PART TWO
THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION IN
THE ISLE OF MANc 1780 1900
Isle of Man had
direct link with
in Britain
as a whole through the person of John
Christian Curwen 1758 1828 a leading
pioneer of British agriculture who had a
model farm at Schoose in Cumberland He
was a member of the ancient Christian
family
of Milntown near Ramsey Since he inherited
Milntown he was eligible to become a member
of the House of Keys and in fact did become a
member serving for more than fifty years He
resided at first at Ewanrigg Hall and later at
W orkington Hall
THE
the
a
Agricultural Revolution
The emulation of
good examples of agricul
practice was an important element in the
process of change Bishop Wilson is the
earliest figure identified as an immigrant
pioneer of better farming Sir George Moore
1709 1787
a prominent Manx merchant
tural
who also farmed
Ballamoore
at
Patrick
was
interesting pioneer of new methods He
improved his estate by draining and fencing
an
He
sought to straighten out the tortuous
boundary hedges of his grounds and utilised
two sources
of marl
on
Ballamoore
his mercantile activities he
was
Through
import
able to
red white and
In 1805 Curwen
founder ofthe Working
ton Agricultural Society and was its per
manent President This Society was the model
for other societies throughout Britain Its
two day annual show attracted exhibitors
from
as
was
far away as France and America
of the English agricultural
Leading figures
revolution such as Coke of Holkham Sir John
Sinclair and the Duke of Bedford would stay
at Curwen s home On his model farm Curwen
experimented with drainage irrigation
developed root crops reared better breeds of
cattle and
bone
sheep
yellow clover from London and
improve his pastures Moore
was
already doing this in the 1750 s
Rotterdam
to
were grown in 1793
by Sir George
Moore of Ballamoore Mr Bacon of Newton
Mr Oats of Oatlands Mr Basil Quayle of
Turnips
the Lord Bishop
the Duke of
Atholl Mr Senhouse Wilson of Farmhill and
Deemster Crellin of Orrisdale Manx Mer
19 2 1793
This list includes most of
cury
the leaders of agricultural change in the Island
at that time
Creggans
and tried out chemical and
Curwen was also the writer of
very successful books on agricultural methods
and Vice President of the Society of Arts
manures
Prominent amongst the immigrant pioneers of
the
farming
new
Dunlop
a
Cumbrian
methods
Scot
and
were
Joseph
Anthony
Faulder
was
Through Curwen a branch of the Workington
Agricultural Society was established in the
Ronaldsway
Working ton Agricultural Society judges
Island in 1807 Curwen attended the
of the Isle of Man branch whenever
1812
meetings
possible
A visit to the
Workington annual show be
came part of the social round for Manx nota
bilities Local competitions with premiums
for farm management animals and crops
were
up The judges passed interesting com
ments on the farms they visited
The list as
local officials of the branch and the awards
lists pin point many of the pioneers of new
methods on the Island Curwen s relatives
John Taubman and Colonel Mark Wilks of
set
Kirby
were
amongst these
The farm
exhausted
a
in his third year at
when his farm was visited by the
Faulder
was
described
when he took it
brewer in Castletown
of the brewery
over
as
He
and used the
in
much
was a
waste
feed his stock He
products
was also involved in the
butchery business In
1812 he had 26
acres
to
under
turnips
The
his farm praised his well
cultivated turnips and his fine short horned
bull He was criticised for leaving his cattle
out all year
His milk cows were of the
short horned breed Faulder was later to
reside at Ellerslie in Marown and also to have
Abbeylands Farm in Onchan Dunlop who
comments on
@
died in 1828
and
He
preceded
was a
farmed at Balnahow in Onchan
Faulder as owner of Ellerslie
member of the House of
keys
new
was optimistic about the benefits
farming and is reported to have
stated in 1810 that
at
present there
was
1845 found old ways persisting
particularly on upland farms He saw a sledge
being used to bring in the harvest near the foot
of South Barrule and primitive clay cottages
on
the north of the Island As late
not a
S
cart
Agricultural
small farmer who had not his English
of the best construction in all parts of the
Island the mud cottage was rapidly exchang
ing for substantial stone houses The
improvements to the cleanliness of the lower
orders was no less striking The happy effect
of agriculture in augmenting the comfort of
people was everywhere visible
There
however
were
considerable obstacles
to
be setbacks and
the
to
of the
adoption
commented
held
by
not until 1858 that a
was
permanent local society
established
Quayle 1812 contributor of Manx
information to a nation wide survey by the
U K Board of Agriculture saw the chief
obstacles to progress on the Island as
Thomas
1
The harmful effects of diversion of interest
herring fishing
Defective fencing particularly
to summer
2
as a
threat
to winter green crops
3 Lack of capital resulting in
Manxmen
and
we
believe
we
are
considered that since 1800 the great improve
The
ments had been made by immigrants
largest farms and possessed
and scientific knowledge
skill
practical
all the power of enterprise and sufficient
latter held the
capital
Society in 1813 There was
improvement of the land would lead to taxa
tion A second attempt at a local agricultural
society in 1842 only lasted three years It was
a Visit to some
Districts of the Isle of Man
The small farms are generally
simple fact that the native
stating
if
not the worst is certainly not the
farming
best to be met with
He was speaking of the
80
120
Manx farm Burns
acre
average
tural
the parent
a fear that
1861 R
but the
sound
withdrew from
as
Brief Notes of
Burns
farming amongst the smaller landholders
The Manx branch ofthe Workington Agricul
new
Society
symptomatic
Train
C Curwen
of the
were
of the hard conditions in the Isle of Man
and
excelled in wheat cultivation
J
in Cleveland Ohio in 1827
and
He
deplored
the fields he
saw over
with weeds and also the Manx fences
Referring to the hedges he says the aboriginal
fence or rather embankment on top of which a
skilful horseman might display the paces of
