Land Girl - The Happiest Years of My Early Life

A Memoir of Service in the Women's Land Army 1939-46

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Last and Best Assignment as a Land Girl: Marshaw – The Trough of Bowland

February 4, 2014 By LG-Admin 1 Comment

Clipping – A Social Event

All this took many weeks and as the gathering, penning and clipping was a continuing process so it took a great deal of sustained effort. We reciprocated the the help we received from the many coming to assist us at Marshaw. None of us could have done it on our own. One rather nice thing about it was that I got to visit and know other farms and those who farmed and worked there, and it was traditional for the farmer’s wife to ensure we were all well fed. While hard work it was also something of a social event, a welcome change, as much of farming is lonely work done within the boundaries of an isolated farm, of which there were many in the Trough.

Dipping Sheep

A few weeks after clipping the sheep had to be dipped. This involved totally immersing the animal by means of poles into a deep concrete trench filled with “dip” that killed every kind of tick, louse and parasite, and gave the sheep a few weeks respite from the attention of flies. The dip used in my days is now banned for use because of its toxicity, and exposure to it was blamed for many farmer’s illnesses, depression and suicide. If it splashed on your skin it burnt and for that work I wore my oldest clothes, an oilskin hat and coveralls. It wasn’t a pleasant task, and the sheep didn’t enjoy it either. After all this the clipped and breeding ewes went back to grazing the fells.

Veronica at Marshaw

At about this time Veronica came to Marshaw for we had kept in touch, she was tired of Holt Hall Farm and wanted a change. So I had put it to Mr John and he accepted her, subject to proving satisfactory. On her arrival she shared my attic bedroom and bed. We did some tasks together, but not many as we were differently inclined; Veronica was happy with the arable work, and I with the animals, and Edward when possible would meet our preferences.

Trips to Market

But one thing we did do together was to take some of the sheep to market; this was at Quernmore, past Dolphinholme and now next to the M6. When I knew it, it was little more than a collection of houses, the market and a public house. Initially I went with Mr John and was made a great fuss of by all the men attending the sale as having a Land Girl present was something of a novelty. When Veronica arrived we went together and to get our sheep there drove them along the roads. They needed leading and driving, so one of us went ahead and the other followed behind with a dog.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Filed Under: Chapter 6 - Marshaw, The Trough of Bowland Fells, Part Two Tagged With: 21st birthday, Abbeystead, church, clipping time, clogs, daily routine, dances, distractions, Friesian cows, haymaking, horseshoeing, hunting parties, lambing, Liverpool, Lonk, Marshaw, recreation, repairing stone walls, sheep, sheep shearing, sheepdogs, shirehorses, trips to market, Trough of Bowland, Veronica

Comments

  1. David Drinkall says

    April 23, 2020 at 1:52 PM

    I am David Drinkall, born and raised at Marshaw and would love to hear more stories about Marshaw.

    Reply

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About Me

Proud member of the Women's Land Army, Jeanne Flann, nee Harlow, here. Happily retired in Utah after a full and satisfying life that got off to a great start working as a Land Girl in the Trough of Bowland, you can read more about me.

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Book Outline

  • Introduction
  • Part One
    • Chapter 1 – Prologue, the Sullivans, the Harlows and My Childhood
    • Chapter 2 – Joining Up – The Women’s Land Army
    • Chapter 3 – Lancashire College of Agriculture at Hutton
  • Part Two
    • Chapter 4 – Lower Greenbank Farm Over Wyresdale
    • Chapter 5 – Holt Farm Gateacre – Tragedy & Deliverance
    • Chapter 6 – Marshaw, The Trough of Bowland Fells
  • Part Three
    • Chapter 7 – Epilogue
    • Chapter 8 – Recognition at Last
  • Appendix

All Sections

  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells
  • Recognition at Last For Land Girls
  • Epilogue – Life After Being a Land Girl in the WLA
  • Last and Best Assignment as a Land Girl: Marshaw – The Trough of Bowland
  • Second Assignment as a Land Girl: Holt Hall Farm, Liverpool – Tragedy and Deliverance
  • First Assignment as a Land Girl: Lower Greenbank Farm, Over Wyresdale

Land Girls Memoirs and Other Memoirs

In the two step process of creating a paper memoir and now converting it into a web based one, it is my hope that my memoir, Land Girl - The Happiest Years of Early Childhood joins other Land Girl memoirs as a member of that genre, and contributes to it.

My husband has his own memoir through the same process as mine, paper memoir first, then website GunnerFlann.com. He too hopes his memoir contributes to the National Service Memoirs genre.

Please let us know if you agree contact me.

Recent Posts From the Blog

  • Finished for Now – Land Girls.Me a Memoir
  • Welcome to Land Girls
  • Appendix – The Bowland Fells

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