East of England Sense of Place Suffolk
Guided tours of Suffolk's past

Seven Ages of Man, and Woman, in Suffolk

A penny a day

The children of farm labourers were often kept off school, to help with mundane tasks on the farm such as sowing beans,

turning the cut hay, or scaring birds.

Harry Denny was born in 1895 at Wetheringsett. He is quoted in Where Beards Wag All, by George Ewart Evans:

"I went [scaring] crows . but when I went doing this I had to pick stoons as well. We had a pair o' wooden clappers or an old pail. You'd hit the pail with a stick .

We had to shout and run to the other end of the field like when I was frightening linnets off seed . Linnets used to be more trouble for seed than anything I know. [Another job was] to go into the corn and cut out the thistles and weeds ."

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