This is the sort of thing that happens when John goes out to dig potato bed #2 at Struan Farm:
Heaven knows how or why these antique "screw pickets" ended up buried at the back gate behind the tractor shed, but these things do happen around the place more often than not. Recently I uncovered a brick garden edge underground just as we were planning to make one in the very same garden.
This discovery prompted homework on my part. John knew they had been used in WW2 at least. With some research I was able to find out that they were introduced circa 1915 and became known by the British Army in WW1 as "corkscrew pickets." They were positioned as supports for barbed wire defences, and were able to be installed quickly and silently. The French called them "queue de cochon," or pig's tail. Find out a bit more here.
What remains unanswered is how Maurie got his hands on some to use around the farm after WW2. I'm asking around the family to see if anyone remembers. John wants to invent a story that they were found near the Home Guard trenches on the farm. My view is that we've got enough stories to tell about Struan Farm without having to make them up!
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