on the coprolite belt. Here it was the Charity and not the Ecclesiastical Commissioners that were involved and the terms of their agreement stipulated very clearly how such funds should be spent. Theirs was to be divided into seven parts with one seventh going to “the maintenance and repair of the Parish Church including the Tower and the Steeple but exclusive of the Chancel”. Any surplus would go for the care of the church clock. Four parts were to support the existing subscription for the Parochial and Infant schools and provide for their teachers and the remaining two parts were for “fuel, clothes, bedding, medical or other needs of those in sickness or such industrious or most deserving of the parish's poor inhabitants.” (C.C.R.O. R59/27/1/2; Davis, Revd. G.E., History of Haslingfield, pp.31-2)

By Spring 1880, even after discharging the mortgage debt on Charity Farm, repairing the farm building and school premises, erecting a new school building, restoring the church and various other expenses, the fund still stood at £4,983 19s. 0d. Revd. Clements made further suggestions as to how this should best be disposed.

“Firstly, the rebuilding of the Schoolmaster's house - the present building being damp and inconvenient and quite unsuitable for the family of a teacher of the present day. Secondly for the rebuilding of the Classroom and also that £500 be applied for out of the same fund for the restoration of the Parish Church - a large and handsome building surrounded by a poor population and which has fallen into a state of great decay, it being of the scheme entitled to 1/7th of the entire endowment.”

(C.C.R.O. R59/27/1/2.)

He also requested a £20 salary for the clerk to the governors, a reduction of the school fee from 2d a week to 1d. and an exhibition fund to be set up to help those children in trades or occupations. Such benefits must have been envied by other parishes.

In Barrington the seam was found underlying much of the parish and the associated employment was to make it one of the major centres of the industry. For a number of decades it was an industrial boom area. Shortly after the Revd. Richard Bendyshe inherited his family's estate in June 1867, he gained a licence from the Lord of the Manor, Clement Francis, to work the coprolites from a number of allotments. Francis was a Cambridge solicitor who invested some of the profits from his business in coprolite land. He bought the manorial rights to several estates in Cambridgeshire. It is worth noting that he was also the ”undisclosed agent for the Cambridge Manure Company.” Maybe there was a bit of nepotism here as Bendyshe's royalty was only £30 per acre, far less than on neighbouring estates. Then, in October, discovering the deposit extended onto his freehold land, he allowed Swann Wallis four years on 32 acres, but for £100 per acre! By this time Wallis was supplying the Eastern Counties Manure Company's Duxford factory with most of their coprolites. A year later, in October 1868, Bendyshe leased the 371 acre Barrington Farm to yet another contractor, Charles Roads, an Orwell farmer who was also churchwarden. (C.C.R.O. Bendyshe Papers T15/4,T15/51) In receipt of many thousands of pounds coprolite revenues Revd. Bendyshe's lifestyle must have been considerably enhanced and enormous improvements made on his estate.

Another major landowner in Barrington was Trinity College, Cambridge. With many of the other Cambridge Colleges, they owned many thousands of acres in Cambridgeshire. They benefited enormously from coprolite revenues as well as those clergy in whose parishes they had the advowson. In the same October, 1868, the vicar, Revd. Robert Whiting, approached Trinity to ascertain the value of the deposit found on his glebe. The surveyor's report valued them at £120 per acre, over 40% more than in 1857. In March the following year, John Coleman and William Clear, two local farmers, were given a licence to dig 38a.0r.9p of what the college called the “Vicar of Barrington's Coprolites.” Competition must have been so great that they were willing to pay £155 per acre. This was 25% more than other royalties and one of the highest in the area! (C.C.R.O. Bidwell's 1868 diary, 24th Oct; Trin.Coll.Mun.Box 35.501-3)

With an expected sum of almost £6,000, Trinity set up and managed “The Vicar of Barrington's Coprolite Fund” and over the years arranged that the dividends should go to an endowment for the augmentation of the Vicarage. (Trin.Coll.Mun.Box.35. Vall.10b,14)

In January 1872 a new vicar, Revd. Edward Conybeare, started in the parish and became very interested in the coprolite work. Not only did he amass a huge fossil collection he also opened a museum with the many artefacts unearthed from the numerous Roman and Anglo-Saxon burial grounds disturbed by the diggers. His “History of Cambridgeshire” included reference to the work which he argued was the cause of a 30 year period of localised inflation.

“The sale of these minerals not only raised the value of the land by some £150 per acre, but created such a demand for labour that ordinary wages went up to 24/- per week whilst a good fossil digger could earn double that sum. Population increased accordingly, and for nearly a generation our County was about the most prosperous in England, the rent rising from £2 - £3 per acre.”

(Conybeare, E. (1897), 'History of Cambridgeshire,' London, p.259)

As shall be seen later, Barrington parish benefited considerably from his fund and during this period he oversaw the cleaning of the tower and the enlargement of the church. This was a phenomenon experienced in many villages during this time, a “golden period” according to Conybeare, which “left an abiding mark upon the district in the restoration of almost every one of the ancient parish churches.” (Ibid.p.259)

In the adjoining parish of Orwell to the north, Charles Roads, a large land-owning farmer and churchwarden, had expanded into the coprolite business. He was working the deposit on Christ's College Farm on the chalk slopes of Chapel Hill. In June 1865, when it became apparent the seam extended onto the glebe land, Revd. H. Taylor, the rector, wrote to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

“If I obtain the consent of the patrons I am thinking of granting a lease of some few acres of land belonging to the living for the purpose of having the coprolite dug ... for the purpose of devoting the proceeds to the structural repairs of the chancel of the church, the cost of executing which is estimated at from £600 to £700.”

(C.C.R.O. Church Commissioners' Files, Orwell)

Before he got a response, Trinity College, who also owned land in the parish, allowed Roads to take on 36 acres of their Rectory Farm for which he paid £3,960! Revd. Taylor was concerned that the parish would not see any of this money and expressed such views in writing to Mr. Hammond, the College bursar. Initially, “The Rector and the College quite abandoned any idea of working the minerals through the medium of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.” (C.E.R.C. 33303, 33354, Orwell) Instead, the College gave him £500 for his “benefit” and agreed to approach the Bishop of Ely on his behalf to investigate other possibilities of having the glebe worked. Documents show that eventually Roads was allowed to work seven acres a year at £85 per acre. The Church took two thirds, the rest going to the college. Of that, the bishop agreed that Revd. Taylor should benefit. The money was

“...to go to the Rectory and Patrons of the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty. The patrons could open a joint stock account or invest in any of the Parliamentary Stocks or Public bonds in Great Britain or in Bank Stock.”

