Sound Recordings, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire

Description

[Collector announcement]; Harry Cook, recorded in Shipston on Stour (Warwickshire); talks about ploughing with horses and the setting up of a field in preparation; building and thatching hay/corn stacks; mechanisation of farming; mowing by hand; farm wages; the village and changes; thoughts on modern farming; hedge laying; ploughing and drilling with horses. [Tr. 4]


[Collector announcement]; Mr. J. Robbins, recorded in Hartlebury (Worcestershire); talks about farm work and wages as a youth; farm mechanisation; rick building; ploughing (with horses/tractors); hedge laying and the tools used; fetching and delivering milk, from a farmer Mr. Oliver; curing bacon with salt; pig keeping; feeding the family (past/present costs compared); thoughts on modern attitudes to work, sport and gambling; crops grown locally; farm mechanisation; wages and working days; collecting beer for shepherds as a boy; standard of living, past and present; farm waggons; driving a twenty ton waggon with ten horses. [Tr. 5]


[Collector announcement]; Stanley Anderton, recorded in Aston Cantlow (Warwickshire); talks about his working life; serving during World War One; the village; local farms; changes in the village; working life; the mill; hedge laying; driving a mill waggon; mechanisation and modern farming; wages and first job on farm, aged nine; school and night school; women's wages; influx of Irish labourers at harvest time; corn cut by hand; work food; wages and rent; old farms/farming and changes; cost of living; ploughing with horses; building stacks; retirement; the village fair; pubs and dancing; newcomers to the area from Birmingham; old times and enjoyment; beer and cost. [Tr. 6]


[Collector announcement]; Mr. Calcutt, recorded in Aston Cantlow (Warwickshire); talks about farming in the past; ploughing with horses; modern and old farming compared; wages; ploughs; building and thatching ricks; the working day and jobs on the farm; cowhouses; milking; crops grown locally; the village fair in July; flower shows; old farmhouses and their fireplaces; pig killing and curing bacon with salt; hedge laying and the tools used; sickles; Irish labourers; plum picking; newcomers to the area from Birmingham; changes to the village (new buildings, loss of old); school and corporal punishment. [Tr. 7]


[Collector announcement]; David Tapping, recorded in Cuxham (Oxfordshire); talks about a working day ploughing with horses, including feeding the horses and setting up the field; building and thatching a rick; thatching a house roof; roads (composition); farm buildings; village blacksmith; fireplace in parents' farmhouse; hob heated by faggots; bread baking; home-made wine; hot wine and toast for breakfast on winter mornings; old and modern farming methods; four-course crop rotation. [Tr. 8]


[Collector announcement]; Mr. F. Stone, recorded in Steeple Aston (Oxfordshire); talks about changes in the village, and the loss of thatched buildings; cutting and shocking corn in his father's time; corn drilling machine; local vicar, Reverend C. C. Brooks; fishing for pike; working days for carters; thatching; farmhouses; pig killing and curing bacon with salt; the Old Dun Cow pub; modern farming - crop spraying and the effect on wildlife; mechanisation and loss of food quality; ironstone; hedge laying; village blacksmith ( Mr. Gascoyne); Reverend Brooks' house and gardens. [Tr. 1]


[Collector announcement]; Harry Pierce, recorded in Kingham (Oxfordshire); talks about building and thatching a haystack/corn rick; ploughing with horses, setting up the field; ploughs; horses and harnessing; cattle, milking, the cowhouse; hedge laying and the tools used; modern farming and the use of artificial fertilizers; the village and the loss of thatched roofs; the blacksmith's shop (Mr. Pierce's grandfather was a blacksmith); carts and waggons (reference to the Oxfordshire Waggon). [Tr. 2]


[Collector announcement]; Joe Keen, recorded in Kingham (Oxfordshire); talks about farm work and employment in the village; working in the field with his mother and father; ploughing before horse ploughs; ploughing with horses and setting up the field; building stacks and ricks; pests and vermin; thatching (reference to women's involvement); threshing; gleaning; local (water) mills; the village and changes; the cattle pound (and subsequent uses of); the drilling of village boys by a local colonel; the tithe barn; school and the schoolmaster; milking and cowhouses; modern farm mechanisation; working day on a farm as a boy; wages; hedge laying and the tools used; farmhouses and fireplaces; baking ovens; building of a local orphanage; the railway; carts and waggons and their maintenance; the distribution of coal on St. Thomas' Day (December 21st); Blanket and Bread charity (December 24th); three-day village fair, starting Ascension Day; the local Friendly Society's annual feast; Kingham Wakes
[Feast/Revel] (Easter Monday). [Tr. 3]

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