Letters written by the Rev J D Banister concerning St Mark's Church, Eagland Hill, and the reclamation of Pilling Moss 1869 by Hugh Sherdley
The Reverend James Dawson Banister was appointed to the living of St John the Baptist's Church, Pilling in 1826, a position he held until his retirement at the age of 78 in 1876.
Mr Banister had a great interest and concern for the well-being of his parishioners no matter what their religious persuasions were and shortly before his retirement he was presented with an Illuminated Address and a Purse for five hundred guineas.
"To the Reverend James Dawson Banister, Vicar of Pilling in the County of Lancaster.
Reverend and Dear Sir,
We your parishioners and friends offer you our most hearty congratulations on the completion of fifty years' service in this Parish. We desire to express our high sense of your faithfulness to your duties, and your unwearied kindness to the sick, aged and poor. You have been unceasing in your efforts to promote the welfare of all. By your instrumentality the present National Schools were erected in 1856, and under your constant supervision have been amongst the most efficient in the County. One portion of your parish has from a wild moss and bog become a fruitful field and you have taken active interest in all which has converted the large uncultivated and uninhabited tract of land into rich fields and homesteads. It now through your care possesses a Mission Chapel and Schools. We trust you may live many years amongst us assured of the continual affection and esteem of all, and we beg your acceptance of the accompanying Purse of 500 Guineas as an earnest of the same.
Signed on behalf of the subscribers the 13th day of December 1875.
RC Gardner, Chairman
John S Gardner
CS Bagot
Andrew Kay
Harri Edwards
Wm Shepherd
R Preston
Thos Corless
Joseph Gornall
Wm Jenkinson
Henry J Barton, Treasurer. Thomas Nicholson, Secretary."
In 1869, Mr Banister wrote a number of letters to the Editor of the 'Preston Herald', the existence of these letters was brought to the notice of the Pilling Historical Society by Mr W Cardwell of Pilling. Copies of these letters are in the possession of Mr and Misson Banister of Cumbria, great grandson and granddaughter of the Rev JD Banister. On reading the letters, their importance was realised as they give further insight to the 19th century history of Pilling and particularly the reclamation of the moss lands. Mr and Miss Banister very generously gave permission for their publication in the Over-Wyre Historical Journal and grateful thanks are extended to them and also to Mr W Cardwell for his help in their publication.
Letter No 1
Eagland Hill, Near Pilling
To the Editor of the Herald
Sir,
As you have recently given to the public some particulars of the laying of a foundation uds stone of a new Mission Room at Eagland Hill, in the township of Pilling, I will venture topog add a short and plain statement of this locality, the great improvement in the agriculture, and the increase of the population of the district, as an evidence that such a building as a Mission Room for religious purposes is absolutely necessary there, with a hope that some friends of the Church will willingly lend a helping hand in completing the work so favourably begun.
The district of Amounderness lying between the rivers Wyre and Cocker, and bounded by the sea on the North, and the elevated land of Winmarleigh, Nateby and Church-Town on the East and South East was at no very distant period, in a great measure a barren and desolate bog. As the township of Pilling was nearly in the centre of this district, and comprised the greatest extent of the boggy land, the uncultivated morass was generally designated Pilling Moss, though the bog extended into several of the adjacent townships.
The nucleus of this extensive Moss is no doubt the debris of an ancient forest. This is very evident from the enormous quantity of trees which are now embedded in the bog. The Moss as it increased in depth and being always saturated with water overflowed at an early period the boundary of the original forest, and ran over the adjacent low lands. This is evident from the want of the remains of trees in many places. This ancient forest was probably destroyed by winds, water and fire. There are evidences that all these elements were more or less engaged in its destruction, but it may be fairly supposed that water was the most efficient agent. On the destruction of the forest arose the bog, which at first was formed of rank aquatic herbage the annual growth and decay of which rapidly Increased the Moss until it extended nearly from the present shore to the rising lands on the South and East. In more recent times, Sphagnum, in many parts has added much to the depth of this extensive deposit, and its yearly growth and decay may be traced in the bog by the successive layers forming a vegetable stratification. The uppermost layers are light in texture, and of a greyish colour, but the underlying bog necessarily becomes more consolidated by the superincumbent Moss, and also darker in hue towards the bottom, and in many places the lowest strata are as black as coal, and emit a bitumenous odour.be The trees which constituted the ancient forest are now generally lying in a horizontals position on the original soil, and many of the roots are in the very place in which they originally grew. The oaks struck their roots deep into the clay and marl, whilst the roots of the yew, as soon as they came into contact with these harder substances ran on their surface and formed a circular network round the stem. Many of the trees have been broken off about three or four feet above the roots and the charred trunks are now evidences of the agency of fire in their destruction.
