Tag: Essential Wessex

Jethro Tull (1671-1741) is best known for inspiring the name of a successful prog rock band, but many people will be dimly aware that the band’s name was taken from an agronomist and inventor of the seed-drill. What is less well-known is that his invention inspired an agricultural revolution in 18^th century Britain.

Tull was born in Basildon, Berkshire, the son of a farmer, and initially trained as a barrister. A protracted illness let to a period of convalescence in France and Italy. There, he observed new techniques being used by vine-growers, which he later brought back to Wessex.

Tull promoted a scientific approach to agriculture, influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, in an age when Virgil’s Georgics was still the standard agricultural textbook. The agricultural revolution that followed in his wake included innovations such as four-field crop rotation, an increase in farm sizes, the use of artificial fertilisers, the selective breeding of livestock and the enclosure acts. The latter had a baleful influence, and led to an uprising among the people. But that’s a subject for another article.

There are many nicknames for people from Wessex. The most obvious one is "wurzels". Whilst most people assume that Adge Cutler named his band after an already-existing name for people from the West Country, it appears to have been his own coinage. There follows a (by no means exhaustive) list of nicknames for people from different parts of Wessex:

Devon - Janners (particularly applies to people from Plymouth, but is sometimes used for Devonians in general).

Dorset - Dorset knobs (from the local biscuit).

Gosport - Turk Towners or Turks (from the Turkish naval cemetery in the town).

Hampshire - Hampshire hogs (from the local tradition of boar hunting).

Isle of Wight - Caulkheads (from the caulking of boats).

Malmesbury - Jackdaws (from the colony of said birds that inhabits the Abbey)

Somerset - Cuckoo-penners (from the folk tale of "penning the cuckoo").

Southampton - Scummers (offensive term used by supporters of Portsmouth FC).

Wiltshire - Moonrakers (from the tale of smugglers evading customs officials by pretending to be yokel idiots, saying they were fishing a big cheese - actually the reflected moon - out of a pond when they were really retrieving contraband.).

Edward, the boy king of England from 975 until his death three years later while still a teenager, was famously murdered at Corfe Castle and buried at Shaftesbury Abbey. The circumstances of his death are unclear, but a substantial body of legend built up around it. He was commonly seen as a martyr, and is recognised as a saint by the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The pious version of the story states that he was a wise and good leader, generous to the church. But he was resented by his wicked stepmother, Queen Elfreda, who wanted to place her biological son Ethelred (later known as the Unready) on the throne. Elfreda arranged for him to be murdered and his body thrown into a marsh. But God sent a light to reveal the whereabouts of the body.

Today, historians dispute how much involvement, if any, Elfreda had in his death. Relics said to be those of the saint are now kept by the fundamentalist "True Orthodox" monastery at Brookwood in Surrey, though the remains in question have been identified as those of a man aged around 30, and not a teenage boy.