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Balaclava Farm

1948 , Terrington St Clement (Norfolk)

Cat no. 1368

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Farming on Balaclava Farm, Terrington St Clement.

Shots of wheat blowing in the wind leading into a sequence showing a tractor-drawn reaper binder at work in the field. Duncan and Ian Symington, the farmer's two young sons, are filmed in the field afterwards. Men load wheat onto a horse-drawn waggon. Horseshoe Hole Farm is in the background. The final scene in this sequence shows threshing by steam. There are close-up shots of the machinery and of one of the men, Mr. Stevenson. The next sequence shows Ben Rudd cutting mustard seed. The potato harvest is filmed. This uses a horse drawn potato harvester. Several workers, including many women, pick and grade the potatoes. Mrs. Rudd griddles the potatoes. This sequence includes experimentation by the film maker with speeded up and slow motion sequences.The next sequence contrasts different methods of ploughing a field. The first shows a horse-drawn plough. The second shows Mr. Stephenson using a crawler tractor pulling a single furrow plough. The cameraman experiments with shooting reflections and also includes a shot of 'Buster', his wet black retriever before showing a diesel plough sequence. This is being used for deep ploughing. This was an experiment that placed a diesel engine in a steam engine chassis. This contraption, which appears very old, can be seen in the background in some shots. The final, lengthy sequence, shot in 1947 or 1948, shows crop spraying using a helicopter supplied by Pest Control Ltd. The helicopter takes off and hovers over the land before coming down very low to spray. It makes three journeys. A large crowd had gathered to watch. There is a shot of Dr. Ripper, the Austrian founder of Pest Control and of Francis Hankin, the farm secretary. The final journey shows pictures of the Symington's farm, taken from the air.

Keywords

Crop spraying; Farming; Mechanisation; Ploughing

Background Information

The farm had been bought by the Symington family in 1912. It was a 700 acre farm that employed 40 horses. As well as regular workers, many floating 'hands' were used. Usually two gangs of Irish labourers helped with the wheat and potato harvests. (Information from Duncan Symington, c. 1997). Using helicopters for spraying was new. The helicopters were remaindered by the USAAF and bought by Pest Control, founded by Dr. Ripper, a pioneer of aerial crop spraying, for use in this manner.

Manifestations

Balaclava Farm

  • Barcode
    INV354765
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    DV digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:06:02
    Modification Date
    10/05/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    710672
  • Barcode
    INV326573
    Canonical Identifier
    47
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    master digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:06:02
    Identifier
    Modification Date
    11/02/2010
    Parts
    Reference
    681177
  • Activities
    Barcode
    INV173992
    Canonical Identifier
    TB 730
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    Umatic tape
    Dimension
    Identifier
    Modification Date
    24/07/2008
    Parts
    Reference
    673844
  • Barcode
    INV219815
    Canonical Identifier
    A-1830
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    16mm film
    Colour Type
    bw
    Has Sound
    N
    Identifier
    Image Polarity
    neg
    Modification Date
    25/06/2021
    Parts
    Reference
    565639
    Sound
    silent
  • Barcode
    INV247937
    Canonical Identifier
    VP-618
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Duration
    0:09:00
    Identifier
    Modification Date
    25/06/2021
    Parts
    Reference
    563839

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