Far from the madding crowd

[czechmate]

Saw the 2015 film again last night. About half an hour in, they are stood in a dyke of water pushing the sheep under water.
Erm, what are they doing?

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Sheep washing.

Bit of history here.

The second oldest sheep wash bridge in England

For many centuries sheep have been washed in the early summer, a few weeks before shearing, to clean the fleece of the dirt, grit and grease which inevitably build up over the winter months. It sho...

thurgartonhistory.co.uk

 

[czechmate]

Sheep washing.

Bit of history here.

The second oldest sheep wash bridge in England

For many centuries sheep have been washed in the early summer, a few weeks before shearing, to clean the fleece of the dirt, grit and grease which inevitably build up over the winter months. It sho...

thurgartonhistory.co.uk

Well, it did look like they were washing them.
I assumed it was a complet muddle with dipping.
Thank you for the link - interesting

 

[Dry Rot]

The film was not a patch on the original. But they never are!

And why sheet stacks that are already thatched?

 

[jendan]

The film was not a patch on the original. But they never are!

And why sheet stacks that are already thatched?

@Old Boar was in the original...............i think Its a good story though,Thomas Hardy could write em. Never hear any kids called Gabriel nowadays. A guy used to farm here in the 1700s called Gabriel Marley.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

@Old Boar was in the original...............i think Its a good story though,Thomas Hardy could write em. Never hear any kids called Gabriel nowadays. A guy used to farm here in the 1700s called Gabriel Marley.

Gabe Brown?

 

[Barleycorn]

The film was not a patch on the original. But they never are!

And why sheet stacks that are already thatched?

Modern remakes are rubbish. A friend of mine's father, Joe Yeates from Toller Percorum near Maiden Newton, Dorset drove a cart in the 70's film.
Recent remakes like Dunkirk were just embarrasingly awful, and don't mention 1917!!
And I can't wait for the new film depicting Ann Boleyn as black! Thank God for Britbox and Utube, nothing made in the last 20 years is worth watching.

 

[Daddy Pig]

I just caught a bit of it , looked like a woman with a wheelbarrow in a maize stubble field.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I'm hooked on the cowboy way .

 

[Dry Rot]

I find myself watching World at War for want of anything else. Or Talking Pictures sometimes has some good ones. But I'm probably showing my age!

 

[Dry Rot]

@Old Boar was in the original...............i think Its a good story though,Thomas Hardy could write em. Never hear any kids called Gabriel nowadays. A guy used to farm here in the 1700s called Gabriel Marley.

I think he got his original stories from newspaper reports, then polished them up. But I may be confusing that with another author. If true, it just shows that truth really is stranger than fiction. My uncle had an Ambrose working for him. Another old name no longer heard.

 

[onthehoof]

Never hear any kids called Gabriel nowadays.

I wanted to name our son Gabriel but thought he would get teased at school when it got shortened to Gay

 

[glasshouse]

I wanted to name our son Gabriel but thought he would get teased at school when it got shortened to Gay

Some parents are brain dead when it comes to naming kids

 

[wr.]

Recently bought a piece of kit off a young chap named Gabriel. He said his birthday is at Christmas time.

 

[onthehoof]

Recently bought a piece of kit off a young chap named Gabriel. He said his birthday is at Christmas time.

Sounds like an angel

 

[onthehoof]

Some parents are brain dead when it comes to naming kids

The guy who does the lost painting program on the BBC is called Bendor, always think he must have got teased at school

 

[Courier]

Some parents are brain dead when it comes to naming kids

Got a relative who ended up giving his little lad the same initials as himself .. " Never thought about it " !!!

 

[glasshouse]

Were there any round bales in it

 

[glasshouse]

Or tramlines

 

[primmiemoo]

My class went to watch the Polanski version of Tess of the d'Urbervilles because the novel was on our syllabus.
What a disappointment! Wrong cattle, Napoleonic roads, modern cereals, you name it. I came back in the minibus feeling capable of deading the lot of them, not just the dastardly Alec.

Going back to the OP, when did washing sheep finish as a farming job? I don't remember my father or his brothers talking about it.