Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum

 

On Saturday while returning from a lovely break in Dorset, I made a stop at the Martyrs Museum in Tolpuddle.

I had visited a few years ago during winter, but it was closed. This museum is truly worth visiting. Located just a few minutes from the A35, it offers free roadside parking, a shop and a small yet highly informative exhibition detailing and arrest of six Dorset farmers in the 1830s. These men were "stitched up" by local landowners and transported to Australia, separated their families, for the "crime" of attempting to establish a trade union.

The museum also highlights the successful campaign to secure their return and pardons, along with the challenges they faced upon their return, including opposition from other landlords and clergy, which ultimately led most to emigrate with their families to Canada.

This museum is highly recommended. Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £2. Having worked as a housing officer in Tower Hamlets, where tower blocks were named after the martyrs, I found this visit particularly meaningful. The site has a number of high standard agriculture workers private homes attached which were built by unions in the 1930s. 

Although I have yet to attend the annual Festival in July John's Labour blog: Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 2025 line-up poster!, the museum also provided additional information about time the Martyrs spent farming in Essex a topic I have previously written about. John's Labour blog: Greensted Essex Walk - start at "oldest Wooden Church in the World" (& Tolpuddle Martyrs connection)

Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 2025 line-up poster!!

 

"Yet another dynamic and diverse programme of music, comedy, theatre and more 

18th - 20th July in the village of Tolpuddle, Dorset

Tickets and festival info at https://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/festival"

Greensted Essex Walk - start at "oldest Wooden Church in the World" (& Tolpuddle Martyrs connection)

Today, Gill and I went on a superb autumnal walk, starting off from one of my very favourite locations, Greensted Church near Chipping Ongar, Essex. Which is not only the "oldest Wooden Church in the World" but was also the local church of many of the trade union "Tolpuddle Martyrs" after they returned from transportation in Australia. 

The weather was glorious with sunshine and "Big Essex Skies", apart from the last 10 minutes of the walk when it poured down with rain. 10 minutes later it was sunshine again. 

The actual walk was a 7 mile circular, which I found in Walks & Walking. Unfortunately, part of the route had been closed due to safety concerns about bridges so you have to make a messy detour (during which we got just a little lost).  

Until this is fixed, I would suggest using the walk "Greensted Church and Chipping Ongar" 4.5 mile in "Essex Outstanding Circular Walks Guide". 

Great pint of Doombar in "Two Brewers" garden. 

Check out other photos on Facebook 

Essex Way: Epping to Chipping Ongar

Off message. Last year Gill and I finally finished the London Loop walk (which took us 3 years to complete in stages) but on 10 June we started our next long distance walking challenge, the 82 mile (130 km) Essex Way. Which starts in Epping and finishes in Harwich. There are 10 stages, first is  Epping to Chipping Ongar.

We took the 58 bus to Leyton Station then the Central Line to Epping. Went the wrong way out of Epping station but soon found our way on the well signposted route. Lovely rolling countryside but some noise at first from M11. Crossed over M11 on footbridge and then soon found ourselves in timeless beautiful rural essex.

There are a couple of nice looking pubs on the way but to me the best part of the walk was stopping off at the ancient Saxon Greensted Church (see collage above) which is believed to be the oldest wooden church in the world.

After their pardon and return from transportation in Australia, the trade union Tolpuddle Martyrs, settled in this area and were given land to farm. Two of the Martyrs married in this church but the local vicar is blamed for forcing them to leave and most of them later emigrated to Canada.

Stage one finished at Chipping Ongar (8 miles). We got 410 bus back to Epping then Central Line to Leyton and 58 bus back to Forest Gate.

A lovely and quiet country walk. Recommended. I am also thinking of whether we can enter a Newham Labour team into the relay race on Sunday 2 September when teams will complete the entire 82 miles in one day.

Watch this space. 

Tolpuddle Martyrs Walk: Greensted, Essex 2017

On Sunday 16 July Sunday 2017 during the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs weekend, I went for a walk with Gill in Chipping Ongar and Greensted to visit the wooden Saxon Church and pay homage to the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were resettled in farms around here, after they were released from transportation to Australia.

It is a lovely part of the world and the Church is just amazing. It is also thought to be the oldest wooden Church in the world and the oldest wooden building standing in Europe.

One of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, James Brine (I used to manage James Brine House in Bethnal Green as a Council housing officer) married the daughter of another of the victims, Elizabeth Standfield, here on 20 June 1839.