his steed is a most admirable contrivance for
wasting land and saving the seeds of weeds
the two opposite both equally bad things On
the other hand he saw the well cultivated fields
on the Island as comparing well with those in
the best farmed districts of England and
Scotland
run
An entry in Jenkinson s Practical Guide to
the Isle of Man
1870 describes meeting an
elderly
farmer who
told
us
he well
remembers the time
detriment of the soil and failure to keep the
purity of animal breeds
5 Injurious effects of the tithes inclining
some fifty years ago
plough which was made of wood
with the exception of a small piece of iron for
the sock they used to yoke two oxen and three
horses attended by three men one man hold
ing the handles one sitting on the plough to
keep it in or lift it out of the ground and one
leading the horses The harness was made of
farmers
straw
inadequate
implements
farm
buildings and poor
4 Lack of knowledge leading
tration
on
to
expense of
to over concen
producing grain
produce
corn
and
non
crops to the
tithable crops at the
hay
when to
one
and old
instead of iron
stems of gorse
Quayle s proposals for improving the standard
of farming were to facilitate the enclosure of
waste lands for growing timber and providing
their lime and
pasture for sheep to encourage
the growing of turnips and other green crops
for winter and spring feed for sheep to have
cradle thus
good
summer
legislation
to
secure
the
improvement
of
fences ditches and roads
Though leading
the Agricultural
farms would be
landowners
preoccupied
following
the difficult times
Napoleonic
@
might
Revolution those
Wars
The Manx
embrace
on
smaller
with survival in
the end of the
pioneer
settlers
twisted
straw
stockings In the harrows
they used pins made from the
They had no carts carried all
manure
which
of wood and then
being
in cradles made of
were
placed
on
each
how the old ways still
1820s
fastened
on
to a
piece
the horse
one
side
This reveals
lingered
on
into the
AN OVERVIEW OF MANX
AGRICULTURE IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
The story of Manx farming in the first two
decades apart from the changes associated
with the
Revolution is one of
Agricultural
prosperity until
the 1820s The
1816
period
followed by collapse in
of the Napoleonic Wars
century farmers produced what met their own
needs and those oftheir immediate area They
exported little and the Island was on balance a
small
agricultural produce
of
importer
Commercial farming was confined to favoured
areas in the north and south of the Island and
The emphasis
to the hinterland of Douglas
was
on
cereal
green crops
the farmer
was
in its
fisherman
was
Tourism
Man commented that cultivation extended as
in some instances further than
far
general expansion of the
stimulated this development
perhaps
prudence would have dictated or profit will
ultimately justify He was certainly proved
right by events The collapse of farming after
associated here with a series of bad
seasons and one of the periodic failures of the
herring fishery led to the ruin of many small
farmers A decline in population followed and
a
spate of emigration to America Small farms
became absorbed into large estates and the
tholtans began to appear in the uplands This
Land
was the period of tithe and bread riots
values were not to recover until the tithe issue
Waterloo
was
in 1839
finally resolved
returned to the Manx countryside
1850 and 1874 At this time the
northern district of the Island rose to its full
potential Artificial manures began to be used
between
improved
drainage
introduction of draining
was
with the
adopted
and
tiles in 1853
The last quarter of the nineteenth century
called for fresh adjustments by farmers As
elsewhere in Britain
cheaper imported
from North America caused
a
wheat
decline in the
acreage devoted to that crop There had been
7 444 acres of wheat on the Island in 1873
This shrank to 908 acres in 1896 At the same
time there
The
rapid growth in
visitors creating
was a
of summer
demand for
extra meat
period 1885
and
1890
population
production
growing as
the better land The
a
saw
the number
a
seasonal
dairy products
drain
The
along with
extent
the
growth
Island
as
spoke
a recent
art
of
the middle of the century a crop rotation
system adapted to the raising of livestock was
and this
was
to continue in the
twentieth century The rotation of five or six
courses involved
just two cereal crops
Marketing arrangements had also greatly
improved Early in the last century dealers
from
Douglas
and
Ramsey
came
around the
farms and bought produce With improve
ments in the roads extensive carting to the
towns developed and the town markets
assumed much greater importance
The
opening of the railways in the seventh decade
of the century made it much more practicable
to get the produce of northern and southern
farms
to
Douglas
visiting industry
development
market at
was
a
time when the
expanding rapidly
The
of marts obviated the need to
hold
parochial fairs and was a much more
satisfactory method than the individual
bargains struck
dealers
from
between farmers and stock
across
in livestock
farming
agriculture on the
beginning of the
to be
The end
By
the end of that
At the
came
farm labour
fishing
century
Quayle 1812
cereal
on all
made it necessary for fishermen to raise more
capital and commit themselves to full time
the nineteenth century may be best
conditions at the
by
during
appreciated
comparing
beginning with those at
a
English bounty on herrings and stiff
outside competition on the fishing grounds
the maximum
of the changes in Manx
replaced
agriculture
herring fishery
on
plus
of the
which the
acreage of usable and improved land
Island has ever achieved Crofting contributed
to this
increase
Manx economy
The commercial
of livestock had
the main aim of
less and less
had become
between 1831 and 1891
widely adopted
Prosperity
deeper ploughing
in
of
still strong
A 36
commercialised
more
growing
insignificant
was
By the end ofthe century farming
much
was no
The tradition of
infancy
increasing corn prices was very
favourable to farming here Marginal lands
were brought under the plough
particularly
in the uplands J McCulloch whose Western
