March 2025 Newsletter Part Two

3. Jennie and I had a lovely morning at the Weald & Downland Country Museum recently. We witnessed the annual blessing of the apple orchard or to use the correct term Wassailing. Wassailing, which dates to Anglo-Saxon times, traditionally takes place in January and means ‘be in good health or to be fortunate’. The ceremonies see cider poured onto the roots of apple trees while toast is placed in their branches as an offering and salt sprinkled on the soil around the roots. The cider isn’t just for the trees, we supped some as well!

People gather in an orchard and 'wake up' the trees and scare away evil spirits by making loud noises with pots, pans. We took hand bells to make our noise! Wassailers then toast the trees drinking to them from the Wassailing bowl. This is a wooden turned drinking bowl that is traditionally made from wood of the apple wood tree and edged with a silver decoration. It is one of the many country traditions that I am glad survive in this modern world, along with chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill, Morris dancing and Mummers plays.

3. The History in your tool box:-(2) The Axe, Adze and the Hatchet

Axes, Adzes and the Hatchet date back to at least 8000BC when reindeer antlers were sharpened to form a cutting edge. They are one of the oldest tools, having changed very little through the ages. Later on, the stump end was hollowed out to hold a sharp stone or flint. Combined antler and wooden handled axes first appeared about 6000BC. Copper and bronze axes and adzes developed after 3000BC in the Middle East. Iron axes similar in shape and size to the form we know today developed sometime between 500 – 200BC. During the Middle Ages, axes and adzes were developed into many different forms and shapes. During the 18thCentury, advances in saw design led to a slow decline in their use but on record there are fortyseven different types of axes for various trades including coach building, coopering and boat building. The main difference between the tools is their design. The adze has it’s cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than the axe, where the cutting edge is parallel. Axes are designed for chopping and cutting, while adzes are designed for smoothing and shaping.

A third tool of the family is the hatchet. These have a short handle and relatively small cutting angle and are much smaller and lighter than the universal. Blackthorn and hazel have been traditionally used for walking sticks but it was often used as tool handles for many tools including axes to brooms too.We also have the expression to ‘Bury the Hatchet’. This comes from a centuries old practice involving the literal burying of a hatchet, seen among the Native American tribes of North America. Chiefs would meet and bury their weapons as a symbolic gesture of peace.

April edition: (3) Hammers and Mallets

March diary of events dates:-

WMS Committee Meeting 1030 7th March 2025

WMS Monthly BBQ 1200 7th March 2025