Friday 18 January 2013

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 31st January 1868

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby.
 
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

A Farm Journal continues :~

4 day 1st Dull misty frosty day W.E. no plough lead[in]g stone into Derby lane etc - cows lie in have swedes & straw - M[onthly] M[eeting] at B[akewe]ll

5 - 2 Fine hard frost W.E. repairing Derby lane tied 8 heifers up at Cales - rough wintry weather lead[in]g stone onto Derby lane 

Derby Lane, Monyash  
Derby Lane with Summer Hill on the left

There is then no entry until the 15th January 1868

4 - 15 began plough[in]g again Fine day - Funeral at Monyash of Mary Ann Blore of Brushfield Hough

6 - 17 Stormy day grinding at Cales

7 - 18 Ditto weather got stack in at Cales & thrash[e]d - open weather now wind S.W. - all young things lie in but go out in day - plough[in]g Crags ley - Thrash[e]d at Cales - winnow[e]d Bl[ac]k tartare for seed & put in mill chamber 

- open weather to 3 - 28 Showery & mild to Middleton to dine & tea fetch[e]d W[illia]m & Alf[re]d Cox fr[om] Rowsley

4 - 29 Fine day Stack in S.H. winnow[e]d plough[in]g etc.

5 - 30 Fine day very windy

6 - 31 Ditto - W[illia]m & Alf[re]d Cox to dine & tea

8 comments:

  1. Summer Hill doesn't seemed to have changed much,used go past every day in a taxi to school.I think it was also one of the farms as well as One Ash where wreckage of a Canberra Bomber fell in 1958.The two pilots survived the highest parachute escape ever,50.000ft (10.60)miles,temperature of
    -70ft to a height of 10.000 then their parachutes opened.I heard the explosion but didn't know what it was at the time.Ann

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    1. You had a taxi to go to school too Ann ? When I lived on the farm a taxi used to come and pick me and Bow up ...

      I've never heard the story of the Canberra ... I will have to look into that.

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  2. I guess if you had a comparison photo from back then it wouldn't look a lot different apart from the modern structure in the central part of the photo. Had to smile at the thought of the cows having a 'lie in'

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    1. Yes, it's just the bright red vehicle and the new barn that spoils it isn't it. It sounds as though the cows are doing better than me at present.

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  3. It's amazing to see how the stones are still holding on.

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  4. I looked at that roadway down to Summer Hill and got a bone-jarring reaction in my body. I have been there, and done that. I know what it would feel like to go down that road in a carriage or buggy. I hope my grandchildren will understand some of these things too.

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    1. I took this photo just over six months or so ago but had, of course, forgotten about it until I was search for an appropriate shot. I must admit I could have ridden a buggy down there too. Somewhere in my memory of course it is highly likely that my great grandmother and various generations before that [as far back as the 1690s] rode or walked this way.

      It is a very evocative image ... you could imagine the jolts as the buggy negotiated each of the bumps in the old road.

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