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Agricultural Hall
Agriculture, Milling, Cider and
Poaching |
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| Greeting the visitor
is a large photograph of threshing corn at Netherexe Barton in 1947. From the view, it can
clearly be seen as a family activity and of interest is the waggon which is on display in
the Alford Gallery of the Museum. For
new generations not acquainted with agriculture the displays seek to explain the processes
of ploughing, sowing and reaping, and then threshing, winnowing and milling.
The first part of the Gallery is tall and
open and has a number of objects associated with the growing of corn. Ploughs of different
types, harrows, hand tools, a drill for sowing corn and against another large dramatic
image, a reaping machine. |
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| The centrepiece of
the Gallery is an Exmoor Box Waggon dating from 1870 which was used to
carry the harvest home. Also on display are a number of objects associated with livestock
and domestic food production. |
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| Inside the ‘barn’, the scene is
dominated by a large ten horsepower Blackstone oil engine providing power
for the processing of crops. Indeed the transition from hand to mechanised processes, and
the social dislocation it caused, is a theme which is explained in full. |
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Threshing, winnowing and milling are all represented by objects in
the gallery, plus a display of horse harnessware. Also in this space
is a fine collection of cider making equipment, the oldest piece
dating from 1670, and a collection of poaching and trapping tools,
including our four popular man-traps one still with a leg in it! |
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