Forced Rhubarb in West Yorkshire C.1852-2017
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The Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society Forced Rhubarb in West Yorkshire c.1852-2017 Anthony Silson BSc (Hons) MSc PGCE FRGS Forced Rhubarb in West Yorkshire c.1852-2017 Anthony Silson BSc (Hons) MSc PGCE FRGS Key words: forced rhubarb; Bramley; Leeds; Osmondthorpe; West Yorkshire; Whitwell Introduction and aims Hunslet (Leeds) artisans grew small quantities of forced rhubarb before 1850 in order to eke out their meagre incomes. But in the second half of the nineteenth century Leeds suddenly took off as a producer of forced rhubarb. Such large quantities were produced that Leeds came to dominate national markets by the end of the century. The reasons why Leeds (and district) became the centre for forced rhubarb production have been argued about ever since. The industry flourished until the outbreak of the Second World War when the acreage was near its maximum. Then for a short period the acreage fluctuated but soon after the war ended the area under forced rhubarb began to decline. This study first aims to examine the reasons why Leeds and district came to dominate the production of forced rhubarb and it seeks to establish a more definite answer than hitherto. A second set of aims is to examine why Leeds and district continued to dominate production in the twentieth century and to examine the extent to which the distribution of forced rhubarb growth within West Yorkshire changed up to 1938. Finally this study examines the nature and causes of the decline that began about 1950. In order to achieve these aims this study is divided into three parts. Part one discusses the period c.1852-1895; part two 1896-1945; part three 1946-2017. Previous work Prior to 1938 many reports and articles about rhubarb appeared in the press. They are an invaluable source of information, and some of them discuss the reasons why West Yorkshire produced so much of the UK rhubarb. Dorothy Turner’s The Economic Rhubarbs was published in 1938 (Turner 1938). Most of the article describes the varieties of rhubarb that developed over time. However, at the end of the article, she briefly discusses the growth of rhubarb in the West Riding. She mentions Joseph Whitwell, saying that he played a major role in enabling the West Riding to successfully compete in the London markets. She also states many of the reasons why rhubarb is grown in the West Riding including the role of Hunslet artisans. And, in words, she delimits the area of growth but does not distinguish between forced and green rhubarb. I have illustrated this area in Figure 1. Also in 1938 an account of the rhubarb industry in Bramley appeared in a booklet compiled by E T Carr (Carr 1938). The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries issued a booklet about rhubarb (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 1949). This booklet is mostly about the growth of rhubarb but it does include a brief and valuable account of rhubarb growing in the West Riding. Shortly after, the Ministry of Agriculture published an article written by J Tasker on the West Riding Rhubarb industry but large sections are devoted to how rhubarb is grown and marketed (Tasker 1952). Nevertheless, Tasker includes the by then generally accepted reasons for rhubarb being grown in West Yorkshire. There are only a few lines on rhubarb in H Robinson’s textbook Geography For Business Students, but these words have been remarkably influential (Robinson Introduction Pg 1 of 5 1965). He seems to have been the first person to speak of the rhubarb triangle. But if he was, he introduced the concept purely as a teaching aid. He does not distinguish between forced and green rhubarb. Robinson’s triangle is depicted in Figure 1. W Harwood Long in A Survey Of The Agriculture Of Yorkshire presents a very brief but balanced account of what was then known about rhubarb growing in Yorkshire (Harwood Long 1969). It is still well worth reading as an introduction to the subject. Richard Giles Forced rhubarb in the West Riding of Yorkshire examines all aspects of rhubarb growing in the 1960s (Giles 1970). He discusses the transport of rhubarb but otherwise he has little to add on the origin and maintenance of rhubarb growing before 1945. J M Hughes Rhubarb Industry Study in Depth, whilst including a variety of information, focuses upon the decline of the industry up to the mid 1970s (Hughes 1976). It is very valuable, being almost the only work on decline, but obviously presents no information for the last forty years. The Story of Rhubarb was written by John Goodchild and gives an historical account in a short article (Goodchild 1998). It repeats the well-known reasons, and includes case-studies. It is, though, a very incomplete study as it virtually ignores Leeds. A copy