QSR1836/1/5/16-17

Depositions and examinations - Abel Burrows and James Stone

20 November 1835

From: 1835 To: 1836

Thomas Read of Heath and Reach – he is a gardener and has some potatoes in a field in Heath and Reach. Last Wednesday some were dug and left in the field. On Thurday morning about 12 bushels were missing. He saw some footmarks and traced them out of the field towards Gig Lane, about 100 yards from James Stone’s house. He then lost the track. He went back to his field and saw another track which he followed to within 8 or 10 yards of Abel Burrows’ hosue. He went in and asked Burrows’ wife if she had any potatoes in the house. She said she did not and gave him leave to look about. He found about 3 ½ bushels in one of the rooms covered over with some haulm. They were the same potatoes as those taken from his field. He got a search warrant and went with Hopkins the constable and searched Stone’s house where they found some potatoes the same as his mixed with others. His potatoes were growing in a sort of black sand, and the potatoes found in Stone’s and Burrows’ houses had also been grown in black sand. He believes no other potatoes of the same sort were grown in Heath and Reach at that time. He found the potatoes in Burrows’ house in a room adjoining his own house. Eliza Read, wife of Thomas Read – their house joins Burrows’ house. Last Wednesday evenign between 7.30 and 9.30 she heard a man going in and out several times. She knew it was Burrows as she knew his voice. She heard something shot down (as if potatoes) in the lower room adjoining her house where the potatoes were found the next day. John Duncomb of Heath and Reach – he was digging potatoes for Thoams Read on Wednesday and left 20 bushels or more in the field dug up. The next morning he went into the field and between 10 and 12 bushels were gone. They traced footmarks to the bottom of Gig Lane in the direction of Stone’s house. Looking at the potatoes found in Stone’s and Burrows’ houses he believes them to be the same sort as those stolen. They are called “The Farmer’s Glory”. Thomas Hopkins, constable of Heath and Reach – under a search warrant he searched Stone’s and Burrows’ houses with Thomas Read. In Burrows’ house he found about 3 ½ bushels of Farmer’s Glory potatoes which had been planted in black sand and recently dug up. He also found 2 parcels of potatoes in Stone’s house, one upstairs and one down. They were mixed, part being Farmer’s Glory and part potatoes called Shaws. The Farmer’s Glory had been recently dug. There were about 14 bushels of potatoes in Stone’s hosue, about half of which were Farmer’s Glory planted in black sand. Abel Burrows – he grew the potatoes they took from his house on his own ground, which is a garden he rents from his father, about a rood. His potatoes are Farmer’s Glory with here and there a red one among them. His potatoes were dug last Wednesday morning. James Stone – he has some ground on the common and grew all the potatoes in his house there. His potatoes are of all sorts.

item

Burrows, Abel,
Stone, James,
Read, Thomas,
Read, Eliza,
Duncomb, John,
Hopkins, Thomas

HEATH & REACH, stealing, potatoes, gardener, constable