16 OLD WEST SURREY 



sample of the work of rural builders of three hundred years 

 ago. The present tiled roof was perhaps originally all 

 Horsham slabs ; a portion of the original roof remaining on 

 the side of the paved yard, where the dairy pails and other 

 tackle are put out, after being scalded, to dry and sweeten in 

 the sun and. air. 



As in all the larger farmhouses, here was a roomy bacon- 

 loft. Where the main kitchen chimney in these old. build- 

 ings shows outside, as it generally does, and we see the wide 

 base carried up to half or sometimes the whole height of the 

 bedroom floor, it is an indication of a bacon-loft within. 

 Here the bacon was hung up for smoking after being cured. 

 Ranges of slightly-arched iron ribs stretch across the ceiling ; 

 they are studded with strong hooks for carrying the sides of 

 bacon. The iron ribs are just far enough apart to allow 

 the sides to hang" without touching. Some lofts have six 

 rows of them, besides rows of hooks all round the walls for 

 hanging the smaller stuff — hams and chaps. 



Nothing but wood is used in the fires for smoking bacon ; 

 oak for preference, or ash. Some use oak sawdust, but the 

 fuel most in request is the rough outside part of oak-bark. 

 One of the local industries is the stripping and preparation 

 of oak-bark for tanning. In the older days oak was felled 

 in the winter, when the sap was not in action, and winter- 

 felled oak has the best reputation. But the bark is of so 

 much value for tanning, that now oaks are commonly felled 

 in May, when the sap is running and the bark will strip 

 easily. Short forked stumps are driven into the ground to 

 support a straight bit of branch ; the pieces of stripped bark 

 are laid against this to dry. But the tanner only wants 

 the inner layers of the bark : it is therefore separated from 

 the rough outer coating with its moss and lichen. This 

 rough bark, the ' sole,' as the country people call it, is put 



