My first little foray into the countryside took me to Dorchester, and Bere Regis..... looking for a very cool place called Dorset Reclamation, where all the bits and pieces from old buildings are saved when they are demolished or renovated. We enjoyed our afternoon of poking around this yard, with so many interesting treasures in in.... old mirrors, mantles, doors, windows, garden benches, old paving slates, roofing tiles - you name it, they have it!
On the back to Hythe from there, I stopped for gas, and across from the service station we spied a cool little green building, on iron wheels parked on the side of the road. I include pictures to the right.
An interesting website with lots of pics of 'upscale' shepherds huts - http://www.cotswoldshepherdshuts.co.uk/
Later when I got home, I looked shepherd huts up on the net, and here's what I found.
The first evidence of a wheeled Shepherd's hut is 1596 (!!!)
Whilst most think that the Shepherds hut is a relatively invention, maybe late 18th or early 19th Century, we were amazed to find out that these old beasts have been around a lot longer than that. Thanks to the presence of a few very early publications, we have traced a reference to a wheeled Shepherds hut from the 16th Century during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Leonard Mascal, reputed to have become Chief farrier to King I, produced a number of very early works regarding rural life. His titles covered such subjects as fishing, plants and one entitled 'Government of Cattel' published in 1596 was split into three sections. The third devoted to discoursing the order of sheep, goats, hogs, and dogs, with true remedies to help the infirmities that befall any of them : also perfect instructions for taking of moales, and likewise for the monthly husbanding of grounds.
The small yet important description appears in this book "in some place the Shepheard hath his cabbin going upon a wheele for to remove here and there at his pleasure". This is probably the very first mention of a shepherds hut in the form that we currently recognize. It is also the first glimpse that the Shepherds accommodation from as long ago as the late 1500's was in line with his status as a very important member of the farming community. Those in more rugged terrain such as Scotland, Wales and Moreland areas of England had to deal with the elements it seems, a hut on wheels needs a track suitable to take it. Boggy ground or hilly areas rule out ease of access for a portable hut. In these cases a more permanent building, sometimes referred to as a 'lookers hut' was built to protect the shepherd from his sometimes bleak environment.A shepherds hut was a big investment to a farm or Estate, costing the equivalent of up to 6 months of the Shepherd's salary. However it seems that ownership in most cases stayed with the Landowners rather than the Shepherd.
The decline of Large flocks
Before the advent of artificial fertilizers, on many mixed Farms distant pastures from the farm which were normal inaccessible to the large farm manure wagons would have had a visit from the Shepherd and his flock of Sheep. The Sheep were not allowed to wander freely but were kept enclosed behind wooden hurdles. This process was called 'folding'. Once the forage crop had been grazed, the Sheep, Shepherd, his dog and mobile home; his Shepherds Hut, would move to pastures new. The land would then be ploughed, returning the nutrients in the droppings to the land. The Hut contained a small stove, a straw bed over a cage where lambs could be kept (known as a Lamb rack) and a simple medicine cupboard containing various potions. This regularly included a bottle of to revive a sickly lamb (or Shepherd). However the First World war would see big changes in farming practices. Large scale production of Ammonium Nitrate used in the manufacturer of explosives provided for the first time a cost effective solution with regards to a concentrated feedstock for the land. Combined with the advent of the tractor at the same time, the need for large flocks to fold the land went into steep decline. Many fields normally used for grazing could for the first time be turned to the plough and more lucrative cereals replaced one time grazing meadows. The final straw was the rising importation of Lamb from abroad due to improved meat transportation, including early forms of refrigeration.
The medieval woolen trade had long since declined in favor of cotton and although there was a peak during the two World wars, it was too little too late for an industry in decline. By 1939, many old huts found a new lease of life as home guard outposts, in fact in some parts of the country we have heard the term 'Home guard roofs' used when referring to a pitched roof on a hut. Many were also used at the end of the second World war to house prisoners of war in as temporary accommodation. Many farms being allocated one or two laborers from a large number of POW camps set up towards the end of the war.
A few huts carried on providing comfort and shelter to their Shepherd, but by around 1950, most were either pushed into a wood to provide somewhere for the gamekeeper to store his Pheasant feed, abandoned on the edge of a field or worse, being broken up and burnt as they had became redundant.
