By Julian Schmechel
The Reckoning
I
n these times of economic uncertainty, it is easy to forget, that we are not the first to experience monetary problems on a world wide scale. The years between the two World Wars saw an infamous financial crash, causing banks to call in loans, in a desperate attempt to bolster their reserves. This, combined with an agricultural slump, caused great hardship amongst the farming community; leaving many farmers teetering on the very edge of bankruptcy. This is a tale of how one farmer's desperation led to consequences of the very darkest kind. Situated amid the high hedge lanes and towering elms of the Suffolk countryside, the village of Lower Houghton appeared far from the world of high finance, and yet even this rural backwater was not beyond the grasp of international banking. Set by a rutted track that served as a road, Red House Farm was an imposing building, constructed in the decade following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. With land extending to 1200 acres, the farm was one of the largest in the area, and had belonged to the Snape family in perpetuity.
With a muscular frame and the facial complexion of a ripe cider apple, bachelor Tom Snape was in his fifth decade of life, and the hereditary owner of Red House Farm. He was also a much troubled man. Although weather worn from a life working the land, the lines and furrows that creased farmer Snape’s forehead, were of more recent origin. They owed their existence wholly to the arrival by post of an unexpected, official looking brown envelope. This unwelcome communication from Tom’s bank, had slipped through the letterbox, setting in motion a sequence of events, far beyond the imaginings of farmer Snape. Upon opening the envelope, Tom learned that his Ipswich based bank, were calling in a loan assured some three years earlier. The letter was full of apologies and explanations of the dire circumstances in which the bank found itself but, in short, they wanted their money and they wanted it now. Farmer Snape slumped into a kitchen chair and cast the finely embossed letter across the table. The loan, made before the financial crash, was a large one, and taken out to buy land and improve livestock. That same land and stock
today was worth little, for now people lacked the capital to buy either. The harsh truth was that Tom Snape had no means to pay back the loan and now faced the real possibility of losing the family farm to the bank. A period of one month had been given for the debt to be settled; but this was irrelevant, as blood cannot be drawn from a stone. A depressive mood settled upon Red House Farm and its owner, as with surprising rapidity, the sultry days of August slipped by. Tom Snape brooded at the kitchen table, staring blankly at its surface, until he knew intimately, every knot and split in its scoured oak surface. Still he didn’t know how to pay off the bank loan. With a need for fresh air and to clear his mind, farmer Snape wandered into the kitchen garden at the rear of the property. Glancing around, his notice was taken by a patch of thistle covered ground by the garden wall. More out of habit than necessity, Tom set about weeding. As he worked, his mind drifted away from matters financial and a high August sun soon brought perspiration to his furrowed brow. So engrossed was he in his work, in fact, that he failed to notice a figure
Snape looked up to see the smiling visage and portly figure of the Parson. Irish Country Sports and Country Life Winter 2020
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