My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill,
near Monyash in the County of Derby, until the end of January 1870 when
he moved to Sandycroft Farm, Queensferry, Flintshire.
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had rented 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.]
John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...
The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had rented 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.]
John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...
A Farm Journal continues :~
7 - 23 Fine weather no rain - have 5 Irish & Will[ia]m Davis extra for potato setting
1 - 24 F & M S & I to Meet[in]g
2 - 25 Fine waiting of potato sets - was disappointed by Davis of Hawarden about a truck of Scotch Down sets - so had to see out for some - men forking twitch from among beans
3 - 26 Fine carts to Argoed near Mold for some Skerry blue sets of John Griffiths @ 3/- p[e]r 90 lbs & across to the sands for some Scotch downs @ 3/-
4 - 27 Fine but desperate windy & dusty - setting potatoes - 2 teams gone to work for old Rector Davis - another load of Scotch down sets from Jos[eph] S. Windley - fin[ishe]d setting my potatoes the men have theirs to set in morn[in]g - 4 rows each to 3 plough men & Wright 2 ea[ch] to Jimmy - Rob[er]t & John Jones & Edward - working stackyard for swedes - turning manure in yards - Joiner E.Davis & son making some sheep troughs & made & put up new hatch gate for end of bank
5 - 28 fin[ished] potatoes - work[in]g rem[ainde]r for cabbage
up to 7 day 30th Fine but dry - bro[ugh]t mare of Beckett of Peel Hall home from Chester & left the old mare with Jones & Gerrards
I see the Skerry Blue is actually a blue potato, I'm certainly learning some new things since he moved to Wales.I wonder what they thought of this English man moving into Wales.Ann
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of Skerry Blue potatoes though I see they are still available. Yes, it does make you wonder what they thought of John. He had moved to the 'border country' though hadn't he ...
DeleteI do like blue potatoes ... it must have been a large farm, Charlie.
ReplyDeleteI can't say that I have ever knowingly eaten blue potatoes ... though I do like potatoes more and more the older I get. So far we've had no idea as to the extent of the farm ~ perhaps we will learn more as we go along.
DeleteBlue potatoes are especially good with fish. We had some this summer that were positively navy in colour! A deep navy.
DeleteI will have to look out for them.
DeleteCan you throw any light on the phrase "men forking twitch from among beans" ?
ReplyDelete'twitch' is a grass Mitch ~ there's a photograph here ~ https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=twitch+grass&client=firefox-a&hs=jws&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=EE1yUoWrHuWd0AXy_oHIDQ&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=796&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgrc=0Tcd9Pwz-X3IjM%3A%3BdZ_9GPq_vbvOgM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fapps.rhs.org.uk%252Fadvice%252FACEImages%252FJDR4815_145737.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fapps.rhs.org.uk%252Fadvicesearch%252Fprofile.aspx%253Fpid%253D283%3B432%3B288 ~ of the offending plant. If you don't get all the root up it will grow again next year.
DeleteThanks :-))
DeleteI love potatoes also..
ReplyDeletePotatoes with an [un]healthy knob of butter on them ~ lovely.
DeleteBlue potatoes!!!! They are so good, hard to find and more expensive as over here the fancy restaurants and hotels are the firsts to get those.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely look out for them ...
Delete