of The Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle Growers submission (c.2008) to gain protected status for Yorkshire grown rhubarb is available on the internet. As might be expected, there is much on the growing of rhubarb, and it includes the standard environmental conditions under which the plant is grown in West Yorkshire. The area in which rhubarb is grown is presented in words but there is no date given for the delimitation. Using these words I have depicted the boundaries on Figure 1. A map: Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb triangle.png appears on Wikimedia Commons (2014). So far as I can tell, this map plots the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle Growers depiction of the area in words. Accordingly it is not shown on Figure 1 as it would be the same as that I have drawn. Rhubarbaria written by Mary Prior is essentially a book of recipes (Prior 2009). However, it has an historical introduction, and she is probably the first person to state Joseph Whitwell introduced sheds to grow rhubarb in the late 1870s. No evidence has yet materialised to fully support this statement and the date is wrong but it now appears on several pieces about rhubarb on the internet. These pieces are a useful introduction to the study of rhubarb, but few are referenced. Lastly, Martin Parr’s The Rhubarb Triangle is primarily a book of superb photographs of people engaged in growing rhubarb (Parr 2016). It does have a brief historical introduction but this repeats accepted wisdom. This is not unexpected as the prime aim is to depict work on the market gardens today. A summary of the reasons that have been previously suggested for the importance of Leeds and district for the growth of forced rhubarb is given in part one of this article. Introduction Pg 2 of 5 Methodology Press reports up to 1939 had named the area growing most forced rhubarb as Leeds or Leeds and district but very few writers apart from Turner had attempted to delimit the area with any degree of precision. Later writers selected different boundaries (Figure1). So it seemed that a more precise delimitation of the rhubarb growing area for particular times, along with any changes in the distribution that had occurred over time, would be hugely beneficial in this historical study. The possibility that the task might be tackled either through statistical evidence or the use of directories was considered. Neither approach was feasible. There appears to be no complete run of figures for the acreage of all rhubarb, let alone for forced rhubarb, in West Yorkshire. From 1980, the only figures available are for England and Wales as a whole. Even in earlier times the smallest unit seems to be for The West Riding of Yorkshire-far too large a unit for most of this study. Most directories, and especially those prior to 1936, only give the names of market gardeners. Some of these undoubtedly grew rhubarb, but there is no indication which. Later directories only erratically list rhubarb growers, and the lists are incomplete. Land utilisation maps were also considered. The 1930s 1: 10560 land utilisation maps show arable but do not include market gardening as a separate category let alone show rhubarb. The 1960s land utilisation maps show market Introduction Pg 3 of 5 gardening but they also do not specify rhubarb (Second Land Utilisation Survey 1962- 68; 1963-67). Furthermore, the 1960s published sheets cover only a very small part of West Yorkshire. That said, statistics, directories and maps were all used so far as possible to check or supplement the main method adopted. The best solution to these problems appeared to be to use large scale, 1:10560 (or larger) Ordnance Survey maps to identify as accurately as possible rhubarb sheds. Even this approach is not without some difficulties. Large scale maps sometimes show a large, often rectangular, building in a field. The purpose of these is un-named on the map whereas for the majority of large buildings shown on the map their function is given. These buildings, without a function named, are probably rhubarb sheds especially so when the map shows a track leading to them (Dickinson 1993). If you are not familiar with rhubarb sheds it is helpful to visit some and compare those in the field with those on the map. But with some practice, many of these buildings shown on the map are unmistakeable as rhubarb sheds. For evidence, examine Ordnance Survey sheet 1:10560 CCXVII N.E. (Bramley-Pudsey) revised 1933 with additions in 1938. If there is a track but the building is small then it is very probable that it is a rhubarb shed. However, with a small building and no track it can be more difficult to decide; two workers might come to different decisions. Therefore in the text I have used expressions such as: ‘almost three quarters’ rather than precise percentages.