Logs, trees and London Boroughs

 A cold and frosty day in Shropshire. Too cold and frosty to be doing anything much outside today, even if I hadn’t succumbed to the village bug a few days ago.

When I was a boy gardener working for a variety of London Boroughs over the years, and wasn’t suffering from a village bug, winter was when you abandoned the parks to carry out work on the trees in the local streets.

Nowadays I tend to get the logs I burn to keep the house warm in winter already cut to size and barn dried, so they burn well.

When I was working for local authorities, and burning the logs I gathered during the course of my work to make the coal last longer, what I burned was dictated by what trees were growing in the streets there and none of the authorities I worked for at the time had ever planted Ash or Beech, generally considered to be the trees which produce the hottest burning logs.

There were large London Planes, planted around the turn of the twentieth century, which had thick branches requiring regular pollarding and lopping to keep them under control. The logs they produced were heavy and smoked a lot.

There were also Lime Trees, which were planted after the Second World War and hadn’t got big enough to produce very big logs in any volume at the time. Not enough to do more than mix them in with your other logs and not really know how they added to, or detracted from, their burning.

After the onslaught of Dutch Elm Disease in the 1960s, there were any number of Elm tree logs to be had, and they didn’t burn too badly as long as the supply lasted. Eventually though, there were no more standing elms left to cut down. The ones which had been standing dead the longest before being cut down burned quite well as a result.

In the garden, look out for a tree planted as a street tree in one London Borough, in Chiswick, I believe, though it wasn’t at all suitable really. Adding a touch of the exotic when it was, though. Robinia pseudoacacia, the False acacia, or Locust. A fast growing deciduous tree, with dark green leaves made up of oval leaflets and dense drooping clusters of pea-like white flowers borne in late spring and early summer. It also had thorns as I recall. Large ones.

                                                                    

Drug Induced Contact With The Spirit World

Columbus, when he had completed the first of his four epic voyages with the aid of an inaccurate world map drawn up by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, returned to Spain, convinced that he had discovered, "the end of the east". His companions, judging by the accounts they wrote afterwards, may rather have believed themselves to have dropped out of their own world and into some kind of hell.

They had found a primitive people using a vast array of plant drugs: Cohoba (Piptadenia peregrine - the ground seeds of which are used as a narcotic snuff); Coca (Erythroxylum coca from which cocaine is extracted); Peyotl (Lophophora williamsfi, the dried crowns of which were chewed by the Indians for the hallucinatory effect of the drug anhalonine); certain species of mushroom, Datura arborea, the leaves of which were smoked by priests who believed the plant to be divine; Datura candida, a decoction of the leaves of which was drunk during ancient religious rites to induce prolonged delirium; Ololiuqui (Rivea corymbosa - the seeds of which are used as a hallucinatory drug); Caapi (Banisteriopsis caapi), which is cultivated for the leaves and young stems from which a hallucinatory beverage is obtained); and many others, of which Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) was the most common.

None of the plants was known in Europe at the time, nor was the use to which they were most generally put - that of inducing a mild, trancelike state from which individuals would emerge to tell tales of having attended the councils of the gods. Divine substances were no longer a feature of the more advanced religions by this time. The people of Columbus' New World, however, took the concept seriously indeed.

DRUG INDUCED CONTACT WITH THE SPIRIT
WORLD

Though the drugs in question might also be in daily use for recreational purposes, if what they were being taken for was their visionary qualities, then there were certain rules by which the user had to abide. For one thing, an intoxicant was only to be imbibed by, or under the direct supervision of, a medicine man and experienced interpreter of visions. These glimpses of a world which occupied a different plane of reality from our own were by courtesy of the spirits who inhabited them and had access to sources of information unavailable to man.

The chronicler Gonzalvo Fernando d'Oviedo y Valdez wrote of the Indians of Hispaniola (present day Haiti), that they had secret means of putting themselves in touch with spirits whenever they wished to predict the future. A priest from any one of a number of small desert communes would be summoned and arrive with two of his disciples, who would have in their possession a flask filled with a mysterious drink. Seating himself between the disciples, one of whom would constantly be ringing a small bell, the priest would partake of the drink, which would shortly send him into a convulsive and sharply painful ecstasy from which loss of consciousness would eventually free him. It was at this point that the querist would put the question, to which the spirit replied through the mouth of the inspired man.

SPANISH REACTION TO THE USE OF DRUGS

The Spanish chroniclers had no doubts at all concerning the accuracy of the information collected. They were quite prepared to believe that sorcerers (curanderos they called them) could surrender themselves to a state of second sight after eating the toadstools which they named Teonanactl (Panaeolus campanulatus var. sphinctrinus), or "Flesh of God". They had witnessed the utilisation of the process to discover items which had been lost or stolen, or even to successfully track down runaway wives. What worried them about it was the belief that such visions could only possibly occur as a result of diabolic possession. since God was hardly likely to have allowed the wielding of such a valuable power to rest solely in the hands of this heathen race.

