June 2014 Honey Lane and Greendale Barton

Umbellifers fill the verge of Honey Lane

New woodland on the NW side of Honey Lane

Mature oak tree in Honey Lane

Honey Lane and Greendale Barton : some history

To see Greendale Business Park now, it is hard to imagine its long history as Greendale Barton.  It was one of the earliest farms in the parish – Saxon, or perhaps even earlier – created from clearing the forested area below the ridge of the Common.  From the beginning it seems to have been a self-contained farm, rather than part of the common open-field system, and the name ‘Barton’ indicates that it was the ‘Home Farm’ for the area.

In its heyday it formed a significant part of the estates of Torre Abbey in Torquay, gifted to the Abbey by the Albamara family (then Lords of the Manor of Woodbury) at its foundation in 1197.  Greendale Barton remained as monastic land for over 300 years until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530’s, when it went into private ownership once again.  It was an important acquisition for the Abbey – being favourably situated in a fertile and sheltered south-facing valley, watered by the Grindle Brook, and accessible to the main network of routes for drovers, and for carrying out farm business. 

Fortunately, before all evidence on the ground was erased, historians and archaeologists were able to build up a picture of the farm’s importance.  There was a tithe-barn and a manorial courthouse here, which confirms that the Barton was a local administrative centre, where rents and tithes were received, disputes settled, and justice dispensed.  The farm was augmented by other adjacent land holdings, and, along White Cross Road, there was also a mill and a dairy serving it. 

The Barton was frequently visited by the Abbot of Torre, and it seems likely that it would have been farmed to the exemplary standards of the monks. Under their guidance, we can imagine that it would have been fertile, productive and beautiful.   

It is thought that Greendale was a large sheep farm: the spacious farmyard was floored with ‘popples’ and suitable for shearing;  there was also a ‘drift’ for holding flocks  or herds near the entrance to the farm at a shallow crossing of the Grindle – and this is an unusual feature away from Dartmoor. 

The farmhouse itself was generously proportioned, built of cob with red stone blocks as foundations, and with cobbled flooring.  The L-shaped building was dominated by a fine ‘show’ chimney, and the court-house was at right-angles to the house.  Together the house and out-buildings probably formed an enclosed rectangle.

The farmhouse of Greendale Barton in 1900

The origin of the name of Honey Lane is highly conjectural, but it is thought that there were orchards here where pears were grown for making ‘perry.’  It is tempting to assume that bees would have been kept for  pollinating the fruit trees, and also for honey for making mead.  In fact, since honey was the only sweetener known at that time, bees were greatly prized.  During the sixteenth century, it is believed that Woodbury church bought large quantities of bees-wax from the then tenant of Greendale Barton – and, if so, it is possible that this particular connection with bee-keeping gave the road its name. 

Information for this section has been drawn from Woodbury: a view from the Beacon, by Ursula Brighouse, and Torre Abbey, by Deryck Seymour.  Both of these are now out of print, but second-hand copies may be found on the internet.

Honey Lane : flowers

Perhaps because of this long history, together with the fact that the road verges have remained relatively wide for this locality, the lane is well-endowed with a rich variety of plant-life, especially between the Business Park and the footbridge.  

Most plants are flowering at least a month early this year, and many of those mentioned in the May blog – such as red campion – are still in flower.  With such a wealth of grasses, umbellifers, buttercup- and dandelion-family plants crowding the verges – and challenging our identification skills! – not to mention a number of more unusual plants, what follows is a rather eclectic and personal selection.

If you walk here, do listen out for larks singing in the field opposite the Business Park, as they are becoming rare in this locality.

Roadside grasses

Cow parsley seed-head

Hemlock water dropwort

Creeping buttercup

Herb Robert

Red campion

One plant stands out especially : this is the beautiful and unusual Salsify – a Mediterranean native which has escaped from vegetable gardens, where it has a long history of cultivation for its roots – said to taste of oysters crossed with parsnip.  It is very noticeable in the wild because of its magnificent purple daisy flowers, that shut by noon.  There are a large number of these extraordinary plants at the end of Honey Lane nearest to the junction with White Cross Road, right next to the Business Park.

Salsify flowers - open

Salsify flowers - closed after midday

After a few days huge, magnificent dandelion-clock seed-heads form, like powder-puffs – one of the most impressive seed-heads of any of our wild flowers.

Salsify seedheads

Another bold flower (though this one is widespread) is Common Mallow – a pale geranium pink with strong purple markings.  The Greeks and Romans ate the leaves, flowers and seeds both as food and as preventative medicine, and it is possible that the Roman legions in Britain cultivated it deliberately.

Common Mallow

Common Comfrey makes an impressive display and is still attractive to bees despite the flowers having gone over.

Common Comfrey

Roses are one of the best-loved of British flowers, but modern hedge-cutting often does not allow them to flower – so it is lovely to see them growing here.  These two are among the most common hedgerow climbers:  the Dog Rose is the most abundant of our native species and also the most variable, and Field Rose.  Numerous subspecies and hybrids occur naturally.

Dog Rose

Field Rose

Another very characteristic flower of our hedgerows in June is Elderflower (below), after hawthorn the most common hedgerow blossom in the British Isles.  It is easy to spot from a distance, with its creamy white ‘handkerchiefs’ laid out above the leaves, like the head on a pint of beer.

Elderflower

Honeysuckle is another familiar hedgerow climber, and very sweet-smelling, particularly at night (to attract pollinating moths).

Honeysuckle

At ground level, Meadowsweet grows in damp areas and has frothy white flowers, just coming out now.  It smells slightly of vanilla, almonds, dill or marzipan – depending on your view!  It may have been named initially because it was used to flavour mead, rather than because of its connection with meadows.

Meadowsweet

Other plants in flower at the moment include:

Garlic mustard, also known as Jack-by-the-Hedge

Ribwort plantain

By contrast with  all of these, Oil-seed Rape is a relative newcomer to our verges, having naturalised from commercial crops much grown since the 1980s.

Oilseed rape

New woodland

Finally, it is important to appreciate the enormous amount of tree-planting that has been carried out on the Greendale side of Honey Lane in the last decade – a whole new wood is, in fact, being created here.  The hedge has been allowed to spread inwards into this space, and a great many hedgerow trees are also growing towards maturity to screen the Business Park.  The combined effect is to create an evolving landscape that is relatively undisturbed and is becoming an immensely important wildlife habitat.  

Recently planted woodland on the NW side of Honey Lane