Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay

by George Ewart Evans

Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay is a vivid portrait of the rural past of Blaxhall, a remote Suffolk village, in the time before mechanization changed the entire nature of farming, the landscape and rural life for good. In the 1950s, George Ewart Evans sought out those who could recall the nineteenth-century customs, crafts, dialects, tools, smugglers’ tales and rural beliefs which had endured from the time of Chaucer, and created this fascinating picture of a now vanished world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Nature, British Literature, Folklore, Oral History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

George Ewart Evans was born and raised in the mining community of Abercynon, Glamorganshire, Wales. He wrote a series of books examining the disappearing customs and portraying the way of life as it had been in rural Suffolk. "Ask the Fellows who Cut the Hay" is probably his best known book. The publication of his books gave him deserved recognition as a pioneering oral historian. He was also an accomplished story writer and wrote short-stories, novels and poems.

Reviews

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sweet book detailing the lives of those living in the village of Blaxhall in East Suffolk.

Evans does a great job of coaxing the stories of those families living through pre-industrialization, traditional farming and old-fashioned village life.

The watercolour paintings and drawings by David Gentleman (what a cool surname!) add to the appeal of this lovely, earthy book.

Wholesome country fare.

[Sam Schulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the great books on rural life - notable for the quiet precision of its description of tasks, tools, and most of all social organizations. These include the "companies" formed by farm workers which negotiated with farmers to do the harvest in a given period, producing complex term sheets in which all eventualities were accomodated but a dignity of stature pervaded. As soon as the contract was signed, the status of landlord and laborer (for none of these were vis a vis one another quietly but firmly altered - but there was a clear hierarchy within the Company, with Lord of the Harvest, Lady of the Harvest (both men, btw), Men, Lads, and Boys.)
It's just packed with this material, often in the words of old men and women still living in the 1950s whose grandparents were born during the Napoleonic wars (in nicely reproduced Suffolk dialect which contributed mightily to American, it seems, particularly "old West" American - the use of "some" as an intensifier - "that Christine O'Donnell is some lady" - getting all riled up - skillet, a utensil which Evans says is unknown elsewhere in England under that name.
Here's a sample of the mind behind all this. Evans gives a beautiful description of the "drawing matches" held at country fairs - a ploughing competition showing which plowman could plough a single absolutely straight furrow.
"Yet is a straight furrow essential essential in working the land; especially as the furrow is so quickly harrowed and flattened out afterwards? If one asked a ploughman htis question a tolerant smile would probably be his first reaction; then he would perhaps say after a pause which he would need to reflect on a question that could never be put....[more tk].
Ewart Evans was a Welsh writer with a grammar school education who supported himself in the 1930s as a schoolteacher - he had a bad experience in the RAF, and came back to postwar London with just occasional substitute teaching to maintain himself and his family. His wife got a job offer to be headmistress of the village school in Bloxham, Suffolk, and they moved with her - once he got there (all this according to his son's account in the Grauniad http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/...) he recognized that his great subject was the change in lives wrought by farm mechanization and WWI in this village, and his wife agreed to support the family while he researched, collected oral histories and wrote, and took care of the children.
In short, he was the first slacker-househusband.
Except that he came through, with this wonderful book, which was discovered by Faber & Faber (of which his son became chairman).

[Fern Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. George Ewart Evans was a collector of rural folklore. In this book he provides a detailed social history of one village, Blaxhall in Suffolk. He gleans his information not just through primary sources but far more interestingly through the oral history of some of the older villagers memories and stories (which date back to living history from the 1850s plus what was living history for people they knew too). Fascinating information about farming, schooling, dialects, smugglers, legends and everyday life told in a fireside story style. Absolutely brilliant!

[Jesuitstea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovingly local history that is both rustic and universal. The sections containing local dialect are sure to be of great interest to any Anglophone.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spotted this one on Bettie's list and thought I'd like it. I was right. Enjoyed the descriptions of rural life in England and learned a lot. Shepherds, smugglers, poachers - how they made beer, bread, how they drained fields, fertilized them - all the stories from the locale. Just the kind of book I like, highlighting all the skills and practices now lost to us.