Diego Duran, in his account of the coronation of Montezuma II in 1502, describes the outcome of woodland fungi being administered to the guests when, "some became so intoxicated that they lost their senses and committed suicide. Others had visions during which the future was revealed to them, the Devil speaking to them while they were in this drunken state."

PREHISTORIC RITES

For just how many centuries this parlance with god or devil had been taking place no one is able to say for certain, even now, though it does seem to have been the practice in that part of the world for a very long time. Effigies of toadstools about 25cm tall found in Guatemala some years ago were thought at first to be phallic symbols, until the discovery of a connection with ancient rites involving hallucinogenic fungi caused that opinion to be revised. Below the stalks of the stone fungi are carved figures of men and animals and, on one of them, a toad. The statuettes have been dated to around 500 BC. That the practice had not rested in that ancient world was instantly apparent to Columbus and his peers. Nor was it eradicated during their era, despite the fierce, and often brutal opposition of the Christian Church to its continuation. There is an account of a ceremony which was witnessed in Mazatec country in quite modern times.

For more information read either Gardens of the Gods, by Brian Taylor, available as a hardback book from Amazon, recently given five stars by a satisfied reader, or its e-book version, Sacred Plants of the World from Neanderthal Times until the Present Day available from Amazon Kindle. 

William Randall and Mary Brown of Stotfold

   William Randall, born at Harlington on 13^th March 1796, married Sarah Smith at Sundon on 5^th October 1817, and set up home there. They had a son, James, baptised on 31^st January 1819. Nine months later William was doing a month’s hard labour at Bedford Old House of Correction for a Misdemeanour in Husbandry. He was committed 0n 16^th September 1819, and released on 13^th October.

In 1822 William Randall, aged 26, five feet eight inches tall, with brown hair and a fresh complexion, turned Kings Evidence when committed at Bedford County Gaol on 8^th March for stealing wheat and got off without sentence. The prisoner was described as orderly.

      In 1826 a daughter, Hannah, was added to the family and in 1841, at the time of the Census, William Randule, wife, Sarah, and daughter, Hannah, 15, were living together at Sundon. James was obviously elsewhere.

Somewhere around 1845 William opened some dyeing works at his home – the first in the country dedicated to servicing the straw plait industry on a large scale. Black, a very poor brown and dark blue, were the only colours available at first, but Thomas Lye, who moved to the area from Yorkshire shortly afterwards, added a grey, and then the invention of aniline dyes revolutionized the whole process.

William 53, was described as a Dyer in the next Census in 1851 and he and Sarah could afford a servant, Daphne Perry and an apprentice, William Faulkner. Next door, also a dyer, was son, James, 33, and his wife, Jane, with twins, Hannah and William, 13, daughters Sarah Ann, 6, and Mary Ann, 2, and son, James, 1.

In 1859 William, now described as with grey hair, sallow complexion and proportionate features, a straw dyer able to read and write, was committed to the debtors cells at Bedford County Gaol for ten days by the Sheriff’s Court on 28^th June for owing Frederick Allen £46.11s. 10d. It didn’t say who Frederick Allen was. William was discharged on 18^th August.

In 1861 William was committed to the Debtors Cells at Bedford County Gaol for twenty-one days by Luton County Court on 29^th November for owing Cyrus Fordham, a coal merchant, £18.9s.6d. He was discharged on 12^th April1862.

In 1861, at the time of the Census, Sarah had been home alone at Sundon, because William was away visiting his other family, and his other woman, Mary Brown, at Stotfold, on the other side of the county. Not that Sarah knew that. And she probably remained ignorant of it until her death, which was recorded during the January – March period of 1863.

Mary Brown had been baptized at Arlsey, Bedfordshire, on 9^th September 1827, the daughter of labourer, Richard Brown and his wife, Sarah.

In 1841 she was living with her family in Arlsey. Richard was a straw dealer now. There was also brother, Richard, 22, sisters Sarah, 20, Betsy, 15, Fanny, 11, and Louisa, 5, and another brother, Amos, 8.

Mary’s mother, Sarah, had died by the time of the 1851 Census. Father, Richard, still a straw dealer, was living with son, Amos, 18, and daughter, Louisa, 15, who were both described as his assistants. Eldest brother, Richard, who had married another Mary, was living with her in his own home in Arlsey and being described as a straw factor. Sister Mary was living with them and being described as a straw plaiter.

In 1861 Richard Brown, now described as being past work, was living with youngest son, Amos, a straw cutter , wife, Emma, and daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, 4 months old. Eldest son, Richard, and his wife, Mary don’t appear in this, or any subsequent censuses, so there’s no saying what became of them.

Mary Brown moved to Stotfold, about two miles away from Arlsey in the opposite direction to Pirton, and still in Bedfordshire, and, though lacking a husband, began having children there in 1852, when her first child, daughter, Hannah, was born. Mary was 25 at the time, and William Randall, if he was their father, was 56.

