Kingston Stroll #5: History Pt.4 | A Wonderful Weed
This is the 5th 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 bison tube, is hidden alongside the footpath which runs parallel to Kingston Road on a bend opposite the access road for Spring Bank Farm.
Short-term parking is possible @ N 50 51.630 W 0 0.585 on the side of the lane leading to the farm a little way up the opposite side of the road.
History Pt.4: it is recorded that Iford was held by King Edward’s wife Edith, sister of Earl Godwine, at the Conquest but soon after William the Conqueror gave Iford and other lands as a reward to his supporter William de Warenne, builder of Lewes castle and founder of the Cluniac priory at Southover.
There is no specific mention of Kingston in the Domesday Book of 1086, but in 1091 the De Warennes gave some of their lands at Kingston Manor to the monks of St Pancras including one acre on which to build a church. However it must have been delayed because the present building was not finished until soon after 1300, although the tower may be earlier. The font dates to the 13th or early 14th century. Until the Reformation, there was no incumbent as the monks led the services.
The cache, is dangling near/protected by a clump of stingers, so be careful not to get stung - unless you want to! If you do, turn around and you will see a clump of this plant which you can use to alleviate the pain . . .
The bitter/broad-leaved/bluntleaf or butter dock (leaf) (Rumex obtusifolius), is a long-lived, perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae native to Europe, but found on all temperate continents. It can be highly invasive resulting from its abundant seed dispersal (up to 60,000/plant!), adaptability to reproduce, aggressive roots, ability to tolerate extreme climates, and hardiness. Its seeds germinate readily if left on the surface and can survive in soil for up to 50 years.
It grows to 40-150cm tall and is easily recognizable by its distinctive seed-heads and very large oval leaves with cordate bases and rounded tips, some of the lower leaves having red stems. The edges of the leaves are slightly 'crisped' or wavy, the upper surface is hairless and the under surface may be papillose.
The leaves can reach about 30cm long 15 cm wide. The taproot is large, with numerous branches extending to 1.5m deep. The plant can regenerate from the top of a damaged root.
It is widely distributed throughout the world growing readily on arable land, meadows, waste ground, roadsides, ditches, shorelines, riverbanks, woodland margins, forest clearings, and orchards.
Uses: all parts of the plant are edible. The leaves plant can be used as salad, for a vegetable broth or cooked like spinach, but they contain oxalic acid which can be hazardous if consumed in large quantities. Dried seeds are used as a spice or can be ground up to make flour. In Romania and Greece the leaves are sometimes used as an alternative to other plants in the making of sarmale (traditional cabbage rolls). A tea prepared from the root was used to cure boils.
Boiled dock leaves were used as pig food and fallow deer are particularly fond of the leaves.
In Ireland and the UK it is often (conveniently) found growing near stinging nettles and its leaf stems, squeezed to extract a little juice, can be rubbed on the skin to relieve the sting/itching caused by contact with the nettle.
In George Eliot's Adam Bede, set in the early C19, dock leaves were used to wrap farmhouse butter.
It supports a wide range of insects, including butterflies, moths, plant bugs and beetles.
It is, however, also an aggressive invasive species and designated an 'injurious weed' under the UK Weeds Act 1959.
See here for an entertaining and informative short video on dock ID, facts, uses and folk-lore and here for how to make a salve for soothing nettle stings.
