What was on a 1930's farm/rural property?

[jukebox]

I've earmarked a plot of land on my layout for a small rural cottage/farmhouse and outbuildings.

 

But I can't seem to find any sort of references to help me set out what would be on that plot beside the main dwelling?  I'm assuming an outside toilet, veggie patch, hayshed or similar?  

 

Can anyone help with links or references where I can look at some typical 1930's North East England rural properties?

 

Being on the other side of the planet, my ability to go look for myself is somewhat limited!

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

[chris p bacon]

Depends on what they're farming.

 

If it's arable you'll have various seed drilling and harvesting equipment spread about. If animal could be pig stys, cattle barns etc. In the North there were lots of the animal barns used in the winter with the cows on the ground floor and a 1st floor for feed.  The early ones would protect from the Border Reivers.

 

For the farmyard there'd be the obligatory farmhouse with outside loo, definately a veg patch as farming was subsistence. Chickens, ducks & geese were staples of the diet for meat and eggs so there'd be a hen house of some sort. There would only be a cinder or stone yard so plenty of mud about.

 

If you search for 'Stead' as I think that's the term for farms in the NE. (stand to be corrected)

[kandc_au]

Scott,
Offhand I don't now your era BUT, there was 3 BBC series about the following:
The Victorian Farm
The Edwardian Farm
The Wartime Farm
You may find info on Youtube.
They also produced 3 books about the series and how 3 people spent 12 months living in each of these scenarios.
Probably find the books at the library with luck!

 

khris

[kandc_au]

Quick search of Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Farming+in+the+Uk+in+the+40%27s

 

AND having reread your question here is the 30's:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Farming+in+the+UK+in+the+30%27s

Edited November 6, 2018 by kandc_au

[doilum]

I've earmarked a plot of land on my layout for a small rural cottage/farmhouse and outbuildings.

 

But I can't seem to find any sort of references to help me set out what would be on that plot beside the main dwelling?  I'm assuming an outside toilet, veggie patch, hayshed or similar?  

 

Can anyone help with links or references where I can look at some typical 1930's North East England rural properties?

 

Being on the other side of the planet, my ability to go look for myself is somewhat limited!

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Is it the farm house or a labourers cottage?

Farm houses often had yards with outbuildings on two sides to provide shelter from prevailing winds. The labourer might well have chickens and vegetables by a very modest cottage. He would need a coal store often built integral to the proverbial outhouse. Don't take running water for granted. There may be a pump in the yard. In this case the toilet would be an ash type with a small access door in the rear. Small details include cats (often genetically identical) in the yard and rabbits or pheasants hanging by the back door.

If you were slightly more local I would strongly recommend a visit to Beamish open air museum in county Durham. It might be worth looking it up on line.

[The Stationmaster]

My grandfather owned a relatively typical small Yorkshire, village set, farmhouse and yard with a patch of land behind the buildings used for veg growing and storage of root crops in clamps.  No chickens in his case although the putbuildings included a couple of stalls where he raised bull calves up to market (and prize winning) weight.  The house and outbuildings were in an L shape and the earth closet (fancy name) lay at the junction of the L, and you didn't need to go in the rain to get to it!  I knew it in the 1950s biut nothing at all had changed since my father had left home there in 1936 with the only addition being a small tractor to replace the horses.

 

There were no mains services except a tap outside the back door, the kitchen of course had a range and the 'curtain' was in fact a blackout curtain from the Zeppelin era while the best room and dining room hadn't been refurnished or decorated since the 1920s or '30s.  My dad painted the outside woodwork before he left home and it was never repainted in my grandfather's lifetime, he died in 1961.  Typical Yorkshire brickwork of course from locally made bricks.  The building still exists but is now fancified and rendered although the proportions at the front are unaltered but the door and windows have been drastically changed.

Edited November 6, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[IWCR]

Many people kept 1 or 2 pigs for meat, hence a pigsty & run.

Likely a covered wood pile for fuel.

As stated above vegtables would be grown, this would need to be walled or fenced in to keep rabbits off.

Probably some fruit trees, mainly Apple.

 

Pete

[Chris Turnbull]

This topic rang a bell with me as I recalled a most informative article in the MRJ many years ago.  Googling "Model Railway Journal" an index page was found and using "farming" as a key word I was able to pinpoint the article in question.

