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| Andrea Gilpin from Caring for God's Acre |
… so shouted out our guide for
the day, Andrea Gilpin, of aptly named Caring for God’s Acre from the
top of a Tintern graveyard one hot and sunny July day.
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| Andrea displays the range of blades |
A small group of AONB volunteers
was on a steep learning curve that day as we were introduced to scythes and
scything and encouraged to mow as much of St Mary’s churchyard as we could. Few
of us had touched a scythe before and we listened intently to tips on carrying,
sharpening and even on how to stand in a group (scythes on ground in front of
you, edge down). We learned that scythes have a snath (shaft) and a blade, and
that a blade has a tip, heel, tang, beard, belly and knob. Oh, and that peening
is a hammering technique which cold forges the blade to bring it back to a thin
profile.
The churchyard was overgrown
with long grass, bracken and many weeds, all of which covered ruined stones and
metalwork. We couldn’t have had a much tougher introduction as we were scything
in tight spaces on sloping land, constantly in danger of damaging the blade tip
on hidden objects. Somehow, we made progress and it wasn’t too long before
those who weren’t scything were carrying away our fresh hay on pitchforks. It
was a curious scene: a country churchyard with no one in it apart from our
group of scythers and forkers looking very much as it might have done in the
Middle Ages.
Andrea was an excellent instructor
and we all learned a good deal from the day. We even managed to mow some of the
yard too!
The following Thursday saw AONB
volunteers in action again, this time assisting the Gwent Wildlife Trust at its
Pentwyn Farm site in Penallt, a few miles further up the valley. Our task was
to spread green hay onto one of the farm’s larger fields in order to further
diversify the plant species growing in the meadow there. Our green hay had been
cut and baled that morning from a field near Wet Meadow, just to the north of Trellech, and sat in an ominously large
pile on a trailer in the Pentwyn field. Luckily, the field had already been
mown and scarified and the bales were deposited regularly around it, so our
task was “merely” to spread the hay evenly all over it.
We had pitchforks and rakes at
our disposal but, following a wide variety of individual experimentation, all
but one of us soon dispensed with them and scattered the hay by hand, again
giving a scene redolent of medieval times. The sun was hot and the Penallt
mercury hit 26C for much of the time. Sarah’s sunscreen was much in demand (her
insect repellent proving to be redundant) and her frequent calls for drinks
breaks were both welcome and necessary as the work was not only hot but very
dusty too. Seeds got everywhere, even to the extent of mysteriously filling
pockets with several ounces at a time and many shower drainage systems were
strangely challenged later on!
All in all, some 150 bales were
scattered and we broke the back of the work needed to be done. Can’t wait to
have a look next spring to see the results of our labours!
David May
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