John Billingsley (agriculturist)
Encyclopedia
John Billingsley was an agricultural pioneer in 18th century Somerset
, England
.
The writer of the 1794 Survey of Somerset, Billingsley was a leading agriculturalist who was one of the founders of the Bath and West Society, known today as the Royal Bath and West of England Society
. He lived all his life at Ashwick Grove.
who was minister at Ashwick
from 1699 to 1729. Little is known about his early life but by 1782 he was listed as Brewer along with James Jordan of the Oakhill Brewery in the neighbouring village of Oakhill
, and may have been involved in the wool trade before that.
He was described as a leading member of the Presbyterian church although at some stage he was reconciled with the Church of England
.
in the Midlands and Northern England spelled the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. Farming continued to flourish however, with Billingsley farming about 4000 acres (16.2 km²), and the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
was founded in 1777 to improve farming methods. Despite this, 20 years later John Billingsley conducted a survey, for the Board of Agriculture, of the county's agriculture in 1795 and found that agricultural methods could still be improved. He provided estimates, based on his local knowledge, of the land use of the one million acres (4,000 km2) in the county. He suggested that 584,500 were enclosed meadow and pasture land, 260,000 were enclosed arable and convertible land with smaller areas for other purposes. 65000 acres (263 km²) were considered uncultivated wastes.
It advocated ways of modernising farming practices, particularly through mechanisation, which including instructions for hedge building and crop rotation (also how to treat sick animals with hay tea and improve cucumber production with horse dung!). It also includes a chapter on political economy related to the narrow margin of British food supplies, in view of the outbreak of war with France
in 1793, and mentions developments on the Somerset coalfield
.
His General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset divided the county into three districts- north-east, middle and south-west. It included proposals for the enclosure of Exmoor
and the building of a village at Simonsbath
. For the middle section the plans he advocated improved drainage, including the straightening of sections of the rivers Brue
, Axe and Parrett
, were more successful and lead to some significant reclamation of the Somerset Levels
. He also deplored the failure of many farmers to manure the land, exhausting it by constant cropping and overstocking.
In 1798 he wrote about the water-meadow
s of the Brendon
and Quantock Hills
describing them as the best in the country.
, Somerset Coal Canal
and the Dorset and Somerset Canal
. One eulogy by Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, President of the Bath and West Society, exaggerates considerably referring to him as having “drained Sedgemoor and enclosed Mendip”!
Because of the moribund state of the lead
mines in the Mendip Hills
he proposed to drive a 5 miles (8 km) level from Compton Martin
to Wookey Hole
at a depth of 450 feet (137 m) below the surface to remove the water which was flooding the mines — nothing came of this plan.
He was also responsible for the introduction and adoption of the double-furrow plough
.
Atthill considers that his greatest achievement was the enclosure
of the Mendip Hills
. The first Mendip commons to be enclosed were those in the parishes of East and West Cranmore
which had been completed by 1769. By 1794 Billingsley estimated that 13600 acres (55 km²) had been enclosed by Dry stone
walls leaving 11,550 unenclosed.
two memorial tablets can be seen. These are dedicated to John Billingsley, his wife Mary, and their family.
Soon after his death the Bath and West Society commissioned Samuel Woodforde
(the nephew of James Woodforde
) to copy in oils a crayon portrait of Billingsly. Another portrait by Joseph Hutchissoon now hangs in the Victoria Art Gallery
in Bath.
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The writer of the 1794 Survey of Somerset, Billingsley was a leading agriculturalist who was one of the founders of the Bath and West Society, known today as the Royal Bath and West of England Society
Royal Bath and West of England Society
The Royal Bath and West of England Society is a charitable society founded in 1777 to promote and improve agriculture and related activities around the West Country of England. Based at the Royal Bath and West of England Society Showground near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, the society is a...
. He lived all his life at Ashwick Grove.
Family life
He was born in 1747, the grandson of Nicholas Billingsley, a Presbyterian dissenterDissenter
The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...
who was minister at Ashwick
Ashwick
Ashwick is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826...
from 1699 to 1729. Little is known about his early life but by 1782 he was listed as Brewer along with James Jordan of the Oakhill Brewery in the neighbouring village of Oakhill
Oakhill
Oakhill, Somerset is a village located approximately north of Shepton Mallet between the A37 and the A367 . Oakhill is today is mainly a commuter village of in size, but it is more famous for its past activities which include its brewing....
, and may have been involved in the wool trade before that.
He was described as a leading member of the Presbyterian church although at some stage he was reconciled with the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset
The 18th century was largely one of peace in Somerset, but the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
in the Midlands and Northern England spelled the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. Farming continued to flourish however, with Billingsley farming about 4000 acres (16.2 km²), and the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
Royal Bath and West of England Society
The Royal Bath and West of England Society is a charitable society founded in 1777 to promote and improve agriculture and related activities around the West Country of England. Based at the Royal Bath and West of England Society Showground near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, the society is a...
was founded in 1777 to improve farming methods. Despite this, 20 years later John Billingsley conducted a survey, for the Board of Agriculture, of the county's agriculture in 1795 and found that agricultural methods could still be improved. He provided estimates, based on his local knowledge, of the land use of the one million acres (4,000 km2) in the county. He suggested that 584,500 were enclosed meadow and pasture land, 260,000 were enclosed arable and convertible land with smaller areas for other purposes. 65000 acres (263 km²) were considered uncultivated wastes.
