40th Anniversary Pt.1
"Before Daws Hall"
The story of Daws Hall begins over 400 million years ago, when the bedrock of the East of England was laid down. This rock layer now lies over 300 metres beneath your feet, hidden by many layers of clay, chalk, flint and sand. These sediment layers were formed over the following millions of years, some from the time when the landscape was part of the seabed, and others in the erosion and deposition of shifting rivers and ice. One familiar character in these layers is flint, a type of quartz formed over millions of years in still uncertain circumstances. Flints containing fossils of early sea urchins and other early sea-life can be found in the area.
Winding forwards a little to 450,000 years ago, a tributary of the Rhine ran west to east across Britain and through East Anglia. Around this time the Anglian Ice Sheet reached its greatest extent, forcing this tributary river further south until it settled on its current course and became the Thames. From this period the sheet then began to thaw. Glacial outwash tore through the landscape carving out the Stour Valley and the unusual river cliff that stands north of Daws Hall today. In this period flint took on a new relevance as the prime technology of early people. Their knapped flint tools are often the only sign of these “ghosts of the landscape”.
Early Britons must have liked the area as much as we do as they decided to settle, with evidence of human settlements from the Bronze Age (2000 BC) onwards. It’s hard to say if stone age people lived at Daws Hall, but certainly by the Norman Conquest the village of Lamarsh was well established. The Stour would have then, just as now, been prone to bursting its banks over the low-lying fertile land surrounding it, and the name of the village that is thought to derive from the same Anglo Saxon roots as the words “Loam” and Marsh” hint to this.
Finally, after 400 million years of waiting Daws Hall was built in the 15th century. The medieval Hall House can still be seen, held together by thick oak beams and surmounted by a small bell. The bell is evidence of the Hall’s later use as a school; further evidence of schooling can be found in graffiti on the roadside wall. Here, whilst waiting for lessons, children have scrawled their initials and the dates. These dates range between 1760-1766 and it is nice to think that education has been taking place on site for at least 265 years.
The 18th century was a busy one at Daws Hall. Around this time the Cedar of Lebanon, circular garden pond and Tulip Tree were all added as part of the gardens of the house. The southern wing of the house was built and then later rebuilt, after burning down in 1780. Around the hall most of the fields that make up the Nature Reserve were either in use as pasture or cultivated for arable crops. Hop growing was popular in 18th century Essex. Evidence of this can be seen in the feral hops that wind their way through “Pitmire Plantation”, the name for the area in the valley below the hall.
This was a practical solution for the area as Hops are a thirsty plant, unbothered by the winter floods and fed by the nutrient rich alluvial soils. Though the plant was introduced in the Tudor age it has good ecological value to several insects including as a foodplant to the caterpillars of the Comma, Red Admiral and Peacock butterfly.
Hop growing in Essex diminished in the mid 19th century with the advent of the railway and fierce competition from growers in Kent and Sussex.
“Pitmire Plantation” was originally in separate ownership to Daws Hall, a small part of it having been purchased following the River Stour Navigation Act in 1705. Shortly after this Act a simple, single gated lock called a “Staunch” was built at Pitmire. This was later replaced by a full set of lock gates and a channel cut through a meander, creating the island that stands there today. In the early 19th century, a cottage and boathouse were also built on site.
Life was not as peaceful at the riverside as it is today, the river was busy with barges known as lighters carrying flour, bricks and coal up and down the river. Tolls were levied at the lock gates to help maintain the river although profits were inconsistent and took a dive after the construction of the railways in the mid 19th century. One unsuccessful scheme to regain trade saw a steam barge operating from Pitmire.
By 1914 the River Stour Navigation Company was bankrupt, and the lock gates were removed or pinned back along the river. The lock keeper’s cottage became a campsite for local holidays throughout the 1920s and was finally demolished for its usable materials in the 1950s. Pictures from this time show the lock lintel still in place as well as the fact that the lock gates themselves had been completely removed.
The structure of the lock slowly deteriorated, losing its wooden sides and finally the lintel which was carried off around 2000 in winter floods. Today all that remains are the iron braces for the sides of the lock that dangle from the bank and the large beams used as part of the wooden lock floor. A few scattered bricks and tiles are all that can be seen of the house.
In the 1930s, Richard and Ruby Gregory bought the Hall and undertook some restorations. They decided to start an apple farm as a retirement project (aged 55 and 39!), planting 9,600 apple trees on what we now know as “Old Orchard Meadow”. Their Granddaughter Sarah Nash recalled her summer holiday stays and that “people from the village came up yearly to assist with the harvest, after which the apples were sent up to Covent Garden on the train.”
In 1964, a 33-year-old retired Major of the King’s Africa Rifles arrived at Daws Hall, purchasing the house from Mrs Gregory along with 16 acres of land to convert into a Wildfowl Farm. At that time the land around Daws Hall was dominated by pasture and the now degraded orchards. Major Iain Grahame spent the next 58 years shaping the landscape around Daws Hall.
In those early days, Daws Hall was a noisy place, with the sounds of the lengthy restoration of the hall. Mixed with the various calls of the rare-breed wildfowl that Major Grahame reared here. Iain has the distinction of being the first person to successfully breed the elusive Himalayan Blood Pheasant in captivity. Major Grahame’s collection then numbered around 1,000 waterfowl and pheasants, it is therefore no surprise that he became instrumental in founding the World Pheasant Association. For a number of years Daws Hall also acted as the organisation’s headquarters. Outside of the three acre fenced wildfowl farm, Iain planted pines, beech, oak and ash initially for a timber crop. The orchard was removed and planted as a Christmas tree farm.
In the early 1980s Iain’s most ambitious idea yet began to evolve as he experimented with the creation of what would become Daws Hall Nature Reserve. He purchased the land running down to the river and entered into discussions with Essex County Council for the provision of education on site. There was a great shift towards “Field Sciences” in education at this time and sites similar to Daws Hall were cropping up all around the country.
Pilot classes took place in 1984 and then with the invaluable support of 100 good friends as well as grant giving Trusts, Major Grahame’s garage (an 18th century cart lodge) became the classroom. The official opening was presided over by Norfolk naturalist Ted Ellis on the 30th October 1985.
Following this, regular improvements were made to the Nature Reserve including the sowing of a large wildflower meadow, digging of additional ponds and improvement to the woodland. The fate of the woodland was then altered from timber to broadleaf habitat.