The original soil in which these trees first took root, and grew so luxuriantly has become by the percolation of water through the bog, as black as the lowest stratum of the Moss, and in some places is partially converted into peat, but not sufficiently adhesive for turf. This original soil is locally called 'carre' I presume Scottice (sic) 'carse. It has evidently been an alluvial deposit of silicious materials, and the rank herbage it first produced has by decay and decomposition added to the richness of the primitive soil. In this stratum of original soil the bronze kelts are generally found. Under this soil in which the ancient forest trees grew, and immediately over the clay or marl there is in many places another alluvial deposit, provincially called "white ore", containing an abundance of seeds of many noxious plants and also said by farmers to be very injurious to good vegetation. This "white ore" varies in thickness of its deposit from two to ten or twelve inches. Under this "white ore" comes the clay on the north side of an ancient sea beach mentioned hereafter varying in thickness of stratum from two to six feet. On the south side of the same beach the marl abounds and varies from ten to forty feet in depth. Under the clay there is another deposit of blue silt, or finely comminuted sand. The depth of this silt has not yet been ascertained, but it is always in or upon this silt that the horns and bones of the red deer are found as also the organic remains of some other extinct animals, which were probably living before man had an existence upon the the earth.
The ancient sea beach alluded to above is another important geological feature in this district. This beach runs parallel to the present coastline and is distant from the latter, on an average two or three miles. It commences near Crimbles in the parish of Cockerham, and runs circuitously through parts of Winmarleigh to Cogie Hill. Then it enters Pilling near to Bone Hill and thence passes under the Moss and appears again behind Stalmine. It is very visible again at the Shilla Hills under Preesall Hill, and terminates at the Wyre.
Letter No II
To the Editor of the Herald
Sir,
This celebrated Moss was formerly of so wide and large an extent that for turbary uses it was a common proverb to say it would last for ever. Recent improvements in agriculture, and the yearly cutting away of the bog around the margin for turbary have however, so circumscribed its extent on every side that much land which at one time was covered with Moss has now become valuable arable land, and even that portion of the Moss which has not been cut and carted away for turbary, is now very generally brought into so high a state of cultivation, by drainage and the application of clay and marl and various manures, that at the present day it produces excellent crops of wheat, oats, clover, rye grass, potatoes and turnips. The change in the Moss from a region of desolation to fertility has been a work of some time, and has required the application of great energy and perseverance, together with a considerable outlay of capital, as well as a sound knowledge of the proper cultivation of bog land. It may be safely said that less than a century ago little or no progress had been attempted in the cultivation of this Moss. Small strips or patches of land from which the bog had been cut away for turbary, would doubtless be cropped but the great mass of the Moss itself was left entirely uncultivated as if it had been a barren rock or an inland lake. The Moss, when undrained, would probably produce on the drier ridges, or by the banks of natural pools a moderately strong heath, but in general even this plant was stunted and sickly, and the bog was generally so saturated with water as to be destitute of almost every kind of vegetation, and in many places utterly impassable by man except in a season of long frost or after a continued drought in summer.
