High Country History Group
The Agricultural Depression in Mid-Essex
c.1870-1901
Village Hall, Toot Hill
8.00pm, Thursday, 25 February 2010
Members: £1. Visitors very welcome: £2
The talk looks at the background to the Agricultural Depression in Mid-Essex in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The talk relates soil type, the primary influence, to the responses that farmers made to the acreage of land under wheat and permanent pasture, along with the number of cows in milk.
There are resonances with more modern times; the importation of cheap foreign produce; the reaction to imports; and alternative sources of livelihood. Another strand that links in, relevant to the present day, is the demonstration that with hard work and perseverance life can carry on; these ancestors are fine examples of how adversity can be faced. In these new austere times can we look to the past for inspiration, realising that we are not so badly off today?
The studied area is the parishes that made up the Chelmsford Union. Many Scottish farmers came to this area in this period! The talk demonstrates what it is possible to achieve by using the National Archives and resources accessed through the Essex Record Office.
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