The Martyrs were driven out of the area due to opposition due to the local Rector and they emigrated to Canada.

The walk was about 9 miles (we got a little lost) but it was a good planning event for next year, so any supporters of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who cannot get to Dorset that weekend may want to join us on a walk to Greensted.

The starting point of the walk in the village of Chipping Ongar is also well worth a visit.

UNISON Filipino Nurses on Tolpuddle Martyrs Procession 2014

Photo collage is from this years' procession and festival at  Tolpuddle, Dorset.

UNISON Filipino members lead their section of the march and show respect outside one of the martyrs homes.

This festival is held each July to commentate the birth of trade unionism in this country and the sacrifice made by 6 farm workers who were imprisoned and transported to Australia for daring to form a trade union.

Hat tip @LondonNurse2014  ·

Monmouth By Election 1991 - Labour win in safe Tory rural seat

Interesting video regarding modern political history. A reminder also that there should never be any "no go" areas for Labour. In this by election they concentrated on Tory plans to privatise the NHS (plus ça change, plus c’est pareil) and won (then lost then won again then lost)

Labour can (and has) won in rural Britain. In fact this was where the Labour movement came from - Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Hat tip Captain Swing.

Why there is a rural housing crisis

This article was published in Country Standard Summer 2013 page 9. "By John Gray UNISON Housing Association Branch Secretary and National Executive Council Member

Why is it that there is a massive shortage of rural housing when all Councillors support affordable housing yet not enough is built ? Is this because the government is not funding housing associations or Councils to build?

Despite the crocodile tears of Government ministers and many rural councils about the massive shortage of affordable homes in the countryside for local people, the reasons are actually pretty straight forward and can be solved.

Firstly, the Nimby’s (Not In My Back Yard) Brigade. Often you find that those who are adequately housed in attractive countryside don’t want more homes to be built that they think may spoil their view out of the garden conservatory. Especially if these homes are thought to house possible “working class people”!

Changes to planning law means that Councils are not obliged to insist on the building of affordable homes if they don’t want to - and many don’t, they simply don’t care, regardless of the need.

We also seem to think that converting large chunks of the so called “green belt” into huge, ugly exploitative factory farms, often set up solely to take advantage of generous EU and UK government subsidies is preferable to building some new homes.

The countryside has in too many areas been colonised by a blight of retirement bungalows and weekend second homes for our wealthy urban middle class elites. As well as wreaking village communities by destroying local schools, shops and pubs. This results also in the double whammy of a lack of supply of homes and a very high demand - which pushes up prices completely out of reach for those who do not have access to a wealthy Bank of Mum and Dad.

There is also far less existing social housing in rural areas than urban (13% compared to 22%) as well as low wages and lack of jobs. The disastrous government policy of the so called “affordable rents” regime for new properties (and in many cases the new lettings of existing stock) costing up to 80% of market rents compared to the traditional social rent of 50% of market rates is another death nail. The barking mad destruction of the Agricultural Wages Board which will even lower pay is yet another.

The Bankers crisis and the huge cuts in housing investment by this Tory Government have of course just made the problem far, far worse.

There is some hope for the future since it seems that there is antidotal evidence at least that Tory MPs are being button holed in their Conservative Association Clubs by angry members who are fed up with their kids living at home until in their thirties, since even their offspring cannot afford their own place.

There is also concern expressed that there is no “help” available anymore to clean their homes, do their gardens or serve their food and drink at the local posh restaurant.

There are signs that the Countryside is turning and there is a feeling that enough is enough. Labour Councillors are now being returned in Shire and district Council elections up and down the country. This month in rural Dorset we will celebrate the Tolpuddle Martyrs and remember a time when the countryside was at the forefront of radical politics.

Maybe, just maybe, our contemporary rural poverty and homelessness may spark something a little similar.

Tolpuddle and the Essex Connection

This year my plans to go to the Tolpuddle Martyrs' festival this weekend in Dorset fell through again.

The 6 martyrs were farm labourers who were sentenced to transportation to Australia for forming a trade union in the village of Tolpuddle, Dorset 1834.

There was an outcry against this injustice and after 3 years the men were given free pardons and brought back home.

What many people do not realise is that when they returned from Australia they were given farm tenancies in Greensted and High Laver in Essex near Chipping Ongar. (TOWIE 1837?) This is only a 25 minutes drive from Newham in East London.

