1 : Fruits Of Labour
Before we get to proper husbandry ("farming"), there
are many "catch-crops" (in the non-technical sense).
A little labour is often called-for;
perhaps more in the way of cunning!.
We have mentioned rabbits : a Fenland pit for
trapping was called a toipe. Otherwise, a ferret
is possibly essential.
A muzzled ferret is a coped one. Even outside Broadland, wild duck (smee) could be
located (and shot?!); likewise pheasant or partridge.
Two types of the latter are identified :-
Frenchman, the French or red-legged partridge;
and Greybird (graybaad), the English partridge.
A brood of pheasants is a noye.
A seat is a sitting upon eggs (any variety).
Good King Wenceslas heads a long tradition of
gathering sticks for heating purposes.
The practice (including beachcombing)
is known as pawkin'.
On the larger scale, loppings from felled trees are
bra(tt)lin(g)s; and twigs and small sticks shruff.
The latter are also known as ti(t)-faggo(t)s,
as opposed to bavins (light, loose faggots).
Hazel-rods (used in thatching) are called sways;
larger hazel branches (e.g. for wattle and daub
buildings) are rhizzes.
Smuggling is an old profession, appearing
in many places and guises. There were,
at one time, wool-smugglers : called owlers.
2 : Growing Pains
Before saturation by chemicals, weeds grew alongside
crops (any gardener knows the weeds prosper more . . . )Beggary is the highly appropriate word
for a large clump of weeds.
Poppies in a wheatfield are known as corn-canker.
Twitch, or couch-grass, is quick.
Coarse, rough grass is ben(t)s (pl.).
A tussock of rough grass is a hassock, in Norfolk.
Planting alternately, in rows, (e.g. in an orchard)
is known as mockin'.
After seed-planting, comes germination :
which is to chick.
Crops which prosper are said to moise (thrive
or improve); and to thrive is also to addle; but
weak and sickly crops (and people?) are dwainy. Spells of cold, wet weather are said to make
the corn appear yallerified [from yellow].
Corn flattened by storms is said to be laid. As crops fill-out and expand (hopefully) they fathom.
And foison is the quality of moisture within the
herbaceous crops (e.g. hay) : ple(tt)y-a foison
being plenty of moisture!
Crops allowed to run to seed are described as
sho(t) or pipy.
To tiller is not to rake the soil, but where
many stems appear from one root.
Above-average and impressive crops are clinkers :
We 'ent 'arf go(t) some clinkers t-yare!
Sustenance "on the job" (i.e. packed-lunches) may
cheer-up the farmworker, faced with bad weather
and pestilence of all sorts.
A dockey-bag or pricker-bag is used to carry the
food from home, dockey being dinner (i.e. lunch).
Snacks at other times of day are : bai(t) (mid-morning);
beaver (afternoon); also fourses (afternoon),
pronounced farses (fower-ses).
A thumb-bi(t) is an amount of bread, cheese and onion,
held between the thumb and fingers of one hand;
while the other employs a shut-knife to cut it
and pass to the mouth.
3 : All Is Safely . . .
...gathered in, says the old hymn.
An irreverant reference occurs here, to ladies'
bloomers - known as Harvest Festivals!!
Harvesting might well be a one-journey (janny) affair;
which means working through, without a meal break!
When the last load is brought in, the revelry can start.
The following social event and feast (traditionally
in the barn) is known as the horkey; hence
horkey-lood for the last one.
An alternative name, for the last load - by custom
decorated with leafy branches - is the bough-load. A special gift of money - largees (French largesse)
was expected, by the labourers, at the end; and
they would haller largees until they got it. . .
At the simplest, a meadow is mowed; but the feed
left behind (or a second crop) rejoices in the
ancient name of the aftermath.
(See shack in 4. below).
Barley is gathered in awns or, in Norfolk, avels.
Before machinery arrived, the sheaves of corn
were placed on horse-drawn wagons.
The pitcher was the man loading them onto the wagon.
The hold-ye boy (How'dgee Booy) alternately cried
(hallered) "Hold" to the man atop the load;
and "Gee" to the horses. There is not much more to say about the harvesting
itself, but there is a multitude of words to apply to
the various quantities/types of produce obtained.
If the harvested corn contained (as it often did)
quantities of weeds and foreign matter, this was
termed bulk, but pronounced thus :
"There's more boke (book) than corn!"
A sheaf of corn, before tying-up, is a gavel.
This term also describes a loose bundle of straw
for thatching purposes. Another term for bundle is
bol(t), again used in connection with thatch.
