Farm fires

Among of the most frequent fire hazards on farms in the Bourne area in past times were hay and straw stacks which ignited easily and caused widespread damage, an unfortunate occurrence in some case when farmers were not insured. Spontaneous combustion was often the cause and children playing with matches another but there are also many recorded cases of employees setting them on fire as an act of reprisal for being badly treated or some other grievance.

More importantly, there were numerous cases in which stacks caught fire when farm workers had been smoking but this was difficult to prove because such allegations were invariably denied and if there were several of them working at the same time, then it was extremely difficult to prove.

Such a case arose in Bourne on the evening of Friday 26th  July 1872 when fire broke out in a stack yard at the back of Star Lane [now Abbey Road] owned by Edward Banton. As a result, four stacks of hay and part of another (containing together about forty or fifty tons) were almost entirely destroyed. One of the stacks was an old one of last year's produce and the remainder were new hay.

As a result of the blaze, the Grantham Journal reported the following day: “The stack where the fire originated was raised partly on the previous day and finished on the afternoon of the same day; therefore the fire could not have arisen from spontaneous combustion, nor were there any children near who could have set it on fire with matches or otherwise.

"The stack which first became ignited was adjoining one at which three or four men were at work. A few minutes before the fire burst out they had finished putting a load upon the stack and were resting; the supposition is that some of the men were smoking and that the accident was occasioned in that way; excluding this theory the fire is a very mysterious one, they denying they were smoking at the time.

"It is, however, a fact (and a serious one too for insurance companies) that the habit of smoking is very prevalent in farmyards and in dangerous proximity to stacks. The practice of farming men going about their work with short pipes in their mouths ought to be put a stop to.”

Here are some accounts of other notable farm fires culled from the newspaper archives and elsewhere.

¬ ARSON - £500 and 40 GUINEAS REWARDS by the Bourne Association for Prosecuting Felons: Whereas about the hour of 12 last night, some wicked person or persons did secretly and feloniously set on fire a stack of hay and a stack of straw, the property of Mr William Hardwicke, of Dyke, which were standing in a close adjoining the Dyke Outgang. Notice is hereby given that any person or persons who shall discover the offender or offenders, so that he, she, or they shall be brought to conviction shall, over and above the reward of five hundred pounds offered by the Lords Commissioner of His Majesty's Treasury, receive a reward of twenty guineas from the said William Hardwicke, besides a reward of twenty guineas from Mr William Hopkinson, Treasurer to the above Association.
- newspaper announcement from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 17th December 1830.

¬ John Whitehead, labourer, a native of Bourne, is suspected of firing a haystack belonging to Mr Hardwicke, of Dyke, on the 10th December 1830. He was soon afterwards married and left his wife about twelve months since. He is about 30 years of age, thin person, about five feet seven inches high, thin visage, light brown hair, one of his feet clubbed and the other turns inwards. After he had absconded, it was reported that he was gone to East Norton, Leicestershire, and there died but this has lately been ascertained to be false. Amos Gilbert, supposed to be his accomplice in the said offence, has lately been committed to Lincoln Castle to take his trial at the next assizes. A reward is offered for Whitehead's apprehension. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 6th April 1832.

NOTE: Amos Gilbert subsequently appeared before Lincolnshire Assizes in July 1832 charged with arson, or incendiarism as it was also known, and was sentenced to be executed but this was commuted to life imprisonment on appeal and he was sent to the convict hulk Retribution moored at Sheerness to serve his sentence. Whitehead was never found.
See Sentenced to life on the hulks

¬ On Sunday night, a fire broke out at Bourne on the premises of Mr William Mawby, baker. It destroyed a large hovel and two pigs with several other articles and had it not been for the prompt assistance of Mr Torkington, Mr H Nicholls, Mr Waters and other inhabitants of the town, there is a great probability that the flames would have consumed property to a large amount. There is little doubt that the conflagration was caused by an incendiary [arsonist]. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 24th December 1830.

¬ On Saturday night last, at about 7 o'clock, the inhabitants of Bourne were alarmed by information that the stack yard of Mr [John] Hardwicke, of Dyke, was in flames. The engine was promptly on the road for the scene of the conflagration but it was happily discovered that no serious damage was to be apprehended as the flames proceeded from a stack of stubble standing on the opposite side of the yard to the corn stacks and from which, from the favourable position of the wind, there was little danger of their communicating. By a copious supply of water, the fire was soon got under and the whole of the stubble was destroyed. Mr Hardwicke has two stack yards, both of which are near his residence. The one in which the stubble stack stood is that wherein he usually deposits his fen cropping and did not contain much property; had the fire appeared in the other, which is close to his house, the consequences would have been very serious. The stack which has been consumed was not more than 30 or 40 yards distant from the street, and was evidently fired at that end nearest the street, and it is a matter of surprise how the wicked purpose could be effected without detection, Mr H's servants having only shortly before left the premises. This is the second incendiary fire on his premises within a few weeks. The property was insured. What renders these attacks upon Mr H more unaccountable is that he has deservedly the character of a good master and is exceedingly kind to his poorer neighbours. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 25th February 1831.

¬ A fire was discovered at Dyke, near Bourne, on Tuesday last, at mid-day, on the farmyard of Mr John Arden. A stack of peas and a stack of hay were entirely consumed before the flames could be arrested. It appears quite a mystery how the fire originated as several loads had only just been placed on the pea stack. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 22nd August 1851.

¬ VILLAGERS RALLY TO EXTINGUISH FIRE: About the time of Sunday morning's service, the Town Hall fire bell was rung by Joseph Walpole who had cycled from Dyke to summon the fire brigade to a fire which, about 12 midday, had broken out on Mr Joseph Cooper's farm premises. In eight or nine minutes from the summons, the brigade, mounted on the fire engine, were hastening to the scene of the conflagration. The outbreak was discovered by John Morton who raised the alarm and endeavoured to stamp out the fire. Very quickly, a host of villagers, filling pails and buckets at the water bore near the village green, were pouring water on the flames. A large straw stack was speedily consumed. A strong north-east wind was blowing the flames directly upon the Wesleyan chapel and the residences of Mr Joseph Cooper and Mr Morton. The villagers' timely help was extremely valuable. The fire brigade was expeditiously and energetically at work under the direction of Captain Shilcock, Lieut Clarke and Chief Engineer Teat. The outbuildings were furiously blazing. Poultry, pigs and a pony had no great risk, being safely removed. Two poor imprisoned pigs were roasted. The efforts of the brigade were successful in saving the chapel, the shutters and doors of which were afire. The houses also were preserved. By two o'clock, all fear of danger was past though for a long time, the brigade continued to play upon the ruined mass of heated and smouldering material to which the entire block of outbuildings had been reduced. It is said that the fire was caused by a boy playing with matches. - news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 12th May 1899.

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