Southport’s very own
CONTINUING our historic jaunt into the past and reminiscing about the enigmatic RevWilliam Thomas Bulpit, we now look at his involvement in two of the greatest discoveries in the history of North Meols: the ancient log boat, which now hangs from the rafters at The Atkinson, and next week, we will editorially dig up the medieval boundary marker, the “Snotterstone”.
The first line of questioning must be who, what, where, when, why and how?
Who found it? What was it used for? Where did it come from? When was it found? Why was it there? How did they get here?
The RevBulpit, who had previously uncovered evidence of North Meols men fishing out on the Martin Mere, then came across one of his most cherished archaeological finds – a large, ancient, dug-out log boat – found on a drained section of the mere close to Crossens, on April 22 1899.
Bulpit had, of course, as one of his many great works, advocated and pressed Sir Charles Scarisbrick to accomplish the task of draining the mere – at least across his estate.
The original Crossens Mill (replaced by the pumping station close to the same spot) had engines which helped drain Martin Mere, as well as the nearby sluice channel which drained the lowland for miles around, into the sea.
Some of the overflow from the mere also found its way to the sea by Crossens Creek.
The tale begins with a farmer, Peter Brookfield (to whom Geoff is related) – one of Bulpit’s parishioners at St John’s Church – also a gardener, of 18 Brade Street, off Rufford Road, Crossens, now a pleasant suburb of Southport with its own marked individuality and characteristics and which was described by Bulpit as a “conglomeration of farm-houses interspersed by stackyards”.
Brookfield was ploughing farmland in what is now the Gravel Lane area, in agricultural Crossens (although some class it as Banks) – by the northern shore of the lake, when he managed to raise the wooden relic from a depth of some three feet.
Bog oak remains still caused havoc from time to time but Brookfield was determined to remove the firmly buried obstacle he had stumbled across instead of gingerly ploughing and digging around it.
He thought he was just attempting to single-handedly clear an ancient tree trunk – a common occurrence when ploughing a field here.
So, a millennium-and-a-half previously, a fisherman or traveller (perhaps he was from North Meols?) had, presumably, moored his craft on the edge of the lake and gone away, never to return; his trusty vessel then just sank deeper and deeper into the mud and was lost amid the reclamation of an area that once bordered the historic lake.
So, Brookfield’s find was a little more exciting and significant than he first realised.
Once it was out of the ground he thought he could do no better than to consult the Banks vicar turned antiquarian historian, Rev Bulpit.
Despite it being a Sunday the summoned incumbent duly arrived, with a Scarisbrick Estate representative in tow, to formally identify the interesting subject matter.
By now, the canny and stubborn Mrs Brookfield, realising that the ancient specimen was likely to have some monetary value, as well as historic, locked the gate and demanded a £50 payment – but Bulpit appeased her with “a present of a couple of guineas” and the artefact was moved.
Strangely, an old musket was also found inside and small metal sheets had been riveted to the side of the canoe.
It is uncertain whether the Rev Bulpit negotiated the journey himself, or had a driver, but he certainly supervised the delivery of the ancient boat atop a two-horse wagon, via Crossens village; the much-respected reverend gentleman appears in a rather proud and triumphant stance, posing on a photograph in front of the relic roped firmly on to his cart.
The canoe was taken to the then 25-year old Botanic Gardens where it was initially placed in the old large glass conservatory, which was in front of the present-day fernery.
However, the glorious find was to have a number of exhibition sites.
The special relic was then transferred to the Science and Art School (its name still etched in the stone archway entrance situated to the right of the former Cambridge Hall, now The Atkinson), where, coincidently, it appears to have been photographed in the school’s entrance alley with an unidentified member of staff – on the exact spot where it is on display again today.
The boat remained at the Lord Street school until 1907 when it was transferred to Liverpool Museum, and only drifted back to our Churchtown shores some 40 years later when it returned to the Botanic Gardens Museum, in 1946, and was then housed and preserved there for many years, until the museum was closed down in favour of the revamped Atkinson complex.