Isles of Scotland 1819 included the Isle of
with its
There
production
effective rotation of crops and the
Tholtan
above
Sulby
Two
major changes in the countryside already
pronounced by the close of the nineteenth
century and continuing into the twentieth
were the abandonment of upland farms and
the considerable decline in the percentage of
the population working on the land The
upward
limit of cultivation
once
in the order
of 220 metres
has receded to 180 metres The
deserted farms around Sulby Glen are good
illustrations of the abandonment of the hills
whereby formerly cultivated fields became
sheep runs These intack farms were much
more substantial than crofts
Indications of
the decline in the percentage ofthe population
engaged in agriculture are the facts that
between 1860 and 1960 the number of actual
farmers fell by one third and the number of
regular farm workers by more than half
payments
It
the greencrops
on
bound to
during this period of agricultural
depression that Bishop Murray nephew of the
decided
and
the tithes He was
persistent
man
rioting
The method of
changed during
in 1825
There
were
to a head at
came
collecting
previous
the
who
sought
an
energetic
in
1817 to
and for all the legality of the
greencrop tithe Test cases followed and when
two farmers appealed to the Privy Council a
decision was given in favour of the Bishop
The farmers in general resolved not to pay and
combinations were formed to resist payment
clear up
once
William Farrant
Jurby addressed
Captain of the Parish of
public meeting on the issue
Manx and English and then
a
which was signed by those
of the bond were That if
terms
Proprietor
of Land should either take his
tithes of any kind whatever or tithes of
other
farmer or give aid assistance or
any
countenance to any Proctor or Agent of the
Clergy or refuse to join in the said Bond such
Proprietor should be debarred of all society or
intercourse with his neighbours and if guilty
of breaking the terms of the Bond should be
fined f20 to go to mending the Highways that
all Tenants refusing to join the same should be
refused work or any relief or assistance from
the Parishes
own
The payment of tithes in kind to the Church
long bitterly resented by farmers led to a
and
of Atholl
the conditions of the
improve
to
clergy through
any
POTATO RIOTS
several reasons why the issue
this time
the Duke
Governor in Chief
present The
major dispute
this stage was
to flare
up
was
speaking in both
produced a bond
THE TITHES AND
at
major dispute
cause a
the tithes had
century
so
that
Similar documents
the tithes with the result that they were often
sold for much above their value There was
considerable hostility towards these lay
Combinations as they
signed in Kirk Michael and
with
the
Ballaugh
Captains of the Parishes
active
an
playing
part This was the kind of
the
in
which
Irish were to engage in
activity
1880 but was a hazardous undertaking in the
proctors who collected the tithes
repressive
the tithes
were
let out to the
auction
public
highest
highest bidder at
person making the
The
bid then held sub auctions and relet
were
called
with Pitt
The introduction of potatoes and later
turnips in the eighteenth century caused
force
contention because it was argued that tithes
should be paid on crops which were cut and
In 1825
not on
were
those like potatoes and
harvested in
Bishop
Wilson
a
turnips which
Although
different way
had
imposed
a
tithe
on
potatoes in 1712 the potato tithe had lapsed
by the second half of the eighteenth century
The acreage devoted to potatoes and
meant less under tithable crops and
income for the
turnips
so
With
a
tenth of the value of the green crops
collapse of farming after the
the
much distress
Napoleonic
small
that
insistence
on tithe
farmers
amongst
Wars there
f201
was so
era
following
ban
on
the
Napoleonic Wars
remaining in
combinations
Bishop Murray announced through
parish churches that a tithe of twelve
shillings per acre would be levied on potatoes
the
This was a singularly inappropriate time to
make the levy because the crop was bad and
the herring fishing had been a total failure
Potatoes and herring were the standard diet of
the poor and the situation was explosive
less
impoverished clergy
After 1770 the Fish Tithe ceased to be
collected following bitter disputes and this
further reduced the meagre income of the
clergy and therefore the church was anxious to
claim
s
or
were
Trouble began in the parishes of Arbory and
Rushen The carts of the tithe collectors were
broken the horses driven into the sea In the
great concourses of country
assembled in the Island s capital
Castletown The red flag was hoisted and
following days
men
deputations
sent
to
speak
with the
Bishop
Under such pressure Bishop Murray
obliged
1825
to
forego
the
new
was
tithes for the year
There
was
where the
the form
also trouble in the parish of Patrick
most serious offences occurred in
of
at
arson
Knockaloe where
seventeen stacks were burned
men
from the northern
Bishopscourt
the
nearly half
of the
Intacks
licences issued
by
on
total
original
over
had become
the centuries
the Lords of Man
Meanwhile
parishes assembled in
Lady Sarah Murray
area
wife of the
Bishop who later wrote A
Memorial of the Isle of Man in 1825 spoke of
a siege state at Bishopscourt from November
4th to 9th By November 5th however the
northern mobs had returned home The
Bishop and his family were escorted to Castle
Mona for greater security
Lieutenant
Governor Smelt was pressurised into applying
to Liverpool for two companies of infantry
The Lieutenant Governor was criticised by
the British Government for
not
taking
a graver
riots
and for
during the
The
Manx
decisively
view of the situation
not
acting
more
authorities fearing more intervention from
Whitehall made a point of bringing to justice
two of the arsonists in the Knockaloe incident
Subsequently
to
the two
transported
escaping the
men were
Botany Bay after narrowly
death
Dalby
Mountain Pillars
penalty
of the Commons continued
of benefits particularly to
crofters and small farmers until the nineteenth
century The variety of livestock brought to
the Commons is indicated by the statement
The unstinted
In 1827
Bishop Murray alarmed at the
