When the price was right for a year’s work

Children will be on sale for the first time in nearly 100 years at Slingsby next weekend. Yes, you read that correctly.

They are going back to the days when for about £6 you were able to buy, for a whole year, a girl aged between 12 and 18. Boys aged 13-15 cost from £10.

These were the prices at the annual agricultural hirings which next weekend are being re-enacted in Slingsby. The hirings were part of the agricultural scene for centuries and were still going in some parts of the country until the end of the First World War

Margaret Mackinder has seen a few changes around here herself. “When I came to Slingsby 35 years ago there were 20 farms in the village,” she says.

“Today there are just two. Back then we still had a number of smallholder farmers who had just one cow.

“Farming has changed a great deal in the recent past, but it is nothing compared to the days when farm labourers were hired at the annual Martinmas Fair in Malton market place.”

Margaret is one of the organisers of the village’s first local history weekend which will look back at practices, such as the hirings, that once shaped agriculture.

Slavery was abolished in 1833 in the British Empire. To modern urban eyes, the situation for farm labourers at that time does not seem too far removed from slaves.

To make a living they were obliged to sell themselves at the Annual Hirings or “Mops” on Martinmas (November 11) otherwise known as St Martin’s Day.

This was the time when autumn wheat seeding had been completed and when there was an annual slaughter of fattened cattle for the winter. “Farmhands were contracted to a farm for one year only,” says Margaret. “Around here the Martinmas Fair took place in Malton. Everyone would gather and those who wished to be hired would travel from miles around to present themselves.

“The fair would last a week and in that time you would talk with prospective employers and negotiate the hiring terms which would include where you would sleep, the food you would receive and any holidays you may be granted.”

Holidays were the only times when many farmhands saw their family.

You lived on the farm where you worked seven days a week. Once terms were agreed, your new employer would give you either a crown or half-crown (50p or 25p) dependent upon experience. This would form your contract for the year ahead.

There were few written contracts. Oral agreements were seen as legally-binding and magistrates and judges were able to enforce them. The coin given to the employee was called a “fest” and was regarded as “fastening money”.

“Once a contract had been arranged, the farmhand then received no further money until Martinmas the next year,” adds Margaret.

“This led to the annual fair being a lively week with beer flowing as you celebrated your brief freedom and plenty of traders were in attendance selling boots and clothing.

“In more recent times, hirings have been thought of as a rather cruel practice and in a way they were. But the advantage of them was that as a worker you had quite a lot of flexibility.

“You weren’t committed to more than one year in any one place. The brighter ones acquired different skills from each farm they worked at and the more multi-skilled you were the more you were worth.

“Around here everyone was hired in this way.”

At an assembly at Slingsby County Primary School, Margaret and her fellow organisers explained to the children what it was like to be hired.

Next Saturday a number of the children will be presenting themselves to be hired amongst a group of local farmers from the surrounding area.

“There were many children hired at the Martinmas Fairs and we have briefed the schoolchildren about the type of questions they should ask the farmers,” says Margaret.

“They will be quizzing them about accommodation, food and what the job is like.

“We’re hoping that they will all come dressed like Charlotte and Emily in the photograph.

“It’s a bit of fun, but we also hope it will be educational. Each of the children will be given a coin which they can exchange for tea afterwards.”

The fascinating history of farm graffiti will also be explored at the Farming in Slingsby weekend.

Two local twin sisters, Melanie and Kate Giles, who are archaeologists at Manchester and York universities, just happen to be experts in this field of rural graffiti.

“In the high Wolds, particularly on the Birdsall Estate, we have found pictures on granary walls of horses, faces, poems and all manner of writings,” says Kate.

“It was an unusual system of farming around here with many horse lads who later became known as the Wolds Waggoners.

“They lived in isolated communities and would use granaries as their living rooms where they would play music, recite poetry and also draw or write on plastered walls.

“These were often completed using pencils, chalk and crayon.”

Seeing how we were a century ago

Farming in Slingsby, March 17-18, 10.30am (Saturday) 2.30pm (Sunday).

Agricultural hirings re-enactment 2.30pm Saturday, in the village hall.

Farm graffiti talk, All Saints at 3.30pm. David Stockdale, curator of Ryedale Folk Museum, will talk about the history of farming in the area at 2.30pm on the same day. Entry £2 (Saturday), £1.50 (Sunday).

Other annual payments to workers at agricultural hirings in 1874: Boys aged 16 to 18, £18-£20. Good shepherd/experienced farmhand, £20-£30.Experienced Foreman £30.