Outstanding Rural Crafts & Skills

The landscapes we see today in our AONBs have often been shaped and influenced by man’s activities, including traditional crafts and skills.

Once these crafts were practised as a part of everyday life, using the natural materials of the local area to produce furniture, clothing and utensils for the home, or to provide services for landowners and residents. Rural craftsmen carried out skills such as thatching, coopering, rope-making and tanning while in towns other skills were available such as clock and watch-makers, silversmiths and bookbinders.

The history of traditional crafts and craftsmanship is one of inevitable decline in the face of industrialisation and mass production, where factories were set up to provide cheaper goods and often put self-employed, skilled workers out of business. For example, in one village in the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB
(http://www.lincswolds.org.uk) in 1851 there were 13 tailors, 8 shoemakers, 6 blacksmiths, 14 carpenters, bakers, millwright, miller, and a brickmaker; all for a population of 900! Today the village has a shop, a butcher, a school and two pubs for 503 residents, with many traditional trades no longer practised locally.

However, in recent decades there has been a revival of interest in crafts across the country with many people becoming trained in traditional skills to keep the crafts alive. There is a growing appreciation of small-scale craft makers whose work displays both individuality and a high degree of workmanship. Many of these crafts are important to keeping an area distinctive, using its local materials in the most suitable style.

Hedgelaying (http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk), in which older hedges are managed to provide stock-proof barriers, is an important skill for many reasons. Laying a hedge eliminates gaps in the boundary and encourages vigorous growth from the base of the plants, which helps provide effective shelter to livestock. Thick hedges are excellent wildlife habitats for our native wildlife and are attractive features in the landscape.

In different parts of the country, different hedgelaying styles can be seen. In the south-west, banks and hedges together form boundaries and have to be managed as one. The Blackdown Hills Hedge Association (http://www.Blackdownhills-hedge.org.uk) are an enthusiastic group of people working and living on the Blackdown Hills who are dedicated to preserving the craft of hedgelaying and other allied skills in the AONB.

Dry stone walling (http://www.dswa.org.uk) was a practical method to make a sturdy boundary using local stone. Today these walls are recognised as an important feature in many landscapes and are part of our heritage. Although initially more costly, a dry stone wall will outlast a wire fence many times over and, maintained well, will prove more economical in the long term. Dry stone walls are just that – no mortar or cement is used. There are regional styles, but with the same building principles used.

Many AONBs run courses or volunteer tasks to build or repair the dry stone walls. Interrogate the database for further details.

Woodlands invite a range of traditional crafts and skills to be used today. Coppicing (http://www.coppicing.com) is the method of periodically cutting trees and bushes to ground level to encourage new growth. These cut stems provide numerous products that can be used in thatching, hedgelaying, fencing, tool handles, seats, walking sticks and even fire wood. Today many woodlands indicate in their name the old management, e.g. Bracketts Coppice in Dorset AONB. (http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/site.asp?PageId=271&SiteId=6)

Thatched roofs are a picturesque part of the rural scene, often found on the most delightful and in many cases expensive properties. Few realise that thatching was originally used by the poor, as it made use of cheap local materials. As transport improved, it became more fashionable to bring in roofing slate from Wales. Some of the finest thatching material is grown in Norfolk, where local reeds adorn so many attractive local buildings. For more information look at Norfolk Coast AONB. (http://www.norfolkcoastaonb.org.uk/news/newsarticles.php?ArticID=70)

Some previously essential crafts in the country are rare today. One example is coopering, the making of barrels. A skilled cooper could make up to 70 barrels each week, and none would leak! Barrels were essential for storage and transportation of food and drink. Do you know anyone with the surname Cooper? Now you know what their ancestors used to do for a living!

Traditional crafts associated with food production can be found – an estate in the Forest of Bowland (http://www.forestofbowland.com/annual_report_2002/social.htm) has started making cheese; orchards are scattered across the whole of the High Weald AONB. (http://www.highweald.org/text.asp?PageId=43)

In this 50th anniversary year for AONBs, discover some of Britain’s traditional crafts and skills. Visit local shows to see demonstrations of wood turning, basket making, felt-making or try some traditional local produce. How about taking part in some practical dry stone walling or hedge laying?