POACHING

Poaching was naturally rife from the earliest times in the royal forests, and in the book "Old Oak", the late Rev. J. Linnell tells some good stories and one tragic one about deer poachers in Whittlebury Forest. The memory of these things lingered on and in 1937, Mr. John Frost of Paulerspury whose lively descriptions of village fights we printed in our last issue, had something also to tell us incidentally about deer-stealing.

"A notorious poacher named William Wootton who lived in Pury End and who went by the nickname of 'Shoulder,' and fro whom a warrant was renewed for about thirty years, was a great deer-stealer. He heard one night the searchers were in the village after venison. He had the carcases in his house at the time. His wife soon saw a way out of the difficulty. She undressed and when to bed with the three carcases. When the house was searched, she said: 'Lay still my dears, these naughty men won't hurt you.' I have heard my grandfather vouch for the truth of this. I knew the cottage well myself. Some of the old hands were pretty desperate in those days. I have heard my father say there was hardly a week when he was a boy but there were search parties about for something or other.

The churchyard at Paulerspury is about 1½ acres in extent. Some of the old stones are most interesting. There is one close to the chancel door with the following epitaph:-

On the north side of the church there is one to the memory of Richard, son of Richard and Mary Andrews of Shrewsbury, who was accidentally killed by the Greyhound Coach on December 23rd 1840. I have heard my father say he got down to run, as it was very cold, slipped and fell under the coach as it was in motion. He was killed instantly - only seventeen years of age.

There are more interesting tombs from another point of view. Two tombs with heavy tops. One to the memory of Mr. Samuel Smith and another to a member of the Tarry family, were often used as receptacles for the carcases of deer which had been caught by some of the poaching fraternity, of which, from my knowledge, there have been a number in the village. There is a well in some buildings close to the church down which I have heard my father and grandfather say many a deer skin and offal had been thrown down. Two more favourite places where they used to hang their deer were the bridges under the Watling Street, one at Cuttle Mill the other at the Gullet Hollow. [The Gullet lies between Paulerspury and Potterspury]. I have heard the old irons they used to hang the carcases on are still in the walls of the old bridges. I myself knew one old hand who said he had hung many a one there. They disposed of their booty by sending them to London. An old carrier named Jarvis used to go to town with a wagon and four horses every week - start on Monday and reach home at Towcester on Saturday. I have seen the old conveyance many a time when I was a boy. He used to dispose of their venison.

Rabbit poaching was also a profitable game, as Mrs. Friday of Syresham tells us, also writing in 1937:-
"Silson (that is, Silverstone, the next parish to Syresham) was noted for poachers and many a load of rabbits and game have been turned into money. Oft-times when it was a hard spell of frost and things were difficult to procure, it was no shame, as rabbits can be a very great nuisance when there are such great numbers.
One old girl used to have a leathern belt with spring hooks attached, and would go out for a walk after a day's work at the lace pillow. On the edge of the forest she would meet her man with the bag. She would hang the spoils on the leathern belt under her old black skirt and home she went, no sight-seer any wiser. Some nights she has been at her walk all through the night."