Migration - introduction to historical migration in the Fens.
Migration of people has been at the core of shaping Spalding and its surrounding area physically, economically and socially. This I feel...
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Andrew Elsden - exploring stories, tales , rural and social issues past and present as I see them and sharing useful information.
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3 days ago6 min read
George Adams & Son
Of the four businesses I have chosen as the pillars upon which Spalding’s food industry was built George Adams & Son is the only one that...
Nov 186 min read
Geest
In 1935 in Calthrop’s solicitors office in Spalding the first Geest Company, Geest Horticultural Products was incorporated under the...
Nov 153 min read
Spalding Canning Factory
November 1930 saw the following announcement that was to herald further establishment of the food processing industry in Spalding hot on...
Nov 1114 min read
Spalding Sugar Beet Factory
Modern sugar production from sugar beet owes its origins in the Prussian Empire of 1801 which saw the first beet sugar factory opened in...
Nov 86 min read
The Rise of the Industrial Town of Spalding
When I describe Spalding as an industrial town people are generally surprised. We have an image of an industrial town being depicted as...
Nov 49 min read
The Evolution of Spalding's Markets - Market Stalls
The most visible and usually the longest lasting vestige of a market town are the market stalls. This is the case with Spalding and...
Oct 257 min read
The Evolution of Spalding Markets - Dairy
Dairy produce was primarily in the form of butter in market towns. If you cannot sell milk for immediate consumption it needs to be...
Oct 186 min read
Spalding the evolution of Spalding Markets - local butchers.
In the case of markets, maintaining confidence in the market was key. The nineteenth century saw an increase in control of livestock...
Oct 148 min read
Spalding - the evolution of Spalding Markets - the opening of the Sheep Market.
That the port of Spalding had an old and active market is undoubted. I have found no reference to an early charter awarding market rights...
Oct 116 min read
Spalding - Feeding from beyond the Fens
Spalding is where I was born and where I have lived most of my life to date. I state “feeding from beyond the Fens” because this has many...
Oct 726 min read
Bourne - the Edge of the Fens
By the early 1870’s Bourne was at a peak of activity which was matched by high employment activity nationally at that time.
Oct 429 min read
Holbeach the Centre of the Universe
When I worked in Holbeach there was an old boy used to come into town most market days from Holbeach St Marks by catching a lift with the...
Sep 308 min read
Sutton Bridge – a Fenland Port Town, the Product of Wise Investments by Thomas Guy
I worked very little in Sutton Bridge with the office there being dominated by my then colleagues Annie Batuik and Les Hills. When I did...
Sep 2710 min read
Long Sutton – the Village Market Town
“ I am here with my sister visiting this city. We are from Denmark and we think that the English people are very polite. Arriving to this...
Sep 2314 min read
The Towns That Serve The Countryside?
Do the towns of the Fens serve the countryside? Or does the countryside serve the towns? The American economist Jane Jacobs argued that...
Sep 2018 min read
Rural Crimes and Misdemeanours
“All criminal trials are about society, not just a case.” These words were written by the journalist and author Colin MacInnes in 1971....
Sep 166 min read
Flower Growing
In Spalding Parish Church there are two windows created by the eminent stained glass artist H. W. Harvey in 1966. Both are very bright...
Sep 1211 min read
Mechanization of Agriculture
The previous two pictures are of a pair of steam plough engines that my grandfather Frank Parish worked on. They were bought by the...
Sep 99 min read
Agricultural Labour - Gang labour accomodation and its modern failings
Improvements in the living conditions of farm labourers were slow and largely depended upon the willingness and abilities of the larger...
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