Withy Beds
Simply speaking, withy or osier beds are places where willows were grown for the purpose of basket making and fish traps amongst other things. The willow species salix viminalis was the most common with young rods, or cuttings, planted in moist ground where they would root easily. Here they were coppiced to produce withies which would be harvested every year or two. Apparently, the best shoots for basket making are one year old and between eight and fourteen feet in length. If they were required for white baskets as used by butchers and bakers, they would be cut in May while the sap was still rising. It was then possible to skin off the bark without boiling and without sacrificing the white colour. When they are more matured, the osiers have to be boiled for four hours so they can be easily stripped and to make them pliable. The boiling colours them and a rub over with an oiled cloth gives a glossy appearance to the finished basket.
The Manor of Bishops Norton Court Rolls from between 1590-1600 contains several references to ‘withy’ but not at any location that can still be identified today. On 25 April 1595, Jn Spruce was to scour Withy Mead ditch, and on 30 September 1600 we find an order that “neighbouring landowners should scour ditches from ?Rob? Far? ?Wewadge as far as Warfyld and from there as far as Withymeade and all parts of Withymead”.
In 1806 there was a plot of land on the banks of the River Severn that was in use as a withy bed, was owned by Edward Webb of the Norton Court Estate, but I don’t know who was using the withys that were grown here.
In approximately 1856 a schedule of the Norton Court Estate records a T Jelf as tenant of Plot No 14, a withy bed of 1-1-2 in area, adjacent to the River Severn as in 1806.
1856 plan showing Plot No 14 in the bottom left hand corner. To assist orientation, the building in Plot No 37, towards the top right, is now Hill Farm.
A declaration by Mr Bruton with respect to Land Tax payable to the Norton Court Estate in April 1868, records Jelf, Withy Bed, £3-0s-0d, yearly, and a Norton Court Estate rental schedule from 1878 has Jere Jelf, renting an osier bed with an acreage of 1-1-2, on a yearly tenancy at £1-10-0.
The later Jelf would have been Jeremiah, born at the Quay, Ashleworth, in 1835, son of Thomas and Sarah Jelf who were innkeepers at what we now know as The Boat Inn. By 1861 Jeremiah was employed as a basket maker and it is possible that the withy beds were in his father Thomas’ name at that time. Father Thomas died in September 1863 and it appears that Jeremiah took on the rental. Jeremiah was still a basket maker living at Ashleworth Quay in 1881 with his widowed mother the innkeeper and brother Charles the ferryman. Jeremiah died at The Boat Inn in November 1887.
[The Boat Inn and the Jelf family have been inseparable for many hundreds of years with them being at the inn and running the ferry since they were granted the rights by King Charles II and the Jelfs were still here in 2001; 350 years later, with other descendants running the inn for a few years more after this].
The Boat Inn, the Quay, Ashleworth [2000]
The plot where the osiers were being grown has not been positively identified again after Jeremiah Jelf’s death but there were other plots of land utilised for the same purpose.
On Saturday the 11th day of July 1901, Messrs Bruton, Knowles & Co were instructed, by the executors of William Dyer Esq, to sell by auction at The Bell Hotel, Gloucester, at 2 for 3 o’clock in three Lots, a valuable and compact freehold estate known as Norton Court Farm, in Priors Norton. Amongst the schedule there was a lodge, garden and withy bed of 0-1-13 in area at Plot No 117.
Plot No 117 could be found to the east of the Gloucester to Tewkesbury Road where Inchmore Bridge crosses the River Chelt and next to Norton Court Lodge, now Nutwood House. On this map, the area just to the west of the Lodge and adjacent to the main road is also marked as growing osiers.
When Capt Walker sold Norton Farm at auction in July 1923, the sale catalogue included the following; “The purchaser of Norton Farm will be offered the opportunity to lease this land for a term of 7 years as from the 29th September 1924 or such later date as the existing tenancy shall be terminated, at a rent of £80 a year, subject to the right of the Vendor to resume possession by 3 months’ notice to expire on the 29th September in any year of the whole or any portion of the land if required for the purpose of osier cultivation, the rent being reduced pro rata.” Referring, in part, to OS Plot No 138, this is the same piece of land that comes up again at the sale of the Norton Court Estate in June 1952 when it was described as “An excellent Withy Bed adjoining the Gloucester-Tewkesbury Road planted with Champions, London Marker, Spaniard, Black Mole, etc. It comprises the whole of Plot No 138a and has an area of about 4a 3r 38p. In the occupation of Messrs Finch & Son, Ltd, at a rent of £25 per annum”. 
Plot No 138a is shown on the above map to the bottom left and can now be found off the old lane that used to be the main road between Gloucester and Tewkesbury, at the foot of the church hill.
Whilst looking into Messrs Finch & Son in 2001, I was able to correspond with a descendant of the family, Judith Lawrence, who kindly sent me the following details about the company; “Thank you for your email about Finch and Son. You have taught me something as I did not know the location of their withy bed even though I can remember my grandfather going off to work there in the 1940s. My grandparents rented Yew Tree House, Twigworth, just north of the church and lived there till 1950. It was quite a small cottage when they were there but has been extended considerably over recent years.
The basket works was in Pitt Street in Gloucester, behind the cathedral. I can remember going there to see my grandfather’s brother, Henry (Harry) Finch who owned the works. The site of the works is now one of the gates to King’s School and is called Finch’s gate. Henry founded the business c1909 and by 1952 the son mentioned would be his only child, Reginald Finch. Reginald died young in Nov 1952 and the firm was eventually taken over by his only son Roger, who ran it until he retired. Latterly it sold fencing rather than making baskets. Roger sold the firm when he retired and it still continues to trade as Finch Fencing and Timber Supplies, Ross Rd, GL19 3EX. It no longer has any connection with the Finch family. Roger died about 2 years ago. As well as baskets, the works in Pitt Street made other interesting items. In WW1 they made surgical instrument baskets, mule panniers and wicker dental chairs. When I was a toddler, in the early 1940’s they made a wicker child’s seat for me to fit on the back of my mother’s bicycle. Several family members were employed in the firm including my grandfather and two of his sons and one of his daughters. Also Helen Finch, wife of Reg and mother of Roger was very active in the business after the death of Reg”.
