Sulgrave Club is thrilled to announce a very special speaker in The Village Hall on Saturday 25th October 2025 at 7.30pm.

The Legendary Culworth Gang featuring William Abbot, Sulgrave Church Warden and Highwayman. An illustrated talk.

Richard Blacklee, amateur historian and author gives a chilling insight into just one of the fascinating stories he has uncovered in the Northamptonshire area.

In the late 18th century, the legendary and notorious Culworth Gang, engaged in poaching, housebreaking, and highway robbery in the local South Northamptonshire area.

Most highwaymen had relatively short careers, but because of their careful planning the Culworth Gang’s reign of terror lasted for almost twenty years. However, the law finally caught up with them and they were charged with 47 robberies and other offences. Find out what fate had in store for them on 25th October and don’t miss this great speaker.

Tickets cost £10, which includes a reception glass of wine, and can be bought on-line by going to: ticketsource.co.uk/the-sulgrave-club.

The Sulgrave Club

A “Superabundance” of Crab Apples. Photo: Colin Wootton

Richard Fonge writes:

Much needed rain as summer ends and autumn arrives. Much needed because after a spring and summer of near continuous sun, resulting in a poorer harvest of all crops, it was vital that we had rain to help establish next year’s crops. Oilseed rape, needs to be sown by the end of August and grass seeds also to get good growth before winter. With a warm soil to be planted in, germination of any seed will be very quick.

I mentioned the mule ewe in last month’s notes and a good example of the breed can be seen in the field on the footpath to Stuchbury, where further on, on the parish boundary is a crab apple tree laden with a density of fruit which is quite amazing. Hedgerow fruit of all kinds are very abundant this year.

Also on that path farm yard manure has been spread over the phacelia, as it has been on the Stuchbury field over the hedge . A good healthy smell for a few days!This manure will be incorporated into the soil and along with the green manure will enrich that soil for the following crops. Manure from livestock was once an integral part of the farming year rotation, but as specialising of agriculture advanced from the mid sixties onwards, the mixed enterprise farms disappeared with many farms becoming arable only. In our area we have farms with arable, sheep and beef enterprises, but dairy farms are scarce. Most of our daily pinta is produced in the western half of the country.

We take for granted the ready availability of milk, but to produce that food, there is a lot of science, genetics and hard work. The breeding is the basis for a healthy herd to produce a quality product, with then the feeding of the cow with a balanced diet. All that is fed to the cow is analysed to meet the requirements of a healthy animal and the quantity of milk she is producing during her lactation of ten months. Milking is a twice a day task, except for those using robots, where a transponder round the cow’s neck allows her to enter the robot milker, and it is then found they get themselves milked four or more times a day.

Technology runs our lives, with G.P.S. to guide us to our destinations. But here’s a thought. The swallows leaving our telegraph lines will migrate to Africa and return next April to nest in the same place. Are we as clever as we think??

Richard Fonge

A Winning Entry. Arrangement of Flowers from My Garden in a Jam Jar.

The Prizes.

The Exhibits (1). Photo: Graham Roberts

The Exhibits (2). Photo: Graham Roberts.

The Exhibits (3). Photo: Graham Roberts.

The Photographic Competition. Photo: Graham Roberts.

See next page for photos of the winning entries.

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Completing the harvest.

Photograph: Graham Roberts

Richard Fonge writes:

Now the harvesting of the crops is complete, it is time to reflect on what has been an exceptionally difficult season to grow them. The lack of spring rain stunted growth, and a hot June with no rain to swell the grain has resulted in a poor harvest, with output at least 25% down in this area. It takes a look at the blackberries which are a month early to appreciate how the dry summer has impacted on their size.

The combine after threshing the corn out leaves the straw in a neat row. This too has become much more valuable this year not only for bedding of livestock in winter but as a feed. Barley straw in particular has a feed value and if molasses is added (by product of the sugar industry) it is more palatable. In areas where there is no demand for the straw, the combine can chop it up as it leaves the machine, and it is then incorporated back into the soil as organic matter.

The wild flower fields mentioned last month are still busy with bees. Buck wheat is now evident and a type of pea. I’ve picked the odd pod walking through. Tasty!

Also of interest to note is that the area sown to grass and sheep grazed a few years back, the wild white clover has returned.

A reader asked about sheep farming , so here is a brief synopsis. The majority of our breeding stock is reared on our northern mountains and moorland. The mule ewe. They are vital to the economy and the landscape of these areas. The yearling females are sold south for breeding to be crossed with a pure bred downland or continental breed, to produce a good butchers’ lamb. You have the hybrid vigour of the female and the confirmation of the terminal sire. There are many pure bred breeds also, but in the commercial world the mule ewe is often the first choice.

This time of year sees the movement of combines, tractors and balers and large loads of straw through our villages, causing problems at times. The size of agricultural machinery has increased hugely over the years but the lanes and byways haven’t. Please be tolerant, we live in a rural village surrounded by farmland where the business of farming is carried out, so this activity is all part of rural life.

Finally. Bees. A man ran out of petrol. A Queen Bee arrived, told him to open his petrol cap. Swarm of bees went in and the car started. He asked the Queen how? Reply: Filled with B.P.

Richard Fonge.

Ragwort. (Photograph: Colin Wootton)

Richard Fonge writes:

 The exceptional summer weather continues, with harvest starting early and the very real prospect of the harvest being completed by August 1st . The barley up the concrete road is a good example of a crop sown in March/April now ripening fast . I won’t speculate on yields but wait with interest and report next month.

Either side of the Helmdon rd and across to the Stuchbury footpath is a block of land sown to a conservation mixture with a dominant deep blue flower. The plant is phacelia . This mixture has been planted under one of the many government schemes and will have a guaranteed acreage payment. Other flowers were planted but the phacelia is the only successful germinator forming a good canopy to smother any weeds and producing a pollinators dream when flowering. Standing amongst it on the footpath you get the sound of bees at work. A constant hum. Wonderful!   

Spring lambs are now being weaned or marketed. In the field off the Helmdon Rd are, if my observation is right, a bunch of female (ewe) lambs. These will be kept for breeding, to replace the culls from the main flock. A shepherd needs to replace 20% of the flock annually.  Weaning can be quite noisy for a couple of days, but only for that time. 

On the wild life front I have noticed two increases. Firstly foxes are much more in evidence around the parish, enjoying Thursday nights in Sulgrave emptying and looking for scraps in the waste food bins. However there are plenty of rabbits on the old railway line to feast on too. Secondly it has been great to see a hedgehog in my garden as have two other residents in theirs.  They have also been seen regularly on a nearby farm. The return of a much loved creature.

Finally two very poisonous plants are in flower at the present. Hemlock to be seen near the stream on the Moreton rd. Can be mistaken for cow parsley by its seed heads. Do not brush against with bare skin. Secondly ragwort with its bright yellow flower, now seen profusely on verges and waste ground. Farmers have a legal obligation to remove it as did our local authorities at one time. Fatal when ingested by livestock, especially in hay or silage.

Richard Fonge.