D221
<F Mon1>
<S Jim Thomas>
<G M>
<A 75>
<O FARM LABOURER>
<C MONMOUTHSHIRE>
<V SKENFRITH>
<D 10-12-55>
<I SE>
<L CN S103>
<T 8:00>
<SE course things ‘ll have altered a lot +/. SE>
<JT Oh Lord.
Aye.
Too and be gone up dearer now. JT>
<SE Aye. SE>
<JT Oh aye.
About five or six times as dear as when we bought it.
I should say we bought this about +…
Oh,
thirty five year ago. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Farms is cheap then,
you know. JT>
<SE Hmm.
And farming methods are different,,
aren’t they? SE>
<JT Oh Lord.
Aye.
Tractors.
All horses in them days. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Tractors now and +…
Them can ride all day.
That do please (th)em I think.
[!= laughs] JT>
<SE Aye. SE>
<JT They don’t like to walk today. JT>
<SE No.
# You liked the horses,,
did you? SE>
<JT Oh,
I liked the horses.
Oh aye. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Go and plough. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT I liked ploughing. JT>
<SE What was your best horse? SE>
<JT Best horse? JT>
<SE Aye. SE>
<JT # Oh,
I don’t know.
We always had good horses.
Tell you,
he kept good horses for ploughing.
And working.
You know. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT I ‘ve had a kicker of mine once or twice. JT>
<SE Have you?
[!= laughs] SE>
<JT [!= laughs]
Oh aye.
Went to take he in the blacksmith’s shop,
he had to put him in stocks to shoe him.
# Aye.
# Oh aye. JT>
<SE And did he ever cause any trouble? SE>
<JT No.
No.
Only [/] only [\] I be +…
You had to be a bit careful mind.
[!= laughs]
What you ‘re doing.
[!= laughs]
When you put the harness on,
that goes there in,
the legs sometimes mind.
Oh aye. JT>
||
<SE You were telling us last night about the uh [/] the [\] castle.
Who was it? SE>
<JT The castle down Skenfrith? JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Well that old castle used to be +…
Anybody ‘d go in there till these +…
Them got bought.
It was all open.
Anybody could go in there and see it.
But now you got to pay to go in there now. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye. JT>
<SE But somebody bought it? SE>
<JT Oh,
old George [/] George [\] Edwards,
Skenfrith Mill.
He bought it.
And he sold it to some # syndicate in Hornby.
# Some uh +…
you know,
in Hornby.
I don’t +…
# Them have done it up.
Oh,
men been there at work a-doing the old walls up,
but I don’t see much fun in doing them old walls up.
Ought to pull (th)em down.
[!= laughs] JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Great walls there.
I dare say a yard thick,
or # four foot thick (th)em be.
The walls up there.
You know. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye.
And dungeons in there. JT>
<SE Aye? SE>
<JT Great big dungeons.
Some in +…
When they put (th)em in +…
You know. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh aye.
And stocks.
By the [/] by the [\] door.
If you had done anything bad,
them,
they put you in there and everybody see you.
And they knowed [: knew] +…
they be see you had done something wrong.
[!= laughs] JT>
<SE Oh.
And is Skenfrith like a busy village?
Is there plenty going off? SE>
<JT Oh no.
Very quiet now.
Oh no.
No. JT>
<SE Well,
you say ‘now’.
Did it use to be? SE>
<JT Well,
it was about the same but there was more people about years ago down there.
Ain’t the people about here used to be. JT>
<SE Why ‘s that? SE>
<JT I don’t know.
They +…
When them big estates was on.
You know,
there was a lot of men kept on them estates,
(be)cause uh +…
Carpenters,
blacksmiths,
painters and all that +…
You know.
They was to manage that +… JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Keeping it going then. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh aye.
well my father worked on this here estate at Bradbrook,
I should say,
I think somewhere over forty years.
On this +…
Never from there. JT>
<SE Hmm.
Doing what? SE>
<JT Oh,
farmhouse.
Oh,
the hedging,
any- anything.
Anything
Workman. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh aye,
he was +…
Been there a long time. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Then we boys started farming a bit,
you know,
and we got on a bit,
and +…
# Down here at a place called ‘the box’.
# On that # farm just down on that road there.
By that road that do go down here. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT I were there I dare fifteen years. JT>
<SE # Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh aye.
# [!= coughs]
What have we been up here now?
I dare say # thirty years,
on this.
Fifteen years I farmed the White House till you got bad. JT>
<OS Yes.
Something +…
I got me a # xxx xxx.
About # twenty year it is now xxx. OS>
<JT Oh,
maybe over thirty years. JT>
<SE Hmm.
Hmm.
And uh did you have to go out to farm service? SE>
<JT Oh Lord,
aye.
(I) been out to farm service when I was a boy. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye.
Milking cows and +…
[!= laughs]
No,
I didn’t like that. JT>
<SE No? SE>
<JT Oh no.
Especially on a Sunday.
# Then they got a wagoner and # it was a bit easier then on [/] on [\] us on a Sunday then.
# And I almost took waggoning after. JT>
<SE Oh yes. SE>
<JT Aye.
