Sherborne's Special Sainfoin History

A month or two ago I wrote about Sainfoin, a flower that has appeared on the triangle as one enters Sherborne, amongst a patch of wild flowers.

This flower has an interesting history and special properties. It was introduced as a crop to feed stock in the 16th or 17th C from France , and was especially popular in the Cotswolds. Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) is a perennial legume known for its nitrogen-fixing properties and benefits to livestock and pollinators. It is a valuable forage crop, particularly for ruminants, due to its protein content and the presence of condensed tannins, which protect proteins in the rumen. Sainfoin also acts as a natural wormer and is a good source of nectar for bees. And it looks pretty too…

Over the past few days I have been a little laid up health-wise but using the time to go through the Dutton archives, line by line, extracting mentions of weirs, sluices and open water in the area we know as the Broadwaters in the 1730s, to counter weak claims from the NT these lakes were formed in the 1820s. Anyway, that aside, I came across interesting references to large scale planting and or use of sainfoin as a perennial crop in that period:

• On 29 September 1723, John Dutton paid £24 pounds (a very large sum!) to “Farmer Waine” for “12 loads of Sn Foyne hay for my deer”. That’s interesting on several levels - it indicates that a large stock of deer were being maintained, and specifically being fed hay. It also indicates that at this time there was a premium on sainfoin hay.
• On 19 May 1727, Dutton paid £5 for “howing the Furze and other work at the Park (Sherborne park) and “Sn Foyne piece adjoining”. This suggests that a field next to Old Park had been sown with sainfoin.
• 30 July 1728, Dutton paid a sum (not clear) “for mowing and haymaking at the new enclosure by the park Sn Foyn hay for the deer”
• 13 April 1734, Dutton paid an amount “for picking stones and squick grass upon the new sowed (F)oyn at the New park”. (New park = Lodge Park)
• 28 May 1735 Dutton paid a sum for “picking stone upon the Sn Foyn in the new part in the New Park”. This suggests that this was in the western part of the park, which Dutton had added to Lodge Park a few years earlier and was using to grow sainfoin.

So, as you pass the triangle in Sherborne and see a glimpse of the pretty sainfoin flowers, know that this flower has a very local Sherborne history going back 300 years. You can even get sainfoin seeds on amazon to sow in your garden… I’m going to give it a go. My earlier offer of a handful of yellow rattle “meadow maker” seeds still stands for anyone who wants a handful. They are ready now to chuck in a patch of grass. I guarantee them!

I have uncovered more little nuggets of interesting local history from the Dutton archives and will fold them in to the newsletters in coming months. Thank you too, to the new subscribers growing our group.