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| Country diary: return of the parish lengthsman | Country diary: return of the parish lengthsman |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| “The Rusland valley has been so flooded this November,” says Archie Workman, “that stretches of road have been like a bath 5ft deep. I’ve had to knock dry stone walls down to let the water escape.” | “The Rusland valley has been so flooded this November,” says Archie Workman, “that stretches of road have been like a bath 5ft deep. I’ve had to knock dry stone walls down to let the water escape.” |
| Locating the blocked culvert that caused the flooding, he finds the grating rusted to its frame. He uses a hacksaw blade, then a cold chisel, to ease them apart. Then, to the puzzlement of passing drivers, he lies prostrate on an old settee cushion and reaches into the drain. | Locating the blocked culvert that caused the flooding, he finds the grating rusted to its frame. He uses a hacksaw blade, then a cold chisel, to ease them apart. Then, to the puzzlement of passing drivers, he lies prostrate on an old settee cushion and reaches into the drain. |
| As Colton parish’s part-time lengthsman, Archie is doing a job that goes back to medieval times. For centuries lengthsmen were paid to “walk the length of the parish” to keep its ditches and drains clear. In the early 1900s, however, the job fell into decline as road maintenance became the responsibility of county councils rather than parishes, and because much of the work could be mechanised. But with a gully sucker costing £2,000 a day to hire, and minor roads in rural areas often low on a cash-strapped county’s list of priorities, parish councils like Colton are beginning to restore the position. Archie is employed for three days a month to look after the hundreds of drains that lie along his patch – 50 miles of roads between Coniston Water and Windermere. But at least he does use a Land Rover. | As Colton parish’s part-time lengthsman, Archie is doing a job that goes back to medieval times. For centuries lengthsmen were paid to “walk the length of the parish” to keep its ditches and drains clear. In the early 1900s, however, the job fell into decline as road maintenance became the responsibility of county councils rather than parishes, and because much of the work could be mechanised. But with a gully sucker costing £2,000 a day to hire, and minor roads in rural areas often low on a cash-strapped county’s list of priorities, parish councils like Colton are beginning to restore the position. Archie is employed for three days a month to look after the hundreds of drains that lie along his patch – 50 miles of roads between Coniston Water and Windermere. But at least he does use a Land Rover. |
| Back at the drain, Archie scoops out fistfuls of stones, twigs, acorns, conkers and leaf mould. No dead moles today. Nor eels, which can sometimes slither up from a watercourse. | Back at the drain, Archie scoops out fistfuls of stones, twigs, acorns, conkers and leaf mould. No dead moles today. Nor eels, which can sometimes slither up from a watercourse. |
| Once the chamber is clear, he clips together sections of drain rod, which he uses to introduce a drop-scraper device into the clay pipe. The scraper’s half-moon blade glides over smaller obstacles and drops into a vertical position to allow material to be dragged back into the drain chamber and added to the muck heap. Archie tells me he can connect 80ft (24 metres) of rod to clear a pipe. Long enough for most drains. | Once the chamber is clear, he clips together sections of drain rod, which he uses to introduce a drop-scraper device into the clay pipe. The scraper’s half-moon blade glides over smaller obstacles and drops into a vertical position to allow material to be dragged back into the drain chamber and added to the muck heap. Archie tells me he can connect 80ft (24 metres) of rod to clear a pipe. Long enough for most drains. |
| A robin pecks for worms in the spoil heap as I take my leave. | A robin pecks for worms in the spoil heap as I take my leave. |
| This article was amended on 25 November 2017 to correct the caption on the main photograph, which was taken by Archie Workman. |