The first farm brought into cultivation of any extent was doubtless Old Eskham. Here was a knoll or ridge of land which had never been covered with bog. The summit of this knoll is the highest land in the township of Pilling, and according to the Ordnance Survey is 50 feet above the sea level. On the Southern dip of this elevated ridge the first farmstead stood. When this house was first erected it must have been a home on the bog, and such its name would indicate 'Esk' - Keltic water and 'ham' - Angio-Saxon, a home. This house when first erected must have been a dreary solitude and the first settler would need a home, a safe and sacred retreat. In the year 1723 this farm consisted of about 42 customary acres of cultivated land and continued of much the same extent until 1771. In 1751 it was let (so says a record) for £25 per annum, out of which taxes were allowed. In 1771 the rent was about £33 per annum. The whole estate included under the name of Eskham consisted, at that time, of about 728 customary acres of which only 42 acres were in cultivation, the residue a howling waste, the retreat of the bittern, the breeding place of the wild goose, wild duck, curlew, snipe, etc and on some of the drier portions of the red grouse, partridges and quails. Probably a few hares might exist around the margin of the Moss, but the deficiency of succulent vegetation and the sponginess of the bog would be little inducement for the hare. There is no evidence as far as i can learn, that the fox and badger frequented the Moss, but the polecat and stoat would doubtless riot on the young and eggs of the waterfowl which abounded on the tarns. I have anxiously inquired for any remains of the beaver, thinking this animal might have been instrumental in the destruction of the ancient forest, but hitherto have met with no trace of it.
This imperfect description of the Eskham Moss may give some idea of the state of the adjoining Mosses which were similarly situated, and of the utter unfitness whilst in an undrained state either for pasturage or the plough. The following record, taken from the Gentleman's Magazine for 1745 is a strong confirmation of the state of the Moss at that period.
It is contained in a letter from the Rev. Mr. Richmond to - Leigh, Esq. of Adlington in Cheshire, and published in the Philosophical Transactions No. 475. The writer states
that on
"Saturday the 26th. of January 1744-5 a part of Pilling Moss lying between Eskham House and an estate of Mr. Butler's of Wild Boar was observed to rise to a surprising height. After a short time it sank as much below the level, and moved slowly towards the south side. In half an hours time it covered 20 acres of land. The improved land adjoining that part of the Moss which moved was a concave circle containing nearly 100 acres, which was well nigh filled up with Moss and water. In some parts it was thought to be five yards deep. A family was driven out of their dwelling house, which was quite surrounded and the fabric tumbling down. The part of the Moss which was sunk like a bend of a river, ran north and south, was about a mile in length and near half a mile in breadth so that it was apprehended there would be a continual current to the south. A man was going over the Moss when it began to move, as he was going eastward he perceived to his great astonishment that the ground under his feet moved southward. He turned back speedily and had the good fortune to escape being swallowed up."
J.D.B.
Letter No III
To the Editor of the Herald
Sir,
Mr. Richmond's record of the state of the Eskham Moss in 1745 referred to in my last paper is a strong evidence of the state of this bog in that year. Other portions of this morass were doubtless similarly saturated with water, and utterly untenantable and unprofitable until drained and partially consolidated. The Eskham Estate, in the township of Pilling, was an undivided property and held by three parties, with equal rights in the same. The resident farmer, Mr. George Parkinson owned one third in 1771 and the Rev. Geoffrey Hornby, rector of Winwick, and Trafford Esq. of Trafford each held another third. It was about the end of the last century that another homestead was erected at Whinney Hey, or as it is more commonly known Trashy Hill, on a portion of partially elevated land on this estate to the East of Eskham House. To these two farmsteads of Eskham and Whinney Hey about 180 acres of land were annexed and leased to Mr. George Parkinson or his sub-tenants about or very soon after the same date, another lease for three lives was agreed upon by the same parties for 500 acres. In this lease two new farmsteads of brick were to be erected by the lessee at his own expense, at or near Woods Hill in the North Eastern portion of the Eskham Estate, and the annual rent to the two non resident owners Messrs Hornby and Trafford was each one pound. The value of this Moss land was at that time little more than nominal. Mines, minerals and game were reserved for the lessors. The last life in this lease expired about 1866 or 1867. Then again another lease in 1805 for 52 acres of Moss land in the South Western portion of this same estate was leased by the same parties for another three lives in this lease, the last life of which expired, I believe in the autumn of 1868. These different leases comprised the extent of the Eskham Estate consisting of about 728 customary acres of seven yards to the perch.
