The following piece comes from the Newdigate Local History Society Magazine.

Newdigate Cider Press - Jane Lilley

In the last issue, we reported that a cider press which originally had come from a farm in Newdigate had been returned to us by Dorking Museum.  It is now in store at Greens Farm, and will eventually be restored by Chris Frost.

The cider press seen in situ at Dorking Museum (in the middle of the display)

A small cider press was a normal part of farm equipment; for example the auction of 'live and dead stock' at Chaffolds Farm in 1904 included a 'Cider press with iron screw', which sold for £2.10s. (a large sum: the same as a light market cart, and as a sow in pig).  Every farm had an orchard, and although the best cider was made from specially grown varieties of apple, any fallen or surplus apples would be pressed, producing a juice which could be drunk fresh or fermented into cider.  Alternating layers of clean straw and milled (pulped) apples were formed into a block called a 'cheese' with its base in a wooden trough, which was pressed by turning a huge screw so that the juice flowed into the trough and could be collected.

The press from Dorking Museum was clearly made on the farm.  Only the cast iron screw, plate and levers were bought in; the plate bears the name 'Basset, Dorking', for Dorking Foundry.  The date is unknown, but around 1900 seems possible.

The frame had to be very strong to withstand the stresses of pressing, so the timbers were solid and heavy. The pieces were probably all cut from a single small oak tree 18 inches in diameter at its base with about 16 feet of straight trunk, grown in one of the farm hedges (imperial measurements are used here, as they were when it was constructed).  The uprights are notched at the top so that they could be set against a horizontal beam, perhaps the tie beam of a cart shed, to stop the whole structure moving during pressing.  So the cider press was made to fit a particular place.  It was constructed with simple joints and pegged together so that it could be dismantled and stored after use, then assembled quickly and easily the next autumn.

The uprights are 6 ft. 6 ins. high, 5 ins. thick and 18 ins. wide at the base, tapering to 14 ins. wide at the top.  They have been roughly squared off, but parts retain the curves and badly worm-eaten sapwood of the original tree.  A solid crossbeam made from an unshaped section of the trunk 11 ins. in diameter was set between their upper ends.   At the bottom, two close-spaced beams 4 ft. 4 ins. long, 8 ins. wide and 5 ins. thick set between the uprights completed a rigid frame.

The iron screw was 3 ins. in diameter and 38 ins. long, of which 30 ins. was threaded.  It turned in a threaded iron socket set in a hole through the top beam.  The flattened tip rotated in a socket on a small, heavy iron plate, screwed to a heavy wooden slab with handles for lifting it onto the cheese.  The screw was turned using two iron levers, thought to have been about 4 ft. long, which were inserted in holes through the screw just above the tip; as the screw turned, the slab was gradually forced down, squeezing the juice out.

The trough rested on the two bottom beams.  It was made of boards, with a flat bottom 35 ins. by 19¾ ins., to which were pegged sides 2½ins. high.  A slatted insert below the base of the cheese created a space for the juice to collect.  The outlet for the juice was a square hole in one long side, 1 in. diameter, which probably had a spout to feed the juice into a wide, shallow tub placed beside the bottom beam.

Instructions to reassembling the Press.

Although the press is currently in poor condition, it is a nice piece of equipment, locally made, and probably in regular use for many years. Perhaps eventually it may be returned to a useable condition.

© Newdigate Local History Society Dec 2011