Did anyone else see the first episode last night? Seems quite
interesting a was the previous series on the Victorian farm. I hope we
get a bit more mechanisation this time round - perhaps even some
stationary engine action!
NHH
As a semi professional historian, I am so very impressed by this series of
programmes which shows life as it was recreated by willing, trained,
experienced people who face hardship uncomplainingly and make stunningly
good television. Well done Lion TV for BBC2! However, I have noticed that we
rarely see their bedrooms and - call me cynical if you like - but I suspect
that they usually sleep offsite.
We might well see some steam and waterwheel action this time round - I liked
the way the two men looked at the wreck of the wheel in speculative
fashion - but I think it will be in the next series that we really see the
stationary engine appear in the farm.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn
kimsiddorn wrote (snip):
IMHO Steam would have been unlikely except in portable form brought in
by, say, a threshing contractor. That said, the punters and therefore
the program makers love it!
SE's would have begun to appear on the more forward thinking and
prosperous farms of the period - after all the Petter Handyman,
specifically aimed at the agriculturalist, was introduced around 1905 to
compete with cheap foreign (American) imports so the market must have
been fairly well developed by then.
However, on a farm blessed with water power 'on tap' as it were, I guess
that would indeed be the most likely source. Looked like a few new
buckets and a bit of ditch digging should have that one up and running
in no time flat ;-)
Certainly looking forward to the rest of the series.
NHH
Short preview of next week's show showed working waterwheel and, would
you believe, a tractor! OK it was an Ivel so in-period, but that would
have been a very rare sight indeed.
NHH
I've worked for Lion Television & they are OK. In fact, I was stood in a
wood on a Location Recce with a Lion production team on a fateful day in
September when one of them took a call on his mobile to say that a
commercial aircraft had flown into the World Trade Centre.
I love these programmes, they don't talk down to you, do stuff without a
full explanation with the expectation that you'll keep up and the presenters
are competent, enthusiastic and hardy souls. That said, I've noticed that in
each one of these series, you see a lot of the house but very rarely the
bedrooms. My suspicion is that they sleep off site - and the best of luck to
them!
Yes, I thought they might get the water wheel going although I'd be
surprised if it was easy.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn
Well that was fun! The scenario for introducing the Ivel turned out to
be as a demonstration by a visiting salesman. It did not exactly
distinguish itself as a ploughing tug but belted up to a piece of barn
machinery began to show its worth. £300 though - anyone know what the
price of a contemporary Petter Handyman was?
The working waterwheel(s) were not at the farm but local forge. Nice to
see none the less - even the 'little' trip hammer was pretty impressive.
NHH
In message , Roland
Craven writes
I remember visiting that place some years ago. Excellent, though I did
wonder why they had stripped out the water-powered generator and its
associated infrastructure, and left it outside at the back in a rusting
heap.
That's a long way to go for a billhook! I guess there would have been
somewhere more local back in the day.
BTW. Well done on SEM article Roland - just the sort of 'engine
genealogy' I enjoy. A couple more reads through and I might even get my
head round all the variants ;-)
NHH
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