|
|
|
The Emsworth Oyster Fishery |
|
| |
|
|
Oysters had probably been fished in Emsworth
and Warblington for many centuries, before The Emsworth Oyster Dredgers
Co-operative was established in the 1870s to improve and protect the
industry. In 1788. it is recorded that over 7,000 bushels of native
Emsworth oysters, with a value of £1,500, were raked and dredged by a
dozen master fishermen. The oyster industry flourished and the fishery
was at its height during the last decade of the 19th century. In 1901
between 300 and 400 people, out of a population of some 3,000, were
working in the Emsworth oyster trade, either for Foster or the other
fishing masters, or engaged in the sale of oysters. Emsworth's important
oyster industry on which so many relied for their living was devastated
by
the great oyster scare of 1902, when guests at a Winchester banquet became
ill and the Dean of Winchester died from typhoid attributed to eating
Emsworth oysters at that event. Following inspection of the oyster beds
gross sewage contamination was identified and the sale of Emsworth
oysters immediately slumped. |
By 1878 approximately 50 vessels belonged to
Emsworth - rowing boats for fishing within the harbour, and smacks of up
to 30 tons and 50 feet in length capable of fishing in more distant
waters. A small number of boats were involved in coastal trade with
commodities including coal, corn and timber. For its size, Emsworth had
a significant shipbuilding industry and the supported manufacturing of
sailcloth, fishing nets and rope. Perhaps the most famous Emsworth
shipbuilder was J.D. Foster who built cutters and fast deep-water
ketches from 1880 onwards. Today, a century later, it is the 'Echo',
Foster's fastest and largest cutter with an overall length of 112 feet,
for which it is most renowned. It is reputed to have been the largest
fishing vessel to have sailed out of an English port.
At the height of the Emsworth oyster
industry’s production boom, the town
boasted an oyster shop, which has long since
gone and today the site is home to an Indian
restaurant.
|
|
The remains of the oyster "ponds" can be seen on
the foreshore between King Street & The Quay.
 Uncovering the Past – Oyster Beds in
Chichester Harbour
An Archaeological Study of Oyster Beds at Emsworth
A new partnership has been formed to discover more about the oyster industry
that boomed over a hundred years ago in Emsworth and Chichester Harbour. The
Emsworth Maritime and Historical Trust (EM&HT) and the Chichester District
Archaeological Society (CDAS) are to join together for a unique study of the old
oyster beds on the foreshore at Emsworth. Funding for this project is through a
grant of £8,300 from the Chichester Harbour AONB Sustainable Development Fund.
"This is an exciting opportunity to find out more about the oyster industry
that was based in Emsworth over a hundred years ago", said John Tweddell, the
project co-ordinator "We hope to better understand how it was so successful in
the 19th century and find out more about its collapse in the early 20th
century." After winning funding from The Chichester Harbour AONB Sustainable
Development Fund, the work will start in Octo ber and be competed by the end of
March next year. The EM&HT and CDAS are now appealing for volunteers to help
with the work. For insurance reasons, volunteers will have to join either of the
two organisations and are to receive an induction and training prior to
commencing the fieldwork in Emsworth.
In 1902 Emsworth's prosperity went from boom to bust, changed over night by a
fatal incident that not only killed the Dean of Winchester, but also an industry
that kept half of its population afloat. At the height of successful industry,
over three million oysters a year came out of Emsworth to be distributed across
the country.
At the end of the 19th century half the population of Emsworth
earned their living from fishing, oyster dredging or the industries that support
the trade, such as boat building. Alas the industry collapsed when the Dean of
Winchester died in 1902 and the blame was laid on polluted oysters. Since then
the waters have been cleaned-u p, but today only a handful of fishermen are
still dredging the harbour for oysters.
Ostrea edulis
The Flat or native oyster lives offshore from about low water to between
15 and 45 fathoms on firm, comparatively immobile bottoms of mud,
rocks, muddy sand, muddy gravel with shells, hard silt, old peat bottoms
or on man-made spat collectors. It occurs in various localities around
the British Isles and is cultivated on a large scale in Essex, Kent,
Cornwall, Devon and Dorset. It is distributed from the Norwegian Sea,
south to the Iberian Peninsula, Atlantic coast of Morocco and into the
Mediterranean and Black Sea.
|
|
