Beekeeping at Goldhanger

There are several indications of significant beekeeping activity at Goldhanger in the past. This postcard shows Ralph Page’s Apiary at Old Rectory Farm...

The Page family farmed Old Rectory Farm from 1906 to the 1960s. They cultivated substantial fruit tree orchards on the east side of the village producing apples, plums, greengages, jam and honey . The bees would have had the important role of pollinating the fruit tree blossom.

This local newspaper cutting from 1926 describes a meeting of beekeepers in the New Rectory grounds, which suggests that the Rector of the day, the Revd. Frederick Gardner and his daughter Cynthia had an interest in beekeeping. We know that this wealthy family had a strong interest in supporting village activities...
	The Beehive Cottages in Fish Street clearly have a past association with beekeeping. For many years the cottages belonged to the Johnson Family who also owned the allotments opposite, so undoubtedly would have kept their beehive in the allotments, but would also have moved them around the many orchards around the village at that time.
This Illustrated London News article of 1851 and two local reports describe Mr Ponder’s special beehive design on display in the Great Exhibition in London’s Crystal Palace, however no pictures were included...
	Mr Ponder lived opposite Beehive Cottages in the Bird-in-Hand. We can’t be sure, but one of the hives on Ralph Page’s Apiary postcard looks very different to the other hives shown that otherwise look like the conventional hive design, so this may well have been one of Mr Ponder’s glass topped versions.

Beekeeping goes back thousands of years to the Chinese, the Greeks and the Romans and was prolific in the UK in medieval times. The activity involved not just honey production but also many other bee related products:

Beeswax	for candles and timekeeping at night when no clocks were available † † † for polishing: furniture & floors, and wood, brass, copper, silver, steels & glass and it’s also used in many ancient and modern cosmetic products	when the candle burnt down to the nail it dropped on to the metal dish ringing the alarm!
Mead	also called hydromel and honey wine is an ancient alcoholic drink
Apitherapy	alternative medicine practices using these bee products...
Royal Jelly	or Gelée royale said to have many health benefits
Propolis	or Bee Glue is a resinous mixture collected from buds by bees used in dermatology, cosmetics & health foods
Perga	or Bee Bread is food for the Queen Bee containing all known vitamins
Apitoxin	or Bee Venom has powerful anti-inflammatory & anti-bacterial effects
Honey	is also used to treat wounds and allergies

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