matthew fuller

Digger Barley

Seeds from the site of a 17th Century land occupation are re-distributed

abstract:
In the spring of 1649 groups of agricultural workers, ex-soldiers, women, men and children took over a few areas of "waste" and common land in the South East and Midlands of England. In the context of the English Revolution, the king had been finally done away with and the Commonwealth of England had just been established. Food was scarce due to bad harvests and the trials of war. Fired by a religious and political anticipation of collective life on the land they called themselves Diggers, or True Levellers, and took up spades to work the common land. Together, in order to eat, they hand-ploughed and manured the ground, planting beans, parsnips and barley. After a short time their simple settlements were destroyed at the order of local landowners, churchmen and with the consent of the military government of Cromwell. These dispersals spread the movement, but violent evictions followed them. The Digger movement leaves no physical "historical" trace except a few scarce leaflets and legal accounts. Now, most of the land they occupied is built on, or its whereabouts are unknown. St. George's Hill in Surrey, the first of the Digger sites is now a private golf course and guarded luxury housing estate. During 2007, several visits were made to these grounds and a harvest made of wild barley. The effects of this movement exist in ideas and actions, but also in populations of plants whose seeds continue to spread. Digger Barley is a distribution of these seeds.

http://spc.org/fuller