10:10am Saturday 16th January 2010
Former agent of the Bolton Abbey Estate John Sheard has published a new book looking at the history of the village. He was land agent for more than 30 years, but his connections with the estate date back long before that. He was born in Cross Hills and, during the Second World War, his family obtained permission to locate their caravan on the estate at Barden, where they spent many weekends and holidays. His new book, Times Past at Bolton Abbey, is a collection of historic events that helped it to develop and improve. Here Mr Sheard explains more about his connections with the estate.
Having been a parent myself in the late 1960s I can now appreciate that my parents must have wondered anxiously what their sons would do when they grew up.
They took an interest in all sorts of boyish activities but, like me, I believe they considered education was a major factor and I was extremely lucky to have been given that, but in retrospect what they never knew was that leisure pursuits also mattered.
During the Second World War my father bought a caravan and obtained permission to place it on a farm at Barden on the Bolton Abbey Estate. We thoroughly enjoyed many weekends and holidays cycling eight miles there and benefiting from fresh milk and newly-laid eggs.
My parents showed me how to catch rabbits and I spent many hours near the riverside with lettuce and salt, but for some inexplicable reason never caught any!
The estate foresters were felling timber in a nearby wood and all the horses working there were housed every night at the farm where we were staying. I loved to see them, to be near them, smell them and was soon given the chance to ride on a horse each morning, leaving at 6am.
This was a tremendous treat for me, to feel the power of the horse beneath me and witness their instant obedience to all the commands given to them as they walked along the road and in the woods. I then had to walk all the way back to the farm for my breakfast, but the ride was certainly worth it!
I delighted in seeing and experiencing the presence of so much wildlife all around – rabbits, mallard ducks, swallows, curlews, lapwings, skylarks – as well as the farmer busy with his cows, calves, pigs, sheep and lambs, his dogs, and I learnt that among the luxurious looking green fields dock leaves were necessary if you were unlucky enough to be stung by those sneaky nettles.
The barn was a fascinating place, still half full of loose hay stacked up from the floor to the roof, and still smelled strongly of rich summer grasses.
Experience or education I know not, but it seems to have embedded in me a strong feeling for agriculture and the countryside.
When I left school I was entered for a three-year course in estate management but, before starting, I had to spend a full year on a well- established mixed farm in Yorkshire. This gave me an active involvement in this dairy and arable farm and I kept detailed notes of all operations in every field and in the shippon.
As I could drive a tractor I harrowed a field prior to spring-time grazing and spread farmyard manure!
I also seemed to be the one delegated to take the milk cans down to the main road each morning from where they were collected. The worst back-breaking work I can remember was thinning miles of sugar beet plants to make them grow up evenly in a 10-acre field. However, all this practical work was a tremendous advantage when I was a student as I knew what was involved in everyday farming and how long each task took.
After the agricultural college and two years working in a chartered land agent’s office. I qualified as a chartered land agent specialising in the maintenance and development of agricultural estates and was eager to develop whatever skills I had as a land agent.
Surprisingly, the Duke of Devonshire had advertised for a land agent for his Yorkshire estate and, without telling my parents, I applied for the position. This involved interviews and a meeting with the duke but, happily, he was impressed with me and I was appointed, a position I retained for more than 30 years up to retirement.
My work involved looking after and running the estate for the duke and his family, both technically and practically, so detailed interest in the farms naturally followed to ensure all could continue to rear beef and dairy cattle, sheep or pigs, and additional buildings, improved water supplies, land drainage, repairs to residential dwellings all had to take place.
Forestry was started in earnest by the 6th Duke of Devonshire when, between 1810 and 1820, he planted 3,913,629 trees, so eventually trees had to be thinned and felled, protective fencing erected, vermin controlled, access roads improved and the best forestry plants for replacement obtained.
I also worked with the Forestry Commission. The 15,000 acres of heather moors were particularly interesting as grouse and many species of waders and other wildlife all needed special attention. Five or six gamekeepers were allotted to particular regions of the moors to manage these individually. Brown trout and grayling flourished in the river Wharfe under the care of the estate bailiff. Anglers were permitted to use only barbless hooks, thereby ensuring better and more catchable fish. During my time at Bolton Abbey restaurants and cafes, shops, car parks, and toilet facilities were built and more than 80 miles of footpaths repaired and created for the enjoyment of visitors.
The Dukes of Devonshire have always managed this Yorkshire Dales estate for the benefit of wildlife and the improvement of the landscape.
In association with the Countryside Commission, a Heritage Plan has been drawn up which will ensure that this beautiful place, which the family have always shared with the public, will be protected in the future.
I enjoyed working for the Duke of Devonshire and his family enormously, but in retrospect I think my interest must really have started when I was riding those horses and staying on that Bolton Abbey Estate farm between the ages of four and seven.
* John Sheard’s two books, “Bolton Abbey: the Yorkshire Estate of the Dukes of Devonshire” (hard-backed copies cost £13.50 and soft-backed, £9) and “Times Past at Bolton Abbey” (soft-backed copies are £12), are available from Mr Sheard at 34 Tarn Moor Crescent, Skipton, BD23 1LT.
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