Kingston Stroll #3: History Pt.2 | Fine Forage
This is the 3rd of a 10-cache series which takes you from the heart of the village through the fields and along the farm lanes of the Swanborough area immediately to the east. The 3.5km circuit can be completed in under 2 hours allowing for necessary cache and optional short bird-watching, photographic and refreshment stops en route.
The cache, a camo-taped screw-capped pot, is hidden at a gap in the thick hedge separating the fields.
The physical layout of the village remained very much centred on The Street until after the First World War (1914-1918). Then the village began to grow and expand, with new housing developments in the 1920s and 1930s spreading along Kingston Ridge and The Avenue to the west and along Ashcombe Lane to the north west. Its agricultural character began to change and its population began to diversify.
In the 1940s and 1950s during and after WW2, a new phase of housing development began. Former farm buildings were remodelled as residences, a number of existing houses were remodelled and new houses were built along Wellgreen Lane and to the west of The Street.
A further phase of development began in the 1960s when the land between The Avenue and The Street which had been used for small holdings and fruit-growing was developed. This expansion of the village coincided with the establishment of Sussex University in the 1960s and many new village residents were associated with the University - apparently some of whom apparently created 'a hotbed of partner-swapping'!
The creation of two large public open spaces, St Pancras Green and the Village Green as a result of these changes created a buffer between the historic core of the village and these later developments.
In the last 50 years, the village has seen continuing development, both in terms of new housing and the remodelling and extension of existing properties. New building has taken place along The Street and along Wellgreen Lane and Ashcombe Lane, while remodelling and extending houses have been a continuous process throughout this period as pressure for housing has grown.
Today’s village reflects both change and continuity down through the centuries. Wherever one looks or walks, the past is still very much in the present helping to define the village’s identity and character.
[Extract from: Charles Cooper's A Village in Sussex – The history of Kingston-near-Lewes 2006]
As you make your way across these fields you would have seen a very common plant growing in profusion amongst the grass. White clover (Trifolium repens) aka Dutch, Ladino or honeysuckle clover, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe and central Asia and one of the most widely cultivated types of clover - widely introduced worldwide as a forage crop, and common in most grassy areas (lawns and gardens).
The species has several varieties often classed as small, intermediate and large, according to height, which reflects petiole length. Its genus name Trifolium comes from the Latin tres 'three' and folium 'leaf' referring to the typical form of the leaf, which almost always has three leaflets (trifoliolate). The species name repens is Latin for 'creeping'.
It has been described as the most important forage legume of the temperate zones. Significant symbiotic nitrogen fixation in its root nodules obviates synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use for maintaining productivity on much temperate zone pasture land.
It is commonly grown in mixtures with forage grasses, e.g. perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Such mixtures can not only optimize livestock production, but can also reduce the bloat risk to livestock that can be associated with excessive white clover in pastures.
It grows well as a companion plant among lawns, grain crops, pasture grasses, and vegetable rows. It is often added to lawn seed mixes, as it is able to grow and provide green cover in poorer soils where turf grasses do not perform well. It can tolerate close mowing and grazing and grows on many different types and pHs of soil (although it prefers clay soils).
As a leguminous and hardy plant, it is considered to be a beneficial component of natural or organic pasture management and lawn care due to its ability to fix nitrogen and out-compete weeds. Natural nitrogen fixing reduces leaching from the soil and by maintaining soil health can reduce the incidence of some lawn diseases that are enhanced by the availability of synthetic fertilizer.
Besides making an excellent forage crop for livestock, its leaves and flowers are valuable survival food for humans! High in proteins, widespread and abundant, the fresh plants have been used for centuries as additives to salads and other meals consisting of leafy vegetables. They are not easy for humans to digest raw, but, this is however easily fixed by boiling for 5–10 minutes. The dried white clover flowers may also be smoked as a herbal alternative to tobacco.
In Europe in the past the seeds and dried flowers were made into a bread in times of famine. John Lightfoot in Flora Scotica reported that such bread made in Scotland was said to be nutritious and wholesome.
Medicinal uses: in India it is used as a folk medicine against intestinal helminthic worms. Studies have shown that its aerial shoots have significant anticestodal (anti-tapeworm) properties.
See short videos here (food for bees) and here (bee feeding).
