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The surveys forms are now arriving in our office in some numbers and, while it is too early to undertake a proper analysis, some interesting patterns are beginning to emerge.
The sensible thing would be to wait patiently until we have a more complete picture – but who could resist a quick look, to see what is out there? Hertfordshire is now reasonably well covered, and is a good county to discuss because of the sharp contrasts in landscape which it displays – in part a consequence of variations in soil and agrarian history, in part because of marked differences in the extent of urbanisation. Such variations are mirrored in our orchard heritage, as an examination of two very different areas - the far north-east of the county, and the south – shows clearly.
The north-east of the county, largely characterised by fertile boulder clay soils, still remains surprisingly rural, with attractive villages and a scatter of outlying hamlets and ancient farms. This was never prime fruit-growing countryside. In most parishes, the Second Edition 6” Ordnance Survey maps of c.1900 show only a modest density of orchards, generally between 1 and 2 per square kilometre. Here, in places like Walkern, Meesdun or Anstey, the numbers of orchards have held up moderately well. There are generally around half, and occasionally as many as 90 per cent, of the number which existed in c.1900, although most of these survivors are in a degraded state (with only a handful of trees) and the majority have been reduced significantly in size.
But what is also striking is that while numbers may have held up reasonably well, this is not because the individual orchards existing in c.1900 have survived in significant quantities. Comparing the survey results with the various revisions of the large-scale Ordnance Survey maps made since c.1900 we can see a pattern of gradual change over time. Some orchards disappeared in the course of the twentieth century but new ones were planted, often on adjacent sites. As a result, there are few parishes in which more than half the orchards present in c.1900 still remain; in most the figure is between 25 and 50 per cent, with orchards planted since 1900 making up the rest of the surviving examples. There are other interesting patterns. One is that surviving orchards tend to be associated with large outlying farms – often now rather genteel residences – more than with villages, where the pressure to ‘infill’ open spaces with new houses has been greatest.
The south of the county is characterised by soils which are generally less fertile in character, formed in acid sands and gravels or London clay. This district has also experienced a much greater degree of urbanisation. In some parts - especially the south-western corner of the county, beyond Watford and St Albans, but also the far south-east – there was already, by c.1900, a thriving orchard industry. Indeed, the south-west was being noted for its extensive orchards by the eighteenth century. The overall pattern of development since 1900 is more complex and varied than in the north-east. In some parishes the number of and the area covered by orchards both increased markedly in the first three quarters of the twentieth century. Further large fruit farms and smallholdings came into existence, and large numbers of ‘suburban’ orchards were established, especially in the more affluent suburbs.
There were also many large ‘institutional’ orchards, attached to the numerous schools and hospitals which were built in the course of the twentieth century on London’s outer fringes. But subsequent rates of attrition, over the past four decades or so, have in general been greater than in the north-east. In places like Watford the 58 orchards shown on the Ordnance Survey maps of c.1900 have been reduced to one or two fragments, mainly due to the intensity of development. Countryside has given way to farmland, suburban orchards have disappeared as large gardens have been subdivided into smaller plots. There is, however, much variation, reflecting in part the survival of large areas of open countryside, part of our treasured ‘Green Belt’, amidst the suburbia. In Aldenham parish for example there are still seven orchards remaining, six of which were in existence in c.1900, when the Ordnance Survey recorded a total of 30 in the parish. But even in semi-rural parishes like this losses can be considerable. Brickendon, to the south of Hertford, now has only 5 per cent the number of orchards shown on the c.1900 Ordnance Survey map. Overall, the numbers of orchards in south Hertfordshire parishes appear to have fallen by between 75 and 100 per cent since c.1900, and many of the survivors are, once again, comparatively new arrivals, planted in the course of the twentieth century.
The survey is also producing other kinds of information, in Hertfordshire as elsewhere. It is, for example, alerting us to the existence of particularly well-preserved orchards, which we are targeting for more detailed investigations – both of fruit varieties present and of aspects of biodiversity. It is also revealing interesting variations in the character of the fruit grown in different areas. Orchards in north-east Hertfordshire are thus characterised by apples, accompanied by significant numbers of pears and, to a lesser extent, plums. In the south, and especially the south-west, cherries are much more prominent.
These are very preliminary results, and other parts of Hertfordshire – the centre of the county, the far north, and the more rural parts of the west – have not yet been sufficiently examined for us to comment usefully on them. But some of the broad patterns highlighted here are apparent elsewhere, especially (and perhaps most obviously) the intensity of urbanisation as a major factor in survival, as for example within Welwyn Garden City, where very few orchards now remain. In other counties across eastern England, very different patterns of development, and attrition, are emerging, and I will discuss these in subsequent bulletins. But preliminary conclusions will change as more survey forms come in, so watch this space – and keep up the good work! If you haven’t yet completed your own survey, now is the ideal time to do so, with the fruit hanging heavy on the trees and the orchards looking beautiful in the late summer sunshine. And if you want to volunteer to do more – just ask Howard at howard.jones@uea.ac.uk.
Tom Williamson
August 2018