strength of the local feeling and believing that
the whole Manx establishment
against
him
attempt
was
left the diocese
made
to
was
allied
No further
collect the tithe
on
green
in 1828
crops The clergy told the new Bishop
We are confident that if your Lordship
witnesses the
indigent
circumstances of the
as your clergy do many of
the peasantry unable to find employment or
to
procure food for themselves or their
people
and beheld
families
and
a
give
use
variety
a
made in
1861
by
Robert
I have known
Forester
Cowley the last
people send horses
cattle pigs and goats upon the mountains as
well as geese and sheep
The wild sheep left
the
mountains
out all year on
without much
had
their
value
as
indicated
in an old
attention
Manx sheep shearers rhyme
large proportion of land
to distant countries to
the
necessaries
of life your Lordship
procure
would concur in the opinion that this
unquestionably is no time for rigorous enact
ment of dues whether civil or ecclesiastical
owners
to
emigrating
Friction between the
clergy and the tithe
relieved
by the Tithe
payers
finally
Commutation Act of 1839 By this Act pay
ments were regulated according to the average
Gow
dy lhome
Cur lesh
tar
as
dy mollagh
eayn braue bwoirrin
loamrey braue saillagh
As
dty
dty
My aikys 00 moddey croym dty chione
As my aikys 00 maarliagh roie er y hon
which translates roughly
was
Go away bare
Bring
price of corn during the seven
If you
each payment
And if you
years preceding
The payment of money tithes
continued until 1946
and
good she
see a dog
a
see a
come
back rough
lamb and a good fleece
stoop your head
thief
run
for it
From the Commons came a number of other
useful resources enumerated in a petition to
the Home
THE COMMON LANDS
Common
The uncultivated lands of the Isle of Man
originally comprised
Warren
Lord
s
Forest and
These lands were situated in the
northern and southern hills the Ayres and
Mooragh By the middle of the nineteenth
century it is estimated that about 22 000 acres
Secretary
in 1857
of the Isle of Man in
pasture
and
at
Turbary
The inhabitants
general
have
of Estovers
also of quarrying stones
and
enjoyed
and of
digging
away sand and gravel Common
is exercised in respect of Ling or
carrying
of EstoVer
Heath and Common of Pasture exercised in
respect of horses
swine
cattle
sheep
geese and
Encroachment
the Commons
on
periodically
led to bitterness and physical violence Public
opinion was very tense on the Commons ques
tion from 1832 onwards and matters
came
to a
head
when T A Corlett of Lezayre was
granted licence to enclose 300 acres of the
Lezayre Commonlands adjoining his hill farm
at
The land licensed for
Perk ny Earkyn
enclosure was regarded as a choice piece of
There were confrontations
summer grazing
between the surveyor and an angry crowd
by destructions of the enclosing
followed
hedge
were
known
of 1856
Great
as
the Cossacks and the episodes
as
the Battle ofPerk ny
had
Enquest
enclosure
not
and there
in
was
Earkyn
approved of
a petition to
1857
Secretary
the passing
Home
The activists
operations proceeded
as
events was
The
of the
The
herring fishing
the traditional
was
supple
mentary occupation Carting working on the
farms road making and latterly mining were
other sources of income The work of the
crofter s wife and children as casual labour at
hay and harvest
family income
c
1840
Crofts
as
were
places
without
means
always
horse relied
time
a
often
horse
the
on
was a
was
way of adding to
spinning until
flax
thought
though
of
this
as
was
small
by
no
A crofter without a
the horses of larger farmers
case
and
repaid with labour A farm labourer s
piece of ground was often ploughed at the
same time as ploughing for his master was
being done on surrounding fields
this
the
of
outcome
Disafforesting
Act of 1860
The
Act swept away all rights
description both of Crown and
Disafforesting
of every
for Crown and mineral
People except
and vested the
King
s
Forest
as
it now
three Commissioners who issued
rights
in
was
final report
a
The
final report defined the
1865
boundaries of the Commons precisely and
awarded the lands as follows 8 055 acres to
the Crown
one third to the People
to be
vested in Trustees of the Commons one third
in
be sold
defray
as
the
allotments with the
making
of
new
roads
legal process
Commons appointed
of the
shepherds
one
for the north and
one
The
two
for the
south
Typically
a
crofter had
often
The changes met with OppOSItIOn from
crofters and tenants when the clearance of
sheep from the mountains was carried out It
was finally
necessary for Governor Loch
accompanied by the garrison of soldiers and a
number of police to overawe the opposition on
the southern hills
Disafforestation made
the
had
common
were
grazing grounds
deprived
of
in the hills and
often a long
search for other pasture
from
the
There
croft
was
long
standing
way
bitterness with the settlement from those on
hill farms
though farmers further away
to
showed little reaction
CHANGING FORTUNES OF
THE CROFTERS
or
Livestock
two other cattle
owned
or
obliged
to
by
some
we mean
rented
a
small scale farmers who
smallholding
supplement their meagre
other
occupation
but
were
resources
Going
to
the
a
on
was
pig
do with land of
the hillsides where
grazing
the
on
usually
poultry and
a cow
one
some
a
small number of sheep
The
more
lingered
on
primitive aspects of country life
in the crofting community Work
the croft was carried out by hand The
scythe hand rakes spade and flail persisted
long after mechanical appliances became
typical of the larger farms Women carried on
on
the work in the fields in the absence of the
men
and did all the housework The small cottages
with two rooms separated by a dividing
partition
and
the
half
loft
were
still
in
evidence Sometimes a gable extension was
added to house a cow or a detached outhouse
added nearby There was some progress as the
century advanced perhaps the thatched roof
replaced by slates and a group of outbuildings
resembling a small farmstead erected
the nineteenth century and long
before crofters formed an important part of
the Island community The availability of
their labour was fundamental to the rural
economy and with their decline farmers were
Throughout
