Durham E-Theses Some geographical aspects of the agriculture of the Hartlepool's region Simpson, R. How to cite: Simpson, R. (1964) Some geographical aspects of the agriculture of the Hartlepool's region, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10448/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk oCM/S GEOGRAPHICAL A-.iP3CT-3 OF THE AGHICULTUaE OF TIffi HARTLKPOOLo REGION Thesis submitted for the Degree of Master of .Science by R.6IMP30N, k.A. in the Department of Geography, University of Durham. i-.AY 1964. * , V CONTENTS. Introduction i - iv Chapter 1. The soils of the Hartlepools region 1-17 Parent materials 1 The soils 3 delation of types of farming to soils L4 Agricultural potential of the soils 17 Chapter 2. The climate of the Hartlepools region 18 - 72 Climate recording stations 18 Climatic factors 21 Temperature 25 Range of temperature 31 Experimental work on temperatures 32 Accumulated temperatures and the growing season 4-0 Sunshine 4-3 Fog AS Rainfall 52 Snowfall 63 Thunderstorms 64. Hinds 65 Overall characteristics 71 Chapter 3- The agriculture of the Hartlepools region 73 - 2/+4. Physical background 73 Climatic background 76 Historical background 79 The Baker and Baker Papers 79 Dale of Kanor of Hart 83 Young's tour 84. Hutchinson's History 86 Bailey's Report 86 1801 Crop Returns 90 Caird's tour 90 Bell's Prize Essay 91 1870 Census 94 Coleman's Report 99 Pringle's Report 101 1901"Census 102 1912 Census 109 The Great War 120 1930 Census 122 i,and Utilisation Survey 1931 - 32 132 Historical background(continued) The depression of the 1930's 138 /jar-time arrangements 145 Post-war farming 147 1960 Census I4B The crop maps 166 A farm survey of the Hartlepools region 166 :?arm classification 167 'arm tenure 179 """arm labour 1$4 Mechanisation of farms 186 Cropping husbandry 194 stock husbandry 207 Appendix 1. Farm questionnaire 245 Appendix 2. Procedure for the mechanical analysis of the soil samples 247 Appendix: 3. ooil traverses 251 Appendix 4« Coil pit profiles 262 Appendix 5- Farms mapped 271 Bibliography. 289 i INTRODUCTION The first comprehensive assessment of the agriculture of the lartlepools region was the mapping of land use in 1931-32 by the Land 'Utilisation Survey, on the scale of one inch to one mile. This was followed in 1939 by a study of Durham based on parish statistics by A.S.Gaught(l)who concluded that the county was divided into three agricultural regions, pastoral in the west, intermediate in the centre, and arable-dairying in the east. In 194-° "the Summary Report of the National ^arm survey classified the area from the Hartlepools southwards down the Vale of York as one of "general mixed farming" since no single type of farming such as dairying, arable, or stock-fattening was predominant, unfortunately the National Farm Survey did not complete its mapping of the farm units. The unpublished maps ,hich were completed are now in the archives of the regional branch of the •inistry of Agriculture and are protected by the Official Secrets Act. • Dudley Stamp has stated (2)that the relationship between the area of the farm unit and the farm's economic viability is fundamental in any study of our agriculture, and he stresses the importance of mapping farm units as they are today. The preparation of such a map on the scale of one inch to one mile necessitated visits to over 400 farms and over 70 smallholdings, which were first mapped on the scale of six inches to one mile and subsequently reduced, ^arm classification has been based on the criteria adopted by the Department of Agricultural Economics of Newcastle University. Visits to the farms have revealed that even within the same type of farming there are considerab i.e differences of method, especially in the fattening of cattle. (1) A.o.Gaught. "Some Geographical Aspects of the Agriculture of Jounty Durham." Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, London University, 1939. (2) L. Dudley Stamp. "Geographical Agenda: A Review of Some Tasks Awaiting Geographical Attention." Trans. Inst. Brit. Geographers, 1957. ii A survey of the climate of the Hartlepools region does much to explain the mixed character of the farming. In some years livestock prove the sheet anchor of the farm economy when poor growing weather opoils the crops. The reliability for agricultural studies of temperature data collected at urban recording stations is rather doubtful, and the writer's series of experiments in and around the Hartlepools shows that a well-marked "heat island" exists over the built-up area. Short-term screen records and temperature traverses were used to establish the relationship between the temperatures of the East Durham Flateau and of the Tees lowland. Soils are another important aspect of the agricultural geography. The cover of glacial drift gives rise mainly to heavy but fertile clay soils but fluvio-glacial sands and gravels occur in patches and ridges, and loams are well distributed. Few farms, however, possess only one type of soil, and the variation, even in individual fields, makes mapping a complex and slow task. An initial reconnaissance of the soils of the whole county was made in the late 194.Cs by 3. M.Doug all on the scale of one inch to one mile. This provides a good base-map for agricultural studies like the present one but detailed field-work has shown its limitations. Come interesting correlations have been found between soil type3 on the one hand and land use and farm types on the other. By means of the statistics collected by the Board(later the ninistry) of Agriculture the chief economic trends in agriculture over the last 100 years can be followed. An attempt has been made to show the contrast between areas with a favourable physical bacKpround and those more poorly endowed in the ways in which they reacted to the changing economic circumstances. Access to farms has been improved continuously, and first the railways and then motor vehicles and roads have wrought changes in agricultural production especially in the production of milk and eggs. Nevertheless there remain farms in the .iartlepools region which suffer in various ways from their remoteness. The rapid growth of the dartlepools, of Stockton, iiddlesbrough, and of the large mining villages on the southern edge of the Durham coalfield since 1850 has had important repercussions on the farming of the surrounding areas. I-iot least is the loss of agricultural land to housing, industry, and urban amenities. Only two miles of open fields separated the Hartlepools and Dillingham in 1963; there were seven miles of countryside between them in 192C, including some of the best soils in the county. >,ince the 194-7 and 1957 Agriculture Acts the central government has taken into its hands a greater degree of control over farming, by means of financial incentives for certain approved undertakings. Fertilizers, field drains, building and roads, for example, are now partly financed by the Exchequer, while tax allowances for wear and tear, and for capital investment, encourage farm mechanization. Over-production is checked and under-production is levelled up by the Annual Price Reviews which adjust subsidies, and marketing Boards for various commodities alao act as government agencies, wost farmers are progressive enough to allow themselves to be guided by these arrangements, and the efficiency of the system is indicated by an increase in net output -"rom the farms of about 8";' between 1933 and 1963 • The technological revolution through which agriculture is now passing, with its new applications of chemistry, biology, and engineering, will doubtless continue to alter radically the methods and products of the farms in the lartlepools region. It may even create the need for specialization on these farms whose traditional cropping and stock-raising dichotomy has proved its iv resilience for centuries. It is hoped that in a period of rapid change the present study will at least serve as a snapshot picture of the early 196C's which the future generations of geographers and others will study as part of a series of historical documents. MAP 1 VALLSY OWKH MU TOPOGRAPHY Cootours m fett EAST DURHAM , 2 mies PLATEA 0 North Se HmrftfN «uur W«T HMTLSfooL frtlTN CAM NCwTMr IWLty VMtft A Sao Ett.n 8 o Hungry, ir <;to«Qr 3«o J 1 Chapter 1 TILS COILS 07 as ,L;LRTLNP00LG RBGION The region is built up of glacirl and post glacial materials resting on the liagnesian Limestone to' the North-went, and on the Triassic red sandstone to the south-east of a presumed fault between Hartlepool and Darlington, which fellows a curved line convex towards the north-west d). Neither of these underlying formations crops out at the surface save at the coast where the drift thins out to allow the red sandstone to emerge in the rocks of Hartlepool Bay and on the foreshore at Seaton Corew.