An historic bridge in Stratford St Mary played a major role in the annual migration of thousands of turkeys to London.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the bridge over the River Stour on the Suffolk/Essex border was a bottleneck for the annual poultry migration from East Anglia to the capital markets, especially in the autumn season.
This remarkable event was chronicled by author Daniel Defoe in his 1724 work, A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain.
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Defoe detailed how more than 300 droves of turkeys crossed the bridge every autumn, with each drove containing between 300 and 1,000 birds.
This means that as many as 300,000 turkeys could have crossed the Stratford St Mary bridge yearly.
The turkey drives began after the harvest in August and September and proceeded slowly to ensure the birds would be plump by the time they reached London for the Christmas markets in late November or December.
One of the main challenges facing the toll collector at Le Talbooth, the tollhouse at the bridge, was the sheer number of birds crossing the bridge.
Turkeys were preferred over geese due to their calm temperament, which made them easier to manage during the drive.
However, turkeys, too, came with their own set of unique challenges.
As twilight approached, the turkeys' natural instincts would prompt them to fly up to roost in nearby trees or hedges.
If a drove neared the Stratford St Mary bridge too late in the afternoon, the birds would aggressively colonise the trees around Le Talbooth and local inns, forcing the drovers to halt the operation until morning.
The poultry traffic led to some infrastructure adaptations in Stratford St Mary.
A meadow adjacent to the village's Corner House, now known as Gooseacre, was designated as an overnight grazing and resting field for the drovers' massive flocks of geese and turkeys before or after paying their bridge toll and crossing the Stour.
Drovers would fit the birds with tiny leather boots, or run them through a mixture of warm tar and sand to create a hard, protective crust on their feet.
This was done to prevent their feet from wearing down on the rough roads before reaching the bridge.
The turkeys followed the Great Essex Road, which closely mirrors the modern A12 corridor, at a pace of three miles a day.
This means the entire trip from deep in Norfolk to the city took roughly three months.
From the Stratford St Mary bridge, the historical route into London went through Colchester (bypassing the main town to avoid chaos), Witham and Chelmsford (which saw heavy use of overnight stubble fields), Brentwood (the official start of the Middlesex & Essex Turnpike Trust), Gallows Corner (notable for its road lined with dense screens of trees), Romford (a major market town and livestock resting hub), Stratford (crossing the River Lea into Greater London), and Whitechapel (lined with drovers' inns and staging yards).
While the turkey drives are a thing of the past, the impact of this agricultural migration on Stratford St Mary is still evident today.
The legacy of these turkey drives lives on, not just in the physical infrastructure but also in the rich history of the area.
For those interested in retracing the steps of these historic turkey drives, Le Talbooth, now a high-end restaurant, still stands as a testament to this remarkable chapter in British agricultural history.
The turkeys were driven through the bridge before making their way to the Leadenhall Market in London.
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