(C.C.R.O. P127/3/2)

Trinity, as they did in Barrington, set up “The Rector of Orwell's Fund,” an extract of which can be seen on page ... This was to provide Revd. Taylor with a regular addition to his collections. (Trin.Coll.Mun.Box 24 Orwell 63a-f)

In January 1872 George Eraut, the clerk of the works at Wimpole Hall, was called in to survey the workings near Orwell church. There had been great consternation expressed by some of the locals about the diggings threatening the stability of the tower. Charles Yorke, the Earl of Hardwick, who was resident at Wimpole Hall at this time, was termed by some as Champagne Charlie. According to his nephew he earned £5,000 a year from the coprolite royalties on his estates. Eraut's report stated that there had been no structural damage to the church but did comment that

“...it was undergoing a great risk to sink such a depth for coprolites, so close under the Church, standing as that does, on an elevated position.”

(C.C.R.O. P127/6/1)

Pressure must have been brought to bear on the diggers to curtail that particular pit but the rector arranged to have the eroded stone replaced and for repointing to be done. Its cost was deducted from his “fund” as well as a contribution to the restoration of the church arch. By 1877 there was a veritable fortune which he admitted to the bishop in 1882. (C.U.L. E.D.R.C3/27; C.C.R.O. Orwell Parish Vestry Minute Book, October 1882)

“...The income has increased by the working of coprolites found on the Glebe. It (the living) will now amount to £570 a year. Rent of land, together with interest of £4,353 0s. 11d. being the amount received by the Patrons as value of Coparlites.”[sic]

(CUL.EDR.C3/26)

Whaddon, the adjoining parish to the west, also had extensive coprolite workings. Here one of the landowners was the Dean and Chapter of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. They made well over a thousand pounds from coprolite land on Rectory Farm. In February 1864 Francis Carver of Hoback Farm, had been working pits on land belonging to Christ's College, Cambridge. He made enquiries with the Master about the possibility of working the deposit on Rectory Farm. This prompted the following letter.

“Mr Fanning had been applied to for lease to dig Coprolites on this Farm, their appearing to be a large quantity of them on the farm, and as Mr Fanning finds the Coprolites are being extensively dug in the vicinity with a fair return to the owner, and no damage to the soil, he is disposed to treat on the subject and the farmer is consenting. ...we shall be glad to hear your views, & assuming that you assent to the digging for Coprolite, we shall be glad to know how this will affect the question of Fine or renewal, seeing that Coprolites are not a matter of constant produce but, like brick-earth, are only once dug & only produce one profit.”

(St. George’s Chapel Archives, XVII.21.2)

Their initial response was not enthusiastic, so, four days later, a further letter pointed out that, whilst the tenant would not oppose the wishes of the Dean and Canons,

“We only trouble you with this to say that we are confidently informed by the persons who have come forward to trial for these Coprolites, that they lie in layers of only from 4 to 8 inches and near the surface, so that when they are dug the surface soil is replaced & no perceptible difference caused, that the soil is not damaged insomuch that the Farmer asks for a very small compensation, & lastly that the Royalty is likely to come to something like £50 an acre, of which sum of course a big proportion would go to the Dean and Canons.”

(St. George’s Chapel Archives, XVII.21.2)

The Deans and Canons, ignorant of the arrangements other landowners in the area were making, had the Ecclesiastical Commissioners deal with it. They undoubtedly discovered Carver's offer was only half the price he was paying Christ's College but their surveyor's report pointed out that there were,

“...considerable beds of the coprolites - but the greater portion of them lie at too deep a depth to be worth the labour of getting in the present state of the market but about 20 acres can be profitably got and an agreement has been made according to our report of August 10th 1867.”

(C.C.R.O. 1980 Church Comm. Whaddon File)

Carver got the licence, but at £85 per acre, two thirds of which was to go to the Dean and Canons as owners of the glebe, the other third was invested, the interest going to the benefice of the living. (St. George’s Chapel Archives, lease, cc 131742) Exactly what the royalties were spent on is unknown but the expense of repairing Whaddon church was £1,450 and the Repair Fund received a number of contributions from local coprolite contractors, including £50 from Christ's College coprolite fund. There was no record of one from Windsor. (Christ's Coll.Mun.Box C6.5)

Bassingbourn was the main centre for the coprolite industry in Cambridgeshire. At one time eleven coprolite mills were in operation in the parish. Many contractors were working farms in the area and supplying coprolites to the Farmers Manure Company works in nearby Royston. John Phillips Nunn, the company's first chairman, leased the 750a.3r.10p. Rectory Farm in the northeast of the village. On 24th July 1867 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners gave him a licence to work the coprolites under the leasehold land at a rent of £50 per acre with a minimum rent of £150 per annum.

He was to dig up to twelve feet and, having to dig over and level three acres a year, would have had to take on considerable extra labour. They had dug 37a.0r.12p. by 10th December 1877. At almost four acres a year, it entailed quite a major operation, realising the Commissioners £1,853.15s.0d. (CERC. Agreement 140131)

Further northwest in Abington Pigotts, not far from Hinxworth and Guilden Morden, the seam was discovered. Revd. Pigott, the rector, discovered some on the rectorial glebe. Accordingly he wrote to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners: “I am desirous of disposing of the so called mineral and investing the money for the benefit of the living.”

In July 1870 one of the major coprolite merchants and manure manufacturers, William Colchester, was allowed three years to raise them from 5a.3r.15p of the 22a.0r.7p. glebe at £100 per acre. Revd. Pigott later admitted, “an additional endowment of almost £600 derived from royalties from coprolites between 1869 and 1871,” but again there was no indication as to how it was spent. (V.C.H., Cambs. pp.8-9; London Church Comm. files, 41857. Abington in the Clay)

Whilst it was mostly Cambridgeshire parishes that were renovated during what the historian, Richard Grove, called the “Cambridgeshire Coprolite Mining Rush,” there were also cases in other counties. (Grove, R. (1976), “The Cambridgeshire Coprolite Mining Rush,” Oleander Press) The diggings had extended into Bedfordshire in 1862 in what was called Shitlington. Here the church was situated on top of the chalk ridge overlooking the clay vale on which the coprolites had been found. Although there were none found on church land, many hundreds of acres were worked locally. Trinity College and their tenant farmer, William Hanscombe, who between them made many thousands of pounds profit, contributed generously to the £600 church restoration fund. (C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/33)

In the adjacent parish of Upper Stondon, Revd. Richard Hicks got permission from the Commissioners in 1872 to allow John Bennett Lawes to work his glebe for £100 per acre. (C.E.D.C. Upper Stondon 45857) How much was worked is uncertain but his royalties, £1,400 by 1888, were invested in Queen Anne's Bounty. (C.U.L.E.D.R. C3/25 1873; C3/29 1881; C3/31 1885) If royalties of £100 were paid then about 14 acres were worked. What was done with the money, and presumably other contributions, was revealed in his report to the bishop that year.

