Lustleigh, From The East 1920

Photo ref: 69626

More about this scene

We tend to think that period photographs of farming scenes portray a countryside that was an unchanging and eternal rural idyll. Yet from the late Victorian period, the fields were an arena in which fundamental changes were taking place. Brand new inventions, tools and machinery were displacing the manual labourer, and an era was nearing its end. This beautiful view shows a reaping scene with a self-binder. This device cut the oats, drew them into sheaves and tied them. Self-binders are still used today for binding wheat sheaves for thatchers – modern combines crush the stems, destroying their waterproof qualities and durability.