It’s that time of year again when it seems there are apples everywhere. People lucky enough to have fruit trees in their back garden leave out boxes of the fruit begging passers-by to “Help yourself”! Whole village communities club together their surplus apples to make cider. The roadsides are littered with them the autumn winds blow the hedgerows; and as Monday 21 October is Apple Day 2019, we thought we would celebrate the wonderful fruit that keeps the Doctor away by having a look at a few mentions in the archives!
—
“He Looked and smelt like Autumn’s very brother, his face being sunburnt to wheat-colour, his eyes blue as corn-flowers, his sleeves and leggings dyed with fruit-stains, his hands clammy with the sweet juice of apples, his hat sprinkled with pips, and everywhere about him the sweet atmosphere of cider which at its first return each season has such an indescribable fascination for those who have been born and bred among the orchards.”
Thomas Hardy – The Woodlanders
—
This document is an inventory of all the varieties of apples and pears planted at Mr. Bond’s premises, Corfe Castle. It is interesting to note that No.4 is listed as ‘Name lost’, meaning that even in the 1760’s some named varieties of apple had disappeared. It also gives specific instructions as to where the apples are located in the orchard; ‘…next to the Withy Bed…’ or ‘…next the potato garden…’.
—
The Poole pottery archive is one of several business archives held here at Dorset History Centre. This is a design for the “Lucullus”, range in lime green and grey blue, originally designed by Robert Jefferson, with a design motif of blackberry and apple. Other designs in this particular range include a cockerel, sweetcorn, eggs, prawn and scallops, peapods and leaves, peapods and cauliflowers, marrows, mushrooms. This design is from the 1960’s but the whole archive covers the years 1855 – 2010, with a wide variety of designs! These original hand-painted designs really reflect the fashions of contemporary homeware through the ages!
—
In the Crichel Estate archives there are a variety of very old documents. One in particular caught our eye. It is a lease dated 25 Sep 1447 for Didlington Manor in Chalbury and is written in Latin, and the document details that as part of the rental due, the tenant, Edward Bysshop had to give:
“8 marks and a third of all apples and pears growing annually in all the closes between Roger Towker’s close and Brokforlong”
—
Artisan food and drink is very popular these days and cider making particularly has always been a thriving interest in this part of the world. Photos are a wonderful snapshot of the lives of people and their environments, and the Dorset Photographic Archive has various examples of cider makers, with the two here being from Shillingstone and Whitchurch Canonicorum.
—
Finally, the Poole Borough Archive has various petty sessions records. In particular we find one for the conviction of the wonderfully named Benjamin Billows. Billows was convicted on 8 August 1822, of stealing a quantity of apples from the orchard of John Foot, and was fined a total of 20 shillings, which equates to nearly £60 in modern money!
To misquote a famous film… “How do you like those apples?!”
Do uou know where Mr Bond’s premises in East Street were? It would be interesting to see if there are any descendants of those apple trees.
It’s difficult to know definitively – John Bond was one of the major property owners in Corfe Castle at the time, and whilst the house is listed as being owned by him, it was likely leased out to another party. A 1769 plan of the village identifies various properties in the village with ‘orchards’ specifically marked, but it’s hard to know exactly which property the document is referring to!