“In addition to farmhouse and buildings, nearly doubled the size of the Rectory house and expended over £3,000 on the improvement of the property besides restoring and enlarging the Church.”

(C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/33)

The adjoining parish to the west was Barton-le-Clay. When the seam was discovered here Henry Wilkerson, a coprolite contractor from Eversden, Cambs. and manager for Morris and Griffin, Wolverhampton-based manure merchants, made enquiries about the possibility of raising them from the parish ”Townlands". After his communication with Revd. Arthur Blomfield, the vicar, a request was made at the end of March 1870 to Archdeacon Emery, the Honorary Secretary Treasurer of Ely Diocese Fund. His reply is included below.

"The College,

Ely

My Dear Mr. Blomfield,

I hear Mr. Wilkerson is a very respectable man but a Dissenter. It would be worth your while to have your land thoroughly surveyed and depths marked. The coprolites are getting worked out about level hence perhaps the search elsewhere. It is such a serious business and profitable to all that you will be wise first of all in seeking the best advice. If you were nearer here I should recommend you to get C. Bidwell Esq., Surveyor, Ely to see about the matter for you. I don‘t know if he comes to your parts, anyway I have given hints which your contractor, will I hope, be able to follow up.

Yours truly,

Wm. Emery."

(B.C.R.O. Barton Parish Records)

The records did not reveal that Wilkerson won a license. The vicar, obviously aware from the experiences of other churchland being worked for the coprolites, must have been conscious of the financial rewards of having them raised but it was another two years before a decision was made. By this time demand had increased and a survey was carried out which ultimately led to another coprolite contractor being given the licence.

On 24th October 1872 an indenture was drawn up between: ”Revd. A. Blomfield, Rector of Barton le Clay, William Lee and Francis Castleman, Farmers and churchwardens of the said parish, Revd. David Wheeler, Vicar of Pulloxhill and Revd. William Henry Marvin, Rector of Higham Gobion, trustees of a certain charity estate called "Townlands" in the parish of Barton le Clay and William Arnold, yeoman, farmer and yearly tenant or occupier of said land and Swann Jepp Wallis, coprolite contractor of Duxford." Wallis had been working the Cambridgeshire coprolites from as early as 1859 but with the discovery of these new deposits in this area he was willing to pay £110 per acre for the 8a.0r.30p. plot, land thought to be part of the Willes Estate. (O‘Dell, Ivan J. 'A Vanished Industry‘ Beds. Mag. (1951) p.313. and his MS. in Luton Museum; O‘Dell, Audrey 'Everlasting Springs‘, p.134)

Revd. Blomfield kept a manuscript book called 'Parish Facts‘ in which he recorded, ”In the year 1872 a draft deed of agreement was signed between the rector and churchwardens, and Swann Wallis, of Duxford, Cambs. for digging coprolite. The sum of £900 12s. 6d. was realized." Of the third of the proceeds allocated to the parish £300 was spent on the building of the village Infant School. Swann Wallis donated two guineas towards it. The average yield of coprolites was between 250 and 300 tons per acre which, in the 1872 -1873 period, fetched between 32 and 52 shillings per ton (£1.60 - £2.60). The school still stands on a coprolite seam only four feet deep. The original was built in 1806 to house 120 pupils but in 1874 there were only 74 in the register. By 1878, however, the numbers had increased to 300, an increase undoubtedly due to the coprolite industry which was flourishing at that time. Considerable numbers of them must have been the children of the diggers in the village, whose standard of living must have been improved.

Revd. Blissfield, who took over from Blomfield in 1873, described life in the parish in his returns to the bishop. The morality was, ”not of a high order." There had been an ”increase in wage - increase in drunkenness - escape from impoverishment, at present discontented, unsettled... a labour question." (C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/25)

The coprolite boom in the village was only a temporary phenomena, ceasing, according to the vicar, by 1886 when the ”prosperity had declined and the Vicar of Shillington became conscious that many children were attending school hungry. During the winter months he organised porridge breakfasts and 78 children availed themselves of his generosity." (Kiln, Audrey, ‘The Coprolite Industry‘ 1969, pp.58,59)

In April 1871, Revd. Wilson, the vicar of Guilden Morden, acknowledged in correspondence with the Church Commissioners that, "the sum of £820 had accrued to the living through the digging of coprolites on the glebe during the year just elapsed (1871)." This brought on a large-scale investigation as to his having illegally allowed the coprolites to be raised. In his explanatory letter he revealed what happened.

Guilden Morden,

Royston,

25th April 1872

File No.46,166

Sir,

In reply to your communication dated 23rd April, I beg to say that the coprolites on the glebe were dug in perfect ignorance of the Acts of Parliament which require the consent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The case stands thus. A few months after my appointment to this Living in November 1867, knowing that there were coprolites on this portion of the glebe, I put the matter into the hands of a solicitor at Cambridge, with the consent of the patrons, instructing him to draw up a lease between Mr J. I. Headly and myself. I should say that the late vicar, just prior to his death had commenced to work them without any lease and, I believe, without the consent of the Patrons. It therefore appears that the Solicitors were in ignorance when they drew up the Deed, that the Consent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners was requisite to dig coprolites. The Patrons too, must be unaware of the clause which requires that monies so obtained shall be invested by the Commissioners. The money which has accrued to the Living is invested by them; they being the Trustees. Of course, I much regret to find a step has been taken which is illegal, and I wish to say that I shall be in London between April 30 and May 4 and shall be glad to give any explanation at the Office respecting this matter and will bring the lease with me,

I am, Sir

Yours faithfully,

J. N. Wilson.

(C.C.R.O. Church Comm. files, Guilden Morden,1984)

