Clockwork Tractor
Ferguson, Demonstration model, circa 1949–1951 This model tractor was designed to demonstrate how the innovative three-point linkage technology on Ferguson tractors worked. This unique mechanism featured on the iconic TE-20 tractor or ‘little grey Fergie’ and made for a vehicle that was more stable and adaptable. Models like this enabled Ferguson agents, technicians, and distributors […]
From chalk to cheese: the new display in the Our Country Lives gallery
As we get ready to share the Museum with visitors once again, Curator of MERL Collections Ollie Douglas is to hand to reveal a change to our displays. As he explains, this has been in the pipeline since we relaunched the galleries in 2016. We are sorry to say it means our first visitors back […]
Farm Epic
Anthony Bernard Lees, Farm Epic (circa 1951) This small booklet provides an account of mid-century farm mechanisation using the patented ‘Ferguson System’. This equipment was widely promoted during the early 1950s, when it was displayed at the Festival of Britain and advertised prominently in the Southbank exhibition guide. The ‘System’ comprised the TE20 tractor with its […]
Scythe
Scythes were used to manually cut crops or grass at harvest time. They replaced sickles and bagging hooks which required the user to repeatedly bend down low to cut the crops. Scythes themselves have now been largely been replaced – firstly by horse-drawn and more recently tractor machinery and then combine harvesters, but they are still […]
Barley fork
This is a three-pronged barley fork made of ash. It was used for ‘pooking’ – turning over mown barley as it lay in ‘windrows’ (rows) and stacking it into sheaves. This fork is over 100 years old and probably closer to 200 years old – made before iron was used widely in farm tools. It […]
Death to Pests
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Death to Pests poster, 1951 This poster was issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It was printed for H. M. Stationary Office by J. Howitt and Son Ltd, Nottingham, and released in 1951. It was intended to encourage British growers to combat common vegetable pests. This postwar period was still […]
The Tractor Whisperers (an April Fool’s)
Written by Tim Jerrome. In the first half of the 20th century, Britain was home to myriad secret agricultural societies, such as Horseman’s Word. Yet there was one society which, for many, was only a myth. Known as the Tractor Whisperers, the secretive Order of Credulum tilled the shadows of 20th century rural England, achieving […]
51 Voices: Digging Deeper
This January, The MERL embarked on 51 Voices, a new year-long project celebrating the Museum’s seventieth anniversary in 2021. Throughout the year, we will be working with a range of writers, artists and different communities to give contemporary voice to fifty-one objects and archives in The MERL collection connected in myriad ways to our founding year. In this […]
The Country Year
Barry Evans and William Kempster, Designs for The Country Year, 1951 The MERL holds five of these preparatory artworks, originally part of a wider set. The series was reproduced at a larger scale in a ‘merry-go-round’ structure called The Country Year. This sat between exhibits focused on Country Life and Rural Crafts in the Country Pavilion of the […]
Groundnut Film
Colour film, The Groundnut Scheme at Kongwa, Tanganyika, 1948 The East Africa Groundnut Scheme was a disastrous attempt by the British Government to cultivate enormous tracts of land in Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania). Work commenced in 1947 and was abandoned in January 1951. This short film forms part of the archive of agricultural engineering firm Ransomes, […]