John Billingsley (1747–1811) was an agricultural pioneer in 18th century

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The writer of the 1794 Survey of Somerset, Billingsley was a leading agriculturalist who was one of the founders of the Bath and West Society, known today as the Royal Bath and West of England Society. He lived all his life at Ashwick Grove.

Family life

He was born in 1747, the grandson of Nicholas Billingsley, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

dissenter A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Usage in Christianity Dissent from the Anglican church In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...

who was minister at

Ashwick Ashwick is a village in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, about three miles north of Shepton Mallet and seven miles east from Wells. It has also been a civil parish since 1826. The parish had a population of 1,352 according to the 201 ...

from 1699 to 1729. Little is known about his early life but by 1782, he was listed as Brewer along with Ryan Gosling of the Oakhill Brewery in the neighbouring village of Oakhill, and may have been involved in the wool trade before that. He was described as a leading member of the

church although at some stage he was reconciled with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

''General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset''

Cover general view of the agriculture of Somerset

The 18th century was largely one of peace in Somerset, but the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

in the Midlands and Northern England spelled the end for most of Somerset's cottage industries. Farming continued to flourish however, with Billingsley farming about , and the Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce was founded in 1777 to improve farming methods. Despite this, 20 years later John Billingsley conducted a

survey Survey may refer to: Statistics and human research * Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population * Survey (human research), including opinion polls Spatial measurement * Surveying, the techniq ...

, for the Board of Agriculture, of the county's agriculture in 1795 and found that agricultural methods could still be improved. He provided estimates, based on his local knowledge, of the land use of the one million acres (4,000 km²) in the county. He suggested that 584,500 were enclosed meadow and pasture land, 260,000 were enclosed arable and convertible land with smaller areas for other purposes. were considered uncultivated wastes. It advocated ways of modernising farming practices, particularly through mechanisation, which including instructions for hedge building and crop rotation (also how to treat sick animals with hay tea and improve cucumber production with horse dung!). It also includes a chapter on political economy related to the narrow margin of British food supplies, in view of the outbreak of war with France in 1793, and mentions developments on the Somerset coalfield. His ''General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset'' divided the county into three districts- north-east, middle and south-west. It included proposals for the enclosure of

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath ...

and the building of a village at Simonsbath. For the middle section the plans he advocated improved drainage, including the straightening of sections of the rivers Brue,

Axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

and Parrett, were more successful and lead to some significant reclamation of the

Somerset Levels The Somerset Levels are a coastal plain and wetland area of Somerset, England, running south from the Mendips to the Blackdown Hills. The Somerset Levels have an area of about and are bisected by the Polden Hills; the areas to the south a ...

. He also deplored the failure of many farmers to manure the land, exhausting it by constant cropping and overstocking. In 1798 he wrote about the water-meadows of the Brendon and

Quantock Hills The Quantock Hills west of Bridgwater in Somerset, England, consist of heathland, oak woodlands, ancient parklands and agricultural land. They were England's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1956. Natural England have desi ...

describing them as the best in the country.

Other activities

Billingsley was also actively involved in

turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, ...

s, and canal building, including the Kennet and Avon Canal,

Somerset Coal Canal The Somerset Coal Canal (originally known as the Somersetshire Coal Canal) was a narrow canal in England, built around 1800. Its route began in basins at Paulton and Timsbury, ran to nearby Camerton, over two aqueducts at Dunkerton, through a ...

and the

Dorset and Somerset Canal The Dorset and Somerset Canal was a proposed canal in southwestern England. The main line was intended to link Poole, Dorset with the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. A branch was to go from the main line at Frome to the ...

. One eulogy by

Sir Benjamin Hobhouse Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, 1st Baronet (1757–1831) was an English politician. Life The son of John Hobhouse, a slave trader and merchant at Bristol (and nephew to Isaac Hobhouse), he received his education at Bristol grammar school and Brasenos ...

, President of the Bath and West Society, exaggerates considerably, referring to him as having "drained Sedgemoor and enclosed Mendip"! Because of the moribund state of the lead mines in the Mendip Hills, he proposed to drive a level from

Compton Martin Compton Martin is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset and in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority in England. The parish has a population of 508. It lies between Chew Valley Lake and Blagdon Lake, no ...

to Wookey Hole at a depth of below the surface to remove the water which was flooding the mines – nothing came of this plan. He was also responsible for the introduction and adoption of the double-furrow plough. Atthill considers that his greatest achievement was the

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the Mendip Hills. The first Mendip commons to be enclosed were those in the parishes of East and West Cranmore, which had been completed by 1769. By 1794, Billingsley estimated that had been enclosed by

Dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...

walls, leaving 11,550 unenclosed.

Memorials

At the west end of the aisles in the

Church of St James, Ashwick The Church of St James in Ashwick, Somerset, England, is a church dating from 1881. It is a Grade I listed building, adjacent to Ashwick Court. It also houses a tower that dates back from 1450. The Victorian gothic building was erected between ...

two memorial tablets can be seen. These are dedicated to John Billingsley, his wife Mary, and their family. Soon after his death the Bath and West Society commissioned Samuel Woodforde (the nephew of

James Woodforde James Woodforde (1740–1803) was an English clergyman, mainly in Somerset and Norfolk, remembered as the author of ''The Diary of a Country Parson''. This vivid account of parish life remained unpublished until the 20th century. Early life Ja ...

) to copy in oils a crayon portrait of Billingsly. Another portrait by Joseph Hutchinson now hangs in the

Victoria Art Gallery The Victoria Art Gallery is a public art museum in Bath, Somerset, England. It was opened in 1900 to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Grade II* listed building and houses over 1,500 objects of art including a collection of ...

in Bath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billingsley, John 1747 births 1811 deaths English agriculturalists History of Somerset People from Mendip District English farmers