Agriculture Gallery

Two women milking cows in a field, St Just in Penwith, Cornwall. Late 1800s

A stereoscopic view of two women milking cows in a field in the St Just in Penwith area. Three farm buildings are in the background. It is possible that the cows being milked are Welsh Blacks. This breed of cattle is said to have been very similar to the now extinct breed, the Cornish Black, sharing the same characteristics of being smaller in size than most cattle and having white horns with black tips. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan.

© From the collection of the RIC

Lower Greadow Farmhouse, Luxulyan, Cornwall. 1972

Lower Greadow Farmhouse, showing the remains of a medieval monastery building which belonged to Tywardreath Priory. The farm is in Luxulyan Parish and the parish boundary runs close to the eastern side of the farm. According to 1888 and 1908 Ordnance Survey maps it was known as Lower Gready. Two nearby farms to the east were known as Middle Gready and Higher Gready, both of these being east of the parish boundary in Lanlivery Parish. At some time since then the word Gready has been changed to Greadow. A granite stone outside Higher Greadow Farm still reads Higher Gready Farm. An aerial view from Google Maps (2019) suggests that some of the remains have since been removed. Photographer: Charles Woolf.

© RIC, photographer Charles Woolf

Cattle market, Lostwithiel, Cornwall. 1973

A view of the cattle market when empty. The cattle market was situated off North Street in an area now occupied the town car park, which is entered from Restormel Road. Markets have been held in Lostwithiel since the 12th century. What sort of markets is not clear, but prior to the cattle market being opened they were held in Queens Street. The site was formerly known as the old iron mine site, containing the mines offices off North Street. These in turn became the cattle market offices and the market opened in 1908. By the 1930s most farmers were using motor transport and the single entrance at North Street was becoming problematic, forcing some farmers to park their vehicles on Quay Street and drive their cattle through the town via Monmouth Lane (formerly known as Tram Lane) to the Market. The former tramway ran from Restormel Iron Mine, above and near Restormel Castle, down to the harbour in Quay Road, passing through the cattle market site, across North Street into Monmouth Lane across Fore Street, along Quay Street and under the railway bridge into what later became a public park. By 1973 the market was heavily subsidised and it eventually closed in 1976. The sheds in the the photograph are standing on what was the tramway track bed, running right to left. Opposite the sheds, out of picture, are the market offices. They were formerly the iron mine offices, or Count House, which had been modernised for the cattle market administration. The offices still stand today, but have been altered and are used for modern functions. Photographer: Charles Woolf.

© RIC, photographer Charles Woolf