‘Our Fell Farming Heritage' Exhibition and Events 2025
‘Our Fell Farming Heritage’ Exhibition and Events 2025 opened at The Old Courthouse on Saturday 18th October until Sunday 16th November. The exhibition included a display of photographs, artefacts and crafts relating to fell farming and artwork of farming scenes by local artist Christine Longmire.
Janet Wood, spokesperson for The Old Courthouse said “The farming landscape is fast changing and we wanted to celebrate our fell farming heritage. We hope that our exhibition and events will lead to a broader understanding of some of the challenges that our fell farming communities face as they continue striving to maintain food production whilst caring for the natural environment. We are grateful to all who have provided items for display and for the support we have received from Westmorland and Furness Council Art Fund, The Foundation for Common Land, The Federation for Commoners and Cumbria Farmer Network.”
The Fell Pony Heritage Trust held a Coffee Morning at the Old Courthouse on the 18 th October with information available about the work they do and the importance of breeding herds having the opportunity to graze the commons to help retain their hardy characteristics.
The Old Courthouse was packed on Monday 20th October for the first public showing of the film ‘Common Ground’ followed by a panel discussion tackling the topic, ‘A Future for Hill Farming?’ Organised by the Old Courthouse as part of their Fell Farming Heritage month the evening was arranged to promote discussion among the local community and those further field about how we can support a future for Fell Farming. Over the last 30 years many farms have disappeared from the local landscape and more recently the Government has withdrawn
financial support for these most precious places and communities leading to further strains for
businesses.
The evening started with the first public showing of ‘Common Ground’, a 20 minute spine tingling film directed by Sarah Beddington about commoning in the Lake District. Made possible through the assistance of ‘Our Upland Commons, a National Lottery Heritage Fund project led by the Foundation for Common Land Sarah’s film evokes the huge challenges of running hill farms with support changing since the departure from the European Union. The film conveyed the deep cultural heritage of the communities built up over hundreds of years as well as how some farming communities are working hard to adapt and deliver for the environment alongside their flocks and cattle.
The panel discussion was chaired by Julia Aglionby, Executive Director of the Foundation for Common Land and included; Adam Day (managing director of the Farmer Network), Craig Fearon (hill farmer from Borrowdale), Sam Beaumont (hill farmer from Watermillock), Annabelle Kennedy (Cumbria Connect) and Cath Marsh (Natural England).
Julia Aglionby commented; “The questions for the panel were varied and evoked the passions felt towards the heritage of commoning and fell farming. Topics included the loss of hefted flocks, should we have a tourist tax to support hill farming, and how to encourage mixed grazing with cattle and ponies as well as sheep. There was an understanding of finding the sweet spot for farming and the environment and how to ensure the new civil servants in Whitehall understand the value hill farming brings not only to the Lake District National Park and its 18 million visitors but to all our communities bordered by commons.”
Common Ground on Vimeo
On Sunday 26th October Hilary Wilson presented ‘Heritage of the Hills’ showing some of the superb images taken by the late J. H.Cookson in the late 1930’s. The images illustrate farming in the Howgills at that time and things were adapted to meet the WarAg requirements to grow crops. Some of the images were included in a book ‘Heritage of the Hills’ complied by Hilary and the late Judy Dunford in 2008. Hilary farmed with her husband John and his family at High Carlingill, at the foot of the Howgills nr Tebay from1967 until 2009 when their family moved to farm at Southfield, Appleby. Hilary is passionate about our farming heritage. She says “Where I lived in the Lune gorge our house was dated 1635 which means a lot of generations of farmers had lived and worked there. Also there was Roman fort which was excavated and an ancient British settlement – both were there 2,000 years ago so they were putting sheep out on the fells all that time ago and we were still doing it.”
Tom Lloyd presented ‘Travels with Fell ponies, mules and donkeys’ on Monday 3rd November. This included images of his father who started breeding Fell ponies under the Hades Hill prefix and footage from some of the films he has made about Fell ponies including his latest Fell Pony Adventures travelling with Fell ponies in the Howgills and the Lake District.
Several art/poetry events were organized with Shap Writers Group. The first of these was a Poetry and Paint workshop led by writer Susan Allen, former Outreach Coordinator for Wordsworth Grasmere, and artist Alison Critchlow, recently shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize. Participants were inspired by selected images and words from writers and artists including Norman Nicholson, Sheila Fell, Andrew Goldsworthy, Percy Kelly, and Winifred Nicholson, as well as Cumbrian farm artifacts, photos and newspaper clippings. All those taking part enjoyed a day of painting and writing about fell farming, landscape and life in Cumbria.