The bursar of Jesus College had agreed to invest the money in consols for the benefit of the vicar and, if there was "no legal obstacle", use the money to build a "Vicarage House." The Commissioners, however, asked for the dividends from the investments and they "agreed" to become trustees of a new fund which had amounted to £824.1s.5d. by 1873. The terms of their agreements would not allow a new building to be constructed so they compromised. They were willing to enlarge and improve the lath and plaster, seven feet high vicarage which Revd. Wilson had described as "small, ill-built and unfit for habitation." In 1874 a large, grey-brick wing was added, paid for out of the royalties of coprolites. (VCH. 'Cambs.' p.108)

In some cases the royalties were used to pay off the fee farm rent. In Eversden, Cambs. twenty five years rent for Rectory Farm, which previously was sixteen shillings a year, was paid off for the sum of only £20, “money obtained by digging coprolites.” (C.C.R.O.P70/1/2) The Rector purchased land in the village which the surveyor, Charles Bidwell investigated and reported,

“3a.1r.4p. Land to be bought by Revd. W.M. Campion, as Rector of St. Botolph ... the remaining portion of the field containing 3a.3r.8p. is bought by the same living as an investment from coprolite money raised in the parish of Eversden valued at £200.”

(C.C.R.O. Bidwell 21 p.383)

In Harlton, when the geologist, Revd. Osmund Fisher, took over the incumbency from Revd. Preston he similarly benefited from the coprolites. He persuaded the master of Jesus College to expend some of the money from their coprolite account on twenty perches of land. (Jesus Coll. Mun. Harlton)

Another significant contribution the diggings made to probably every parish on the coprolite belt was the rates the coprolite contractors paid. In May 1864 the Orwell parish authorities rated Charles Roads' two works for Poor Relief; the one powered by steam engine at £10, the horse-powered mill £5 and his shed £10. (VCH. ref. Orwell Vestry Minute Book, penes Mr. Miller) This was quite low compared to other parishes where, after extended legal battles, the authorities managed to rate them more realistically. Eversden's vestry group's minutes revealed, “Rates of Coprolite Works - the Engine and Land £100. Horse Mill £50.” When the brick kiln was only rated at £20 it gives some perspective on the relative wealth of the industry. (Correspondence with A.J.N. Richards, Ambleside, Little Eversden) In Barrington, Revd. Whiting's vestry meeting in 1871 decided, “that each single horse mill should be rated at £50, each double horse mill at £70 and each steam power mill at £100.” (C.C.R.O.P8/8/1) The increased rates would not only have been welcomed by the village poor but also by the gentry as it reduced their financial burden.

Whilst there may well be many other parishes which benefited directly and indirectly from coprolite revenues, an estimate of the royalties accrued from the parishes already mentioned is £40,000. This would be the present day equivalent of about £1.2 million, a welcome addition in the circumstances when many parishes across the country were seeing considerable out-migration to the industrial towns and cities. However, apart from improving churches, schools, vicarages, rectories and enhancing the livings of many local clergy, the diggings affected parishes in other ways. According to many church figures it was definitely not for the better.

There were an assortment of social problems associated with the diggings, more especially where the landowner allowed an outside coprolite contractor to work their land, rather than a local farmer. In many cases it was the tenant farmer who won the lease, taking on their own agricultural labourers to do the work. This was, more often than not, during the winter months once the harvest was in. It allowed the labourers to gain extra income over a period traditionally short of employment. However, in other cases, huge gangs working for outside contractors migrated from parish to parish as the diggings progressed. Whilst village gossip suggested a large band of Irish labourers were involved, documentary evidence has not confirmed this.

The diggers' wages were considerably higher than agricultural labourers., up to £1 a week compared to twelve to fourteen shillings (£0.60 - £0.70). This helps explain the popularity of the work and the increase in spending as a result. Revd. Walker, the vicar of Dry Drayton, wrote a history of the parish in 1877 in which he referred to labourers being attracted to the diggings in nearby Madingley.

“RATES OF WAGES

The weekly wages of the farm labourer are thirteen or fourteen shillings, with an increase at the period of annual harvest; those employed in what they term fossiling, or digging out the coprolite beds, are in receipt of twenty shillings, as the work is difficult and dangerous, now that the surface fossils have been worked out, and there are those who do not like to undertake it, one or two fatal accidents having occurred through a land-slip in time of wet weather, in addition to the daily walk involved of some distance to and from their place of labour. It may fairly be questioned whether the higher rate of pay obtained at the so-called fossiling is productive of any benefit to the villager, as in consequence both of extra labour and additional receipts he is tempted to spend all the more in drink, besides the disadvantages of being mixed up with rough and bad characters for fellow-labourers. The coprolites, however, are a source of great revenue to the landed proprietors on whose ground they occur.”

(Walker, Revd. F.A., “A History of the Parish of Dry Drayton with addenda,” London, 1877 & 1879)

Further insight into these “disadvantages” was highlighted by Revd. Jenyns whose notes confirmed Revd. Walker's opinions.

“The diggings have also, to a certain degree, operated unfavourably for ordinary farm work. The labour is considerably affected in some places, though the scarcity of the men, at first much felt, has been partly corrected by immigration, families coming in from the woodland parts of the county to settle where the hands are most wanted. Formerly the price of labour was regulated by the price of wheat, now in the neighbourhood in which my informant lives, he tells me, for the last six or eight years, it has been affected simply by the supply and demand for labour, a principle before unknown in this part of the country. All the able-bodied men go “a-fossilling” as it is called; and they scarcely ever go back to their former employments. The farmers, consequently, are obliged not only to pay a higher rate of wage than formerly, but to put up, in many instances, with the old and very young, the latter being taken away from school at proportionately early age, and thereby receiving detriment to their education. Boys of fourteen years get to consider themselves men in all their habits, and to assume an air of independence, not favourable either to their manners or morals, before they are much more than half grown up.”

(Jenyns, op.cit.)

Other contemporary religious figures, shed further light on these effects, including the missionary, Annie Macpherson, who moved into Little Eversden in 1858.

“Just at this time the discovery was made that the fossils embedded in the clay soil of that neighbourhood formed, when ground to powder, valuable manure for the land. Within a week about 500 rough miners and labourers poured into the quiet little villages, and the pressing need was felt of efforts to civilise and evangelise these men, not only for their own sakes, but to save the rustics of the villages from the contamination brought about by the drunken and loose habits of these invaders of their peace, and the immorality induced by the absence of any provision for lodging and sleeping accommodation for this unprecedented addition to the countryside.”

