The Last Horsemen: 6
From the collection of
The Last Fishermen: 2
- Boulmer
- 2003-04-13
The Last Horsemen: 6
Winter again and help is at hand to fix a broken 'bogie' and Sandy, a new horse, proves his value in the fields.
John Martin Jackson, a friend of John Dodd, who features in this episode repairing a broken bogie, was descended from a long line of farmers and lead ore miners, who carved a living from West Allen soil. While a young boy, his father Joseph became the tenant farmer at Blossom Hill Farm on the Allendale Road near Hexham, a happy and prosperous time.Some skulduggery by his father's son from a previous marriage, Frederick Jackson, who had gambled himself into debt at the dog races, resulted in his father being forced to sell up to honour his son's debt. After some hardship his father managed to get a job as a sawyer with Hunter & Son, based at Coanwood, near Haltwhistle.Martin himself left school at 14 and started to work with a local farmer, Joe Dodd, at the Castle Farm. But he joined his father at Hunter's Sawmill and stepped into his shoes when his father was badly injured (at the age of 67) and never worked again.Martin was 'A1 fit' during the Second World War, but his timber felling work was classed as a reserved occupation. Hunters paid him off after the war, but eventually he had the confidence and experience to set up on his own. A breakthrough came in 1952 when Martin acquired a large field at the Bridge End in Hexham to store his timber. This became his earliest sawmill. In the early years, the business was founded on the supply of pit props to the National Coal Board (NCB). Thousands of the pit props from J Martin Jackson's business will still to this day be buried underground. At its peak Jackson's employed around 40 men, including tree fellers.
Beautifully filmed documentary series about a year in the life of the remarkable John Dodd who farms in the stunning landscape of the Allen Valley in Northumberland. John is unique: instead of using tractors, he still relies on five giant Clydesdale horses to work the land. He has passed on his skills to his son-in-law David and is now teaching his grandson Richard. Together they battle the elements to make a living for themselves and preserve a rare and wonderful way of life.
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Charles Boden's 'The Last...' Series
A vanishing way of life in the North East of England captured on film in three television series featuring traditional ways farming, fishing, and shepherding.
The desire to capture a way of life before it was gone was the motivation of Charles Bowden, a Northumberland farmer's son, to produce the series known as The Last Farmer in 2000. Beginning his career as an agricultural journalist and becoming agricultural editor of the Newcastle Journal between 1975 and 1985, he moved to Tyne Tees Television to produce its weekly farming programme. It was during this time that Charles first met John Dodd and his family of Sillywrea Farm, near Allendale in Northumberland, who continued to use heavy horses to work the land, long after their neighbours had turned to the tractor. For a full year Charles filmed John, his son-on-law David Wise and their five huge Clydesdales running the farm to the rhythms of the seasons, allowing nature to lead the way.
The success of this series led to two follow ups: The Last Fisherman in 2003, about the vanishing way of life this time of two North-East coble fishermen, and The Last Shepherds in 2004, following several hill shepherds working the Northumberland Cheviot Hills. All three series are a unique record of an alternative way of life before it potentially slips into history.
11 videos in this collection
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The Last Fishermen: 2
2
The Last Shepherds: 1
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The Last Shepherds: 2
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The Last Shepherds: 3
5
The Last Shepherds: 4
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The Last Horsemen: 1
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The Last Horsemen: 2
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The Last Horsemen: 3
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The Last Horsemen: 4
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The Last Horsemen: 5
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