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The Harvest

The word ‘harvest’ derives from the old English ‘haerfest’ meaning Autumn. The full moon nearest the autumn equinox is called the Harvest Moon, and festivals are traditionally held on the nearest Sunday to this.

At this time of the year the harvest is almost gathered in and people begin to prepare for Harvest Festivals. These days you are as likely to find tinned goods as home grown or home made fruits of the harvest.

In the past, almost the entire population of Melbourn were involved in agriculture and its support industries, people were very aware of the state of the crops as the survival of their entire families depended on the success of the harvest.

Actually harvesting began long before the autumn. The first main harvest was of hay, in June. Men with scythes, which replaced sickles, were expected to mow about an acre a day. Women and children followed to put the hay into loose sheaves, and turn them, ensuring that it dried. Eventually it was stored in haystacks until it was needed as animal fodder. The amount of hay harvested determined how many animals could be kept over winter and therefore how much fresh meat would be available to be eaten. The best animals of course were kept for breeding the following year.

Before the harvest were the ‘hungry weeks’ when the grain stock of the previous year was almost gone. Animals were turned out into the fields when the first grass was available for grazing, Cows came into milk after giving birth, and cheese was made, which also provided food during lean times.

After the hay came the first of the grain harvests. The beginning of August is known as Lammas or ‘Loaf Mass’, when a loaf made from the first wheat crop was given to the local church to be used as communion bread, thanking God for the harvest.

When the corn harvest was ripe and reaping was to begin, the workers were alerted by the blowing of a tin horn, the Harvest Horn’. The last Horn Blower in Melbourn was William King, who had worked since the age of seven. He died in 1935 at the age of eighty-four.

Labourers, some from outside the area, negotiated wages with the farmers, and the chief negotiator was the leader, often known in Cambridgeshire as the Lord of the Harvest.

The last load of the Harvest, the Horkey load was observed with ceremony. The Lord with his men, rode back into the village on a cart which was decorated with branches. He was accompanied by his ‘ Queen’, either a man dressed as a woman, or a pretty girl with a wreath of corn and lowers on her head, carrying a sheaf of decorated wheat. The villagers cheered them in shouting ‘Horkey, horkey!’ Frequently they also threw water over the cart and men, a symbol of fertility, to ensure growth during the following year.

In previous times the ‘Queen’ was a doll (from ‘idol’) made from the last stand of corn in the centre of the field, in which the ‘spirit of the harvest’ resided and presided over the celebrations. The following year she was taken out into the fields during sowing.

This corn dolly survives in different ornamental forms made around the country. These were used to replace the original Dollies in the offerings made to churches Locally it is the Cambridgeshire bell, or sometimes umbrella.

After the harvest was brought home the ‘gleaning’ bell would be rung, and the gleaners, women and children would rush out to the fields to gather up the fallen ears of corn. Women had special aprons, in which to collect the ears, and they also picked single grains which had fallen from the ears.

Meanwhile the sheaves of corn were stacked and the stacks thatched to await threshing, which took place in a threshing barn. This had a threshing floor in the middle, a high door where the loaded wagons could enter, and a lower door where they exited. The threshed corn was stored in the barn.

Many families depended on gleanings to eke out f lour for bread through the winter. Children were sent to the mill with the grain in a pillowcase, bringing home the flour. The Mill (now The Sheene Mill) in Station Road, was in operation until after the Second World War.

When all was safely gathered in there were Harvest or Horkey Suppers given by farmers to their workers and their wives. Barns would be decorated with flowers, corn and fruit, and feasts of beef, plum pudding and beer were consumed with enthusiasm. There was also music and dancing.

In 1881 the Royston Crow reported that ‘a Gleaner’s Tea was held by Mr James Whitby. 73 sat down and there were children’s games and adult dancing until 10pm.’

The farming year continued in much the same way, horses slowly being replaced by tractors, until traditional farming methods were finally swept away after the WWII. Ed. AD

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