(Birt, Lilian. “The Children's Home Finder,” 1931, pp.9-14)

Many slept in barns or in old military mobile barracks which could be wheeled from field to field. Some slept in villagers' cottages, some erected makeshift wattle and daub huts, others were housed in cheaply built cottages and there were even cases of diggers and their families living in tents on the side of the road. In Bedfordshire in the mid-1860s, in a report to Parliament on the employment of young children it was acknowledged that at

“ARLESEY

46a. There are three sets of coprolite works, three brickyards and a cement works, which have caused a great increase in population, especially in summer, when many houses are crowded. Coprolite employs a good many men, many of whom are strangers. Coprolite works employ some boys, leading horses.

BIGGLESWADE UNION.

Coprolite works and brick fields may be added to the causes given by Mr. Weale for the overcrowding and use of bad cottages in the neighbourhood of Biggleswade.”

(Parliamentary Papers 1867-8 XVII, “1st Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and others in Agriculture”. pp.108, 343, 506, 518.Evidence to Mr. Portman and his Summary.)

Even in the 1870s it was still a problem. Revd. Taylor, the Orwell rector, reported on the state of his parish during the diggings that,

“I fear there is much drunkenness. I think Education is more valued by the labouring classes than formerly. There are good wages but the families are too crowded in their cottages.”

(C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/26)

It was also noted in Harlton where the vicar, Revd. Fisher, commented that,

“The crowding in cottages is very great on account of the coprolite works. The coprolite diggers are very much influenced by one another and if one became a communicant he would be liable to persuade others. Osmund Fisher, Incumbent.”

(CUL.EDR.C3/25)

Revd. Conybeare regularly visited the works in his area and acknowledged the problems after his 1872 Good Friday service noting in his diary, “170 present - mostly working men with tools and cans,” but added that, “dissenters kept their men at work all day to prevent their coming to church.” (C.C.R.O. Conybeare’s Diary 15/3/1872) The nonconformist deacon of Bassingbourn's Congregational church, Samuel Deakins, shared this worry. In his village he described how,

“...the discovery of coprolites... brought together a large influx of persons from all parts who were employed in digging them out of the earth. These persons were the refuse of society, and with few exceptions, were extravagant, intemperate, licentious, depraved and atheistical in their conduct. One of the principal employers was an avowed Infidel. By his example, by his distribution of pernicious writings and tracts, the minds of many became infected. The employment of these men (who are called Diggers) was lucrative. They earned much money, they required lodgings. Consequently they were spread all over the village and neighbourhood. Whenever they lodged, with a few exceptions, they caused a spiritual blight, the people became indifferent, careless in their attendances and unconcerned about their state; many who were hopeful characters fell away and gave evidence that an increase in riches is destructive of spiritual life.”

(Hopkins, Samuel. Original ms. pp.210ff. in possession of the church, Xerox copies in Cambs. Collection and C.U.L.)

Further insight was also provided by the curate of the neighbouring parish of Wendy, Thomas Darcy, who informed the bishop the same year that,

“The great hindrance (to your ministerial success) is the proximity of coprolite works, as those gathered there are the worst from all parishes and the natural tendency of this is bad in all ways. The Coprolite works have added Public Houses (and) ...have increased the demand and the remuneration for labour and have decreased education. Labourers have the making but Nick keeps them in poverty. If the employers of labour interested themselves personally in the moral well-being of their workmen, then we could do very well in this parish.”

(C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/25)

The Revd. Clutterbuck, whose land in Hinxworth was worked, was so concerned by the men's reputation that he admitted, “the nuisance of the coprolite diggers, an especially rough lot, [is] so great that I not long ago declined an offer made for turning over some 10 acres during three years.” (Clutterbuck, Robert, “The Coprolite Beds at Hinxworth,” Trans. Watford Natural History Soc. Vol. 1.1877 p238)

Another problem that ought to have been of great concern to the clergy in the coprolite villages was the numbers of young children employed. Traditionally, in farming areas, the whole family went out to work in the fields. Prior to, and shortly after the 1870 Education Act, this practice continued, notably in those diggings where numerous pebbles and other unwanted stones were found with the coprolite. In Ampthill, Beds., one of the local school's day books noted that there were many absences during the period of the diggings. (Communication with teacher, Ampthill, Beds.) It was not so much they missed out on their education, more the experiences they were getting.

When the government investigated the problem of child labour, the Revd. J. B. James, rector of Gamlingay, was asked to describe the situation in his area where there were extensive workings on Sandy Heath, Potton.

“The coprolite diggings in our neighbourhood have occupied very many of our boys, many of whom earn at them 8s. and 9s. a week, which is more than the farmers can give them. “

SANDY.

50. Mr. Coulson. - “Girls of 7 years up to 18 years are employed in the coprolite works. The work is taken by piece; they get a sum per ton for picking over the fossils. A girl of ten years would earn 7s. a week by day work, but much more by piece work. The state of education among them is very low; some can read, hardly any can write. The parents also are very uneducated. This and the adjoining district of Polton [sic] is a gardening tract; children are much employed in large numbers in peeling onions and such like work. I have seen gross cases of immorality and indecency, even among the smaller children, at leisure moments at the coprolite mills when waiting for the carts, and have heard much bad language, which is readily learnt by the young from constantly hearing it round them. The foremen do not check them. The sexes should be separated at the mills, by means of different sheds, or even by separate mills for boys and girls. In one instance the foreman keeps a public house, where the wages are paid, and the men and children are allowed to have as much drink as they like during the week on credit, and the money is deducted on pay night. These children have no time for learning, except in the evening.”

(Parliamentary Papers 1867-8 XVII, “1st Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and others in Agriculture”. pp.108, 343, 506, 518.Evidence to Mr. Portman and his Summary.)

Further evidence showed that the local landowner, Mr. Peel, later to become the speaker of the House of Lords, provided them with the rudiments of education.

“COPROLITE DIGGINGS.

131. There is in Cambridgeshire much employment for the young of both sexes of the agricultural labouring classes at the coprolite works. These works are increasing in number, the price paid for the right of digging is from 80l. to 100l. an acre, it being agreed that the land shall be restored to the owner levelled and in a state fit for cultivation. The digging work is done by men and grown lads; boys are employed in wheeling barrows, and children of both sexes in sorting the fossils in the mills.... On enquiring in the neighbourhood of Sandy and Potton, and elsewhere, I could not learn that any steps had been taken by the inspectors of factories to bring the provisions of the Workshop Act to bear on this industry, but it is possible that ere this the subject has occupied their attention.

