Working Horses, Endon

Date:1960 - 1962 (c.)

Description:This is colour footage from the early 1960s. It’s at Endon, near Leek. You can see that what is being cut are reeds – probably for making thatch. The interesting thing about the film is that not only are these men working to reap the reeds, but also they are still using horses. Horses were used on farms through into the 1960s. This is valuable footage of horses being worked on a farm rather than just being kept for display purposes. The heavy horses are still celebrated and we still document the heavy horse parades which occur every two years in the Potteries.

The footage may not show reed cutting, as originally thought. Mr Graham Teece comments "They're not cutting reeds at all. The first part shows them grubbing out clumps of bulrush with mattocks and loading on to a cart. It would have been damp ground and they wouldn't want bulrush in the hay. Also the rush clumps would hinder the mower. The rest of the film shows them mowing grass for hay."

Share:


Donor ref:Archive tape reference: 326 (26/6077)

Source: Staffordshire Film Archive

Copyright information: Copyrights to all resources are retained by the individual rights holders. They have kindly made their collections available for non-commercial private study & educational use. Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted subject to strict adherence to the usage guidelines.