Agricultural History Gallery

Harvesting at Trenance BB98_06122

Mr Richard Harvey and workers harvesting at Trenance, Mullion, Cornwall, 1900-??1. Alfred Newton & Son. Silver gelatin glass plate negative. This image has captured distinct and somewhat incongruous elements. Traditional intergenerational farming forms the main subject, but the distant Marconi Signal Station is a symbol of modernity. The Poldhu Hotel, built to house Marconi workers, can be seen behind the signal station

© Historic England

Farrier, Woodbastwick, Norfolk AA98_13563

Woodbastwick, Norfolk. Interior of blacksmiths shop. A farrier shoeing a horse. A working horse would need re-shoeing about every five weeks. Here a hot shoe is measured against the horse's hoof, and the farrier can tell by the mark left how much to alter the shoe. However, the post-war campaign to mechanise agriculture meant that within a decade of this picture being taken there were few working farriers left. Photographed by Hallam Ashley, February 1949

© Historic England

Foxash Estate EAW171546

Foxash Estate, Ardleigh, Essex. One of a series of Land Settlement Association schemes of co-operative smallholdings set up in the 1930s. It originally encouraged unemployed people to take on smallholdings to grow vegetables for profit. The scheme was wound up in the 1980s, but some smallholders joined a cooperative - Foxash Growers Ltd - which continues to produce today. Photographed by Aerofilms in 1967

© Historic England Archive