Mr. Peel's school.

132. Peel, MP, of Sandy, has built a shed conveniently situated for a certain number of these works, which is used for dinner, when hot coffee, &c. are provided at a low price, and for evening school. It is under the superintendence of Mr. Coulson, who reads to them at mealtimes, and gives religious and secular instruction.

I attended an evening meeting of these children, when upwards of 80 of both sexes were present, who had been regular attendants at the school and regularly employed at the works, and as far as I could judge from the single opportunity, I feel sure that Mr. Peel and his coadjutor have every reason to be satisfied with the success of their missionary labours among this otherwise neglected population.”

(Parliamentary Papers 1867-8 XVII, “1st Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and others in Agriculture”. pp.108, 343, 506, 518.Evidence to Mr. Portman and his Summary.)

Various attempts to alleviate some of these problems involved many of the local clergy but, as the Bassingbourn deacon, Samuel Hopkins wrote, not all met with the same degree of success. In Shillington, west of Potton, at the end of January 1863 an influx of men caused the vicar, Revd. John Frere, to provide a coffee shop to deter some of them from using the beerhouses. (Kelly's Post Office Directory, 1864) He wrote the following letter to the bursar of Trinity College, Cambridge, on whose land he wanted it erected.

Shillington Vicarage

Hitchin

Jan. 28 1863

My dear Mr Bursar,

I am about with the aid of a gentleman who takes an interest in the matter to put up a sort of “Reading & Coffee Room” for the working men of the village, with special reference to the case of the “Coprolite diggers,” who are not unknown in Cambridgeshire & who have lately invaded us in great force. After having obtained my building (a second-hand Aldershot hut, procured through a Hampshire brother-in-law of mine, a Capt. Chawman) ... and got leave from the landlord (Wm. Wilshere, Chas. Wilshere's elder brother) I find at the eleventh hour, that the land is copyhold of the College... I should be glad to have an assurance that I shall be free to remove this temporary building, if the occasions of the parish require it, to another site...and not lay hold of what I, & those who act with me, are about to give for the benefit of the place & the diminution of drunkenness.

Ever yours very truly,

John A. Frere.”

(Trin. Coll. Mun. Box 6.115)

In Bassingbourn, where the diggings had being going on since the late-1850s, one landowner, Herbert Fordham, whose entrepreneurial family, apart from being very much involved in the coprolite business, also had banking and brewing interests, had an agreement with a coprolite contractor, Charles Cooper, who ran a beershop at his works.

In January 1864, he agreed to erect a “coffee house and reading room” on their land, 30 feet long by 18 feet wide, and provide it with a stove, tables, forms and a closet or shelves for books for the use of “a large number of Men and boys who were engaged in raising and washing coprolites in the parishes of Abington Pigotts and Bassingbourn.” (C.C.R.O. R56/20/54/6)

It must have been hard for Cooper to fully comply with some of the stipulations in the agreement. He undertook to keep out anyone who was intoxicated and to see that no improper language, betting or gambling took place within the walls and to promise there was to be no sale of intoxicating liquors or beers. He also agreed to use “his best endeavours to promote order and decorum during the continuance of any religious service or public reading or lecture that may from time to time take place within the building.” (Ibid.) It was opened at Easter that year with a report in the Royston Crow.

“BASSINGBOURN. On Good Friday at 4pm. a Coffee and Reading Room which has been erected for the use of the men employed in the Coprolite Works in the neighbourhood was opened. Some gentlemen who had promoted the object attended as well as several of the men who are employed at the works. Mr J.E.G. Fordham (at whose suggestion the building was proposed to be raised) being requested to preside, said that the many sad cases of assault, drunkenness, and theft had come before the magistrates from some of the men who had been employed in the coprolite works, had led him and others to feel much for them, and this resulted in an endeavour to improve their condition. He (Mr. Fordham) knew that those of them who wished to be quiet and orderly had no place of refuge to flee from the resort of the drunkard and the profane. Their friends therefore at no little trouble and expense, had arranged this room for them, and they trusted it would be a blessing to many who might use it. Books had been provided for their instruction and amusement. The Revd. J. Harrison then read part of the 15th chapter of St. Luke, a hymn by Newton was sung, “In evil long I took delight,” and prayers were offered for the divine blessing of the undertaking. Afterwards Mr. Thurnall and the other friends of the object briefly addressed the meeting.”

(C.U.L. Royston Crow, 1st April,1864, p.483)

Whilst it was designed to entice the diggers from the ten or more beerhouses that had sprung up in the village it subsequently declined into selling beer itself as the “Tally Ho”, not surprising given the occupations of the Fordhams and Mr Cooper. (Cambs. Chronicle 12th January 1877; Ag. Hist. Review, xxiv p42; E.J. Pelling, Bassingbourn School Centenary 1877-1977,(pamphlet 1977) p.1)Revd. Jenyns put his finger on it.

...The unfavourable result of these diggings is that drinking has increased. The men work very regularly their own time, and have their allotted beer - two or three pints a day - whilst engaged in it, which is not much more than the labour requires. But leaving work every day at four in the afternoon, and on Saturdays always at twelve at noon, they have much time at their disposal, inducing idle habits, and tempting them to sit long at public houses on their way home.”

(Jenyns, op.cit.)

Hopkins understandably highlighted the failure of the coffee shop but evidenced other attempts to overcome it.

“To meet this gigantic evil, fresh evangelistic efforts were put forth, with the aid of surrounding friends, a large room was built for the use of these people for reading and instruction on week days and for divine service on the Sunday evenings, an evangelist was also employed to converse with them, or preach, distribute tracts and endeavour to restrain them, but drunkenness and immorality so awfully and universally prevailed that these efforts for their salvation were fruitless. Some of these characters would occasionally attend our services, one or two were brought under the power of the word and were added to the church. To prevent the spread of infidelity Mr. Harrison gave lecture series with the assistance of other visiting ministers. The increase of population by the opening of the coprolite pits and the widespread wickedness caused thereby made his position more trying than any of his predecessors experienced yet he ceased not to warn the wicked.”

(Hopkins, op.cit.)

A decade later, the vicar admitted to the bishop that his earlier efforts had not been 100% successful but he did admit there was a positive side. “Drunkenness increased decidedly owing to the Coprolite work. There was no provision for education when I came and they live better than formerly.” (C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/25)

Revd. Conybeare reported a similar improvement in his Barrington parish, adding that,

“The general complaint of the Publicans is that “the church has spoilt their business.”...The physical condition of the labouring classes remains low, owing to grievous overcrowding of their houses, otherwise ought to be good as wages are very high, and not much drinking.”