Kathleen Jones, Cumbrian author and poet, who grew up on farms in Cumbria, led a workshop with the Writers Group at the Old Courthouse in November. Other planned workshops are with June Hill –alluding to the vernacular buildings in Cumbria linked to farming and wool production and then in March artist Dorothy Ramsey and Lania Knight will lead a Poetry and Paint workshop ‘from a Farmhouse window’.
Alex Jakob-Whitworth led a Storytelling and Mask Making event for families. The story ‘The Animals of Penrith’ (her own take on a Brothers Grimm tale) set the mood for everyone then to create their own animal face mask. The wide range of materials used resulted in some interesting collage effects. Some of those taking part hoped to wear their masks for the Winter Droving.
Shap C of E Primary School was involved in the project. Younger ones had previously visited Easegill Head Farm near Kirkby Stephen. KS2 classes visited Waters Farm at Shap where they saw some of the animals and heard about farming on a hill farm. Katy Cropper told the children about training sheepdogs and she gave a sheepdog handling demonstration.
All the children had thre opportunity to visit the exhibition and attend art workshops at The Old Courthouse with artist and illustrator Sophie Martin. They created artwork based on ‘Seasons of the Farming Year’. Some of the animals they created featured along the gallery wall. Sophie used their artwork to create a large ‘Fell Farming Landscape’ banner (displayed on the railings outside) and made four mini folded books, one for each season. Children in The Farming Club at Morland Primary School visited Shap School and gave a presentation about their activities. Their commitment to farming was very evident as they enthusiastically answered questions posed by the Shap pupils. The group from Morland then visited the exhibition at The Old Courthouse.
The month long exhibition at The Old Courthouse, Shap celebrating ‘Our Fell Farming Heritage’ was brought to a close on Sunday 16th November with ‘A Westmorland Gather’ a social afternoon to celebrate the farming culture of the local area. Janet Wood welcomed a capacity audience and thanked all who had contributed in any way to the exhibition and events, including Westmorland & Furness Council Art and Culture for their funding support. Images on screen of local shepherds’ meets and farming scenes accompanied the items. Bill Lloyd, compere, opened the proceedings with a brief history of the origins of Shepherds’ Meets back to the time before calendars and clocks when shepherds used the stars to keep track of the seasons and how the position of one cluster, the Pleiades (known as The Seven Sisters), informed the timing for loosing tups with ewes. Bill recited his poem Shepherds’ Meet at Mardale that picked up on this theme. He followed this by singing ‘The Queen among the Heather.’ Jean Scott-Smith introduced the next item by counting in Westmorland dialect – a system that shepherds used. She recited ‘Song of the Shepherds’ written circa 1930 for a Westmorland Pageant performed by Women’s Institute members. Jackie Huck then recited a trio of her poems, ‘Shepherd’, The Howgills – from Shap Fell’ and ‘The Taggety Taggety Sheep’. Sue Millard sang the cautionary tale of ‘The Brisk Young Widow’. Then followed three poems that reflected on the changes fell farmers have been facing as more environmental schemes are implemented. The first of these ‘The Mountain answers Monbiot’ by Sue Millard was followed by Janet Wood reading her poem ‘Rhythm of the Commons’. The final poem of this section was ‘Farmin’ amang t’ fells’ written by Young Farmer Zac Baines from Grayrigg and read by Jean Scott-Smith. His poem was the winner of the Cumbria Young Farmers’ Club dialect competition earlier this year. Bill then told the first of several humorous episodes about a character he knew as Watto before Peter Dicken brought the first half of the programme to a close with the singing of John Barleycorn.
Three members of The Lakeland Fiddlers played Cumbrian tunes while a traditional Westmorland tea was served and social time enjoyed. The second half began with Sue Millard reciting her poem ‘Farm Deeds’ and then singing a song she had written ‘An Outing to Crosby Show’. Following this Hugh Harrison shared some of his memories of growing up in Swindale and Sleddale. Hugh’s mother, was Agnes Ann Hudson, she was born at The Dun Bull Hotel in Mardale, soon after her family moved to live at Chapel Farm where she grew up. Hugh said she played the organ at the church in Mardale and this was something that she also did at Swindale Church after she had married his father and they were living at Swindale Foot. More reminiscences followed as Jean Scott-Smith read from the recorded memories of Marion Stuart relating to Marion’s father, Abraham Taylor, and his time as a gamekeeper on Crosby Ravensworth Fell for the Lowther Estate.
Tom Sanderson and Anthony Westgarth kept the entertainment going with some great renditions of songs that are popular at those Meet events that still continue. Bill accompanied himself on the banjo and sang ‘Brough Hill Fair’, one of his own compilations. The event closed with Bill playing ‘Billy Alway’ and ‘The Old Drove Road’ on the bagpipes.
Click on this link to see excerpts from ‘A Westmorland gather’
