New book out today, not published by me however I have stock of it, Farming Isle by Anita and Alan Hardcastle, price £8.95. It is an history of the farms in the Isle of Thanet, I haven’t had a chance to read it yet however a first glance shows it to be a detailed well researched book that quotes its sources.This from the preface:
Some three years ago we bought a pencil and sepia wash sketch in auction, dated August, 1814, and entitled, ‘A Farmhouse at Manston, near Ramsgate’, by an H.Scott. Believing it would be a relatively easy task to research the location where this had been drawn, we set out to identify it through local archives. We drew a complete blank. Not only couldn’t we easily uncover the identity of this farm, but it also became apparent that so little information regarding the history of farming in Thanet had survived. We felt this to be major loss to the history of the Isle, considering the importance of the industry to the past economy of the district. Therefore, we decided to form our own archive to pass on to future generations wishing to research the subject. We set about interviewing those who had been connected to farming locally. Not only those whose families had once run farms in the area, but also former, farm labourers, in order to form a balanced perspective of past events. Photographs, genealogical material and other documentation began to pour in to swell the archive we were collating.
Read on
