A farming Life
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A Farming Life
Barwicker No 35
September 1994
Fred Thorp of Lime Tree Farm, Main Street, Barwick, has spent
all of his 87 years in farming and has just completed his 77th.
harvest. At a Historical Society meeting in October 1993, ably
supported by John Leak, Tony Shinn and Frank Bowman, he told us
about his experiences on the land. Fred's grandparents came to
Barwick from Hemingbrough, a few miles to the east of Selby, in the
late nineteenth century with their four sons: John, who was Fred '5
father, Ernest and Harry who later lived at Aberford and George, an
engineeer.
Fred was born on a small farm, now demolished, at the corner
of Main Street and Leeds Road on the site of the newly constructed
house, Ash Tree Cottage. The farm had about 75 acres of land, most
of it down Richmondfield Lane with a few acres of very good land
down Shoulder of Mutton Lane (Fieldhead Drive). The windows of
the house faced into the yard at the back. The wall of the
cow house of the farm followed the curve of the corner where the
roads met. The farm had a four horse stable, a cowhouse, a
loosebox next to the house and a big barn on the other side. An
aerial photograph in the Council Offices shows that the farmhouse
was still standing in 1965 but by the early 1980s it had been
demolished. The barn remained until October 1987 when it was
removed to make room for the new house (see 'The Barwicker No.9).
Fred moved with his parents to the nearby Lime Tree Farm when
he was 2 years old and his brothers Percy and Harry and sister
Amy were born there. There were about 130 acres of good land but
some of it was sold for the Flats Lane housing development, which
is called after the names of the fields. Another grass field, the
Piegarth off Leeds Road, has also been taken for housing.
Fred went to Barwick School like his father before him but at
the age of 12 he was sent to Leeds Central School for two years.
Each morning he would milk his grandfather's cow and then join the
large number of Barwick people, young and old, who walked along
Common Lane to Scholes Station to catch the 8.10 am train to Leeds
(see 'The Barwicker' No.25). About his schooling there, Fred says,
"I hated every minute of it. I am no good in towns. I like open
spaces."
In younger days they grew barley, wheat, oats and
potatoes on the farm, besides pasturing cattle and sheep. They
also took some 'geisting', comprising 45 acres of Sir Edward
Brookbank's grassland at Healaugh at a rent of £45 a year and they
walked the young beef cattle there. They also used to rent some grazing for cattle in Kippax Park, where there was a herd of deer.
John Leak remembers going with cattle by truck to Whitby for
grazing in the summer. "They did very well", Fred remembers. Like
him, they enjoyed the fresh air. John Lawrence, a cousin of Fred's,
drove the truck and his only instructions for the long journey was
a written note saying "Turn left at the milk stand". It was an old
army vehicle and the Thorps made a cattle box to fit on the back.
It had no glass windows so a potato sack was hung up instead.
In Fred's younger days, the recently renovated No.74 Main St.
was called Ashfield Farm. It had land down Little Occupation Lane
and Richmondfield Lane. The farmer there was Billy Previl. He
liked to do some dealing and would persuade the young Fred to
drive him round to the sales in the Thorp family's newly-acquired
Austin car. Fred was paid in drinks of whisky. Billy Previl was a
big man, over 20 stone, and Tony Shinn remembers that Harry Pullan
and Bill Stirk at the wheelwright's shop used to talk about the
time when he was poorly and they made a hoist to lift him in and
out of bed.
In the first half of the century, horses alone were used haulage for
on the farms. Using a sing le furrow plough pulled by two horses it was
possible to plough about an acre of land in a day and the horses and
ploughman would walk about 11 miles. The Thorps used a two furrow plough
drawn by three horses. Other implements drawn by horses were the reaper
and binder, harrow,cultivator, potato spinner and a 'scruffler' for
weeding between rows of potatoes.
Horses had minds of their own. One day Fred was using the
scruffler when he left the horse, a mare called Topper, at the field
edge and went off to attend to a sheep which was lambing in a
nearby field. When he got back the horse had gone. He found it,
still with the scruffIer attached, back at the farm eating hay in
the manger.