(CUL.EDR.C3/25)

This improved standard of living was similarly evidenced in Cherry Hinton, where, according to the Revd. Parish,

“The labouring classes in this village earn a good deal of money. Being near to Cambridge the women earn much by washing and many of the men are employed on the Railway - and in Coprolite digging - where they receive high wages. But I fear that in many cases the money - instead of adding to their real comfort is improvidently spent:- the women in dress:- by the men, in drink.”

C.U.L. E.D.R. Cherry Hinton)

The Mormon church had a significant following in Whaddon parish and one family, the Jacklin's, became coprolite diggers in order to raise enough money to send one of the sons to Utah. (Correspondence with B.C. Jacklin, Penarth, CF6 2DD) When the employer was also a church goer their influence over their workers was in many cases significant and this was evidenced in a report of the 1867 harvest festival.

“WHADDON - THANKSGIVING SERVICE. - On Tuesday last a service was held in the old parish church in the afternoon for the purpose of offering thanks for the blessings of Harvest. The church was thronged and among the congregation we observed a large number of coprolite diggers. A most appropriate sermon was preached by the vicar, Revd. J. O. Powell; the lessons being read by the vicars of Bassingbourn and Meldreth. The service, which was choral, was very creditably performed. The church was decorated by F.C. Beaumont Esq., and his well known good taste was never shown to greater advantage, in the elegant arrangement of corn, fruit and flowers. After leaving church, the farm labourers of the different farmers in the parish, and the coprolite diggers in the employ of Mr. Frank C. Carver - about 120 in number - preceded by the Bassingbourn choir band, playing a merry quickstep, marched to the coprolite tavern where they enjoyed an excellent dinner, followed by singing and dancing. The magic lantern which was which was exhibited by Eustace J. Carver, Esq., greatly delighted the large assemblage. The women were not forgotten whilst the men were at dinner, the women were treated to an excellent tea with plenty of cake. Mrs. Powell, the vicar's wife exerted herself to the utmost to entertain the women and the girls; they also had a repetition of the magic lantern show. The happy meeting, without anything to mar it, was brought to a close at half past ten by all joining in the national anthem. We cannot help remarking that the union of the men in the employ of different masters in a meeting of this character is a vast improvement on the old fashioned private horkeys.”

(Cambridge Chronicle 28th September 1867 p.5)

Not all the diggers, however, spent their spare time drinking. Mr. Josiah Mott, a senior preacher of Shillington Methodist Church wrote

“I was born in 1872, the year that our Chapel was opened and I was one of the first babies to be christened there. Most of the men in Shillington worked in the fields at that time, digging for coprolite fossils. They came in large numbers with their wives and children to our Chapel until we had a good congregation every Sunday. Some of the men became Sunday School teachers and I can remember being taught by them during the Sunday children's services. “

(Shillington Parish Newsletter, 1969)

This evangelising work was also evidenced in other Bedfordshire parishes. Revd. Marvin, the vicar of Higham Gobion, reported in 1873 that “There is a decrease in drunkenness and morality and the condition of labour has improved.” (C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/25) In Barton-Le-Clay, Revd. Blissfield described the morality in his parish in 1873 to be, “not of a high order.” There had been an, “increase in wage - increase in drunkenness - escape from impoverishment, at present discontented, unsettled... a labour question.” (C.U.L. E.D.R. C3/25)

In Eversden, however, Annie Macpherson's work to win over the coprolite diggers had a greater measure of success.

“It was not easy for a timid woman to approach these rough characters... at first her efforts were received with sneers and scoffing. Often she would spend hours in prayer before she could get enough courage to approach a gang of men or even say a word apart... "

(Birt, Lilian, op.cit. p.14)

Gradually she won a hearing and a quiet influence among them. After a visit to a London mission she found new resources for

"...a new power was soon evidenced in Annie Macpherson's work among the coprolite diggers. Clubs, coffee rooms, evening classes, prayer meetings and mission services were carried on, not only in the evenings but at the dinner times in barns if no other place was available, or in the open fields. Many Cambridge undergraduates took part. At first the speakers were always men; it was unthought of that a woman should speak publicly... Miss Ellice Hopkins, whose father was a distinguished mathematical tutor at Cambridge, came over to address the gatherings of coprolite diggers and villagers.

Ere Annie Macpherson left Cambridgeshire the fossil strata had been almost worked out in that immediate neighbourhood so that only the labour of the regular population was required but the results of her efforts were far reaching. A temperate, united band of pious young men had been gathered out, full of simple earnestness each seeking to work for God according to his measure of light time and talents.”

(Ibid.)

From the clergy's point of view, there must have been some moral dilemma. Whilst their livings, churches, vicarages, rectories etc. were being improved, some were experiencing declining church attendances. The work of both clergy and lay people in this evangelising mission was enhanced by an unusual society, referred to in Revd. Edward Conybeare's diary entry for 9th March 1875.

“Went to meeting 2.30 - 4.30 at Guildhall of C.U.D.C.Vs.S. (Cambridge University & District Coprolite Visiting Societies) who distribute tracts in villages around. E. Lecke in chair, Emery spoke for 65 mins and called me up. Martin of Grantchester, Mansel (of Trumpington), and Griffiths also spoke.”

(C.C.R.O. Conybeare's diary 1875)

They raised funds to print and distribute religious tracts among the diggers, held prayer meetings, set up Temperance Societies, opened coffee houses, reading rooms and “schools” where moral and religious instruction was given. Whilst the negative impact of the industry has been highlighted few sources document its other positive effects. Whilst increased spending would have stimulated trade in the local village economies, Revd. Jenyns, commented that it

“...has led to a manifest improvement in their condition in some respects... The introduction of a new kind of labour, which may be carried on all through the winter, brings the men plenty of work, and from the nature of that work, higher wages than they were formerly used to. And this is greatly to the advantage of those men who are steady and provident... they not only live better, and are visibly better clothed on Sundays, but they are able to save. Further, some of the more intelligent labourers have become good mechanics, and have got to having the charge of steam-engines and other machinery; while the genius of the men generally has been much stimulated by endeavouring from time to time to discover the best and most advantageous methods of digging out the nodules, washing them, and carrying on other operations.”

(Jenyns, Revd. L. op.cit.)

