The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, believes that the planned eviction of travellers from a farm near Basildon will create “havoc and chaos” for the 90 families involved.
Bishop Cottrell and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brentwood, the Rt Revd Thomas McMahon, visited the site at Dale Farm, in Crays Hill, on Tuesday. At midnight on WednesÂday, Basildon Council was due to start removing the travellers who have built illegally on part of the site.
I suppose these people are what some might refer to as “Gypsies,” aren’t they? If so, is that the real reason why they face eviction? If this is the case, then it’s called “prejudice.”
Travellers in the British Isles and Ireland have been called gypsies, but are not the same as those gypsies with their cultural and DNA origins that came originally from India .
Originally, in pre-Anglicised Gaelic society, travellers were most often “broken men.” “Broken” in this context meant that the travellers’ ties to their Scottish clans or their Irish petty kings had been severed and that they were ‘on their own’ and without the protection of their clan chiefs or petty kings.
This put them in the category of wanderers with ‘no place to call their home.’ This reulted in the existing clannish sub-culture in the British Isles and Ireland called travellers.
Travellers also immigrated to the USA and have received significant notice in the media over the past twenty years or so. Many of the travellers in the USA have remained as clannish as their cousins in the old country.
I read about this and it’s a bit more complicated, Cennydd. Apparently, there was planning approval for a settlement and those folks are fine, won’t be moved. But a whole lot of other travellers moved into another section and didn’t secure approval. Those are the ones being evicted.
There’s a whole disagreement about green space and other issues, as well. On one hand, I really do sympathize with the travellers and believe they need places where they can live in community when they want to settle down.
On the other hand, I understand the problem of neighborhoods/communities springing up without proper zoning and legal approval. It can be a nightmare for local government. The “colonias” in South Texas are a prime example.
It is not a clear cut issue. It is all very easy to turn this into a debate between those with gypsy prejudice trying to force out the marginalised. But the modern era traveller is no Enid Blyton painted wagon soul who simple enjoys a bohemian existence.
As one with close friends in the police let me remind you that a vast amount of the illegal drug movement in the UK is carried out by the so called travelling community. The rates of child abuse within these communities can be appalling with children taught to bare knuckle fight, steal, ‘con’ etc… Justice is self regulating and tough. And these people can be accountable for breathtaking levels of local crime.
That is not to say they should necessarily be moved on but a dose of realism is useful.
Thank you, guest. It seems the problem is more widespread than most of us realize, isn’t it? And by the way: We have the infamous Williamson Family in this country, and they travel from state to state and town to town selling cheap driveway repairs, roof repairs, etc, and it usually doesn’t take too long before the law catches up with them……only to have another part of the family show up somewhere else. They’re not welcome anywhere.