Northumberland & Durham historical docs

😂😂 archive.org/details/b2153795…

Ah here’s one from Warne’s Model Cookery (1871)

John Bailey, from whom Marshall took much Nbld info, notes 3 varieties, Green top, Red top & White top. Suggesting that perhaps our familiar purple skinned/orange fleshed turnip didn’t come along until later. archive.org/details/bim_eigh… The list of terms will please you I think.

Found William Marshall’s thoughts on turnips in Northumberland, late 18c. Notable is the mention that they were first grown for feeding stock c1720.

William Marshall in his 1796 Rural Economy of the West of England was less than complementary with regard to the cultivation of the turnip in Devon.

It’s always worth having a poke around even the most obscure sources, in this case the previously mentioned Prize Papers In 1734 John Porrett of Stockton, Co. Durham mentioned in his will that one of his young sons was with his uncle Jackson in Porto. Here are their signatures:

Not far.

Fits the bill, a smithy by the crossroads, 1890

Really super little charity shop find. Well worth a read if you can manage to track down a copy.

A day trip a bit further afield today, hoping the cloud will burn off. Some impressive sand art there, but unfortunately I’m not sure how long it would last these days.