So today I retraced the walk I went on in 2010 (apart from getting lost this time) and revisited the historic Saxon church at Greensted where one of the Martryrs James Brine, had married Elizabeth Standfield (daughter of another Martyr) at the Church in 1839. I think this was their local parish church (despite most of them being Methodists).

The reactionary Rector of the Greensted Church at the time (I wonder if he took James wedding?) was virulently opposed to the Martyrs and helped make their lives so unpleasant that all of them eventually left and apart from one they emigrated to Canada.

Despite this latter association I would recommend that anyone who lives nearby and cannot make it to Tolpuddle to visit Greensted. It is believed to be the oldest wooden Church in the world and even the oldest wooden building in Europe. It is also incredibly beautiful and peaceful in lovely surroundings. 

The Tolpuddle Martyrs and the Essex Saxon Church

On Sunday morning I was looking for a short walk in the nearby countryside and picked this “Chipping Ongar and Greensted Church” walk from the Essex “Pathfinder” series. I had read about the 11th century Saxon Church at Greensted and how it is reputed to be the oldest wooden building in the world.

The walk started in Chipping Ongar which is a lovely Essex county village and was only a 20 minutes drive from Newham. It was a great little walk (4.5 miles), warm sunshine and cool breezes with hardly a sole to be seen. A little bit flat but lots of greenery and shade in very ancient woods, enclosed paths and lanes. The church itself was of course chocolate box perfect inside and out (see picture) and it is to me amazing that this building (well, parts of it) has been used continually by the local community, as a place of worship, for just under a 1000 years. There is still a regular service each Sunday at 9.30am.

I then bought a guidebook (via the unmanned honesty box ) and was astonished to read that there was a very topical labour movement history connection with the church. Since the Tolpuddle Martyrs after they had been released from slave labour and transportation to Australia had been unable to return to Dorset due to opposition from local landlords. So they had been given farm tenancies in Greensted and High Laver. One of the Martyrs, James Brine, had actually married Elizabeth Standfield (daughter of another Martyr) at the Church in 1839. The rector of the church later opposed the renewal of the farm tenancies and they emigrated to Canada. (for what it is worth I use to be the estate officer for “James Brine House” in Bethnal Green in the early 1990s).

The weekend after next it is the annual festival at Tolpuddle which I was planning to go down and visit with some West Ham Labour Party comrades but this hasn’t worked out this year since there a number of things going on in London that weekend as well (e.g. Labour Housing Group AGM). Hopefully next year we can organise something better, but I was glad to visit Greensted and enjoy all its history and in a little way, honour the Martyrs nearer to home.

So - if you can’t make it to Dorset on the 16/18 July weekend but have transport, walking boots and sun hat - then I recommend you buy the same guidebook and take yourself off to Chipping Ongar!

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival: Friday 16th July to Sunday 18th July 2010

Check out website for further details on this year's festival.

Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival

175th Anniversary Commemoration - Friday 17 to 19 July 2009

From the TUC website here

On February 24th, 1834, six farm labourers from Tolpuddle were arrested on a charge of taking part in an ‘illegal oath’ ceremony. The real offence was that they had dared to form a trade union to defend their livelihood. For this they were sentenced to seven years’ transportation to the penal colonies of Australia. The sentences provoked an immense outcry, leading to the first great mass trade union protest. The campaign won free pardons and the Martyrs’ return to England. It was an historic episode in the struggle for trade unionists’ rights in Great Britain

Grand Tolpuddle Demonstration – 175th Anniversary

I couldn’t make it yesterday to the March and Rally. Check out a great post about the history and the event here.

175th anniversary "Grand Demonstration"

On Saturday 25th April 2009 it is the 175th anniversary of the Grand Demonstration in support of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

A 100,000 people marched in central London to demand the release of the 6 Dorset farm workers who had been sentenced to 7 years transportation to Australia for forming a trade union. There was also a 200,000 strong petition. Not bad if you consider the size of the population at that time.

The Tolpuddle Martyrs were eventually granted free pardons. The South West and South Eastern regional TUC are planning a series of events on the day to take place next to the mural (picture from a "postcard invite" I picked up at SERTUC the other week) in Edwards Square, near Kings Cross. There will be a recreation of the Martyrs’ oath, banner making, music, comedy and stalls.

My first housing job in London was in an estate office in Bethnal Green where housing blocks were called after each of the Martyrs.

Email SERTUC for further details.