The story of the rabbit (From Gazette & Herald)

The story of the rabbit

NO one is quite sure when rabbits first appeared in this country, with some experts believing they were introduced from Spain in the latter half of the 13th century, others suggesting they arrived from France in the 12th century and yet more claiming they were present during Roman times and reared in gardens called leporaria.

Another possibility is that they were introduced to this country by the Normans some time after the invasion of 1066.

Beyond doubt is the fact they rapidly established themselves and multiplied, as only rabbits can do, and during medieval times they were considered extremely valuable because they provided both food and fur clothing for the ever-expanding population.

So useful were they that special warrens were established to ensure the regular and controlled breeding of rabbits.

Their meat was especially favoured by the wealthy classes and so the nobility appointed men called warreners to supervise their stock of rabbits.

Reminders of that past live on in the surname of Warren, Warrener or Warriner and local names of farms and cottages continue to use that name. High Warren, Low Warren and Warren Farm are found in numerous locations.

The idea of managing the production of rabbits in warrens persisted from around 1200 until well into the 18th century, although there were changes due to the decline of the feudal system. Other changes derived from the enclosure of land and the emergence of a class of farmer, known as the yeomen, who owned and farmed their own properties.

As hawthorn hedges began to pattern the countryside when the land was enclosed, so rabbits, hitherto largely confined to their warrens, began to explore and find new homes. Hawthorn hedges provided shelter and their roots permitted rabbits to burrow easily into earth beneath. Rabbits soon became categorised as pests as they spread and multiplied in the countryside, so the value and use of warrens declined.

Most of the changes occurred prior to the 18th century while heralding that major adjustment in the status of the rabbit. Whereas it had been bred for food and fur, once being highly popular as a meat among the upper classes, it was now becoming troublesome. Its own demand for

food had a devastating result on crops, not only root crops but even grass, and this led to the creation of rabbit clearance societies.

There was a brief revival of warrens in the 19th century, however, as country people moved into the towns and cities to find work. Once again, rabbits provided a source of cheap and ready food, but no longer did they find favour with the upper classes; rabbits were now regarded as meat for the working classes and the poor and some were even targeted by poachers.

Perhaps the final humiliation arrived in 1954 when the rabbit was declared a pest under the Pest Act; this statute said that the responsibility for controlling rabbits rested with the occupier of the land.

Although rabbits continue to be used as food, often sold as oven-ready, their decline as a major source of food accelerated around 1960 and has never recovered.

Much of this decline could be attributed to the dreadful scourge of myxomatosis which, when it first appeared in this country in October, 1953, wiped out more than 90pc of the wild rabbit population.

But rabbits have always recovered from disasters, whether man-made or natural, and, although many were killed by this disease, others managed to survive to breed youngsters who were immune to myxomatosis.

Today, rabbits, with natural enemies like foxes and stoats, continue to be regarded as agricultural pests, causing damage to crops amounting to many millions of pounds per year.

In spite of this, those warrens of the past are now attracting interest as sites of historic interest.

I have no record of all the former warrens in this region, but, in 1331, there was one at Dringhouses, near York!

The huge Dalby Forest on the North York Moors was the site of another warren, owned by the Duchy of Lancaster. It was then known as the Dalby Warren and extended to some 3,000 acres, allowing hundreds of rabbits to be caught daily.

A map of Wensleydale still shows a rabbit warren near Lady Hill, above the River Ure between Woodhall and Carperby, and another surviving warren, near Leicester, dating from 1280, contains special breeding chambers and nesting places made from stone slabs. A few years ago, this was also afforded the status of "ancient monument".

That category also applies now to the former Dalby Forest warren and to another in

Bedfordshire, which was constructed in the 13th century by Augustinian monks to provide them with meat and pelts.

I am sure there are more in this region, some probably still being used by our modern generation of rabbits.

Updated: 10:02 Wednesday, January 21, 2004