The Deepings Ploughing Match

Mid 1950’s bright orange Allis Chalmers tractor thought to have been supplied by Tom Sharp from Stamford Tractors driven by Ken Grooby from Little Duke Farm, Deeping St Nicholas. The American manufacturers of this tractor moved to Essendine at this time and it was made there until 1982.

10 The Deepings Ploughing Match

Showcasing the skills passed from father to son through the ages, the Deeping Ploughing Match is a long standing competition of traditional and modern methods of agricultural techniques, attracting farmers from across the region. Planning for the Match originally took place at the Three Tuns and now at the Bull in the Market Place.

Organised by the Deeping & District Agricultural Association, the Match involves upwards of 80 competitors from Lincolnshire, Rutland and beyond. They take part in one of the ten machinery classes where vintage and classic tractors compete over the furrows for a four-hour period. ‘It was not always so,’ remembers Richard Allen, Secretary from 1969-2014. ‘We would get 26-28 competitors typically but when people caught on to the vintage side of things in the 80s then it really took off!’

The Match was first conceived in 1944 by Alf Woodhead (Deeping St Nicholas), Jim and Dick Smith (Towngate), Dick and Horace Reedman (Langtoft), Frank Allen, Sonny Whitfield and George Charity (Deeping St James). Vic Peasgood and Ray Woodward (both of Langtoft), Alec Harwood (Deeping St James), Gordon Charity (Deeping St James) and Tony Smith (Towngate) were all early members of the Committee, and it is thought that George Knipe was the founder secretary. As described vividly in the Lincs Free Press in 1953: ‘Jingling decorated harnesses, the noise of the well-kept plough biting into the stubble covered ground and the thud of hooves as four teams of horses carried on their centuries old work were a great attraction at Market Deeping Ploughing Match. Entries compared well with previous years, the sheep dog competition showed an increase and this feature is becoming outstanding.’ Competitors vie with each other for an array of Cups. In 1953 the Cup for the best turnout of horses was won by a well-known member of a Langtoft farming family, Arthur Reedman of Towngate, a skilled ploughman of many years’ standing. Mr M. Reedman won the W. M. Friend Cup for the best work with an International Tractor and the Leverton Cup was won by Mr L. Simpson of Market Deeping for the best work with a Nuffield Tractor. Other local winners included A.E. Hare of Deeping St James, W.E. Sargeant of Towngate and J. E. Smith of Towngate won the cup for the best exhibit of Mangolds and Sugar Beet. Prizes were presented by Mr E W. Thacker, President of Deeping & District Ploughing Match Committee, who thought that the horse ploughing was simply superb!

‘Jingling decorated harnesses, the noise of the well-kept plough biting into the stubble covered ground and the thud of hooves’

The 1960 Match took place at Vergette’s land at Towngate West under heavy cloud, light mist and drizzle which limited the number of spectators. Mr R. Knight of Great Casterton won the Championship for the fourth time with the 1959 Champion, Mr Dexter, the reserve, who also bagged a number of other prizes including the Fordson Prize for the best work with a Fordson. Mr Knight commented that the conditions were very sticky, the worst that he had ever known at a Match. Judges were impressed with the mangolds and sugar beet and one potato exhibit was singled out for a special prize by Mr F. Richardson.

Three years later the Match was held at Langtoft Road by kind permission of Messrs G. M. Vergette, G. F. Pawlett and J. E. Smith. Perfect weather conditions prevailed with sun in the afternoon and local competitors were joined by some from as far away as Witney in Oxfordshire. Mr P. R. Marshall and Mr E. Money of Sleaford, who judged the barley, declared the samples from the winner, Messrs Peasgood & Sons of Langtoft, were the best seen that year. The winners went on to gain the first prize for the Lincs & Rutland District in the National Malting Barley Competition at the Corn Exchange in London.

The Chairman of the 1963 Show was Mr F.C.Allen who said while of good standard, he had seen better ploughing at previous matches. Good work was done by the ‘one ways’ which Mr Allen thought would be the plough of the future. The soil was just right for ploughing but the more general use of the combine harvester meant the stubble was much longer and more difficult to plough than in the old days when the binder was in use.

Vintage tractors continue to attract interest and this was the case also in 1963 by a 1921 4hp Rushton & Hornsby portable engine, bought for scrap but now repainted green with wheels of red and gold by Mr Knight of Casterton. Mr J Woodhead of Deeping St Nicholas won the competition for how long a tractor would run on six pints of diesel oil. Other local winners included Mr J.T. Exton of Market Deeping in three sugar beet classes while Mr F.C. and H.S. Allen of Deeping St James won the red potatoes class.

The weather has not always been so kind; in 1973 a slow crawl through fog from Selby in the early morning did not dim the prowess of ploughman Mr R.T. Norman of Cottenham, who gained the unanimous vote for Champion by the Judges. Ploughing by steam traction engines by Mr F.Coupland’s engines from Frithville were the main attraction of the day, bringing in a large number of spectators. Mr Pickard presented the prizes and he said, ‘In farming one of the most important things was a wellploughed field with its promise of a good crop.’

The last time Steam ploughing by F. Coupland took place was in 1994 at Sly Bros Hospital Farm in Deeping St Nicholas in celebration of 50 years of the Ploughing Match. Now, after 70 years, the Match has only been cancelled on three occasions: in the early 1960s, in 2001 as a result of foot and mouth disease, and in 2012 due to wet weather.

Ron Knight entered his 50th match in 2002 at David Branton’s Willow Tree Farm in Deeping St Nicholas and he later became a Judge with his son Brian, from Great Casterton, still ploughing.

This year the Match will be held on 31st October at 9.15 a.m., Thetford House Farm, Baston by kind permission of Mr M Richardson www.deepingploughing.org

Research: Joy Baxter, Trevor Harwood Photographs: Graham & John Charity, John Woodhead

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