Forces for Change
No. of Objects: 111
Examine the pace of change in the countryside
New technologies are forces for change in the countryside. We explore six seminal technologies – from seed drills to artificial fertilisers – through the eyes of people involved in adopting, adapting or rejecting them. Each person’s story reveals how social forces, financial motivation, practicalities and other factors may motivate their choices in new technologies and ways of doing things.
In this gallery you can find our large objects such as the Fordson Tractor and threshing machine. Alongside these, Womens Land Army clothing, livestock portraits, Suttons Seeds display cabinet, an artificial bee inseminator and many other items add a rich visual and material flavour to each story.
Digital labels
The MERL Google Streetview Tour
Activities
Take a seat and select an archive film to watch on the large screen.
Take on the role of the Minister of Agriculture, responsible for growing crops using technology. Can you feed the population in the most environmentally-friendly way?
Did you know
...city families used to pick hops on holiday?
Hop picking holidays allowed city families to earn money. Pickers were paid with tokens, which were used in local shops or exchanged for wages.
Did you know
...Elizabethan mattresses were used for both childbirth and corpses?
Mattresses, plaited from sedges, were made to support a mother during childbirth or a corpse after death. After use it would have been burned.
Did you know
...farmers used to sow seeds by fiddle?
Sowing by hand can be slow and inaccurate. Seed drills were developed in the 1800s to sow seeds quickly in a straight line at regular intervals.
Did you know
...Lady Eve Balfour (1898-1990) was one of the earliest organic farmers and co-founded the Soil Association?
Women continue to play a key role in this movement, with organic farms employing significantly more women than chemical farming.
Did you know
...Suttons Seeds invented the seed packet?
The local Reading firm, founded in 1806, popularised paper packets of seeds for gardeners.
Did you know
...villages often used to run their own fire services?
The National Fire Service was only created in 1941.