Finally, reeds [not in our current purview, really]
used for thatching are bundled in fathoms
(a second use of the word) or yellums.
A finished sheaf of corn is a shoof,
and a group is a shock.
A stack, when there were any, had corners;
and these were called hips.
A goof (or gooft) is a corn-rick laid-up in a barn.
4 : Beasts Of The Field
Not wild ones, but beware of the bull at any time,
especially if he starts bellowing i.e. rorpin' !.
This word can be applied to any loud and scary noise.
Pigs can make a lot of noise too; they also burrow
in the soil (for roots etc.) i.e. rootlin' , with their
big snout or grunny.
Another animal to keep clear of is the male pig (boar) :
appropriately known, in Norfolk, as a brawn.
Young animals often have separate names (e.g. lamb).
For year-old lambs, read dans.
For the (younger) boar, as mentioned, read sho(t).
For a young sow, read yel(t).
The smallest, of a litter of pigs, is the barrer
[barrow]-pig, or pe(t)man or pi(t)man.
A weaned calf is a wennel; when
beginning to show its horns is a bud (neat!).
Bullocks need special supervision, and an
enclosed area set aside for them is called a par-yard.
Pigs whose sex is undetermined (why?)
are called Jonamy Jones.
A sheep, after its first shearing, is a hogge(t).
Cattle with stunted, down-turned horns
are described as slung-(h)orn.
Shepherds may still exist : but do they
still have lads - assistants - called pages
(as in Good King Wenceslas)?
Sometimes a female animal will be barren i.e. gast.
Animals need feeding, and winter feed
is the tricky one : called stover.
Arable farming is complementary
in the matter of shack, which is either -
- the feed-name
(grain lying about in the field after harvest), or - the act of turning-out animals or poultry
onto such a field.
Shack-time means post-harvest (i.e. gleaning time).
A trough, for pig food or watering animals, is
pronounced, in Norfolk - like so many similar words -
as trow (sound as in low, not now).
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5 : Food Processing
Our forbears would never have used such
an expression, but jargon moves on!.
We will take it as any agricultural activity post-harvest. There isn't much you have to do to a harvested apple,
apart from esoteric "grading" and fancy packing. A famous variety of Norfolk cooking-apple is the biffin.
A yellow plum has the nice name of Golden Drop.
Apples, in large numbers, were used for cider-making
[in Norfolk, as well as the West Country!].
The pulp left-over was called pummace
(French pomme).
Grain, on the other hand, needs threshing (troshin')
and all-sorts. The miscellaneous refuse left-over
by threshing is called cavings (cairvins).
In particular, oat chaff is termed oat-flights
(oo(t)-floigh(t)s).
Later comes the flour-mill, at which the
second sifting of the "meal" is known as randan.
Sacks (pokes) were carried from the mill on a pook-car(t).
Vegetable crops are, hopefully, spol(t) or spoul(t)
(not spoilt!) after harvesting - namely crisp and brittle.
Scorin(g) (or scoring-up) means hoeing
sugar-beet after initial chopping-out.
To shuck anything (e.g. peas) is to remove the shells.
[Americans use the word for removing clothing!].
Knockin' an' toppin' describes what is necessary
for harvested sugar-beet : knock the beet together
to remove most soil, and slice-off the leaves
with a hook!
Another word for the rubble
(husks, chaff, bits of straw) left-over is colder.
6 : Tools Of The Trade
Some trades, e.g. thatching (thackin'), use natural
materials and ancient skills; yet are trades not
exclusively rural or agricultural in nature.
They just feel as if they are!
The thatcher's boy assistant was,
unpleasantly, known as his toad (tood).
A short stick, pointed at one end, has the same name as a
hazel rod used specifically for thatching, namely brotch
(or broach, pronounced bruch - the "mid-u" sound).
Another type of short rod, for ridge thatching, is a ligger.
Combing thatch is yelmin(g) (yellums see 3. above).
Other tools for general usage include : - bee(t)le (heavy wooden mallet);
- crud-barrer (crowd-barrow
i.e. push-barrow = wheelbarrow!); - dipper (handled receptacle for getting water from
the top of a rainwater butt etc.); - firplen (dustpan, but not in Norwich?).
A rub is, unsurprisingly, a sharpening-stone
for (sharp) tools.
Conversely, a tool may be blunted, or have the edge
turned-over. This is to bezzle (i.e. bevel) the tool.
Weeding tools are needed by more than "country folk".
