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Description: | It is not known exactly when strawberries first became extensively grown in the area. They did however gain importance after the common land was enclosed in the 1860's and divided into small plots of land. A grower needed about 4 acres in which to make a living. They were intensively grown in Titchfield, Locks Heath, Park Gate, Swanwick and Warsash.
During the picking time every available person helped, including schoolchildren who had picking holidays. It was essential that the grower picked and sold as many strawberries as possible, because he relied on the income for the whole year. Gypsies were an important part of the labour force. After Wickham Fair, held in May, many gypsies went to the strawberry fields for work. The pickers often had string tied round their waists which was used to attach empty baskets to their backs as they were working. The filled baskets were placed on barrows which were collected at intervals by the grower.
Most growers had a hut on their plot which were used for putting covers on the baskets filled with strawberries ready for distribution all over the country. The wicker baskets known as gallons were made by the inmates of Winchester gaol and held approximately 6 to 9 lb of fruit. The strawberries were then transported by cart to Swanwick Station to be loaded onto Strawberry Specials. The opening of Swanwick railway station in 1888 revolutionised the industry by providing rapid transport links to wider markets. Many of the carts were made locally by Hayter's of Portchester. The trains were loaded by teams of small boys who had to lie on their fronts to pack the specially constructed shelves in the railway carriages with baskets of strawberries.
In 1905 the Swanwick and District Growers Association was formed by a group of local growers to help promote and sell their produce. In 1913 they set up the Swanwick Basket Factory in the goods yard behind Swanwick Station to make the punnets, or chips, for the strawberries. These were non returnable and replaced the gallons. The chips were made of thin pieces of wood veneer from poplar logs, imported from the continent. The inner round logs which could not be turned into flat material were sold to the shareholders for firewood. Later cardboard and then plastic would be used to make punnets. The factory gradually declined from about employing 60 women in the 1940's to 6 by 1964.
Reference:
1. Palmer, Oonagh. 1998. Around Fareham, p. 29-36. | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Westbury Manor Museum | Subjects: | chip work Swanwick Basket Factory fashion gallon common horse and cart Swanwick and District Growers Association strawberry train Hayters strawberry crop Wickham fair Swanwick railway station transport dress event basket punnet delivery gypsy | Temporal: | start=1993-01-01; end=1993-12-31; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Westbury Manor Museum | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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