By crofter
to make
poorer quality
could be made of the
use
Commons
difficulties for crofters who
Spade
fences and
walls and the costs of the
Trustees
Mountain Drain
to
proceeds
compelled
such
labour saving machinery
binder The activities of the
adopt
to
the
as
corn
crofters contributed
to
the
arable and improved land
high proportion
on
of
the Island which
peaked
between 1885 and 1890
Trends
were
The 1812
Manx report
Agricultural Society in
Workington
commenting on the
progressive farming methods at the Nunnery
Howe farm
that
he
half of the nineteenth century which were to
accelerate in the twentieth and result in the
of the Manx crofter
in
disappearance
Changes
the herring fishing industry demanded full
time concentration on fishing and the end of
the farmer fisherman
his
as
saw whilst
walking
spoke
across
lean half starved race
a
sheep
of the
the moun
He would be
of the
speaking
sheep pastured on the Com
of the imported breads such as
Some
mons
s
varieties promiscuously
keeps
Sir George Head who wrote about
of the Island in 1837
tour
sheep he
tains
remarked of the farmer
all
together
however present in the second
the
to
the mountain Irish
sheep
bad feeders and restless
described later
sheep
were
as
not
a
success
The
Disafforestation Act of 1860 and
ensuing allocation
the
of the Commons
deprived
crofters of the use of the unstinted grazing on
the hills Younger men sought employment in
the mines of Laxey and Foxdale Up to a
Various crosses of sheep were experimented
with e g Leicester and Cheviot breeds for
higher farms
thousand
A writer
employed Mining was
crofting though miners often
men were so
compatible
with
walked great distances e g from Sulby to
Snaefell mine or East Baldwin to Foxdale The
lure of
emigration also became strong and
after 1860 the desertion of crofts increased As
the general standard of living and expectations
rose
life in the isolated
valleys
uplands
with its associated
and
hardships
remote
was no
longer tolerated
1860
sheep
on
refers
s
Leicesters
to
in the Island
during
the
introductions of Cheviots
Southdowns
Shropshires
Lin
coins
Costwolds black faced Scotch and
Herdwicks Shropshire and Leicester sheep
feature prominently in the 1877 farm
competi
promoted by the Royal Agricultural
Society of England Sheep dips were in use
Prior to the introduction commercial sheep
tions
dips we hear
of tobacco dipped in barley water
mixture of soot buttermilk and sulphur
being used Rape began to be grown as food
for sheep and cut turnips were used by the
middle of the century A writer in 1867 con
demned the use of lankets on sheep With
regard to placing lankets on sheep to prevent
them rambling this is a vile and cruel practice
and ought not to be tolerated on any farm
His words had no perceivable effect
or a
The
tholtans
of
areas
such
Ronague
as
are
reminders of the vanished crofting folk and of
their former cultivation of the
higher and
more
In the old
marginal lands
fields of under 2 hectares
elsewhere 45ha
are
crofting areas
are common
whilst
average
LIVESTOCK
Ayrshire
and Shorthorn cattle
mentioned in the first
Native breeds
ceased
cattle
of sheep
and
horses
significant by the beginning of the
nineteenth century A first step towards the
improvement of stock occurred in 1798 when
to
be
permission
given to import annually one
England The links with
sheep
the Workington Agricultural Society and the
competitions promoted by this body were
another early influence towards stock im
provement Immigrant farmers brought with
was
hundred
them
a
from
knowledge
of the superior breeds
to be
century
new
breeds
The
Manx
Advertiser
frequently
were
crossed with
though this was not
approved
judges from the Working
ton
Agricultural Society Feltham 1845 saw
a fine herd of Ayrshires at Ellerslie Sir George
Head 1837 however remarked I saw no
good stock of any description while in the Isle
of by the
of Man
With
the rise in the demand for livestock
products
society
The newspapers for the first decades of the
nineteenth century contained information on
the
Sometimes these
are
decades of the
the native black cattle
as
establishment
found elsewhere
two
on
tourism developed and the
of a permanent agricultural
the Island with its associated cattle
shows stock improved Commercial produc
tion of livestock and milk became the main
objectives of farming on all the better land of
mentioned in
July 1809 the import of thirty the Island
Merino
Anglo
sheep for the purpose of
the
local
breed The same news
The livestock carrying capacity of the Island
improving
in
1816
notice
of
the
sale
of
a
increased
paper
June
gave
greatly last century Sheep increased
flock of the
new
improved
Leicester breed
from 1 860 in 1812
to
56 000 in 1866 We do
not know the number of cattle on the
but in 1866 there
1812
had
been
Island in
There
18 700
were
great increase since the
virtually without turnips and
probably
a
northern soils
gravelly
dirty work The pits
one
side of the
pit
were
Digging
dug with
marl
was
slope
a
aid removal The
to
on
pits
lacking
always tended to fill with water and today they
The marl was extracted in the
are ponds
not
summer
farms in 1812
could
a proper crop rotation system
have carried a large number of cattle
put
The number ofhorses also increased substan
horses
tially Heavy
draw the
were
required
on
farms
to
machinery and the farm cart was
still the only means of transporting hay
potatoes and grain to the towns Improved
roads and the growth of tourism increased the
new
demand
for horses
were used for
horses
Shire and
ploughing
on
months and seventy or eighty loads
The heaps lay till
acre of land
each
were
ploughed in Marling was
principally with wheat growing in
winter and
associated
the northern
parishes
Clydesdale
and
carting
CULTIVATION
The
use
of marl
on
the land continued until
the second half of the nineteenth century Its
use was particularly common on the northern
plain
of the
Island
where wherever there
though practised
local
was a
source
e
g
Sir George Moore s marl pits on Ballamoore
Patrick A Folk Life Survey informant said
After the Russian ie Crimean War they
did a lot of marling wheat went up in price
and they wanted a good strong land for
the
to
Lamplugh
marling
An