This period of economic boom was not to last. By the end of the 1870s, along with bad weather and poor harvests, imports of cheaper grain and meat as a result of Free Trade, brought on an agricultural depression. At the same time, imports of phosphates from the United States brought coprolite prices down. Works closed and labourers were laid off which, with similar problems in farming, led to considerable unemployment and distress in many areas. Naturally much of the deposit had been exhausted by then but some diggings did continue where deeper seams were still profitable. There was evidence, albeit small, of philanthropic landowners allowing work to continue to alleviate the labourer's problems. (See author’s accounts of Stow-cum-Quy, Horningsea, Fen Ditton, Bottisham)

In November 1884, Revd. Edward Conybeare, had more of the Barrington glebe tested to determine the depth of the remaining coprolite. He allowed Mr. Titchmarsh, a local farmer, to work the 8 Acre Field with a stipulation that the men should not go down more than 25 feet. Titchmarsh agreed to pay £150 per acre, still a very high sum at the time, especially since he was a family friend and churchwarden. These pits were still in operation until January 1893 when the mills were eventually taken down. (“Cam or Rhee”, Barrington Local History and Conservation Soc.C.3.p.9; Trin. Coll. Mun. Box 35) Revd. Bendyshe was also given permission to have 3a.2r.0p. part of the Old Enclosure worked, so, between them, jobs were provided for large numbers.

Revd. Conybeare also won influence in other ways. One appreciated by the men was the provision of alternative employment when, for example, “all fossil work being stopped by water... Relief work again for drowned out fossil diggers on Glebe. Church path forwarded a peg.” On another occasion, in early winter, “started relief work (day after coldest day since 1860, -4 degrees.) levelling for 5 men who took it with murmurs. (W. Warren, R. Wright, J. Carter, Scotcher and S. Storey.)” He hired men to do parish relief work, paying them out of his “Coprolite Fund,” which at one point amounted to almost £2,000. The pond was deepened, The Park well was dug, the causeway was dug out and the Harrow football fields were drained. (C.C.R.O. Conybeare's diary; CUL. Rep. Com. Univ. Inc. Barrington, 11/12/73)

In fact, the benefit to Barrington parish was summed up by Revd. William Pearce, a subsequent vicar, who stated that income from the glebe land yielded £90 in 1858, £285 in 1873 when the coprolites were being dug, £177 in 1885 and, when the diggings had ceased, only £43 in 1901. (R.C.H.M., 'Cambridgeshire', Vol. ii pp365-8; CUL.EDR.C3/28, C3/30)

In Bassingbourn the diggings on Rectory Farm were hampered by the heavy rains but Nunn's labourers had worked most of the accessible seams. When the vein “unexpectedly dropped much below the maximum depth” of 12 feet, correspondence showed that he wanted to surrender the remaining five years of his lease, and gain a new 21 year lease for £850, “with permission to work the coprolite for a term of ten years at £60 per acre, £10 per acre rent for the area covered by the workings.” (C.E.D.C. Bassingbourn file 42430) In 1881 his solicitor wrote to the Commissioners, “The price of coprolite has however lately risen and should a drier season ensue, this lessee, whose great difficulty has been in dealing with the water, may again commence working.” (Ibid.)

It wasn't until 1884, however, before his licence was renewed, this time for a period of ten years at the same £60 per acre. This guaranteed the Farmers Manure Company cheap supplies until the 1890s and enabled them to successfully compete with their larger competitors. It would also have guaranteed his labourers continued employment through what would otherwise have been a difficult period and it would have provided himself and the Commissioners with a good income.

Not all parishes benefited. There were many cases of bankrupted farmers, of farms being left untenanted as no one was willing to farm with reduced agricultural prices. In 1880, the Haslingfield parish vestry group argued that,

“...in as much as the poor's share receives no benefit from coprolite excavations...the Charity Commissioners should give annually a sum from the coprolite fund equal to the loss sustained by the reduction in rent of Charity Farm.”

(C.C.R.O. Haslingfield Charity papers, Feb.1880)

This was reduced by £10 an acre, typical of reductions made on other farm rentals in the area. In the Suffolk parish of Waldringfield during the 1880s, there was another case of the vicar attempting to solve some of the parish's economic problems by allowing the diggers to continue working his family's land. This provided employment until the early 1890's. Most of the other coprolite parishes suffered and the Shillington vicar typified their problems in a note to the bishop in 1885.

“Low wages and scarcity of work have caused not a little distress among our population this winter. With a view to alleviating this distress, it was suggested to me that the wealthier inhabitants of our parish should be invited to contribute to a fund for supplying coal to poorer families. This has been done and £18 17s.9d. has been collected.”

(CUL.EDR.C3/31)

Three years later in 1888, the subsequent vicar, James Bonser, in a further note, showed that the situation had hardly improved.

“The distress and destitution which pressed heavily on many of our people last winter, has again made itself felt among us, although less severely... I lose no opportunity of impressing on my poorer neighbours that the more acute and degrading forms of poverty will never disappear from among us until greater prudence is exercised. And especially I desire to urge upon young people that they are guilty of grievous sin... Helped three young men to emigrate with a special fund collected and intended to assist other intending emigrants. Expended on Carter, West and Mabbot (£18.13s.2d.) for passage and outfit.”

(CUL.EDR.C3/33)

Increased imports of foreign phosphates saw the eventual demise of the coprolite industry. Dock and coal strikes led to increased prices which saw lower profits for coprolite contractors. The Quarry Act introduced in 1894 signed the death knell. Any pit below 25 feet had to comply with tight regulations about health and safety. Many of the pits that were still open were forced to close with the accompanying unemployment. Many labourers left the villages, either emigrating to the States or the Colonies - South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Some were provided financial help by parish collections. Most went to find work in the industrial towns and cities. Some joined the forces and others who had saved enough bought smallholdings. There was a dramatic increase in market gardening from the 1880s onwards. Few of the diggers returned to lower paid agricultural work. Whilst the pits were generally filled in, levelled and returned to arable or pastoral use, there is little today to remind us of this intense period of agricultural mining.

Many millions benefited from the effects of the superphosphates in terms of increased food production, not just in this country, but around the world. But, during the fifty years the coprolite diggings were going on, their influence on this part of East Anglia was significant, scarcely touched upon in history books. It has left an abiding mark on many parish churches and on the lives of many families across South East Suffolk, Northeast and South Cambs., part of West Norfolk, North Herts. South Beds. and South East Bucks.