 

http://www.modelrailwayjournal.com/index.php?o=title&s=farming&t=All&g=0&x=30&y=9

 

The one you may find interesting is "Period Agriculture" by Tim Watson.  Unfortunately all my MRJs of that vintage are in the loft somewhere but if you can track issue 10 down it is well worth reading. 

 

Chris Turnbull

[Holmesfeldian]

Edited November 6, 2018 by Holmesfeldian

[Mike Storey]

Have a butcher's at this - brilliant museum of farming and rural life in North Yorkshire (I bought my house in Pickering from the curator), and has links to similar. 

 

https://www.beckislemuseum.org.uk/

 

There is also the Beamish museum, but from recollection, that is more about industrial heritage.

[Steamport Southport]

I believe that sheep were more common in the North than they are now.

 

Some beauties here.

 

https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/mammals/native-british-sheep-breeds-and-how-to-recognise-them/

 

 

 

Jason

[brianusa]

Many people kept 1 or 2 pigs for meat, hence a pigsty & run.

Likely a covered wood pile for fuel.

As stated above vegtables would be grown, this would need to be walled or fenced in to keep rabbits off.

Probably some fruit trees, mainly Apple.

 

Pete

 

Very similar to our relatives farm.  They had a mill driven by a water wheel though, which latterly also provided basic electricity for light.  Otherwise it was candles or oil lamps.  In the early days there was a privy over a stream.

Don't forget stables for horses and a barn.

 

Brian.

[brack]

I believe that sheep were more common in the North than they are now.

 

Some beauties here.

 

https://www.countryfile.com/wildlife/mammals/native-british-sheep-breeds-and-how-to-recognise-them/

 

 

 

Jason

Plenty of sheep still about. Usually on the hills and moors (good lowland pasture is for cows or growing arable crops, hill sheep farming is for land that's otherwise pretty useless).

 

Sheep breeds? Up in the Tyne valley its usually Scottish blackface, maybe a few Cheviots and swaledales. Swaledale/blackface crosses are also common. These days there's quite a few mules (essentially crossing a southern lowland meat ram with a blackface ewe to get a lamb with higher meat yields) but they're not so hardy up on the tops so they'd stick to the valleys. I think mule breeding has become more popular in the last 30 years, so in the period in question I'd go with a flock of blackfaces.

[jukebox]

Thanks very much everyone for your really helpful responses.

 

I'm not trying to recreate a slavishly perfect copy of any one place, but rather the "flavour" of what may have existed in my fictional part of the North East, so all your inputs have value.  I was especially glad to see the comments about the sheep breeds, for instance, as I have already have some fields that appear a little naked, and was planning to stock them.  Blackface sheep are such a novelty here in Australia, I won't be able to resist using those!

 

To illustrate the sort of thinking I've been using, I *had* thought about planting a small orchard of apple trees on one of the nearby hills... till I did some research and found there were no references to apples being grown in the North East.  So that was easy to rule out.  I've got approximately 15" square to play with - but that can be tweaked if I need to by using some of the field that has already been grassed.

 

 

I'll spend some time going through all the links and see what inspiration results.

 

Again, much appreciated, chaps.

 

Regards

 

Scott

Edited November 7, 2018 by jukebox

[lanchester]

Thanks very much everyone for your really helpful responses.

 

I'm not trying to recreate a slavishly perfect copy of any one place, but rather the "flavour" of what may have existed in my fictional part of the North East, so all your inputs have value.  I was especially glad to see the comments about the sheep breeds, for instance, as I have already have some fields that appear a little naked, and was planning to stock them.  Blackface sheep are such a novelty here in Australia, I won't be able to resist using those!

 

To illustrate the sort of thinking I've been using, I *had* thought about planting a small orchard of apple trees on one of the nearby hills... till I did some research and found there were no references to apples being grown in the North East.  So that was easy to rule out.  I've got approximately 15" square to play with - but that can be tweaked if I need to by using some of the field that has already been grassed.

 

post-8688-0-96492500-1537763162.jpg

 

I'll spend some time going through all the links and see what inspiration results.

 

Again, much appreciated, chaps.

 

Regards

 

Scott

A crop you might consider, if you get tired of all-over green for your fields, is mustard. This used to be widely grown on the Northumberland coastal plain (Mustard 'flour' was actually 'invented' by a Mrs Clements in Durham in 1720, so irts got a good North East connection). Used to see fields of it certainly into the 60s from the ECML between Newcastle and Edinburgh. I don't know if it gave rise to any rail traffic (Colmans at Norwich?) or whether there were more local producers. Bright yellow, like rape to which it is related, but a 'warmer' less artificial sort of yellow. 

