There are fascinating images of haymaking and ploughing, making cheese and grinding corn, cutting peat turfs and shoeing horses, as well as rural people at leisure.

The Countryman, June 2012

The Agricultural Revolution of the mid-18th century dramatically transformed the growth in population in England, from 5.7 million in 1750 to 16.6 million a century later. Changes in the types of crops grown, the yield of the crops and the use of the land itself were to alter the fortunes of Britain and Ireland forever.

By the late 19th century the medium of photography had been invented, making it possible to grab snapshots of the rapidly changing way of life in rural communities. In this book the authors have outlined six separate chapters, the first four covering the nature of farming in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland from the late 19th century onwards, depicting a variety of lost crafts, traditions and techniques, whilst the final two depict further English images from one private collector of more typical farming scenes or gathering in the crops and more. Each image is accompanied with a lengthy description and historical context against which the picture is taken

Discover My Past England

These photographs are some of the 120 that have rarely been seen but now appear in a new book Images of the past: Farming industry by Jon Sutherland and Diane Canwell.

The paperback pictorially traces some of the developments in agriculture since the start of the 20th Century in a nostalgic,
rather than a scientific, way. We see some early machinery at work and witness some of farming’s lost skills being practised. Each photo is accompanied by a full and informative caption, even though some of the details have been lost over time.
The paperback has five distinct sections: one each for farming at the turn of the 19th century in England and Scotland, one each for Irish and Welsh farming in the late 19th Century, farming in the 1930s and a final chapter on 1930s rural England
which offers some village photos and pictures of road making and repair in Hertfordshire.

Tractor interest is limited, given the time span of the publication, but there are enough photos of them – and farm machinery –
to make it an interesting publication for supporters of early vehicles. For enthusiasts of historical farming or country life it is, of course, a valuable source of pleasure.

Tractor and Machinery