The two farmsteads at Woods Hill adjoined the township of Nateby, and to make them accessible it was important and absolutely necessary to have a road, however imperfect, to and from them to the outer world. The formation of this road was on the Eastern margin of the Eskham estate and skirted on Nateby and at that time was more easy to form than through the deep and spongy bog. This road was doubtless a great step in the future cultivation of the Moss, as the occupiers of these new farmsteads would be enabled to carry such produce as they might be able to raise to market, and also bring home to their families the necessaries of life. The cultivation of these farms did not make great or rapid progress. The management of Moss land was then imperfectly understood.
The land for several years under cultivation on these farms was chiefly limited to the drier land where the farm buildings had been erected, or on such portions of the Moss from which turbary had been cut and carted away to Garstang and other adjoining populous districts. These farmers at Woods Hill probably at first depended quite as much for their support and payment of rent on the sale of turves for fuel as on the grain they were enabled to raise by the cultivation of the Moss.
Oats were the chief produce they first attempted to cultivate, and it was doubtless the high price of oatmeal at the end of the last century which induced the lessee of the Eskham Estate to attempt the cultivation of this spongy morass. The reclaiming of the bog was a slow and laborious work and the recompense for the first three or four years was trifling if not unremunerative. Open drains about ten yards asunder were first cut to carry off the water, and thereby consolidate the upper surface of the bog. These drains had also to be cleaned and scoured yearly, and an additional depth of drain, as much as practical to be sunk. Marl or clay of about 160 cart loads on the customary acre was ger absolutely necessary to decompose and fertilise the bog. To effect this a cart road had to be formed of pared or flayed sods between each drain for the cartage of the marl, whilst the wheels of the cart were required to be at least six inches broad, and broad pattens had also to be fixed to the feet of the horse to prevent the animal from sinking in the bog.
The labour and expense of first bringing the Moss into cultivation, before a crop could be secured was therefore very considerable and to persons of limited capital must have been an up-hill work.
J.D.B.
Letter No IV
To the Editor of the Herald
Sir,
It was in the year 1813 or 1814 that James Jenkinson and Joseph Isles or Hoyles, who were natives of Nateby or Church Town, selected sites for cottage and farm buildings at Eagland Hill a portion of the Moss included in the lease of 1797 to Mr. George Parkinson. The sites selected were about a mile further into the interior of the Moss than Wood's Hill, but at that time without any communication with it by any road. Eagland Hill was a natural mound of sand slightly elevated, but surrounded on every side by bog and deep and broad tarns. There was at that time no approach to Eagland Hill by any road, save and except such as a vigorous sportsman in quest of game might risk with a fear of occasionally sinking to his armpits in the swampy bog. It was in this desolate place that these two colonists James Jenkinson and Joseph Isles located themselves depending entirely upon their own energies for their future prospects in life. It may, however, be noticed that the Rev. Dr. Slater a Roman Catholic Priest, had also at that time leased the Bradshaw Lane Moss, an adjoining district of the great bog, from Messrs. Hornby and Trafford, and was purposing to erect a farmhouse at Birks, another elevated mound of sand about half a mile west from Eagland Hill. The approach to Dr. Slater's new projected buildings was intended to be from a Northerly direction up Bradshaw Lane, but to reach the site of these buildings he had to form a road over the bog of a mile or more in length from another farmhouse at Bradshaw Lane Head which he had recently erected.
