Introduction

In the Middle Ages, Suffolk was famous for its wool, and much land was given over to sheep.
By the 18th century, it was the county's butter that was highly prized, whilst its cheese was vilified. (It was said that the rats on navy ships could gnaw through the timbers, but not through the Suffolk 'bang', or cheese!)

There has always been livestock on Suffolk farms, but for the last century or more it has been a mainly arable county, producing grain and sugar beet. That emphasis is therefore reflected in this unit.

In the 18 th century, at the time of the Agricultural Revolution, both animals and crops were in evidence. The Suffolk writer Arthur Young then played an important role in promoting good practice. He encouraged farmers to embrace new ideas, such as the use of selective breeding to develop new breeds, like the Suffolk sheep.

200 years earlier, Thomas Tusser had undertaken a similar role, with his Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandrie. When Elizabeth I was queen, he employed verses of debatable quality to describe what a successful Suffolk farmer should be doing during the course of a year. For example, in October:

'Sow acorns ye owners that timber do love,

Sow hawe and rye with them, the better to prove: [prove: germinate]

Young oak is in danger of losing his top.'

Enclosure - having one's land in discrete fields surrounded by hedges or fences - was a practice praised by Tusser, and it was a necessary prelude to the later agricultural revolution, even though it was criticized at the time for the effect it had on poorer villagers. The medieval practice had been for land-owners to have strips of land scattered round the village, in large 'open' fields, like allotments.

Tithes were another relic of the middle ages - 10% of the farmer's profit paid in produce (later, cash) to the church. They were modified, but not abolished until 1936, after a period in which a number of farmers had refused payment, only to have their goods forcibly auctioned.

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