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The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 12th May 2020 As handy as a piece of old rope? As I found in Waterford, serendipitous discoveries are one of the great joys for the amateur historian. Many years ago during alterations to an old farmhouse near here …
The Clerk in the Country
Thursday 7th May 2020 Discovering wonderful things As anticipated, my spring-cleaning efforts stalled as soon as I opened a large box full of guide books, holiday snaps and marvellous memories, many of them from YPS trips and tours. For me …
The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 5th May 2020 Coming eventually to a supermarket near you As the weather forecasters reminded us, the showers over recent days were much needed for our gardens. They were more than welcome too for the arable crops around here. …
The Clerk in the Country
Thursday 30th April 2020 Some four-footed neighbours Crossing the road at speed, close to the post box, was an animal I struggled at first to recognize. The size of a squirrel or a rat, its tail was far too thin …
The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 28th April 2020 Leave and long furrows Hearing the word furlough so frequently in recent days puts me in mind of the tables of measurement chanted in my early days at primary school, when I must have been one …
The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 21st April 2020 More birds … or not This morning a rare visit from a goldcrest, picking about for insects on the vertical face of a brick wall, got the day off to a good start. Yesterday ended with …
The Clerk in the Country
Thursday 16th April 2020 Pleasures and pitfalls Spending half a day browsing through copies of old newspapers in a quiet corner of a library is one of the pleasures amateur historians like myself are presently having to forego. It’s many …
The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 14th April 2020 100 years ago: the aftermath Despite being restricted to the speed of a horse or bicycle to escape the floods, no injuries to residents of affected villages were reported and “happily as far as stock is …
The Clerk in the Country
Thursday 9th April 2020 A crisis from the past For farmers not so very far from here the problem of waterlogged ground was to become much worse when the River Aire overtopped defence banks in late February, causing serious flooding …
The Clerk in the Country
Tuesday 7th April 2020 Seed corn and skylarks On the first day of the lock-down a Radio 3 listener asked to be cheered up by a playing of “Oh, what a beautiful morning” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma”. The song …
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