This Bradshaw Lane Head was at that time a miserable road chiefly frequented for carting turves for fuel, and occasionally as an occupation road to certain lands in cultivation que after the turbary had been cut away. Dr. Slater built his farmstead at Birks with bricks and had to convey his materials there in any way his ingenuity could devise. It was as already stated that at Eagland Hill James Jenkinson and Joseph Isles had fixed on the place for their future dwellings. The materials for building were chiefly clay intermixed with heath to bind the clay together in the walls. The process of building was slow and tedious. When the foundations of their cabins were sunk and levelled about nine inches in height of clay wall was formed, this height of clay wall had then to be dried, and hardened by the sun and favourable weather. The superstructure could not proceed until the wall was dry and consolidated. This process of wall building and drying had to be repeated in a similar manner until a sufficient height of wall was attained. The work was necessarily slow and required much care and attention to keep the walls perpendicular. The walls, however, when well and properly made were impervious to wind and rain, and were dry and warm, and when limewashed within and without assumed a comfortable appearance. Lintels of wood over the doorways and windows, and something of bond-timber in the walls helped materially to brace and bind the whole building together and make it a moderately stable edifice. But while these houses and farm buildings were progressing these new colonists and their families required the necessaries of life and these had to be gained by their own daily labour at farm houses a mile or more distant from Eagland Hill. These enterprising and adventurous men had no private means to enable them to build their houses or support their families. Everything depended, with God's blessing, on their own labours and persevering industry. By day they generally worked for the farmer at Eskham House, and after the usual daily hours of labour were completed on the farm they devoted such spare time as they could command to the completion of their future habitations, and the cultivation of a portion of the surrounding bog. In the summer evenings there would be some spare time, after the burden and labours of the day had ended at the old Eskham farm, but in the winter season the days labour and the days light would necessarily close at the same time. These men, however, under all their difficulties and disadvantages manifested indomitable perseverance. Often have I heard James Jenkinson narrate the severe trials and privations which he underwent for several years, after he had taken up his abode at Eagland Hill. He has told me how indefatigably he and his neighbours worked by the light of the moon on a favourable night in the cultivation of the Moss land. Open drains had first to be cut to carry off the water and lay the surface of the bogs li dry. Then clay or marl had to be applied to consolidate and decompose the Moss and make it productive of crops. Paring the surface sods, or as it was commonly called "push ploughing" and burning these to ashes was at first deemed a necessary course of Moss husbandry. The ashes of these sods were afterwards spread over the surface of the Moss as a manure and stimulant to vegetation. These new colonists at the commencement of Moss cultivation had not the aid of horses, carts or roads to facilitate their labours, and their work to many men would have appeared insuperable. These men, however, persevered in their undertaking under all their difficulties, many a night as stated to me did these hard working men cut the clay or marl from a pit then place it in a pannier and carry the art wet and heavy burden on their own backs to the newly drained land.
Here was most assuredly a display of energy under difficulties, a struggle for life and death, and a hoping almost against hope. These men it must be known were not lessees under the owners of the Moss but only sub-tenants under the farmer at Eskham House, how and their conditions from him were to do all the work of the building of their houses as also finding all materials as well as the drainage and cultivation of the land without any aid whatever from him. Eagland Hill was a portion of the five hundred acres of Moss land under a lease for three lives as specified in the lease of 1797. At this time, 1814, Mr. Geo. Parkinson the owner of one third of the Eskham Estate was not the tenant in possession of Eskham, but had let the farm to a sub-tenant, so that James Jenkinson and Joseph Isles were several degrees down in the scale of tenancy and as such could expect little aid under any agreement they made with the tenant at Eskham House. Nevertheless under all their difficulties and privations in reclaiming a considerable portion of this Moss, and by dint of energy they accomplished a great work and gave an example in Moss cultivation of what industry and perseverance can effect. After the erection of the buildings and the cultivation of some land at Eagland Hill, the necessity of roads became imperative. As already stated the Rev. Dr. Slater was about the same time building a farm house at Birks, and would require a road to his house from Pilling. The settlers at Eagland Hill then formed a road from their own dwellings to the Birks and then jointly with the Doctor completed a road from the Birks to Bradshaw Lane Head. This road was their first opening to the outside world and though very defective it gave them a road to of the mill at Pilling and circuitously to the Garstang Market. As the cultivation of these farms at Eagland Hill increased the produce also proportionally increased and therefore the farmers needed more direct access to market. The outline of a road nearly due east from Eagland Hill to the road at Wood's Hill was then formed, but being over the swampy bog all the distance it was a work of time to make it passable. After much labour and expense this new line of road was completed, and is now the direct road for the farmers at Eagland Hill and the occupiers of several adjoining farms to the Garstang market.
J.D.B.
