Sound Recordings, Bedfordshire

Description

Ted Brown, recorded in the farm of John Costin at Eaton Bray [the voice of Mr. Costin's Housekeeper is also heard]; talks about the work of a blacksmith; the cost and composition of horseshoes; mending reins; agricultural labourers' wages; fitting metal tyres on wheels;hanging a scythe; haywork during the summer season, in Pinner (piece work); describes a ?snudgel (implement for retrieving a pail from the bottom of a well); making pig rings (pig ringing); describes the thatch hooks in the village church, which held rakes used to draw down thatch from a roof that was on fire; blacksmith's quenching trough; anti-slip horseshoes for the winter; decline in the number of working horses; Leighton Buzzard Horse Fair (February 5th); plough/harrow repairs - costs; farm labourers' wages in the 1950s; cost of living in the early 1900s; the good old days; discuss songs, including [first line: 'I was born in the old county of Bedfordshire']; bad times and the cost of food; the work ethic; Bedfordshire drill; John Costin talks about one of his farm labourers. [Tr. 1] Bert Proctor, recorded in Eaton Bray; talks about ploughing; piece work and wages at local lime kilns; working on Horace Henley's farm; showing people around caves that form part of a limestone quarry in Totternhoe; describes a rick fire; relates anecdotes about local characters; skating on a local pond; using a frail to thrash corn - describes its parts and construction; describes the technique for mowing with a scythe, and names the parts of the scythe. [Tr. 2] Sid Purcell, recorded in Eaton Bray; talks about a ?snudgel (implement for retrieving a pail from the bottom of a well); describes a thrashing frail used by his father up to 1900, and the technique for using it [ Mrs. Purcell contributes]; describes the differences between fagging and reaping hooks; drags, used to pull burning thatch from a roof; further talk of using a frail; the collector's work and Luton Museum; roadmenders breaking flints. [Tr. 3] Geoff Archer [the collector's uncle], recorded in Eaton Bray; talks about horse dealing; working horses; conversation re. animals, local people, the tape recorder, pig keeping, Ted Brown, Sid Purcell, beer, Ted Brown and his blacksmith's shop. [Tr. 4] Tape 4. [4 of 8].

Metadata

Identifier px9vc77d
IRN 414800
Class Mark LAVC/SRE/A749r
Level Item
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/px9vc77d
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Audiotape Sound Recordings
Creator(s) Shaw, David H
Date 1956
Size and Medium 1 x 17.8cm open reel spool, Duration: 147' 16".

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