What the heck is a lek?
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
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These tongs were made by blacksmith James Young from Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire, out of smashed machinery from the farm of John Rebbeck in the same village. John’s farm was attacked on 24 November 1830 by a mob, estimated to be between 200 and 300 strong – with Levi Brown at their head. Levi Brown was transported to Australia for his part in the Swing Riots.
In autumn 1830 the Swing Riots spread across east and south England. Agricultural labourers were near starving, due to low wages and new threshing machines which reduced employment. Farms were burnt and machinery broken – 3,000 incidents were reported.
Wiltshire labourers – described by radical writer William
Cobbett as ‘the worst used … upon the face of the earth’ – attacked local farms and workshops in November. Salisbury grew nervous. Yeomanry patrolled the streets,
inhabitants shut up shop and Special Constables were sworn in at the Guildhall. The riots culminated in the bloody Battle of Pythouse, near Tisbury.
339 Wiltshire rioters were tried in January 1831 in Salisbury’s Guildhall. Sentences were harsh. Two men were sentenced to death, though later reprieved, while 150 were transported to Australia for at least seven years, with little hope of return.
Three days of intense rioting in south Wiltshire saw threshing machines destroyed, workshops attacked, and money extorted. Rioting reached Salisbury on 23 November 1830. The Salisbury Journal reported: ‘the citizens … were considerably excited … that a party of rioters after destroying a threshing machine … [at] Bishop Down’s Farm, were proceeding, armed with bludgeons, iron bars and portions of machinery they had broken, towards this city.’ Their target was the iron foundry belonging to Mr. Figes.
The Salisbury Yeomanry and Special Constables accosted the mob on the outskirts of the city, near the Greencroft. 22 rioters were arrested and 17 committed to the County Gaol at Fisherton.
By the end of November 1830 the gaols in Salisbury, Devizes and Marlborough were full, with over 300 rioters awaiting trial. The sheer number of prisoners and a wish to make a swift example of them, meant that trials could not wait until the Lent Assizes in March 1831. Instead, the Wiltshire Special Commission was set up to start trials in January. Three judges arrived in Salisbury from Winchester with great ceremony – attended by the High
Sheriff, 100 yeoman and gentry on horseback, and nobility in carriages. The streets were lined with crowds and 400 Special Constables were deployed to keep
control. The courtrooms in Salisbury’s Guildhall were crammed with relatives, friends and spectators.
Levi Brown was at the head of the mob, estimated to be between 200 and 300 strong, that attacked John Rebbeck’s farm in Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire on 24 November 1830. Levi received a death sentence for his part, though this was reprieved – the judge stated: ‘I feel it my duty to recommend you to the mercy of the Crown so as to save your life, yet you must not hope to remain in this country, you will be sent out of it for the rest of your life.’
Thomas Vinen, a ploughman from Tisbury, was 19 when he was transported for seven years to Tasmania, Australia, for machine breaking. He left behind his parents and 10 siblings and never saw them again. After becoming a free man he remained, married a fellow ex-convict Mary Burrows and had seven children. Thomas’s sisters wrote in vain: ‘Dear Brother … let us know how you can get back … nothing shall be wanting to Bring you Back to old England.’
This object was chosen by the museum’s Inclusion Advisory Group for a number of different reasons:
“Because it tells a part of Salisbury’s rural history and is a remarkable local story. I also love the fact that this object is recycled.” Richard Burt
“I love the history behind the object and the use of the recycled materials.” Jan Porter
“I can’t believe the amount of local families that were affected by this story.” Sharon Wheble
“This object represents the fight for ‘normal people’s’ rights.” Alexandra and Bella Boyd
“There is a parallel with present day riots and concerns about loss of jobs as AI plays an ever-greater role.” Leonie Maclay
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
The great bustard has a dignified slow walk but tends to run when disturbed, rather than fly.
The hen-bird on display at The Salisbury Museum was one of the last great bustards to be eaten in the town!