Letter No V
To the Editor of the Herald
Sir,
In my last paper on Pilling Moss it was stated that the enterprising colonists James Jenkinson and Joseph Isles had erected houses at Eagland Hill and cultivated a portion of the Moss, formed roads to and from their adopted residences and farms, and were enjoying in some degree the fruits of their husbandry. They, however, in no degree relaxed in their efforts to extend yearly the cultivation of the great bog. As their families increased and grew up to manhood and womanhood other houses had to be erected, and in process of time their sons and daughters became important assistants in the cultivation of the Moss. The families of these first cultivators of the interior of the bog soon began rapidly to increase and multiply and replenish the earth, and to follow energetically in their footsteps in their system of bog cultivation and the labours of their children have also been crowned with success. When I state this I do not exclude other parties from a fair share of credit in reclaiming this once barren bog; but I may safely state that these industrious men already particularised were the first profitable work under God's blessing by their own industry and perseverance. This extensive trace of and exemplary pioneers of cultivation in the centre of the Moss, and they accomplished the bog-land which was within a century, not merely profitable, but in reality a poison bog diffusing miasma, ague and low fever among the surrounding population is now fertile in all cereal crops and other farm products, among which may be particularised the potato which is here now extensively cultivated and is of the very best quality. The population of this extensive Moss which at the close of the last century contained only one homestead, is now becoming yearly more and more numerous. On the Eskham Estate alone there are now eleven farm houses, and most of these are good substantial and commodious buildings with outhouses suitable for all farm purposes. Besides these there are also on this estate about the same number of cottages for farm labourers. Then again on the adjoining Bradshaw Lane Moss, which has been chiefly brought under cultivation within the last forty years, a considerable number of farmsteads have been erected and others enlarged and rebuilt, which are suitable for extensive farms, with several cottages for labourers. In addition also to these there is another district of Moss-land under the names of Kentucky and Black Hill with accompanying buildings which has chiefly been reclaimed within the time so that the population of this once barren Moss has greatly increased in the present century, is still increasing and must continue to increase. It follows then as a necessity, and therefore as an indispensable duty that some due provision must be made for the moral and religious instruction and intellectual Improvement of the scattered inhabitants of this widely extended district. The bog land has been wonderfully and profitably cultivated, the minds of the residents and their moral and religious training must not be neglected. The age for general education has come. It may be stated that about twelve years ago a small dames school and mistress's house was erected near to Eagland Hill, in a central situation, which has been beneficial to the young children of the vicinity. The rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic, also sewing and knitting have been taught, and as the children advanced in years, and had made progress in their education they have been sent to the Parochial School at Pilling a distance of nearly four miles. This small school at Eagland Hill must now be enlarged and It is to be hoped that the Council on Education will be prevailed upon to grant some aid. In this small school the Incumbent of Pilling, while health and strength permitted had a weekly lecture. This last named service has been suspended for some time. As a necessary consequence of the increased population it has become imperative upon the Church to make due provision for the spiritual wants. A Mission Room is now in course of erection, and will, it is to be hoped be completed in a few weeks time. A description of it and some account of its purpose will be given in a final paper*.
Yours, etc. J.D.B.
*This paper was not sent in, but the description of the Mission Room was given to the Editor of the 'Preston Herald'.
The Rev. Dr. Edward Slater.
Edward Slater was born in the year 1774 either at Standish or Liverpool. After completing his education in England he joined the English Benedictine community at the monastery of Dieudouard, near Nancy in France. In 1793, during the upheavals of the French Revolution he and the community were turned out and re-established at Acton Burnell in England. He was ordained in 1798, and in 1804 he was sent on the English Mission in the North Province to Croston, Lancashire. He stayed in Lancashire until 1814, and during that period moved to Pilling at some unknown date. Dom Edward Bede Slater as he was now known, leased Bradshaw Lane Moss in Pilling from John Trafford Esq. and Geoffrey Hornby, Clerk, Vicar of Winwick.
Dr. Slater, accompanied by one of the Fairfaxes of Gilling Castle, near Ampleforth, Yorkshire appears to have reclaimed part of Bradshaw Lane Moss and built Bradshaw Lane Head Farm and then extended Bradshaw Lane a further mile into the moss where he built, in brick, Birks Farm. This was probably the first farm house to be built in brick on the moss.
In 1817 Dr. Slater went to Rome where he was consecrated Bishop of Mauritius. He took a number of priests with him to Mauritius where he stayed fourteen years. One source (Banister Letters) suggests that because of his liberality and extravagance he got into financial difficulties. He died on the voyage home on 31 July 1832 and was buried at sea.
References
Banister Letters.
Obit Book of the English Benedictines 1600-1912 (Birt, Downside, 1913).