Notes on Middle Severalls, a Cotswold field
Some notes on the campsite field…
Middle Severalls at the boundary with Upper Severalls with campsite in background.
Middle Severalls sits above the valley of the River Coln and has a slight convexity that is typical of the rolling downland in this part of the Cotswolds. When you’re in the middle of the field the sky feels very big; you could be on top of the world. The campsite is located at the top end of the field, away from the edge of the valley and near the farm entrance.
‘Severalls’ is linked to our contemporary word ‘several’ and probably refers to the separate strips that comprised the field in the Middle Ages. There are fields called First and Upper Severalls on either side (no idea why it’s First, then Middle and Upper!). Villagers would have farmed these several strips before the fields were switched to the grazing of sheep.
From the late Middle Ages to the industrial revolution, the Cotswolds was a major European centre for wool with merchants exporting it to the cloth-working industries of the Low Countries. This export trade was the source of wealth that created all those impressive stone churches and manor houses.
The arrival of cotton and textile manufacture up north brought to an end the profits from wool. The land was most likely barely viable for farming until we began to dig for victory in the last century and then decided to become more self-sufficient in food after the Second World War. Into the 1980s the field was used for arable. This seems barely believable when you put a spade into the soil. There’s only 2-3” of it before you hit the limestone brash. The application of subsidies and fertilisers must have been generous.
The prevailing wind is westerly. Back when South Wales was full of heavy industry this wind carried polluted air eastwards across the Cotswolds. All the lichen died off the trees, apparently. In our post-industrial era, the lichen is back.
The wood we’ve planted on two sides of the field provides shelter from these breezes. It was planted in the early 1990s and is called Ossie’s Wood, after our Taid (Welsh for grandfather). It features a number of species: beech, Norwegian maple, ash, hornbeam, cherry and field maple. We’re cutting down the latter two shorter species to make space for the others to more readily attain their natural, impressive height.
Near the footpath between Arlington and Ablington, the field contains the outline (invisible to the eye now) of a barrow. This was a burial chamber of the people who inhabited the area in prehistoric times. Just up the valley lies the remains of an iron age fort or ceremonial centre, now referred to as Rawbarrow. It features not one but two ramparts separated by a ditch; this is apparently unusual.
Other ancient barrow sites (also invisible now) sit on the other side of the valley, in the eye-line of Rawbarrow. Forts and barrows are arranged across high places, visible to each other and near to water sources, throughout the Cotswolds. They would have had communal and religious significance. Certainly, Middle Severalls near the old barrow even today has a particular atmosphere, difficult to describe.
One side of the field is bounded by a Cotswold stone wall, nicely built in some parts. We’re currently rebuilding this, slowly but surely. It features rectangular tunnels from one side to the other placed periodically at ground level. We think these might have been designed to allow driven grey partridge to move from field to field without taking flight before they met the line of guns. There was a fashion for driven partridge shoots in the Victorian era. We can’t think of any other likely potential use.
Our farm sits at the bottom of Middle Severalls overlooking the Coln Valley. It forms a dwelling for humans plus a shed for handling sheep (lambing, shearing, vaccinating, etc). It was converted in the mid-teens of the current century from a steel-framed multi-purpose agricultural building. This had been erected on a terrace cut into the rising field by our now retired father in the 1980s. We were glad to receive planning permission to convert it into somewhere to live as well as work. We have our own water source, electricity supply and sewage treatment.
We’ve been planting mixed hedges this winter: dog rose, field rose, privet, field maple, quick thorn, black thorn, beech, hazel. And some beech, oak and silver birch trees. We also have some black poplar on order - the valley is flooded and we think this water-loving species will do well along with some willow whips we’ll add in alongside them. The overall purpose is to create some useful boundaries, including along the line of the footpath that crosses Middle Severalls linking Arlington with Ablington. But the planting is also intended to turn some of the fenced boundaries - including one segregating stock from the campsite area - into areas that will provide shelter for both stock and wildlife. They capture carbon and flood water too, of course!
We’re currently farming a few sheep breeds. Lleyn from North Wales; Shetlands, hardy beasts descended from Viking sheep; and some local Cotswolds, bred for their silky wool. They look quite different from each other. Shetlands are smaller and come in combinations of brown, cream and black. Cotswolds have curly coats and sport a fetching fringe. Lleyns are big and white with long faces.
Wildlife is a whole subject in itself (I talked about birds in an earlier post). So that’s about the long and short of it.
Cotswold sheep in Middle Severalls.