 William Randall Brown, born at Stotfold on 9^th February 1853, was baptised there on 2^nd October 1856; James Brown born on 19^th September 1854, baptised Stotfold 2^nd October 1856; Randall Brown born on 6^th September 1856, baptised Stotfold 2^nd October 1856; Edwin Randall Brown, baptised Stotfold 20^th January 1859; Arthur Headley Brown born 26^th January 1860, baptised Stotfold  22^nd February 1860; Frederick Brown born 1862, baptised 10^th April 1870, Arlsey; Elizabeth Brown born 1862, baptised Arlsey 10^th April 1870; Francis born 24^th September 1865;  Minnie born 1867, baptised Arlsey 10^th April 1870; Joseph baptised Arlsey 10^th April 1870. Eleven children in all, of whom only the last three were actually registered under the name of Randall.

Whoever the father was, the ones registered as Brown should have gone through life bearing that name. William Randall, may or may not have been the father of some or all of them. The first girl Mary had had been named Harriet, the same as William’s legitimate daughter and of the first two boys, William was named that for obvious reasons, and James, given the same name as William’s legitimate son. Despite the children having no father’s name given when they were registered, William can definitely be linked with Mary Brown as the father of her children, because he made the mistake of visiting her on the day the 1861 Census enumerator was in town.

In the 1861 Census, surrounded by her children, with a servant, Maryann Saunder, 17, and with William Randole, straw plait dyer there described as a visitor, Mary was described as a widow. It was the only time William’s true place of birth was given in any of the censuses. Probably because he had no part in the recording of it. Following the wrong William Randall from the place of birth given on other censuses – Toddington -  had led me astray for a long time when I first started  researching my family history.

How they had managed their double life for so many years is impossible to say. Or what Mary’s friends and relatives thought about it, because they must have known even if William’s next of kin didn’t. His job probably meant he had to travel a lot, but how many times he visited her in a year is also impossible to say. Or if all her children were also William’s, despite his name not being on the birth certificate. Or if she sometimes had other lovers besides him. The Headley family, for instance, were rich and powerful and lived just over the border in Cambridgeshire. Closer to Stotfold than William Randall was living in Sundon. Was Arthur Headley named after a father who was part of that family, not a Randall?

Mary brown married William Randall at Stotfold on September 11^th 1864. Eighteen months after his wife’s death. She was described as a single woman, and her father as deceased, which he might have been by then.

In 1871, living at Hitchen Road, Arlsey, to where Mary had returned before son, Francis, was born there in 1865, were William Randall, retired straw plait dyer and wife , Mary, a straw plaiter, along with offspring who had all had the surname Brown in earlier censuses, given the surname Randall in this one.

It was the last appearance in any census of James, Randall and Edwin who, whichever of the surnames they chose to go by, vanished off the face of the earth from that day on as far as censuses were concerned. Along with father, William, but he had the excuse of having been buried at Arlsey on 29^th January 1872. After enjoying married life with his new wife a mere five years.

Eldest son, William, did go by the name of Randall because he moved to Yorkshire where he became a timber yard foreman in Leeds, his eldest son, Harry, being born there in 1877.  William’s youngest brother, Joseph, followed eventually and was lodging with William and his family in 1891. He too became a timber yard foreman and had a wife and a son of his own by 1901.

In 1881 Mary Randall, widow, 55, straw plater born in Arlsey, was back in Stotfold at 135 Asylum Road. As well as son, Joseph, a scholar, living with her there, there was daughter, Minnie, a straw plaiter, and other sons, Alfred and Francis. Both carpenter’s labourers.

Mary was buried at Arlsey on 24^th July 1886 aged 59. In 1901 Francis was a general labour living at Newington, London with wife, Lizzie Ellen, 30. Frederick Randall was a journeyman painter in Luton living with wife, Alice a shirt machinest on her own account at home and daughter Elsie, 4. Minnie married John Pike a cement labourer on the railway and they had children James Marion and Reginald. In 1891 the census recorded Minnie and the fort two of her children visiting brother, Arthur and his wife, Harriet, and son, James in Willesden. 

Grass cutting blues

A sunny day in Shropshire and, despite last night’s frost, I’ve just been out in the garden cutting the grass. Something which I really didn’t want to be doing in February.

In the far off days when I worked for a local authority and had responsibility for sports turf of all kinds, one thing we tried to avoid doing at any cost, was starting the grass cutting season too early. Cutting grass for the first time in the year seems to stimulate it into even more growth for a while, as if it is trying to make up for the growth you’ve just cut off.

Grass needs a temperature below 5c in order to stop growing and it needs a winter average of night time temperatures well below that for it to fall into a state of dormancy. Last year there were far too many nights when the temperature was well above that in October and November – some nights almost double that cut off point – and too many in  December too. And it was very wet as well.

Another condition which will drive grass into dormancy is drought – hence the lack of growth during the summer of 1976 – though the brown lawns a lot of people were faced with then all recovered when the rain returned. Though last September and October included a lot of dry days, November and December included a lot which were very wet as well as too warm. Hence me having to be out cutting my grass this morning.

In the garden, if the soil in that garden is inclined towards being acid, look out for Fothergilla major, which has very striking, scented, petal-less creamy white flower heads made up solely of stamens, which are carried in spring on a multi-stemmed medium-sized shrub. The oval, 4 inch long glossy dark green leaves turn scarlet and orange in autumn.