Think you’re tough?

The 'muddies' certainly were - they had to be!

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, gangs of men from local villages competed for the much sought after, though incredibly exhausting, job of digging clay or ‘mud’ from the marshes and saltings of the River Medway. The men were known as the 'muddies'.

The muddies had to load up to one hundred tonnes of clay, from sites including Hoo Flats and Stoke Saltings, onto barges for transportation up the river to one of the many cement works.

It was clearly a very tough job, and many of those men suffered unimaginable health problems as a result. Reports describe men suffering from chronic rheumatism, arthritis, sprained wrists and strained backs. Many also suffered from ’scaffleman’ - torn skin on parts of the back, as a result of continual lifting, turning and throwing. Calluses on hands, sometimes causing fingers to join together, were a common result of the constant use, and rubbing, of a spade.

Despite this, the men would only ever take a few days off work to repair serious damage to their bodies - no health and safety or 48 hour working week regulations around then!

The only consolation was that it was one of the best paid jobs around, paying much more than farm labourers earned. Muddies kept the work within a tight knit circle - with the work normally becoming a father and son tradition in many families.

At the height of this local industry, in the early 1900s, a barge load (100 tonnes) of clay would earn the men 35 shillings - shared out amongst a gang of about 10 muddies. They could often load two barges every low tide and, it is said, there would always be about 50 barges waiting to be loaded on the Stoke Marshes at any one time.

The income they earned was sufficient for many of the muddies to buy pubs once they had finally laid down their shovels. This is quite possibly the case with my great great grandfather, Henry Spencer. Described as a ‘Cement Labourer’ in several census documents, I can’t imagine how else he managed to land so firmly on his feet!

I have mentioned the muddies a couple of times before. Back in May 2010 Peter Cook from the Medway Messenger ran a special feature in the local paper - click here to take a look. And in August 2010, I mentioned a book by F. G. Willmott called ’Cement, Mud and Muddies’. Most of what I know about the 'muddie tradition’ comes from this excellent book, apart from the many chats I’ve had with ‘village elders‘ in Stoke and those from much further afield. Their tales certainly bring home to you what a tough existence it was - but one that came with much camaraderie and life long friendships. Click here to visit that item.

Stoke Saltings in more recent times.

The photos of the muddies appear courtesy of Dr. MacDonald of Stoke, whose long association with the Stoke Saltings is well known to many.

I will be mentioning the muddies again later this week, as former local resident Jill Warby (nee Mortley) has written a wonderful article about her great grandfather Sidney George Mortley, a well known local muddie, for the March edition of The Countryman magazine - available in all good newsagents!!!
 

And now for something completely unpleasant!

I usually prefer to spend time looking at the interesting, occasionally light hearted and generally positive elements to living on the peninsula. Today though, there is no escaping a rather ‘odd’ situation. To say the least!

Now, I’ve excluded many of the worst photos that were taken, but I would still advise anyone with a sensitive disposition to skip over the pictures.

Still here? Okay, so this is the situation . . .

During a recent litter picking session in Hoo, volunteers noticed that someone had been dumping carrier bag loads of faeces in the centre of the village.

The area affected is off Stoke Road behind the Village Square car park, and it would appear to have been going on for at least a couple of months.

So far around nine bags have been dumped, mostly left in the bushes near the public toilets. But last week two of the bags were thrown onto the roof of the toilets!

On each occasion, I’m sorry to say, the bags were bulging. Revolting I know. And it gets even weirder!

At the end of last month, bags of faeces were left alongside a bag containing four dead Teal - a small member of the duck family.

Rolf Williams from the RSPB was called out to give his opinion as to why the birds might have been dumped and to see if he could tell how they died.

Rolf was bewildered about why they were dumped, although he quickly noticed that the birds had been shot from beneath, as if killed in flight. He told me that the species aren’t protected from wildfowling, so there isn’t actually a conservation concern.

However, the way in which the birds (and waste) were dumped is a big concern. So local residents are being asked to be extra vigilant when in this part of the village - reporting anything unusual, and supplying information about who might be doing this (confidentially of course) to Medway Council or the Police.

If you want to get in touch with Medway Council, phone Johnny Robinson (Community Officer for Peninsula Ward) on 01634 333333, or call the Police on 101.

This story is mentioned in today’s edition of the Medway Messenger (Monday edition), following a visit last week to Hoo by reporter Dan Bloom.

Johnny Robinson talking to Dan Bloom from the Medway Messenger.

As Nick Ross used to say on BBC Crimewatch - “don’t have nightmares” and report anything suspicious!