a good quality of grain
practice of marling is indicated by
1903
the
now
who wrote
lighter
universal in this
is
to be used
Wrack continued
in
extensively John
stated that
hundreds of carts could be seen on the south
coast of the Island after SW winds collecting
seaweed for the land There was less seaweed
to be found on northern beaches
Honeyman
writing
1869
it with
growing
end
Port Erin Wrack Gatherers
else
area
practically
blown sands
along
tracts
The
practice
the northern
the southern
but
plain
abandoned except
of
time
was at one
on
the
of the
edge
Lime
been
have
The oldest kilns
concentrated
newspapers refer to various limeburners e g
1808
J Proctor Scarlett
Jefferson of
Bridson
A
ever
limestone
subsequently
1810
Derbyhaven
Thomas Moore
Ballasalla
Billown from
was
c
1834
easier and safer
if fuel
was
improving
available
farmers
Almost all kilns
single
usually
hearth
near
to
cliff
was
boulder
lime
post
used
described
as
marl
usually
was
clay with only a small percentage of
Occasionally late glacial or
content
glacial
freshwater
deposits
generally
red in the Andreas
area
also
were
The colour of the marl varied
to
from
lighter
with streaks of blue in J urby The shelly marl
from Ballaugh was white The Andreas and
Jurby varieties were preferred Since the lime
content was not significant the real benefit to
the soil
capacity
was
to
This
improve
was
its moisture
valuable
on
the
holding
sandy
and
or
known
often constructed
What
began
to
attached to
the shore
on
How
move
cheaper
burn it Therefore
to
erect
kilns
quarries
It is noticeable that
The lime kilns
Spade
not
at
1829
about than burnt lime and would be
Marl
the
near
limestone exposure as were the
commercial firms Early nineteenth century
southern
Ballahot
Ballasalla
Ayres
continued
burning
to
seem
are
they
are
road
locally
as
kills
the side of a bank
were
or
low
The fuel used
minimise building
on
was peat A favoured
variety of
peat was that from Ballaugh Curraghs Coal
was used in the commercial kilns
Alternate
fuel
and
limestone
in at the
of
were
fed
layers
to
many farms
top of the kiln The burnt lime fell to the
bottom where it was extracted with a long
handled tool The
large archway created a
which went on day
burning
draught
after day regardless of falling rain There was
much fumes great heat and loud cracking
for the
noises
as
the limestone
would slake
on
contact
split
with
The burnt lime
water
and
was
spread
lime
upon the land In later times crushed
from
centralised commercial units
replaced
the
burning
the lime kilns
are
in kilns
The remains of
still
recognisable in the
are
soil conditioners but
countryside
were tried The Manks Advertiser of 1831
for example states that The Mangle Wurzel
has
become pretty generally cultivated Turnips
stillanew crop in 1812 comprised
64 of the green
crop by 1867 and were
very
Marl and limestone
there
was
quite early
of other
use
true
fertilizers Colonel Wilks was experimenting
with different methods of manuring on his
estate in 1813
Kirby
fertilizers
were
red
and
animal husbandry White and
carrots were both grown White carrots
in
hay
were
the
main
food
for horses
during much ofthe nineteenth century Red carrots
were grown
for market Carrots The acreage
Bone meal and various
in wide
use
the century and guano
shortly
important
by the middle of
being imported
was
afterwards
From the 1850 s draining improved with the
advent of tiles Earlier drains had been made
with stones or sods in the shape of an inverted
V Draining tiles were manufactured locally
at the Ballacorey Brickworks in Andreas
Two Types of Drain Tiles
under
The
a crop rotation was an
line
of
progress Certainly by the
important
1860s a five or six year course of rotation
development of
suitable
potato blight on the Island The potato crop
we are sorry to say may be considered this year
Years 1 and 2 Rotation grass
acomplete failure There isscarcely one
field throughout the Island which is not
Year 3 Oats
Year 4 Potatoes/Turnips/Mangolds Year 5
more or less affected with the prevailing disease The
Barley/Oats undersown with grass Sometimes there was
stalks are first attacked with adark
anextra grazing to give a 6course rotation
blight which rapidly spreads and destroys the whole
The limitation to two cereal crops isa of the tops of the potato then communicates with
the tubers Some fields are
already
contrast with the old practice of extracting all possible
to
adopted
conditions
The normal rotation
grain
nineteenth
Manx
potatoes shrank in favour ofturnips after
the blight years in the 1840s The Manx Sun
in August 1846 described the outbreak of
the
crops
had
been
was
until the soil
was exhausted The
century
gone
so far that a putrid stench
therefrom This was the
blight
is
emitted
which
caused
great Irish famine
saw
considerable
production
Wheat growing
cheap
the
change
in
declined
North
Ameri
cereal
dramatically
can
as
wheat invaded
British market in the 1870s In 1867
wheat
made up 29 of the Island
cereal crop
5Barley and oats
in 1885 it was down to
climatically
Man
better suited
were
to the Isle of
for making bread
and
also for the feeding of the
still important
porridge
and
increased
number of livestock Various green crops
the
The failure of
the potato crop in 1846 caused suffering on the
Island and there was an application from Tynwald
to the English Treasury requesting a
grant from surplus revenue to give
employment to labourers and to relieve distress
The Treasury s
reply required a thorough
to
inquiry be made into the condition of
the people and the amount of food available on
the Island
out
but
for
their support This was carried
Treasury
s
the
verdict
that the destitution
was
great
as
Manx
were not in
the Irish
One
to
warrant
were
the
during
was
same
so
appeared
the
hoes and
not
assistance
Clearly
desperate plight as
the years of famine
formerly important
crop which
the century
as
grubbers
implements
basic
disappear in the nineteenth century was flax
Flax spinning was carried on both as a cottage
industry and also in a number of mills
established in the late eighteenth century The
into
come
to the farmer s
the seed
involved
of the soil between crops
By the 1860s the horse hoe
regular stirring
planted in rows
had
