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Watercress and flowers
E N MOODY & SONS LTD, NURSERYMEN
A continuing supply
of good quality water is needed to grow watercress and this
is something that Bourne has had in abundance for thousands of years. It was
therefore inevitable that someone would begin such a venture and in the late
19th century, Mr Edwin Nathaniel Moody decided to give it a try.
He was a nurseryman who established the town's
first watercress beds in 1896 on land to the south of the Wellhead that he
rented from the Burghley Estate Trust and soon he was producing so much cress
that he was sending wholesale supplies by rail to the markets in London and
Leicester as well as selling it retail at his shop.
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The site of the watercress beds today
although trees now obscure much of what could be seen in the background in earlier times.
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A trade card for E N Moody (above) showing workers picking
watercress from
the Bourne beds ready for market, circa 1914. The view is facing south
with
the Red Hall visible behind the trees on the right, St Peter's Pool on the
left
and Cavalry House and the gateway to the Red Hall in South Street
beyond.
The photograph below shows the watercress beds as they were in 1915
(below) and again in 1960 (bottom).
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By 1911, a borehole had been sunk to boost water supplies to the watercress beds
and production was at its peak. A report on the cultivation of watercress in
Bourne described the industry as being unique to South Lincolnshire and added:
To successfully grow cress for marketing and
transporting purposes, it is essential that there is an inexhaustible supply of
water. At Bourne, there are three distinct beds which comprise one acre, all
neatly laid out and highly productive. The beds are fed by means of two springs,
one sunk by Mr Moody himself, and this supply is especially abundant, giving
thousands of gallons of water daily. The beds are superintended practically
during the whole year. Cress required for cutting for marketable purposes is
usually planted in August and during the winter months, plants need a good deal
of attention, frost playing havoc with them if not properly seen to and frost
damage can be particularly harmful, especially in May when the cress is ready
for cutting.
The bed nearest the spring is almost invariably the most
productive and it is from this bed that the plants are used for transplanting.
The amount of cress sold retail is small, practically the whole of it being sent
direct to markets in London and elsewhere. When cutting, about 70 hampers are
despatched each week, that is by weight, 500 stones or three tons. This is quite
remarkable for such a small and little known industry.
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A second borehole was sunk in 1924 to improve
supplies to the company's glasshouses which were producing a wide range of
cut flowers for the wholesale trade. This picture, taken soon after it was
completed, shows the considerable artesian pressure that was available in
the Bourne area. Mr and Mrs E N Moody can be seen on the right with
employees Percy Wade (left) and Tom Rowlett. |
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The cress beds, which covered three and a half
acres, have now disappeared. They were managed by Mr Moody until 1955 when he
retired to live at Mitcham in Surrey and the business was taken over by Spalding
Urban District Council which became responsible for growing and marketing the
cress under the trading name of the Hereward Watercress Company Limited. Lettuce
and cauliflowers were also grown on the site in season for the main markets in
the area and the business produced a profit of around £1,000 a year for the
authority.
In September 1969, the beds were bought from the
Burghley Estate Trust by South Lincolnshire Water Board which continued to run
them until April 1974 when they were closed down and filled in. Further cress
beds that had been established by Mr Moody at the rear of Harrington Street (now
Baldwin Grove) and at Kate's Bridge on the former site of Waterside Nurseries,
were also closed down.
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WATERCRESS LOST ITS APPEAL
The last of the water cress was harvested shortly before the 24
beds in South Street were closed down in 1974 when the last owners,
South Lincolnshire Water Board, were phased out under new local
government re-organisation and the site was sold to Bourne United
Charities which already owned land on the other side of the Bourne
Eau used as the Wellhead Gardens. The beds were eventually filled in
and the park area extended.
Picking the last few bunches of water cress (right) on Wednesday 9th
April 1974 are Joe Revell, his wife Emily and Mrs Elsie Turner. |
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Mr Revell, of 14 George Street, Bourne, who had
been working at the cress beds for eleven years, was not sorry to
see them closed. "I have been on my own too much down here in the
last few years", he said. "There is no point in growing the stuff
any more because it no longer sells." It was also a thankless task
to harvest the crop, thought Mrs Turner, who lived at 9 Hereward
Street, Bourne. "Your fingers go numb after picking the first two or
three crates and then you don't really notice how cold the water
is."
With the closure of the beds, Mr Revell was transferred to the water
pumping station in Manning Road while his wife and Mrs Turner both
gave up work.
Acknowledgment to the Lincolnshire
Free Press, Tuesday 16th April 1974 |
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The borehole at the watercress
beds being capped and sealed with cement grout in February 1977 (above). The seal however, became corroded and worn
over the years by the underground pressure and in February 2003 it burst in several
places, spurting forth like a huge garden sprinkler although much of the excess
drained into the Bourne Eau which runs nearby.
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Woodland Nurseries
off Exeter Street, which Mr Moody founded, were also a major producer of cut flowers during the early part of the 20th century. The
company, then known as Messrs E N Moody and Sons Ltd, was particularly renowned for
winter chrysanthemums and growers from all parts of the world visited regularly to inspect their growing techniques.
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The massive
glasshouse complex owned by E N Moody and Sons Ltd, pictured from
the air in 1973. The business closed towards the end of the 20th
century and the land has since been used for other developments,
notably Sainsburys supermarket and the Hereward Meadow housing
estate. |
Nine acres of glasshouses had been developed over a period of thirty years and the complex even had its own water supply from a borehole sunk on the premises in 1924. During that time it had become a massive flower-producing factory and blooms were regularly despatched to all parts of the country. The company had also developed a system of propagating and planting that enabled them provide flowers grown in controlled conditions under glass for market out of season and were therefore able to provide chrysanthemums for ten months of the year.
