One of the great difficulties that farmers to this day experience is the supply of water. A 21 inch average with many years markedly below that amount. The drainage of the Fens saw the disappearance of a great natural sponge that had implications for both water supply and water flow through the area. In the 17th and 18th centuries we see comments about irregular flow of water through the rivers Welland and Witham with the water flow being contrary to seasonal expectations as they would frequently run freely with a good supply of water in the summer and have a greatly reduced flow in the winter.[i] Hence we see the following comments in 1893:
“Much skill and enterpize have been exhibited in the reclamation of both Fen and Marsh, but the former has been the more difficult of the two and has almost been too successfully carried out. So effectual, indeed, has been the drainage of the Fens, that not only has ague been utterly routed, but so little moisture is left in the soil that in times of drought vegetation is seriously hampered. And as, contrary to the general opinion, the rainfall in Lincolnshire is less than in any other English county, the dryness of the soil is occasionally attended with disastrous results, and the agricultural depression, so widespread and calamitous, has told more heavily, perhaps, on the Fen farmers than on any other. Even the productive lands of the Marsh have of late years greatly deteriorated in value, pasture land that a few years ago could readily be let for £5 or £6 the acre scarcely realizing now more than £2 or £3.”[ii]
It was dry weather that “broke” the herdsman Robin Harmstone as we see in his own words:
“I shall now give you a small outline of my life from my childhood to the present day. I was the youngest son of Mr. John Harmstone, Butcher and Grazier, who had a family of twelve children . He would give me a liberal education, but I being more partial to play than books, neglected school, and learned but little. I assisted my father in the management of his stock. I married early in life, and kept cows and sold milk and --- But it will suffice when I tell you that the summer of 1826 broke me for want of my friend ‘water’, for there was not any to be had for miles about. You sellers of milk well know the value of water. Then I had to plod my way as well I could through this rugged path of life. I have been an excavator of wells between thirty and forty years, and in that time I have excavated two hundred and sixty wells, and the boots that I wear on those occasions have left the currier’s shop sixty three years. I have borne to their graves fifty eight persons; fifty six to Spalding church.”[iii]
It seems apt that having suffered failure of his dairy herd through drought he should become a well-digger. Robin Harmstone had an inquiring mind and as he dug came across various objects and would seek to learn more about their origins. As he grew older he became renowned for his great knowledge and memory and from the 1840’s on can be found being referred to as a source of information in the regions press. He earned himself the title “The Fenland Chronicler” by, with the help of his nephew Thomas Harmstone, committing much of his knowledge to paper and this was published in a small pamphlet entitled, “Remarkable Events Etc. Connected with the History of Spalding” that was printed and published by Thomas Albin of the Market Place Spalding in 1846 and sold for the price of one shilling.
Robin was well known before the publication of this book and this merely cemented his reputation as a historian and antiquarian of public interest enough for his exploits to warrant press mentions:
“Our old friend Robin Harmstone has been on his travels. The return of spring having induced him to visit the neighbouring towns in search of antiquities”[iv]
Such was interest in Robin Harmstone that his latest work digging wells would make the press in anticipation that he might find some historical nugget whether it be bones, pottery, tokens or signs of past fires. In this way he had become a self-taught archaeologist. Despite his advancing years we see him digging wells at The Black Swan, Spalding (1850) and Crackpool Lane in 1854.
Prior to Spalding Cemetery being consecrated in 1854 there were concerns about whether the area suffered from running silt and a little local controversy about choosing the site so, being a grave digger, Robin was called upon for his expert opinion, “….in reference to the nature of the ground at the new cemetery Robin Harmstone had dug both the grass and the ploughed areas more than five feet of depth without finding water….” [v]
As demands on the local water supply in Spalding increased and land use continued to change the issue of water supply continued to be an issue with the following quote from the old well-digger in September 1854: “ …the want of water is more sorely felt now than in the ever dry summer of 1826.”
[i] This is commented on in numerous articles of this era.
[ii] Scrivelsby Home of Champions by The Rev. Samuel Lodge M.A. 1893
[iii] A currier is a man that processes leather.
[iv] Stamford Mercury June 1850
[v] Lincolnshire Chronicle November 1853
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