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Although there had been a
profitable clay industry in the area since the 17th century a new extractive
occupation developed in Capel St. Andrew by the
1850’s. Coprolites had been worked from Mr. May’s fields on the northern slopes
of the Tang in 1850 but whether they had been worked earlier than that in Capel is not known.
According to the 1851 census
there were diggings further along the slope from May’s Farm towards Stonebridge
Marshes. 57 year old John Lucock was described as “a farmer of 31 acres employing 1 labour,
employing 4 labours after coprolite” and James Stebbing,
aged forty eight, farmed 64 acres with “2
labours & son & 2 labours after coprolite.” (1851 census) How much
they raised and what arrangements they had made with coprolite merchants
remains unknown. By 1857 one of the largest Suffolk landowners, Lord Rendlesham, who owned 1,760 acres of this parish, allowed
John Lucock to raise them from his estate. Over that
winter he raised 75 tons and sold them to the manure manufacturer, William
Colchester, at £2.00 a ton. As his labour costs were only £1.00 a ton, it
brought quite a reasonable profit of £75.00 The
following year Lucock’s costs went up to £1.25 a ton
but production fell to only 60 tons which led to a reduced profit of only £45.
Although this was the equivalent of about two farm labourers’ annual income it
would have been a welcome addition to the farm income.
There was no indication this
particular operation continued into the 1860s but the drop in prices to only
£1.50 a ton may well have deterred further involvement. Records show that over
the 1859-60 winter, Lucock
was working over in Butley, again on Lord Rendlesham’s estates. The tenant there, Thomas Crisp, was
engaged in his own workings so Rendlesham had brought
in Lucock and another contractor to work the deposit
there. (SCRO.HB416/F.2 pp.13,31,63,127,153; see
author’s accounts of Butley and Boyton)
Another contractor, Alfred
Chambers, advertised
in the Post Office Directory for 1883 as a “coprolite raiser.” Between the year 1859 and 1876 he engaged the
services of the blacksmith at Boyton for “shoeing, axles, tools, housing, repair,
traps”. He paid £21 over this period and according to the records he was
“one of the worst payers.” Where he was working is not documented. (Story,
Brian, “The Accounts of a Suffolk Village Blacksmith 1859 -1881”, The Journal
of the Tool and Trade History Society, p.63)
The map on page
.. showed the location of the workings in the
area. Although no further documentation of the Capel
diggings has come to light, it is known that they were worked in Boyton until the mid-1880s. It is quite possible men from
the parish walked down to the marshes to work them. It is uncertain whether Mr.
Lucock purchased land using his profits from his
involvement but the 1871 census showed that, aged 77, he farmed an extra two
acres still employing five labourers. Mr. Stebbing,
aged 68, similarly had a further eight acres yet still employed four men.