The East Anglian Film Archive, the first and largest Regional Film Archive in England, was established in 1976. Since 1984, EAFA has been owned and operated by the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA), to support research and work to preserve our moving image heritage. More than 250 hours are freely available online as examples of the wide range of film which attracts interest the world over.
This film is part of Free

Francis Russell, Reed Cutting
Norfolk reed for thatching: traditional scything on a January morning.
From the collection of:

Overview
A timeless scene of a man harvesting with a scythe. On Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve in Norfolk, the reeds that grow on the marshes are cut over the winter months and sold to local thatchers, 1,000 bundles at a time. Now they are harvested by machine, but warden Francis Russell demonstrates the traditional way of scything the reeds and preparing the bundles, using the old words describing the craft.
Hickling Broad National Nature Reserve has been managed by Norfolk Naturalists Trust since the 1940s, one of the wildlife treasures of the Norfolk Broads known for its swallowtail butterflies, bitterns and the return of the common crane. This film was made by the East Anglian Film Archive as a record of traditional broads management.
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