Sound Recordings, Cambridgeshire

Description

Miriam Cross, recorded at home in Prickwillow on 10 June 1974; talks about her childhood home in the village; parents (farmers); baking using a brick oven; jam making; pig killing; describes the Fen road and the river at high level; flood preparations; describes the Fen before drainage; the village's name; Ely Cathedral; Prickwillow Church; the Baptist Chapel; Methodist Church and children's Anniversary; church/chapel attendance and changes; family horses; pig/calf rearing/feeding; skating on the river; skating races at Welney Washes. [Tr. 1] [Collector announcement]; John Winters, recorded at home in Pymore on 11 June 1974; talks about working on the land, chaff cutting, thrashing, working with horses, condition of roads; reference to a flood of 1912 and its effect on the harvest and potato crop; fen drainage; crops grown; counting cattle as a child; potatoes and ducks; ploughing with horses. [Tr. 2] [Collector announcement]; John Parson, recorded at home in Little Downham on 12 June 1974; describes domestic lighting in the fens before electricity, and the use of Tilly lamps; harvesting in 1951; mowing with scythes; farm wages; prices and the cost of living; brick ovens; playing Fox and Hounds at night as a child; practical jokes; describes the village fair (Downham Feast); cycling; German prisoners of war digging drains in 1914. [Tr. 3] [Collector announcement]; John Winters, recorded at home in Pymore on 13 June 1974; talks about ploughing with horses; names parts of the plough; depth of ploughing according to the crop; ploughing using stationary steam engines; area covered in one day; hours of work; practical jokes; catching eels (bait, setting nets); bird catching; the skills of the farmer and agricultural labourer - knowledge of mechanics, crop rotation/properties, fertilisation; chemicals in farming and produce - compares past practises. [Tr. 4] 1 of 15.

Metadata

Identifier vj2ck9tg
IRN 414716
Class Mark LAVC/SRE/A665r
Level Item
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/vj2ck9tg
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Audiotape Sound Recordings
Creator(s) Tammivaara, Irmeli
Date June 1974
Size and Medium 1 x 12.7cm open reel spool, Duration: 87' 28".

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