What the Romans did for us

In the mid-20th century the humble rabbit fell from grace as both food and sporting quarry, but people are starting to realise what they’ve been missing

- TIM MADDAMS

It is not a question I have ever been asked, but if anyone were to enquire as to what I think the greatest tragedy of the sporting scene has been over the past 50 years, they would get a long and passionate ramble about the sad decline of the rabbit. Most people agree — and there is archeological evidence, mainly from East Anglia, to support the view — that the rabbit probably arrived with the Romans in around 100 BC. The Romans farmed them for meat and fur and they were very keen on a bit of coursing.

Later, the Normans brought more rabbits and began to farm them a bit more industrially by providing protective warrens that allowed the bunnies to acclimatise to the less than-Mediterranean conditions.

It was these new, acclimatised, hardcore bunnies that went forth and multiplied, creating the basis of today’s current wild population.

Lockdown easing

I am intrigued by the ways that the Romans and Normans would have cooked rabbit, and I had all sorts of images of spits and grand feasts in my mind as I headed to my friend Greg Page-Turner’s farm to make an armed ramble about the hedgerows in the gloaming.

Greg’s land is typical of east Devon, with beech hedges bordering undulating fields, which is ideal for sneaking up on a few bunnies with a shotgun. Perhaps it was because we are not that good at keeping quiet, or that we struggled to spot the bunnies until they hopped safely away out of gunshot, but it didn’t turn into the fruitful, fur-flying, bunny-tumbling experience we would have liked. Greg was surprised we didn’t see more rabbits, telling me “there were plenty a couple of years ago”, which is something I often hear.