It advocated ways of modernising farming practices, particularly through mechanisation, which including instructions for hedge building and crop rotation (also how to treat sick animals with hay tea and improve cucumber production with horse dung!). It also includes a chapter on political economy related to the narrow margin of British food supplies, in view of the outbreak of war with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1793, and mentions developments on the Somerset coalfield
Somerset coalfield
The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...
.
His General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset divided the county into three districts- north-east, middle and south-west. It included proposals for the enclosure of Exmoor
Exmoor
Exmoor is an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England, named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and ...
and the building of a village at Simonsbath
Simonsbath
Simonsbath is a village high on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoor, covering nearly but with a population, at the time of the 2001 census, of 203 in 78...
. For the middle section the plans he advocated improved drainage, including the straightening of sections of the rivers Brue
River Brue
The River Brue originates in the parish of Brewham in Somerset, England, and reaches the sea some 50 km west at Burnham-on-Sea. It originally took a different route from Glastonbury to the sea, but this was changed by the monastery in the twelfth century....
, Axe and Parrett
River Parrett
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset...
, were more successful and lead to some significant reclamation of the Somerset Levels
Somerset Levels
The Somerset Levels, or the Somerset Levels and Moors as they are less commonly but more correctly known, is a sparsely populated coastal plain and wetland area of central Somerset, South West England, between the Quantock and Mendip Hills...
. He also deplored the failure of many farmers to manure the land, exhausting it by constant cropping and overstocking.
In 1798 he wrote about the water-meadow
Water-meadow
A water-meadow is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries...
s of the Brendon
Brendon Hills
The Brendon Hills are composed of a lofty ridge of hills in the East Lyn Valley area of western Somerset, England. The terrain is broken by a series of deeply incised streams and rivers running roughly southwards to meet the River Haddeo, a tributary of the River Exe.The hills are quite heavily...
and Quantock Hills
Quantock Hills
The Quantock Hills is a range of hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England. The Quantock Hills were England’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty being designated in 1956 and consists of large amounts of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land.The hills run from...
describing them as the best in the country.
Other activities
Billingsley was also actively involved in Turnpike Trusts, and canal building, including the Kennet and Avon CanalKennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
, Somerset Coal Canal
Somerset Coal Canal
The Somerset Coal Canal was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800 from basins at Paulton and Timsbury via Camerton, an aqueduct at Dunkerton, Combe Hay, Midford and Monkton Combe to Limpley Stoke where it joined the Kennet and Avon Canal...
and the Dorset and Somerset Canal
Dorset and Somerset Canal
The Dorset and Somerset Canal was a proposed canal in the south west of England. The main line was intended to link Poole, in Dorset with the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. A branch was to go from the main line at Frome to the southern reaches of the Somerset coalfield at...
. One eulogy by Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, President of the Bath and West Society, exaggerates considerably referring to him as having “drained Sedgemoor and enclosed Mendip”!
Because of the moribund state of the lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
mines in the Mendip Hills
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
he proposed to drive a 5 miles (8 km) level from Compton Martin
Compton Martin
Compton Martin is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority in England. The parish has a population of 508...
to Wookey Hole
Wookey Hole
Wookey Hole Caves is a show cave and tourist attraction in the village of Wookey Hole on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills near Wells in Somerset, England.Wookey Hole cave was formed through erosion of the limestone hills by the River Axe...
at a depth of 450 feet (137 m) below the surface to remove the water which was flooding the mines — nothing came of this plan.
He was also responsible for the introduction and adoption of the double-furrow plough
Plough
The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...
.
Atthill considers that his greatest achievement was the enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
of the Mendip Hills
Mendip Hills
The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...
. The first Mendip commons to be enclosed were those in the parishes of East and West Cranmore
Cranmore, Somerset
Cranmore is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Waterlip, East Cranmore and Dean where Dean farmhouse dates from the 17th century, as does The Old Smithy, just off the A361 which was originally two...
which had been completed by 1769. By 1794 Billingsley estimated that 13600 acres (55 km²) had been enclosed by Dry stone
Dry stone
Dry stone is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their unique construction method, which is characterized by the presence of a load-bearing facade of carefully selected interlocking...
walls leaving 11,550 unenclosed.
Memorials
At the west end of the aisles in the Church of St. James, AshwickAshwick
Ashwick is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826...
two memorial tablets can be seen. These are dedicated to John Billingsley, his wife Mary, and their family.
Soon after his death the Bath and West Society commissioned Samuel Woodforde
Samuel Woodforde
Samuel Woodforde was an 18th-century British painter.Woodforde was born at Castle Cary, Somerset. He was the second son of Heighes Woodforde, an accountant of Ansford and Anne. He was a lineal descendant of the painter Samuel Woodford, and nephew of the diarist, James Woodforde...
(the nephew of James Woodforde
James Woodforde
James Woodforde was an English clergyman, best known as the author of The Diary of a Country Parson.-Early life:James Woodforde was born at the Parsonage, Ansford, Somerset, England on 27 June 1740...
) to copy in oils a crayon portrait of Billingsly. Another portrait by Joseph Hutchissoon now hangs in the Victoria Art Gallery
Victoria Art Gallery
The Victoria Art Gallery is free public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England.The building was designed in 1897 by John McKean Brydon, and has been designated as a Grade II listed building. The exterior of the building includes a statue of Queen Victoria, by A. C. Lucchesi, and friezes of...
in Bath.