[doilum]

Have a butcher's at this - brilliant museum of farming and rural life in North Yorkshire (I bought my house in Pickering from the curator), and has links to similar. 

 

https://www.beckislemuseum.org.uk/

 

There is also the Beamish museum, but from recollection, that is more about industrial heritage.

Have a butcher's at this - brilliant museum of farming and rural life in North Yorkshire (I bought my house in Pickering from the curator), and has links to similar. 

 

https://www.beckislemuseum.org.uk/

 

There is also the Beamish museum, but from recollection, that is more about industrial heritage.

After the original street, the farm was one of the early reconstructions. The beauty of Beamish is the way in which it captures the setting of small mining towns in their rural surroundings. Revisited this summer after a gap of twenty years. Not disappointed.

[Nearholmer]

Poverty.

 

The 1930s was a seriously bad time for agriculture.

[tractionman]

Thanks very much everyone for your really helpful responses.

 

I'm not trying to recreate a slavishly perfect copy of any one place, but rather the "flavour" of what may have existed in my fictional part of the North East, so all your inputs have value.  I was especially glad to see the comments about the sheep breeds, for instance, as I have already have some fields that appear a little naked, and was planning to stock them.  Blackface sheep are such a novelty here in Australia, I won't be able to resist using those!

 

To illustrate the sort of thinking I've been using, I *had* thought about planting a small orchard of apple trees on one of the nearby hills... till I did some research and found there were no references to apples being grown in the North East.  So that was easy to rule out.  I've got approximately 15" square to play with - but that can be tweaked if I need to by using some of the field that has already been grassed.

 

post-8688-0-96492500-1537763162.jpg

 

I'll spend some time going through all the links and see what inspiration results.

 

Again, much appreciated, chaps.

 

Regards

 

Scott

 

Looks great, I'd suggest one of these might look appropriate, a once-common feature of the English countryside but now sadly disappearing:

 

https://www.normanwisenden.co.uk/f5b_scale_link-oo-gauge-wind_powered_water_pump_kit.asp

 

Historic Ordnance Survey 1" to 1 mile maps for your chosen area ill indicate how common they were as the 1" OS maps show windpumps.

 

all the best,

 

Keith

[Fat Controller]

From what I remember of ten years in the North-East, I'm not sure you'd need a wind-pump..

One feature I do remember of farms there was that there always seemed to be a stand of trees on the windward side of the farm-stead.

[tractionman]

From what I remember of ten years in the North-East, I'm not sure you'd need a wind-pump..

One feature I do remember of farms there was that there always seemed to be a stand of trees on the windward side of the farm-stead.

Yep, windbreaks are common in Northumberland, the windpumps may have been less common but one is shown here near the ECML

 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=13.8471863693683&lat=55.1235&lon=-1.6786&layers=11&b=1

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[brack]

Regarding apple trees and orchards, I think generally our climate in the north east makes it less than optimal for commercial orchards, although there are one or two up here (they're more likely in Kent or worcestershire). However I'd be surprised if a farmer didn't have an apple tree or two for personal use. I have over 20 different fruit varieties growing in my garden and we get lots of fruit for very little effort. Maybe gooseberrys, black currants, raspberrys or brambles around the farmhouse? (One or two, not all of them).

[brack]

Regarding the wind pump, I don't remember ever seeing any. Theres no shortage of springs, streams and hills to get running water. Quite a few old farmhouses and cottages I know have springs piped to the house or feeding drinking troughs for cattle/horses (a friend once had a rather scary looking beast come out of his tap - probably a young lambton worm).

[Nearholmer]

Read some Beatrix Potter books; they might be c30 years too early, but not a massive amount would have changed, and although she was on the ‘wrong’ side of the north, she was in the north.

[tractionman]

Regarding the wind pump, I don't remember ever seeing any. Theres no shortage of springs, streams and hills to get running water. Quite a few old farmhouses and cottages I know have springs piped to the house or feeding drinking troughs for cattle/horses (a friend once had a rather scary looking beast come out of his tap - probably a young lambton worm).

 

Windpumps are usually stuck out in the fields, on the OS extract in the link (above) there are three windpump symbols shown but each is rather remote--the one at East Moor for example. The old OS maps are a window onto a lost / changed landscape.

 

cheers,

 

Keith

[meil]

Get yourself to Pendon.