The horses knew the job as well as the men. John says that he
has left a horse to carry on up the field of turnips with a two-
row drill while he had a drink and the horse has returned along
the right two rows. He worked with the scruffler without any
'strings' (reins) for steering and the horse could turn by itself at
the ends of the row. This horse was called 'Bonny' and was 'wall
eyed', with one eye brown and the other blue. John worked the
horse from when he was 12 or 13 years old until he left Thorps in
December 1962. Less than a week later Bonny was found dead behind
the hedge. John said, "I walked home in tears, wondering to myself
would she still have been alive if I hadn't left. Bonny was more
than a workhorse, she was a workmate. She was my friend."
Fred bought his horses from York and other places. He liked
piebald horses for riding, bought from such places as Lee Gap Fair
at East Ardsley. He once bought three Clydesdales from Carlisle
and "lovely horses they were". Pally, a "grand mare", had been
through a prairie fire. She had been an army horse but was sold
after the French surrendered during World War II.
One of the busiest times for men and horses was when the
harvest was brought in. During the First World War, Fred's father
could get a couple of lads from school to help with the harvest.
The sheaves of corn were loaded onto wagons in the field and
brought to the yard where they were stacked. There would be one
wagon in the field, one in the yard and one on the road in between.
Stacking was a skilled job and Fred remembers his father taught
George Kirk, who was two years older than Fred, the art of
stacking. He could build a stack when he was 13 years old. Fred's
brother Percy was a good stacker too. Before the days of Dutch
barns, the stacks had to be thatched to keep off the rain.
A farming activity that Fred did not like occurred later when
the thrashing set came round and there followed several hours of
very dry work. The dust stuck in the throat for weeks. The best
times were when they stopped for the 'drinkings'. Now the whole
process is completed in the fields using the combines, which Fred
thinks are marvellous pieces of engineering.
 |
| Fred Thorp at Lime Tree Farm 1994 |
Fred has always had a liking for sheep and the way they can
be used to improve arable crops. A mediocre crop of barley can be
transformed into a good one by turning sheep onto the crop in the
spring, when their nibbling produces a thicker crop and the ground
is manured. Fred's son, John, agrees with' his father about the
value of sheep and he sows turnips after the harvest which later
are eaten by the sheep.
Just after the war, only one Barwick farm had sheep but now
they are more plentiful in the district. They still keep a few in
the fold yard at Lime Tree farm and Fred still gets up in the
night to help with the lambing. He has some of the problems which
would afflict a much younger man. He recalled, "When the first ewe
got down to lamb last year, I got down to help it and I was on my
knees for about half an hour. When I wanted to get up, I was like
an old 'hoss'. I couldn't get to my feet. There was nothing to get
hold of."
On 3 May, 1960, Rectory Farm was sold to Mrs Alice Verity and
sons. Fred rented a small farm at Appleton Roebuck. It was a
good farm of about 60 acres but the move from Barwick and Barwick
folk did not suit him. The people there seemed quieter than those
at Barwick and he did not do so much trade. John says that he
still goes to Appleton and they still ask after Fred. He was there
for two or three years before he returned to Lime Tree Farm, where
he bas lived ever since.
In May 1989, in the company of Fred, the Historical Society
took a step back in time when they visited Lime Tree Farm. The
farm is centuries old and the buildings have been extended, altered
and renewed using a startling variety of materials that were
available at the time. The farm of over 100 acres is mainly
arable, but the outbuildings revealed a few litters of pigs, a sheep
or two with lambs that were being hand-reared and a few bullocks.
The stables no longer house the Clydesdales and Shires that used
to work the farm, but now bold a few riding horses. The farmyard
is a museum of farm machinery, from simple horse-drawn implements
to modern tractors and combines.
During the evening we were regaled with anecdotes of Fred's
working days and he says he has enjoyed every minute. A lucky
man! Fred loves Barwick. He bas had chances to work abroad but
has never been tempted. He always told John Leak to "travel as far
and wide as you can, lad, but always keep one foot in England",
which John has done so far. Fred says "I always say that if you
want anything better than Barwick you'll never find it".
From the Recollections of FRED THORP
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