The Farming Year

Fletcher's diary

Isaac Fletcher (1714-1781) was a Quaker yeoman farmer and lawyer who lived at Underwood, in Mosser township, on the north-west edge of the Lake District, four miles south of Cockermouth.  For a quarter of a century from 1756, he kept a daily diary, which provides a rare glimpse into everyday life in West Cumberland in the eighteenth century.  

The diary was published in 1994 by The Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society under the title The Diary of Isaac Fletcher of Underwood, Cumberland, 1756-1781 (ISBN 1 873124 20 1).

 Each month during 2026 we are posting extracts from Fletcher's diary entries to illustrate aspects of the annual round, the weather and the farming calendar in Georgian Cumbria.  Previous month’s postings are archived below.

What was like on a Cumbrian farm in the late 18th century?

"The frost got into the houses. Froze the piss in the pots under the beds" 12 Jan 1780

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