[Jake Goretzki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affectionate fireside social history - just up the road from Ronald Blythe's Akenfield, though more 'oral tradition' and historic perhaps - emphasis on the C19th. I love the chapters on smuggling. Dialect is always endearing too (some hip artisan in the 21st century should be selling a Suffolk cheese called 'bang'). Bell ringing deserves its own TV series (I'm pretty sure Akenfield dwelled on that a lot too). The biggest surprise for me is perhaps the sheer rigour of things like the harvests - that contract, for example. This was a highly regulated, closely priced and custom-governed world. Easy to forget that.

And the paraphernalia. Oh boy. If there's a shallow channel - not a big one - three thumbs wide that needs digging in clay in the upper reaches of a pasture on a Wednesday between Lent and Whitsun when a northerly wind is blowing - there's a word for the thing you use to do it. "Thet's a gussidge, thet". From the Old English 'Gusyngge', meaning 'Ill fitting trousers'. Or suchlike. Hard not to find it all very endearing.

I've been to Campsey Ash and Wickham Market. No gussidges to see there now. Lots of BMWs, mind.

[Avis Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a very good resource for country life in England before World War I, and it's filled with all sorts of obscure pieces of information hard to find elsewhere. Recommended for anyone doing research about this time or place.

Available at Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15423...

[Riobhcah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about where my mother grew up, East Anglia in the UK. The copy that I have is one that she brought over here with her. She paid 75 shillings for it. It is a wonderful and picturesque portrait of rural life there.

[Nick]

This book goes deeply into the practices of country life around and leading up to the 1950s. People who fitted the life were all individuals, but able to practice their skills, and appreciate those of others round and about. The NHS had just come about, and village healers were not unknown. Country lore was current. Bad and better employers were noted, and coped with . Living conditions were often basic, and work, along with wages, were short in bad weather, and Winters could be harsh. Skills in work and life were essential and more broad-based than now is usual. Today's massive farm equipment was still to come, country workers were more numerous and were needed, multi-tasking where needed. The inhabitants of cottages and houses were often dependent on employers as landlords, housing was quite insecure.

[Emma Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

Combining solid research, Oral history and a true love of the subject, This book makes plain the amount of sheer brutal hard work expected of the agricultural workers of the past, Whilst still managing to leave you with a wistful sense that something of real value has been lost in the move to mechanised farming. While doing my family tree, I discovered a Great-Grandfather from the area and loved hearing different accounts from the old people of the village. This book was able to paint a precise picture of what my family's life would have been like, Without it I would still be wondering! This is a must-read for anybody that studies their ancestry and has roots in this area.

[Sevket Akyildiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oral history of the past agricultural community at Blaxhall. Descriptive and reflective; I recommend this book to understand how life was before the modernisation of farm life. In places, the story explains the hard life of the pre-modern farming life and labourers. But, also, an intriguing account, based on interviews and primary sources, is given about how people assisted and supported each other in their struggles. The comments upon customs, smuggling, daily work practices are a delight to read and very informative. This text can be used to contrast and compare with the modernisation of farming communities in many historical and international case studies.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my oral history essay. Really loved it. Very accessible history read and an absolutely fascinating read about the changes in agricultural practices in the first half of the 20th century.

This is an important text for British history and I found myself feeling nostalgic for a time I have never known (likely highly romanticised).

Worth reading just for the bit about sheepdogs.

[Kevin Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book about rural life in Blaxhall. Although it was written in the mid 1950s, some of the stories go back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

These stories and the rural way of life have been handed down from past generations and this book chronicles the loss of rural farming life.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a description of rural life from the beginning of the 1900's, collected in the 1950's, and written in the 1970's.
A slice of oral history that is delightfully informative.
If we don't keep our memories who are we?

