Wed 7th [July]. Cliping sheep this day. Had John Jackson helping us. They are in but low condition but not so bad as represented. About 35 in number and 14 lambs.
The Farming Year: July: Commentary
July was dominated by hay-time, as Fletcher’s diary entries for 1779 amply demonstrate, and it was also the month of the wool harvest, when the sheep were clipped. In 1779 it was a hot month with sultry weather and some thundery downpours. The workforce at Underwood was swollen by day labourers employed to help in the labour-intensive processes of haymaking: mowing by hand, turning, building into cocks, and bringing the hay home by cart. The hands involved in hay-time in 1779 were Peter Murray, Fletcher's resident farm servant; John Bushby and his wife, Betty, labourers employed by Fletcher on an occasional basis; as well as Fletcher's 18-year-old son, William. John Jackson, who helped to clip the sheep, was the tenant farmer at Beech Hill, the farm next to Underwood.
Hives of bees were kept on many farms and Fletcher notes how his swarmed in the hot weather. A few weeks later, on 11th September, he recorded collecting honey from the three hives: ‘Got a great quantity of honey: 15 or 16 quarts in all’, he wrote. Thomas Robinson, from whom Fletcher purchased a half share in the bees, was the local shoemaker in Mosser. His annual pay day, when he received payment for shoes made across the previous year, was at the end of July.
Isaac and Susanna Fletcher’s social visit on 2nd July, with Susanna’s sister Jane Pearson of Little Broughton, was to William Allason, a fellow Quaker who farmed at Mossergate.
Diary
Thu 1st July 1779. Peter gone to Whitehaven market. Betty Bushby here. They brought a cart load of sand from the Cragg & lime for whitewashing the house.
Fri 2nd. Warm dry weather. Went in the afternoon to William Allason's with wife & Jane Pearson. Fatigued with walking. Another cow begun with red water [an often fatal tick-borne disease] this day.
Sat 3rd. A wet day. Warm rain which begun now to be much wanted. People now beginning to cutt down their grass for hay. Meadows not rank of grass and short.
Sun 4th. Showry in the afternoon but warm & thunder-like.
Mon 5th. Peter gone to Cockermouth market with potatoes which sold at 10d per peck. A considerable quantity of new potatoes at market got to 6d per gallon.
Tue 6th. A showry day. Peter gone to the mill with ½ bushel wheat.
Wed 7th. Cliping sheep this day. Had John Jackson helping us. They are in but low condition but not so bad as represented. About 35 in number and 14 lambs.
Thu 8th. A very hot day. Begun to mow.
Fri 9th. Peter mowing in Undergarth meadow. It is not so full of grass as some years before. Very hot weather & sultry. People throng with the hay.
Sat 10th. Old hive cast a second time this day but soon went home again.
Sun 11th. Got about three cart loads hay yesterday, being the first this season. A very hot day. Old hive cast a 2nd time this day. Bought of Thomas Robinson his half share of the bees. Three casts & 2 old hives for £1 1s 0d.
Mon 12th. A very hot day. William gone to Cockermouth. Throng about the hay: mowing in Undergarth meadow. Very fine grass and pretty generally well grown.
Tue 13th. Housing hay out of the Undergarth meadow. Got eight cart loads this day. Fine hay and very dry weather: extream hot.
Wed 14th. Mowing the remainder of Undergarth meadow and begun the Corn-Close meadow. Betty Bushby here this week to work hay.
Thu 15th. Throng about the hay. Begun mowing in Brakenhill meadow. It is dry and the grass much better for draining.
Fri 16th. A very hot day. Housing hay. Got all the Undergarth and Corn-Close meadows this day: 11 cart load. Very dry & fine hay. In all 22 cart load.
Sat 17th. Throng mowing. John Bushby here mowing.
Mon 19th. Keept William at home this week on account of the hay. Got six cart loads out of the upper part of Low Meadow. Some thunder this afternoon but little rain.
Thu 22nd. Came on rain yesterday a little after noon. Watered about five cart loads of hay. Thunder rain.
Fri 23rd. Showry; the air cooled a little. Got the water'd hay into little cock. It is very well. Peter & John Bushby mowing in the Moss-head. Wet in afternoon.
Sat 24th. Weather continues showry and uncertain. About the Low Meadow hay, working it into cock to stand over the week end.
Sun 25th. John and William gone to the Meeting. Weather seems to settle again but the air hot and sultry.
Mon 26th. William gone to Cockermouth. Throng about the Low Meadow hay. Got it again into pretty good order. Intend to house it tomorrow.
Tue 27th. A fine day in the forenoon. Got three cart loads of hay. Came on rain in the afternoon. Water'd a part of the hay a second time. Weather thundery & uncertain.
Wed 28th. A very fine day. Got nine cart load of hay, being all in the Low Meadow, and in pretty good order. A very throng day.
Thu 29th. Wife gone to the Meeting. A very wet day; the great heat still continues.
Fri 30th. Weather continues showry and uncertain. About gathering the hay together in Shortlands. John gone to Mosser: Thomas Robinson pay night.
Sat 31st. Some showers in the night and fore part of the day. A fine afternoon. Throng about the hay in Moss-head & Shortlands. John Bushby & wife here.
Extracts from The Diary of Isaac Fletcher of Underwood, Cumberland, 1756-1781, edited by Angus J L Winchester (Kendal, 1994).
