August 2024, on Crux Easton revisited
TALES FROM THE HILLS
(Ashmansworth and Crux Easton)
Crux Easton, revisited, brought back these memories from the 1960s.
The farm then was let to two tenant farmers: Rowsell and Blackadder. They had farms of their own, but here they traded jointly under the name Crux Easton Farms Ltd, with registered offices in Mark Lane in the City of London.
The house itself was let to General Blomfield and his wife. Mrs Blomfield added a certain elegance to the place by riding along the lanes side-saddle.
Village life was by no means quaint or primitive. The farm was managed by Geoff. He had three permanent staff: Alan, Bill and Brian. They all had houses in the village, and cars, and travelled about. Geoff, I recall, used to go sailing down on the Solent.
One day, a glider made a forced landing on the farm. A chat with the pilot, and the next thing Geoff was flying gliders over at Lasham. If your name’s Geoffrey at Crux Easton, you’re bound to end up flying.
Thus there were four families here, all earning their living directly from the farm. That was out of a total of perhaps sixteen families in the village.
Come harvest, it was Alan on the grain dryer, Bill on the combine and Brian on the baler.
On most farms today we see bigger machines and fewer people. Probably it’s more lonely work but, in those days, with the extra help for the grain- and bale-carts, fields in summer would sometimes seem full of people. If the baler and the bale-cart crews caught up with the combine, then everyone would have to stop for a bit: flasks and bait-boxes would come out; perhaps family members too, bringing refreshments. Then, for a few minutes, everyone relaxed, sitting on the bales, streaked with sweat and dust, chatting and enjoying the break, like some impromptu fete champetre.
Only Alan, back at the dryer, missed it. But everything depended on him: if the grain went into the silo too wet, it would germinate, and all that year’s labour would be lost.
As work eased off, there would be a cricket match against Rowsell’s farm at Stoke Charity. Crux Easton against Stoke Charity: what beautiful names we have in Hampshire!
Agricola, August 2024
