| Collection | Winstanley Oral History Collection |
| Description | Mr. H. Ash, born 1898, interviewed in Sunnyside in Canterbury, Mr. Ash's father was farm bailiff, family of 7, worked at Mount's Nursery.
Track 1 [1:01:19] [0:00:00] Introduction: interview of Mr Harry Ash [Mr A] of Sunnyside, Upper Harbledown near Canterbury by Michael Winstanley of the University of Kent at Canterbury on 10th January 1975. Mr A was born in Selling in 1898. [0:00:30] Mr A’s father bailiff for Harry Leney in Selling, moving to Harbledown 1903 as bailiff for Mr H.D. Barnes of Boughton. [0:02:19] Description of pheasant raising on Mr Barnes’ farms, mention of Jack Packman, gamekeeper. [0:03:18] Remarks on Mr A’s father’s work; bookkeeping, wages. [0:04:50] Mention of Polhurst and China farms. [0:05:20] Remark that Mr A’s father a hop specialist. [0:05:53] Remarks on the move from Selling to Harbledown [note that date varies 1903/1905]. [0:06:59] Mention of new public house, Plough, in Harbledown and landlord Tom Norris. [0:07:52] Comments on wood, coal, water and gas. Mr A living at China Farmhouse. [0:08:09] Mention of Maples of Rough Common, coal merchant and baker. [0:10:28] Remarks on forms of address. [0:12:27] Mention of the Chappells living at the Limes. [0:13:36] Mention that Mr Barnes had only local car in 1908; comments on roads. [0:15:57] Comments on Mr A’s father’s work; hours, holidays. [0:16:44] Discussion of church attendance on holy days. [0:18:30] Description of Mr A’s siblings; 3 sisters in service, brothers farm labourers, eldest brother served 2 years in France in World War I. [0:22:05] Detailed description of Mr A’s work in greenhouses at Mounts nursery at Highfield. [0:27:30] Mr A enlisted in army in 1915. [0:29:05] Detailed description of childhood games; ‘broken down horses’, ‘kick tin’, hoops. [0:31:25] Comments on football and cricket; football only after World War I, cricket upper class game. [0:32:12] Mention of Captain Macleton of Willow Down, cricket player. [0:34:41] Comments on Canon Holland’s black servants; from his missionary work in Africa, dress, not mixing, local attitudes. [0:37:40] Remarks on Canon Holland’s wife; religious mania, annual ‘bunfights’ for children, oranges as treats. [0:40:10] Comments on food; at school, tea, cooked meals, breakfast, poor keeping pigs and growing vegetables. [0:45:10] Remarks on Mr A’s mother; from Waltham [near Petham], father a casual labourer. [0:46:31] Remarks on casual labouring at China Farm; winter digging, hop picking, harvesting. [0:48:34] Description of London hop pickers; in September, roughly 500, whole families, same families each year, living in tin huts. [0:52:09] Description of oast work; skilled dryers, use of anthracite coal. [0:53:57] Mention that tallymen were local schoolmasters. [0:55:17] Detailed description of daily life of hop pickers; nuns with tea urns, police presence at pay days, Canterbury and London families working together.
[Track 2 - the audio file for pages 17-32 of the transcript of Mr Ash’s interview is not currently available.]
Track 3 [0:56:36] [0:00:00] Mention of annual school fete. [0:00:15] Anecdote about Miss Maxted, schoolmistress, correcting Mr A’s left-handedness. [0:01:57] Remark that school covered Upper and Lower Harbledown plus Rough Common but village children did not mix. [0:08:25] Mention of ‘Jumbo’, first village casualty of World War I. [0:09:10] Remarks on lack of travel to Medway or Canterbury; food delivered, only clothes shopping. [0:11:07] Mention of ‘slate clubs’ in pubs to provide sickness benefits. [0:14:30] Anecdote about William Allen the Irishman using the pub’s bottle and jug. [0:16:20] Remark that only London women hop pickers used the pub. [0:17:23] Anecdotes about pub regulars; Charlie Pagg, Canon Hollander’s gardener, Noah Woodcock. [0:21:40] Comments on Lintott, his shop, pig keeping, road maintenance work for council. [0:24:53] Mention of Mary Stringer, shopkeeper, and her husband, railway plate layer and amateur photographer. [0:27:17] Mention of Teddy Lawrence, blacksmith, and Charlie Pagg, carpenter. [0:27:56] Remarks on prevalence of hop gardens locally, seasonal work digging hops, no use of ploughs until after World War I. [0:29:48] Mention of owners of hop farm; Barnes to 1908, Jones Brothers of Worcester bankrupted, then creditors Pudge and Cave of Worcester, Hubble from 1914. [0:32:10] Comments on postal service; Stringers running post office, postman Bill Sutton. [0:34:35] Anecdote on manure supply. [0:37:10] Mention of Maples and Noah Woodcock emptying cess pits. [0:40:56] Comments on tramps. [0:44:11] Description of China Farm, front room for visitors, office for farm owner, furniture, furnishings, heating, water. |