Waggoning. JT>
<SE Hmm.
And did you have to go far? SE>
<JT What uh?
Oh +… JT>
<SE Driving? SE>
<JT No.
No.
Only on the farm like. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh,
when we did go to Abergavenny,
you did got to start from here about five o’clock in the morning. JT>
<SE Aye? SE>
<JT To load to get there to +…
it ‘s twelve mile,
you know. JT>
||
<JT Oh no there ‘s +…
No,
the old market ‘s alright.
Abergavenny is now.
it ‘s a good market.
(They) come from the hills down there to buy a lot of stuff.
Especially # apples and eggs and all these have to come off the hills down,
them do. JT>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<JT Down there. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh aye. JT>
<SE And of course you meet your old friends down there,,
do you? SE>
<JT Oh well.
We meet some of them.
Aye.
Oh,
we do meet our old friends.
Go there we ‘re to find any amount on [: of] (th)em. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye.
it ‘s like a day off,
you know.
# Oh aye. JT>
<SE And you like [/] you like [\] going to market then? SE>
<JT Oh Lord.
Aye.
(I) like going to market.
Oh,
I do go now.
Once in three weeks,
once +…
Or a fortnight maybe.
You know. JT>
<SE Hmm.
Hmm. SE>
<JT But you can’t go there without spending mind. JT>
<OS [!= laughs] OS>
<JT [!= laughs]
Not today. JT>
<SE No.
No. SE>
<JT [!= laughs]
Cost of xxx xxx there ‘s half a quid gone. JT>
<SE Hmm.
Yeah.
course prices must have gone up terribly since you were a lad. SE>
<JT Oh.
Lumme.
(A) sheep was about fifteen bob.
You could buy a lamb for about fifteen bob.
# And now I may dare say they ‘re about six to seven pound. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh,
terrible it ‘s gone up,,
innit? JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Oh,
it ‘ll have to come back down just now there ‘ll be a drop I believe.
Uh,
you can’t keep going on up. JT>
<SE No. SE>
<OS [!= coughs] OS>
<SE No.
Did you have much to do with the sheep? SE>
<JT Oh Lord,
aye.
We had done a lot of the sheep,
I did.
Aye.
Oh Lord.
Aye. JT>
<SE Lambing time? SE>
<JT Lambing time,
and on the routes. JT>
<SE How do you go on at lambing time? SE>
<JT Oh well,
they got to get up in the night,
and sometimes you ‘ll stop up almost all night.
# Oh aye. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye.
Perhaps we did have different winters then.
A bit rougher winters.
(th)an what we do now. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Aye. JT>
<SE Do you think so? SE>
<JT I think so. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT You know,
more rougher winters.
Oh aye. JT>
<SE And were the sheep in bad condition then like?
If you +… SE>
<JT No. JT>
<SE Had a bad winter? SE>
<JT Oh well,
they xxx +…
Yeah,
you got to feed (th)em then mind in some form.
You get a bad winter.
Oh aye. JT>
<SE Do you remember any particularly # bad lambing times?
When you had +… SE>
<JT Well there were sometimes when you get a cold wind and # you know,
and snow.
it ‘s bad on the lambs then.
You got to pick (th)em up and take (th)em in or [*summat*].
Coal.
Freeze (th)em xxx xxx xxx. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
||
<SE Oh,
you must tell me how you net rabbits. SE>
||
<JT Well you puts it down,
we ‘ll say +…
Well,
you know where (th)em be,
where their home is like,
by a wood.
# You know,
and # get the net there quiet.
You [*mun*] be very quiet.
And then get down round [/] round round [\] (th)em and drive (th)em back into this net.
Oh,
it ‘s a bit of fun,
you +…
But you +…
If you go on somebody else’s ground,
you daren’t +…
You fancy they be coming behind you sometimes.
[!= laughs] JT>
||
<SE What was that tale about the murderer? SE>
||
<JT Oh well,
they know there went in this here +…
that ‘s the wood down here. JT>
<SE # Oh yes. SE>
<JT Oh,
not far from here.
They knowed [: knew] he was in the wood,
had killed somebody.
# And uh # [/] and [\] he went in this wood and they surrounded this here wood.
# You know and # [/] and [\] there was a man a-loading charcoal onto the mules.
In bags +…
He put (th)em in bags,
you know?
And so uh # he got up to where this mule fellow was and they puts # charcoal round him and the bag on top of the # [/] on top of the [\] mules see,
and him is in the bag.
And the charcoal. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Shoved him in the bag and put this charcoal round him. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
<JT Put him on the mule and they him brough him out.
# And was two xxx to xxx +…
oh,
about a mile and (a) half from here up on the crossroad,
and I ‘d uh +…
And I heard my father say he was never seen after. JT>
<OS [!= laughs] OS>
<JT [!= laughs]
And away he went.
[!= laughs]
Aye. JT>
<SE Hmm. SE>
Transcription by Juhani Klemola and Mark Jones, 1999 See http://digital.library.leeds.ac.uk/381/1/LSE_1999_pp17-30_Klemola_Jones_article.pdf and http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/ach-allc.99/proceedings/scott.html