Horse
progressed
added
coming of
hoeing husbandry
drill and horse
was to
were
The
common use
best known of these mills was that at Tromode
sheeting towelling sailcloth and
where
sackcloth
were
At
produced
the
time
of
7
maximum production at these mills as much
as 90 000 metres of linen were exported in one
year After 1833 however when the bounties
ceased there was rapid decline in flax growing
and linen
and
only
ft
1858 Tromode mill
production By
made sailcloth
though operations
of the twentieth
continued until the beginning
century the use of local flax had
The 1841
women
many
subsequent
this
1812
Quayle
described
industry
ceased
declined
rapidly
Thomas
During
200
spin to the amount of 2d
attending to her family if a
may
from 3d to 4d and a
earn
of eleven years old may at least earn Id
Flax had never been a major crop but the
girl
spinning
source
associated with it had been
of income
to
Barrow Type Seed Drill
but
flaxspinner
had remarked
days
per day besides
good spinner she can
a woman
as
returns show how
census
cottage
long
returns for the island show
census
a valuable
cottagers
Progressive farmers had introduced the first
seed drills to the Island before 1800 probably
version of Jethro Tull s drill or Rev James
Cooke
patent seed drill of 1782 Broadcast
of corn would however be the typical
s
sowing
method in the first half of the nineteenth
century Barrow seed drills for sowing turnip
and clover seeds
MACHINERY
misses
would be revealed when the
had made
The
sow
swing plough
lowland
farms when Thomas Quayle wrote in 1812
Oxen continued to be used The Manx Sun
14
10 1846
advertising
Grenaby Bride refers to
Paton
including a pair
a
Stock
farm
sale
typical twenty
metres with the abandon
of the sickle in favour of the reaper
harvest time
ment
like wooden
ploughs
a man
sow some
It remained standard
bruet
knew he
oats on
practice
to
the grass seeds by hand and the fiddle
continued to be used for this purpose until
modern times
at
Thomas
Quayle had described the mowers of
men
but old
hay as generally decrepid
people who remembered country life around
spoke nostalgically of the fine sight of
six men swinging their scythes in
unison with the best mower leading Scythes
required a finer edge for mowing than for
1880
five
or
reapmg
dis
corn
We hear of the introduction of hay reapers in
the 1850 s Local blacksmiths were not slow to
produce
their
Kelly
own
An
implements
versions
example
blacksmith
at
of the latest
of this
Kirk
Mr
was
who
Michael
attended the Great Exhibition in London in
1851
Wooden harrows
miss he would
a
hand
by
If
at
crops ofMr
of oxen thoroughly
trained to the
Oxen finally dis
plough
appeared from the ploughs on upland farms
by 1870 The wheeled digger ploughs were
introduced from Scotland and Ireland and
became the standard implement for ploughing
until the introduction of tractors during the
Second World War Wheeled ploughs were
little used in the Island before 1860 The
width of the butts or sections of ploughing in
fields was increased from three or four metres
to a
it
the ground
through
Ploughing changed less than most other forms
of farm work during the nineteenth century
on
by contributors
Survey These consisted of a
long hopper projecting on either side of a
barrow pushed along by hand The corn drill
pulled by a horse became standard by the late
came
established
recalled
nineteenth century The horseman used his
skill to drive the horses steadily so that no
FARM IMPLEMENTS AND
was
were
to the Folk Life
He
came
reapers after
home
seeing
and made
these
his
implements
own
on
his
adapting
visit
old
an
cross
cut saw to make
the knife blade
The mechanisation of
when in the 1850s
a
horse
appeared
After hay was cut the swathes lying on the
ground had to be raked up for the construc
tion of rucks where the hay was dried In
earlier times this was all done with hand rakes
across
An
selfbinding
improvement
on
the hand rake with its
round ended wooden teeth was the man
killer a wooden fame with long curving metal
teeth set in a wooden frame dragged behind a
man These manual methods were ultimately
replaced by the horserake first made in the
1830s but without efficient mechanisms for
lifting the teeth until c 1860 With the first
horse rakes the men walked behind in later
models which continued in use until World
War 2 the driver was seated
Horse rakes
were also used in the corn fields
Crofters
continued to use the mankiller gathering up
enough for a barrow load or a bart Tumblers
of hay rake used for
were another form
rows
of
for ruck making
hay
gathering
to
have
There
scythe
harvesting that farm machinery was
most impact in the nineteenth century
was to
be
to reaper
a
from sickle to
within a hundred
progression
to binder
The amount of labour required
years
harvest time was drastically reduced
at
They
as
in the time of
who visited the Island 1797 98
stated that five reapers and one person to bind
could cut an acre of corn in a day Later
recorded memories tell of the day on the
harvest field
commencing
at
7
a m
of
races
between the reapers and the poor standard of
work which could result
Thomas Quayle
mentions that
already some farmers
scythe for cutting barley
Scythes seem to have largely replaced sickles
by c 18S0 Scythes continued to be used for
cutting roads around fields after the intro
1812
1880
around the
roads
binders
The
reaping
seventy years Binders
two or three horses
The mechanisation of
the
by
extent
some
of the fields
edge
remain in
were to
use
were
The
for the
pulled by
next
either
thrashing had begun
to
of the nineteenth
start
water and wind power were
century Horse
all used Water
powered thrashing mills were
especially at corn mills Wind power was
used
less used in the Isle of Man because of the
also known
common
can
ofthe wind
strength
mills
seen
were
on
some
operated by
attached to either end of a
about nine
bar
occasions Horse
became
and the circular elevated horsewalks
still be
these
on
Labour Mills
as
farms
Generally
horses
one
substantial wooden
metres in
thrashing
two
This
length
was
mechanism in the
adjacent barn
Horse
mills continued in use into the
twentieth century on farms where access was
difficult for steam mills When steam mills