A long-handled reap-hook for cutting weeds is
a meager (mearger); whereas a smaller
"agricultural" scythe (sickle) is an aptly-named swipe.
The handle of a full-blown scythe is a tack, and
the scythe itself is a July Razor (Juloi Rairzer). A long-handled (or walking-stick based) weeding tool
is either a spud, a grubber or a dock-chisel.
A flasher, unexcitingly, is a tool for hedge-cutting
(flashing); other obscure tools for this purpose being
a bagging-hook and a scrogger.
Carpentry is represented by the fillister -
for cutting grooves or rebating i.e. a rabbit !
(either as a noun or verb).
Repairs will be needed for a wooden handle
which has sprung (split).
7 : Fieldwork
The attractively-named sedlip was a container,
hanging in front of the body, being suspended from
the shoulders; which left the hands free to broadcast
seed (sed) or indeed fertiliser.
A slop (apron or working-smock)
would also be a good idea . . .
Much of the on-going work, apart from weeds,
arose from the need to keep ditches and drains clear.
To dig or clean out (fye-ou(t)) is to didle-ou(t), the
name also given to a ditching spade (with long handle).
A similar long-handled scoop is a mud-scuppi(t)
or just plain scuppi(t) . . . Another implement for ditch-clearing, a kind of
rake with strong, curved tines, is a crome.
The same (famous) name is used for a muck-rake,
or a digger for lifting root-crops; the tasks and
implements all being very similar.
Finally the long-handled scythe (mearger) or the
knife (shore-cu(tt)er) can help in ditch-clearing. A pritch (in general) being a prick, so is the
name given to an iron rod, with a pointed end.
In the case of a fold-pritch, the rod is very heavy
and substantial; and is hammered into the ground.
This operation provides holes into which
sheep enclosure "hurdles" can be fitted.
If collecting eggs from the hins (hens) comes under
this heading, then the noise they make after laying
is a good signal i.e. hens pra(t)ing. See biddles.
Even more dramatic is the work sometimes
undertaken for the "sporting" Gentry, out on a shoot :
beating-up the pheasants etc.
Well, not beating the birds themselves, as explained in
the Norfolk term : gorn' a-brushin' which covers it!.
8 : Heavy Stuff
Smithy work, in fact.
The shoeing of lively colts usually required
extra restraints, in the form of a wooden frame i.e.
trave. Hence trav'us (trave house) for the smithy yard.
The blacksmith's hammer is a swedge.
In winter, to avoid slipping, the heels of the horseshoes
were turned-in: to form small spurs or calkins.
The process was known as roughin(g).
As for repairing vehicles (e.g. the tumbler = tumbril),
the axle is a vital component.
In Norfolk this has the name of ackulster or ecclester
(axle tree of wagon or cart).
Even the humble wheel has a Norfolk name - a runnel.
Quite a performance to place a heated iron tyre around
a wooden cart-wheel! : so a special platform, called a
plate (plair(t)), is needed.
A less exacting task, not requiring ironwork, is to
fashion some hinges out of leather : useful for such
things as rabbit hutches. These are termed jimmers.
An axe may suffer a broken handle or a split one
(subtle difference there).
If the wood is brittle or short-grained
(leading to breakage) it is spol(t) (see Vegetables).
If split, the wood has sprung.
9 : Pots And Pans
And baskets. . . and things . . .A broomsquire is an ancient occupation :
a maker of birch and heather brooms. Buskins are rather more than everyday footwear :
they are leather leggings or gaiters, much needed
in agricultural work (watch the brumbles!).
Similarly, hedging is tough work on the hands,
so special gloves i.e. dannocks are worn. Highlows are leather ankle-boots, useful in wet weather.
Much cheaper are the bits of string commonly
tied around trouser-bottoms (to keep out
the cold and other things . . .)
These modest strings have impressive names :
Elijahs (= Lijahs)
or Yorkers (= Yorks).
A keeler or killer is a large wooden tub,
used for scalding a pig after it has been killed.
The same term is used for any large tub
employed in washing or brewing.
A basket, in general terms (to and from market),
is called a ped (as in pedlar); while a shallow basket,
made of rushes, is a frail. Poor little Moses!
It is no surprise (to modern ears) to find the
word skep used for a much bigger wicker-basket.
A smaller cousin, made of fine and skinned willows,
and without handles, is a windle.
A gotch is a large jug or ewer, often used to
carry beer to the harvesters (men), by the skinker.
This lad also filled the glasses and horns
at ale-house gatherings.
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