From an old drawing

Just after the First World War, steam ploughs and cultivators started in our area. These great engines weighed 20 tons and more. It was a wonderful sight to see them, with their quarter-mile of steel cables under their massive bellies, standing one each side of the field and pulling the cultivator or plough backwards and forwards. The cables were attached to a huge revolving drum.

These ploughs had six or seven furrows. The engines made a terrific noise and they started work at dawn and went on until dark. There were four men to a team - two engine drivers, one who steered the cultivator or plough and one man who cooked the meals and also relieved the drivers while they had their meal breaks.

A cultivator at work, being pulled by ploughing engines

They had their own large living hut where they slept; they only went home for Sunday. It took one man from the farm, full time, to cart coal and water to these engines - they would be whistling for water by five o'clock in the morning. One long whistle stood for water and two whistles for coal.

In hot and dry summers, these engines were the only thing that could break up the land before autumn or early rains. On heavy land, I have seen cracks three feet deep when there has been a drought. It was quite a sight to see these engines pulling the ploughs, cultivators, living hut and water cart and moving from farm to farm along the narrow roads.

When the threshing engines were moving from farm to farm, the workers knew which engine was on the way by its sound long before they could see it.

We would often hear them say, "It's that old Fowler coming - she will want some coal and water". On occasions the threshing engine would be five or six miles from home and one of the drivers had to be at the farm each morning to have the steam up ready to start work at seven o'clock.

Should it be wet, and look like being wet most of the day, the farmer would not have the thatch removed from the stack and the men then had to go home and come back the next morning.

On the large farms, stacks were made large enough for a full day's threshing on each stack.

When threshing, boys who had just started work got the job of bagging up chaff; this was a dirty and hard job. Some boys would push the belt off the flywheel; this would then give them time to catch up with their work.

All the corn from the threshing drum had to be loaded onto farm wagons by hand which was very hard work - a bag of Wheat weighed 18 stones, Barley 16 stones, Beans and Peas 20 stones, Clover 20 stones and Oats 12.

Corn would be tipped onto the barn floor, it would be turned every week, depending on the condition of the corn, until it was sold. The turning was done by hand using a barn shovel. When the corn was sold it had to be weighed up into corn sacks and taken to the buyer, mostly in Mellis, Eye or Stradbroke. Should the corn be barley and be sold to brewers in the Midlands, it would be loaded onto railway trucks at Eye Station.

Advert from Ransomes, dated 1921

In about 1921, a farmer from Occold sold six sacks of clover seed to Saville's of Mellis. The seed was delivered a few days later and a sample was taken on arrival. They would not accept it saying that it was not up to the standard purchased. The man was told to take it back to the farm and tell his employer to put the seed through the seed dresser again, then bring it back and it would be accepted. On his return to the farm, the man was told to tip the seed onto the barn floor and mix one hundredweight of fine sand with the seed and take it back in a week's time. This he did, another sample was taken and the seed was accepted.

There were four sets of threshing tackle in the village, all belonging to Mr. Last at Church Farm. These were all sold when the combines took over just after the Second World War.

On the morning of the sale, all the engines were paraded around the village with the seed drums, threshing drums, straw pitchers and chaff cutters. Everyone in the village turned out to say goodbye to them. I expect they were all cut up for scrap. (Ed note - See associated article)

One driver bought the engine he used to drive (Ed note - Anyone know who?). He wanted the flywheel placed on his grave but the Vicar would not allow it. I think the flywheel is still in the family.

Engine RT 1487 from Occold