first appeared on the Island in the 1880s they
were of a type known as Portables
The mill
and also the engine had to be pulled along the
lowered for travel
rain
scythe
tied the sheaves with twine and
They
s
duction of mechanical reapers and binders
They also continued to be used where corn
by heavy
and sickle
the traditional bands of straw were no longer
required except for the corn cut from the
roads
laid low
corn
reapers which came to be known
binders first appeared on the Island in the
had introduced the
was
scythe
still the main method of
was
connected to the
Feltham
swathes of
remarked that the
Honeyman 1869
as
cut
the field but these still had to be lifted
and tied
great
It was in
harvesting commenced
reaping machines drawn by
by horses
usually three to pull the
engine and three more for the mill The first
mill engines were not designed to propel
themselves only to operate the mill The
Portables had
a
hinged chimney
along
mills with
steam
available
A
which
the road
traction
engines
further development
was
Later
on
became
was
the
addition of a separate presser for the straw In
the early models of the press the straw had to
be tied into bales
manually
The later press
delivered tied bales
Thrashing by
the day
the
steam mill had to
be all done
on
the year when the mill was
A labour force of twelve
on
or two in
premises
or
often necessary In the days
of flail thrashing the process went on inter
fourteen
men was
mittently
days
able
the winter
and often used
mill also
Dray Reaper
over
The horse mill
meant the
especially on wet
was always avail
wet
days The steam
too
on
end ofthe hand winnowing
machines with sieves and blower which had
been used since the eighteenth century
271
Smaller
but
farm machines which
important
appeared in the nineteenth century included
the turnip cutter the chaff cutter also rape
and linseed cake crushers These appliances
were
adopted
husbandry
as
more
became
intensive
attempted by
corn
when
loading
carts
livestock
general practice
of other farming
Mechanisation
The pitch
the potato ridges with the grep
fork was use
to handle hay and sheaves of
more
tasks
was
farmers
enterprising
A
for example used a
system for turning the churn
number of Manx farms
horse
walk
gorse mills were used to
for
bruise gorse
fodder
eithe by passing it
r
rollers
or
by means of
through toothed
Water
powered
rotating
mallets
nineteenth
the
Throughout
there
century
still many tasks performed by hand
Stones were still picked by hand on hillside
fields The hoe was used to remove weeds
from potato carrot and turnip ridges The
were
thinning
of
turnips
was
done
by
hand
select
ing the best plants and earthing them up after
removing the excess intervening ones Farm
yard manure was pulled from the carts with
the long handled grep tayrn and spread in
A LATE NINETEENTH
CENTURY FARMING
CALENDAR
JANUARY FEBRUARY
Ploughing of lea fields for corn crop later
Turnip and Mangold land ploughed by the
end of February if
possible Lambing time
MARCH APRIL
Harrowing on dry days from late February
Oats and barley sown from mid March to
beginning of April
Hayseed sown a few days after corn
Potatoes set
either before
or
after the
corn
Second weeding of root crops before
harvest began Carrots and mangolds were
thinned several times during the summer
dug
First potatoes
AUGUST
Meadow
Hay
cut
Harvest
if early
SEPTEMBER
Often the corn harvest time but varied
much according to weather Sheep put to
graze stubble fields
OCTOBER
Complete potato digging and store
butts clamps
Preparation of potato ground for
in
sown wheat if grown
Green crop docking commenced
Mangolds
Turnips
JULY
winter
MAY
Carrots
Chaff Cutter
sown
sown
around 1 st of May
1st
sown
Sheep clipping
12th
May
in second half of
late
NOVEMBER
Wheat
May
May June
JUNE
Thinning and singling of root crops
Hay making Harrowing of potato ridges
and earthing up
sown
latest Corn
by
middle of November
at
thrashing Complete lifting and
storing
green crop
12th November
hiring fair
DECEMBER
Hedges trimmed for
mended
ploughing
and gaps
SOURCES AND SUGGESTIONS
PART ONE
RESOURCE MATERIALS
The abbreviation
JMM refers to
the
Journal of
the Manx Museum
Patrick coastal area the Central Valley
Ballacraine and the Laxey Valley
LANDHOLDINGS
Treens and Quarterlands
Systems in the Isle of Man
Transactions
Papers of the Institute of
British Geographers Publication No 22
1956
E
Davies
A
of Land
Study
Scandinavian
Fellows Jensen
G
1983
Settlement in the Isle of Man and Northwest
England The Place name Evidence in The
Viking Age in the Isle of Man V LP
J J
Keen
maps
showing
Manx
Development of the
Nineteenth Century Field Patterns
1 M
Manx Place Names
treens and
contains
in each
quarterlands
parish
BEGINNINGS OF CHANGE
Blundell W
Manx
Killip
s
of
east
Society
A
History
of the Isle of
Man
Vol XXV
The
1978
BA R
British Series
Kneen
J J 1929
54 Oxford
Gill J
F
1883
The Statutes of the Isle of
Man
Place Names of the Isle
Roeder C 1904
Notes and
Queries
of Man
Megaw
E
1978 The Manx Eary and its
British Series
54
BA R
significance
Sacheverell W c 1703 published 1859 An
Manx Society
Account of the Isle of Man
Vol 1
Oxford
T
General View
Quayle
Man
Agriculture of the Isle of
Woods
1812
J
c
1867
Gazeteer of the Isle of
A
of the
Atlas
New
and
Blundell s book describes conditions on the
Island as witnessed by the writer 1648 1656
The nature of the Manx diet before potatoes
were introduced might be considered
Man
Flax
The first of the above books contains aerial
photographs of fields in certain parts of the
Island with quarterland boundaries super
imposed It contains a number of maps includ
ing some to show how in tacks often lay
adjacent to the old quarterland units
Woods
Atlas
examples
especially
can
be used
as
a
source
can
be related
to
a
topic
on
textiles Wool and flax spinning were import
ant Manx cottage industries For information
on flax processing and later attempts at cotton
manufacture on the Island see chapter 6 of
Industrial Archaeology of the Isle of Man
Bawden Garrad Qualtrough and Scatchard
Davies
Charles 1972
of
of long
quarterlands
in the areas of the Bride Hills the
narrow
growing
Bishop Wilson is an important figure in Manx
history He played a leading part in the