The firm had become so well known that the Ministry of Agriculture organised annual Growers' Walks which enabled visitors from the Midlands and East Anglia see the flowers at their best and talk to selected members of the staff who were placed at strategic points around the glasshouse complex to answer technical questions on growing, glasshouse structure and maintenance, heating systems, pests and diseases. The visits were so popular that at one such event in December 1959, a total of 400 people turned up.
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Female workers at the glasshouse complex pose
for a group
photograph around 1952 (above) and a view of the greenhouses in full
bloom with chrysanthemums in 1965 (below). At this time, the company
employed 50 people and the glasshouses covered a total of nine
acres, producing tomatoes, cucumbers, plants, bulbs and flowers,
including one million chrysanthemums and 10,000 tulips that were
sold as cut flowers. There were a further 20 acres devoted entirely
to cauliflowers. The nurseries also had links with many countries
overseas including Russia with contacts at the Botanical Gardens of
the Academy of Sciences of the USSR while an associate company,
Nursery Supplies (Bourne), provided a wide variety of sundries
covering very aspect of the horticultural industry. |
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When Mr Moody retired, the business was
taken over by his two sons Ted and Jim who worked long hours managing and
extending their operations. In 1961, Ted realised there was a market for
nursery supplies and after initially selling sundries from the nursery, a
new company, Nursery Supplies (Bourne) Ltd, was formed in 1962, occupying
an adjoining site in Exeter Street. The business remained there until
January 1999 when it moved to a new out of town location on a 5½-acre site
at the corner of the A151 Spalding Road and Meadow Drove with a new
building covering 15,000 sq feet and providing 260 full and part time
jobs, both here in Bourne and nationwide.
This was a major project when it opened,
big enough to attract royalty because the Duchess of Gloucester was the
guest of honour at the official opening on Tuesday 27th April 1999 when
the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Don Fisher said: "It was a brilliant
afternoon, an historic occasion for Nursery Supplies and for the town."
His enthusiasm was echoed by company director Adam Moody who said: "This
marks the culmination of our relocation process which means that we are
now able to expand into the next century in our new premises."
But it was not to be.
Ted Moody died in January 2000 at the age of 70. The business foundered and closed in
2001 and the following year, the warehouse depot complex was put on the market for £1,450,000, one of the biggest asking prices for a commercial development in the Bourne area in recent years.
Meanwhile,
the nursery business had also been run down towards the end of the 20th century and the
land
was sold for various developments that now include Sainsburys supermarket,
occupying the former site of Nursery Supplies, while the
last of the greenhouses and ancillary buildings were demolished early in 2002 to
make way for the Hereward Meadow housing estate.
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A PURE AND
HEALTHY FOOD
WATERCRESS
is a vegetable that was used as a food and medicine before
written records began. Papyri dating from 2000 BC list the
medicinal uses of foliage greens such as watercress and
Hippocrates recognised it as a healing plant. The Romans also
rated it as a "brain food" and the Greek general
Xenophon fed his troops on it. Irish monks ate only bread and watercress
for months on end, referring to it as "pure food
for wise men".
By
1636, the herbalist John Gerard was extolling watercress as a
powerful remedy for scurvy and we know now that green, leafy
vegetables are a source of antioxidants which mop up the harmful
free radicals that can cause cells to become cancerous.
The
ancients knew watercress and other greens were both food and
medicine. Now we have the technology to show why they were
right. Gram for gram, watercress provides more vitamin C than
oranges, more calcium than whole milk, more vitamin B than
blackcurrants and more iron than spinach. It is also a rich source
of vitamin A, of folic acid (essential for healthy pregnancy) and
of phosphorous, iodine, beta carotene and fibre. A single 85g bag
of washed watercress contains about three quarters of the
recommended daily intake of vitamins A and C.
Its
greatest claims to health benefits, though, have been revealed by
research at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, showing
that the mustard oils which give watercress its flavour pack a
potent punch against cancer. Two groups of compounds in
the oils work in tandem to zap cancer cells by inducing apoptosis
(self-destruction), stopping potential carcinogens from becoming
carcinogenic, and stimulating cell defences against carcinogenic
assaults.
Watercress
is a crucifer, a brassica with cross-shaped flowers. Others
include cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, turnips, radishes,
Swiss chard and kohlrabi. It has been known for more than a
decade that these crucifers have anti-cancer properties, but now
research has demonstrated how watercress (Rorripa nasturtium
aquaticum) is such a rich dietary source of the beneficial
compounds known to be effective in the fight against cancer.
For
the greatest benefit, watercress should be used fresh, raw and
fully mature. The more pungent it is, the greater its natural
health properties. The cress is hottest in winter when it grows
more slowly and concentrates mustard oils in its foliage over a
longer period. It is weakest in summer, picked young and kept in
supermarket bags. Juicing is an obvious way to optimise intake. An
85g bag will make a cocktail-size drink. Enthusiasts also eat watercress
straight, but almost anyone can enjoy it as a raw
ingredient in sandwiches or salads.
- extract from
an article on watercress by Robin Young in The Times,
Saturday 27th July 2002. |
REVISED JUNE 2005
See
also Watercress
days Sainsburys
Hereward Meadow
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