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1956 about a rural world that was already becoming a memory. Evans caught the survivors of Victorian Blaxhall before they disappeared for ever with their testimony.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read with lots of information about dialects, farming, smugglers, community life and folklore from the Suffolk village of Blaxhall.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, very insightful to times gone by in a very concentrated area. The last third or so was slow and a struggle to get through, but pleased to have read the whole thing.

[Robert Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, Evans demonstrates the importance of oral history for recording history and this book does just that.

[Emily Howarth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic.

[Yvonne Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot...grateful not to have been a stone picker

[Martin Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully written and a mine of information on Suffolk life in the days of old england

[Porumble · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you're looking for a granular insight into the minutiae of a rural Suffolk village this is definitely the book for you. I myself was looking for just that, and friends... I got it.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clickerty Click

This is all about the oral history of Suffolk and as such it is fascinating listening to the unpretentious accounts. It's like hearing your great grandparents recount their early lives.

BBC blurb - In this week's Archive On Four, historian Alan Dein celebrates the centenary of his mentor George Ewart Evans, collector of Suffolk farming tales. Evans began by chatting to his neighbours over the fireside in the 1950's and transcribing stories about poaching shepherding, smuggling and ditching.

The talk was of a hardscrabble life, of leaky roofs and meals of pea soup and pollard dumplings and beef only at Christmas with occasional festivities like the Whitsun fair.

With the help of BBC producer David Thomson, Evans recorded many of these tales and they were broadcast on the Third Programme.

Evans came from a Welsh mining village and he sympathised with the labourers' stories about the tyranny of the trinity of the parson, squire and farmer. He was a sympathetic listener who asked allowed his community to speak for itself and he captured the stories of people whose traditions had been unbroken for generations, who worked on the land before mechanisation and who believed in magic and folk wisdom and had intuitive understanding of working with animals.

Evans' eleven books about the working lives and folk stories of Blaxhall are a portrait of every facet of his village and paved the way for books and programmes, both fiction and not fiction, about British agricultural life.

[Tredaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book about a way of life that has completely disappeared. Written in the mid-1950s and based on oral recordings of the villagers of Blaxhall in East Suffolk, the author has gathered together first hand accounts and stories that describe the way we used to farm, keep house, educate, worship and keep traditions a little more than a century ago. As a Welshman living and working in Suffolk, Evans was enough of a "foreigner" to take a curious and dispassionate view of what he was describing, though would have undoubtedly made comparisons with his own experience of mores and traditions.

The records are still kept in the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket and must be a source of invaluable information for linguists and anthropologists. I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of domestic life and the dramatic stories about smuggling were compelling. I found the descriptions of old farm implements a bit less interesting which resulted in the book going back on the shelf for a bit, but I should have skipped that bit as the rest of the book is just spell-binding. It is also desperately sad for its depiction of a society and values that have long gone in the developed world.

[Diana180]

Absolutely charming repository of peasant practice and lore from a Suffolk village, collected from the oldest inhabitants just after World War II and summarizing a few especially juicy older narratives. Helps explain why Suffolk is the way it is (insular, peninsular, villagey), and could be very useful to have around for reference as our standards of living regress to the Stone Age. Could be assigned in an appropriate technology course alongside a study of traditional farming in, say, India or southeast Asia, or Pierre-Jakez Helias' Le Cheval d'Orgueil. I was particularly struck by the very hard and unrewarding labors of stone-picking, threshing, etc., that were often the purest form of make-work, by the mir-like organization of towns without manor houses, the centrality of wool and beer in the traditional economy, and the separate status of Norfolk Suffolk and Essex as the Three Counties in the Domesday Book.

[Trunatrschild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good folklore from Mr. Evans. One of his earlier books and more about farming habits than just plain folklore. Still not too bad, even though I am not too interested in farming habits of the 1800's, but still, the folklife that was centered around it is very interesting. Interesting tidbits on smuggling too.