Frederick William Harvey: Hartpury's Poet

F.W. Harvey was born at Marlsend (Murrell's End), Hartpury on 26th March 1888, son of Howard Frederick Harvey, a farmer and horse dealer. He was a contemporary of Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Ivor Gurney and Rupert Brooke; indeed he became a close friend of Gurney and his fellow composer Herbert Howells.

Now every year they bloom again,
(All of the trees spread healthy root)

Whereof we get a heavenly drink
(Two rather!) for to make us merry;
Oh! Cider's one, and I do think
The name o' t'other one is Perry!

John Helps

John Helps a wer an honest mon;
The perry that a made
Wer crunced vrom purs as honest
As ever tree displayed.

John Helps a wer an honest mon;
And I be sorry a's dead.
Perry and honest men be scarce
These days 'tiz zed.

A River, A Pig, And Brains

Last fall, to sell his oldest perry,
Old William Fry did cross the ferry,
And thur inside of an old sty
'A seed a leanish pig did lie:

A rakish, active beast 'a was
As ever rooted up the grass:
Eager as bees on making honey
To stuff his self. Bill did decide
To buy un with the cider money
And fat un up for Easter-tide.

He poured a goodish swig and soon
- As lazy as a day o' June -
Piggy lay boozed, and so did bide
Snoring, while him and Fry were taken
'Cross Severn: and 'a didn't waken
Until the boat lay safely tied
Up to a tree on t'other side.

By 1388 the first culinary pear variety, the Warden, had been introduced by Cistercian Monks at Wardon in Bedfordshire.  The Black Worcester is a variety of warden pear.  Culinary pears were an important source of vitamin C in medieval England.  They were one of the few foods that could be stored through the winter before the introduction of the turnip and other root crops.  One of the attributes claimed for the turnip when it was eventually introduced in the 16th century, was as a replacement for apples to make cider!  A drink sometimes referred to as perry had been made from the early medieval period by steeping slices of the fruit in water (depensé) to produce a liquor that was then allowed to ferment.  It was drunk as a penance by the early religious! Worcester monks spoke of using both wyld peres and grete tame peres (the Black Worcester) for perry.  The use of Warden pears for perry was also recorded in the London area, a trade that John Norden (1607) found to be declining due to growth in the fresh fruit market.

Harris, fruiterer to Henry VIII, introduced many dessert pears from France and the Low Countries in 1533 for planting at Teynham in Kent. Gerard (1597) recorded that the number of pear varieties had increased since the beginning of that century and claimed that one friend of his had 60 high quality varieties in his orchard and perhaps as many again of lesser quality ones.  The introduction of the numerous continental dessert pears meant large quantities would have been turned into perry, if a local market was not found for the fresh fruit. Rev. John Beale (sometimes referred to as the father of the Hereford orchard) was a cider man, regarding perry as a women’s drink ‘fit more for the hinds’. Possibly this was because the perry he knew was generally made from surplus dessert pears.  Writing in 1656 he does though speak of the neighbourhood of Bosbury being famous for a peculiar perry which he considered had many of the masculine qualities of cider, being quick, strong and retaining good vigour for many years.  He describes the fruit, which he called the Bareland, as so hard and coarse that even a pig will not eat it.  This pear is still known today as the vintage perry variety Barland.

The perry pear may be considered a halfway point between the wild pear and the sweet dessert pear.  Its complex pedigree is the key to the unique drink now made in the counties surrounding May Hill.  Gerard refers to wild or hedge pears as being harsh and bitter, but used for making perry, and by 1662 distinct varieties of these pears were recorded by Daniel Colwall writing about the part of north-west Gloucestershire around May Hill ‘...... it is pears it most abounds in, of which the best sort is that they name the Squash pear, which makes the best Perry of those parts’.  He continued ‘The pears for perry are the Red Squash pear esteemed the best, the John pear, the Harpary (Hartpury) Green pear, the Drake pear, the Green Squash pear, the Mary pear, the Lullam pear. 

From these early origins in the villages around Newent and Ledbury, many local varieties were produced.  Trees grown from seed were generally used.  This local practice continued through the centuries.  John Norse Morse of Newent produced copper tokens (to pay his workforce) that bore the legend ‘several thousand young healthy and fine crab apple and pear stocks raised from the kernel to be sold by J. Morse Newent Gloucestershire 1796’. 

Once the trees came into production the fruit was assessed and either kept or if unsatisfactory, the trees were top grafted with a proven perry variety.  This resulted in the development of many local varieties which were often restricted to individual parishes or even farms.  Perry pears were also often planted on waste or other land not suited to cultivation, by cottagers and smallholders. 

  While the cider apple is widely grown throughout the West Country, the true perry pear is still found largely in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire and to a lesser extent Monmouthshire, Worcestershire and a few other neighbouring counties. 

The myth……

looking back through the mists of time to the dawn of the World – to a day when the immortals were feasting on May Hill (a landmark, surmounted by a group of trees, near Newent on the border of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire).  A young godling rushed up carrying a pear which he described as the elixir of life, providing a nectar fit only for Gods.  He handed it to the chief, who took a large bite….  Have you ever tasted a perry pear?  It is so dry and astringent as to be virtually inedible.  This he discovered - spitting the pear all around the hill.  The godling explained that the pear must be crushed and the juice turned into perry, but the damage had been done, those pips took root and flourished - the perry pear had entered the mortal World.

It is for this reason that even today it is said that a perry pear tree will best flourish if it is growing within sight of May Hill.

High up in the roof of the church in the village named after the perry pear - Hardepirige or Hartpury, there is an ancient carving of a figure seated on a throne with a pained expression clutching his tummy - surely that same immortal – still suffering from that ill advised bite into the perry pear!

and reality……

The true native wild pear growing in British woodland and hedgerows is pyrus pyraster.  It is now one of our rarest trees.  The cultivated pear Pyrus communis originated in central Asia evolving through a process of natural selection through many millennia.  It was introduced here by the Romans.  Following their withdrawal the orchards would have been abandoned, but self sown pyrus communis would have crossed with the indigenous pyrus pyraster.   These crosses- often referred to as wildings, are thought to be the ancestors of the native perry pear and can be differentiated from both the culinary and the dessert pear.

Perry and Hartpury
The village name ‘Hartpury’ is derived from the Saxon word for the pear: Hardepirige – hard pear tree that is one with hard fruit like the wilding or perry pear.
There is a perry pear known as the Hartpury Green recorded as early as 1662
In the 13th century, market records reveal that Gloucester abbey tenants formed an important proportion of Gloucester market traders.  Hartpury was one of the largest manors belonging to the Abbey. Produce brought to market included apples, pears (presumably warden or culinary pears) and honey. The trade continued following the dissolution and on 10th February 1619 a dispute was heard in the Bishop's Court between the vicar, Thomas Rudgeway and Richard Nelme concerning the latter's refusal to pay tithe on 300 bushels of apples, 200 bushels of pears and £4 worth of cherries. Fruit growing was clearly well established in the parish, but until the late 18th century growth of urban centres in the Black Country particularly Birmingham and the improvement of transport, there was no market for the fruit itself other than a fairly limited market for the fresh fruit in Gloucester. Most would have been converted into cider and perry.