Note from the Editor
The March newsletter should be available at the meeting on Mar 11. Articles and material for inclusion should be given to any Committee member, or to The Editor at Greenman Farm, Wadhurst TN5 6LE or you can e-mail whs@greenman.demon.co.uk by 28 February please.
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THE CHEQUER TREE or THE WILD SERVICE TREE
As part of the tree planting programme organised by the Wadhurst Gardening Association, the History Society has provided a Chequer tree [Sorbus torminalis] to replace a dead tree by the War Memorial.
This tree is an indicator of an ancient forest. Despite its appearance it is not a member of the Acer genus of trees, but of the rosaceae family. It particularly likes clay soils, so is very happy in our area! In spring it produces clusters of white five-petalled flowers, rather like the rowan but larger; in the autumn, it produces light brown round berries.
Remnants of the wood have been found in charcoal deposits of settlements dating to over 2,000 years ago, and it was once very widespread. However, its wood was much prized for cross-bow stocks and later gun-stocks, and indeed an early reference was from 1260, where two wild service trees were taken from Havering Park in Essex to make cross-bows for the King.
In later times the wood was used for the strike part of corn flails,and was also prized by cabinet makers and in turnery work.
Another, perhaps less expected, use of the fruit of the tree was in the making of an alcoholic beverage before hops were introduced in 1520. This drink was known as chequers. The fruits were also used in the preparation of various medicinal products, but this was discontinued due to their excessive tartness (unless bletted) and over-effective purging effects; the Latin name ‘torminalis’ means ‘good for colic’.
The two names of this tree have fascinating (possible) origins. As we know, the berries have been used to make an alcoholic drink and the ‘service tree’ name may well derive from the Latin word ‘cerevisia’ meaning a type of beer (nb. In Spanish beer = cerveza). Virgil makes note of this drink being made by the Scythians in what is now southern Russia, and the tree is still present there in great numbers.
The chequer name is slightly more oblique, but appears to come about because the sign for an ale-house was the sign of a bush/tree (eg. The Old Bull and Bush).
This usage was seen in ancient Egypt and much later here in Britain, and would seem to emanate from the chequers drink.
Also since the wood was used for the paler squares on chequer boards, it appears to have another connection with public houses, many of which carry the name of ‘The Chequers’. Incidentally, chequer boards were originally used as a type of flat abacus for people who could neither read or add or subtract, and there may be another possible connection here, with the term ‘exchequer’.
Chaucer, Culpepper, and Thos. Tusser all mention the good properties of the Wild Service Tree, and Lord Rothschild encouraged the preservation of the species in the 1920s in national Nature Reserves.
The tree is becoming rarer in the wild because the seeds require a good long exposure to frost before they will germinate, and our relatively warmer weather now militates against this. In fact they have often reproduced over the centuries by layering, and there are several examples of ancient wild service ‘hedges’ where this has occurred.
In all, this tree of ancient lineage seems to be an excellent tree for the Wadhurst History Society to celebrate its fifth birthday; its name also recalls the service given by our soldiers in the past to secure
ED 698 Account [cont]
for half a rod of waste land lying in Bakeshese ward opposite his gate on the east side, to be held by him and his (heirs) according to the customs of a new assart paying each year as above and of 4d for John Norton’s new rent for 1 acre of waste land in Corsele ward lying near the aforesaid John’s land on the south part and the lord’s common on the north part, to be held by him and Alice his wife paying in rent each year at above, at the usual terms according to the customs of a new assart and of a halfpenny for a new rent of John Bocher the smith of Wadhurst for a certain plot of land next to his ground, containing 32 feet in length and in breadth 22 feet, royal measurement, lying in Wadhurst next to his smithy, formerly of John Ferror, between a certain well of water there on the south part and another road on the north part, through which it goes from Wadhurst vill’ as far as the lord’s barn there, to hold by the aforesaid John and his heirs at the lord’s will, according to the customs of a new assart, paying in rent for this at the feast of Michaelmas as above and of 1d of Richard Baldelot’s new rent for half a rod of land of a new assart lying in Mayfield in Alordynden ward at a certain place called the Lake and a messuage in the length of the aforesaid Richard’s garden on the east part to lengthen his byngate and aforesaid garden, just as the metes and bounds show, to hold by the aforesaid Richard and his heirs at the lord’s will according to the customs of a new assart, paying in rent for this per annum as above, at the usual terms and of 1 halfpenny of John Thurgot’s new rent for 5 dayworks of land of a new assart outside the lord’s waste lying in divers places in Wadhurst, of these 2 and a half dayworks lie between the above messuage and garden and the high street leading from Wadhurst to Mayfield on the east and the other 2 and a half dayworks lie at the east end of his garden called Smiths garden there annexed to his smithy, to be held by him and his (heirs) according to the customs of a new assart as in the court rolls of this year and of 1d of William Best’s new rent for 1 rod of waste land lying in Bakehegg and Spyngelghe wards of which 1 parcel of the same lies on the east part, to be held by him and the other parcel lies on the east part of the highway and leads from Bakehese to Spindelghe, to be held by him and his (heirs) according to the customs of a new assart, as in the same court rolls
