Food and Farming - Derrington, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Farming in the Derrington area has changed considerably within living memory. though it remains an important part of the local economy and community.

Historically. farming families in the area included Rawsthorne, Perry, Reed, Busby, Timmis, Foster, Richardson, Brown and Tilley, and many of these families continue to farm today.

Years ago, there were many more farms, mostly much smaller than today's average farm. In and around Derrington there were several dairy farms, as well as mixed farms which grew crops and raised animals. Some of these farms have completely disappeared and houses have been built on the land. Other farmhouses have long since become residences and their land sold off.

Would you have guessed that at the bottom of Mount Pleasant, where houses now stand was 'Lane End Farm'. growing peas, sprouts and corn and reanng pigs, cattle and chickens?

Did you know that the Old Hall' on Billington Lane was also a working farm? Yew Tree Close was named after the old Yew Tree which originally stood opposite its entrance. Furthermore, just along the road, at the top of Mount Pleasant, mink were once reared for their fur at Blue Cross Farm!

Today's farms are a mixture of modern intensive methods and more traditional mixed farming. Polytunnels now dominate much of the local landscape as soft fruit farming has expanded. Other local producers continue to follow more traditional methods, rotating cereals and potatoes and raising sheep, and our farming neighbours today have diversified into goat rearing, egg production, honey, bedding plants and even 'horsiculture'.

Over the decades since the war, changes in farming methods have impacted on the environment, with loss of hedgerows, drainage of ponds and wetlands, use of chemicals and soil erosion. Today, many farmers are much more attuned to the need to produce food more sustainably - and in Derrington we are keen to promote local, sustainable food production and to support our local farmers.

'Shortly after the Second World War our father employed Japanese 'chick sexers' - they were extremely efficient at it! One told us he used to be a Kamikazi pilot!' Local Farmers, David and John Rawsthorne.