Kingston Stroll #6: History Pt.5 | It's Corntroversial !
This is the 6th 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 small screw-capped camo-taped tube, is hidden along the footpath through grassy and corn fields on this stretch of trail connecting the C7 road with the Swanborough area.
To find the cache, click on the image above to access a jigsaw puzzle, completion of which will reveal the cache coordinates - and a useful hint!
Please note that the cache description contains an external link above to a jigsaw.
Although it is from a well-known source, it has 'not been checked by Groundspeak nor by the reviewer for possible malicious content and access to the site is therefore at your own risk'.
To get to the cache location: from #5, carefully cross over the road and onto the paved footpath running parallel to the road. Follow this between the hedgerows and wild flowers as far as the gate and signposted footpath start at N 50 51.768 W 0 0.326 near the location of the kab 1972's GC5GMMG Road Noise - can still hear it cache. Pass through the gate and then proceed diagonally along the trail to the cache location.
History Pt.5 The Manor of Hyde: By 1316 the Prior of St Pancras held all of Kingston Manor apart from some smaller parcels of land including one held by Richard and Simon de la Hyde. The land itself became known as Le Hide and later as Hyde Manor. By the 17th century much of the land around Kingston was owned by the Earl of Dorset who rented out Swanborough Farm to John Rogers, son of Thomas Rogers, vicar of Iford.
His other son, also called Thomas, began his farming career acquiring leases and copyholds for land in Kingston, including possibly the building which is now called Hollowdown, where appears to have been the original Hyde Manor [located on The Street - starting point for this series].
His descendant, another Thomas Rogers, purchased another house on the other [south] side of the road (now called Hyde Manor) in 1782, with over 160 acres of land, for £2,100. New outbuildings were immediately added including a stable block which retains a date plaque of 1783. At some time after 1834 it came into the ownership of the Goring family of Wiston in West Sussex who incrementally bought up the whole village including Kingston Manor. They retained ownership of much of the land around Kingston until1908, when they sold the farmland and the farmhouse which is now called Hyde Manor. The house was in turn sold on in the 1920s when the owner decided to build himself a new house on the west side of the farmyard. The old farmhouse was renamed Hyde Manor at about this time.
For several months in the year, the field between this and the next cache [#7] - and possibly other fields in the area - will be filled with corn aka maize (Zea mays) - an increasingly controversial crop.
This fascinating and versatile large grain plant is a cultigen - the result of artifical selection - meaning it cannot propogate without human intervention. It was first cultivated in Central America some 10,000 years ago. Archaeologists found primitive ears of maize that are tiny compared to those grown today, but with the instantly recognisable kernels attached along the cob. Those early farmers began to selectively breed maize, choosing the biggest, best and tastiest kernels to replant and, over the centuries, they slowly developed into today’s crop.
It is the most cultivated crop in the world with over 1B tonnes being produced annually and 'our world simply could not function without it'. See here for a short video on the history, uses and huge importance of corn.
It is often referred to as corn on the cob or sweet corn, but this is only one type of maize and food for humans only one of numerous uses for this remarkably versatile crop. Field corn varieties are used for animal fodder, ground into corn starch, used to make corn syrup, pressed to make corn oil, fermented and distilled to make alcohol, and used in chemical manufacturing.
In the UK it has - so far - mainly been grown as food for livestock and also as game cover, providing warmth, shelter and food for birds. Most varieties are sown in the spring and as the old farming rhyme goes , it should be ‘thigh high by the first of July’. It is one of the last crops to be harvested, in late September and into October.
Issues with maize: in recent years, the move towards ‘green’ power has seen more farmers growing it as an energy crop, for use in anaerobic digesters. Unsurprisingly, the popularity of maize growing in the UK has rocketed. Back in 1973, there were about 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares). By June 2017 this had risen to about 450,000 acres (183,000 hectares) and by now is likely to be well over 0.5M acres with fields of corn becoming an increasingly common sight in the English countryside.
Despite the huge demand for maize, it is a controversial crop and its effects on the environment divide opinion. Debate centres on the way maize can erode the soil. Opponents say the widely spaced stems and shallow roots leave the soil exposed to the elements and allow water and fertiliser residue to run off the land during the growing season. This may cause significant flooding and pollution or water sources.
Other issues are that use of maize for silage reduces the nutritional value of milk and beef and the increasing area of land to grow maize for biofuel threatens food production. Also, landgrab for biogas maize has caused huge rises in farmland rental and purchase costs, potentially further compromising food (especially milk) production.
Stricter rules on the management of maize have been called for and some have recommended stopping maize cultivation altogether.
Farmers say they care for the land and point out that compared to many crops, maize is more water efficient and stores more carbon. Under-sowing with a grass crop, creating field-edge buffers and beetle banks as well as planting winter cover in maize fields are all ways which can be used to protect the land.
See here for comprehensive info on this familiar plant.
