Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2012 | Page 90

COUNTRY LIFE Country with Sam Biles A hundred years ago Island farms were much smaller than today and there were many more of them. Much of the land was tenanted and owned by the large landed estates - the Ward Estate around Cowes, the Seeley Estates in West Wight and the Fleming Estate around Binstead to name but three. Many farmers regularly moved from farm to farm, giving up a tenancy here, taking on a new one there. Farmers died or retired and sons took on new farms. When a tenancy ended there was normally a sale of stock and equipment and there were a number of local firms of Auctioneers including Sir Francis Pittis, Way Riddett/ Steadman and Way, who undertook these sales on the farm by auction. Each sale was advertised in the County Press and meticulously catalogued Lot by Lot. For the day of the sale one copy of the catalogue was cut up and pasted into the Auctioneer's sale book with space allowed for the clerks’ to record the hammer price of each Lot and the buyer's name. I am lucky enough to have a number of sale books from around 1900 recording dozens of these farm auction sales. The clerk's copperplate handwriting records all the details and is a real snapshot of Island's agricultural community a century ago. Farm sales still occur today but not in the same numbers; farms are now larger, much more land is owner-occupied and changes hands less frequently. Every cow and horse had a name. This would be unheard of now where cattle are only distinguished by their ear tag and passport numbers. It is interesting to see that a number of the farming families who were engaged in agriculture then are still farming now. There are numerous mentions of Attrill, Mew, Morris, Calloway, Taylor and Morgan. My Great Great Grandfather Charles Henry Biles - known as Fred - is mentioned several times. In a sale at Cheverton and Lake Farms in 1902, when a Mr W Barnes had died, Fred bought Lot 140: “A capital and fast donkey, quiet in harness or saddle and a well built governess car, with varnished body and cushions in blue cloth” for the sum of £13 2s 6d, which equates to £4,500 today when compared to average earnings – not much different from a second hand car today perhaps! At the same sale a Mr Morris bought Lot 136: “A valuable Email: [email protected] 90 www.visitislandlife.com living and active chestnut gelding, “Captain”, rising 4 years, free from vice, believed to be sound, and broken to farm work” for £29 8s, which in 2011 would equate to £10,000, enough to buy a moderate second hand tractor. Almost every farm seems to have been 'mixed' with a combination of a few milking cows, pigs or sheep and arable equipment. It really is a different world from today when there are less than 20 milking herds on the Island compared to over 60 in the early 1990s. I wonder what the farming scene will be in another 100 years time.