The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Story of Wheat
A marvellously broad and vivid picture of what country life and farming was like in the years following the end of the war, and of how food made its way from field to dining table.
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Overview
This truly wonderful film is so much more than the story of wheat, from plough to table, or even of agriculture before it fully emerges into the machine age, revealing country life as a whole in post-war Britain. Focusing on the Burgess farm in the village of Thornton-le-Dale, on the border of east and north Yorkshire, the film gives a fascinating peak into the era of the horse drawn plough, the local mill, collecting the winter fuel by sledge and betting on point to point racing.
The film was commissioned by Harry Burgess, the owner of Thornton Mill in Thornton le Dale, although those behind the camera in this exceptional film are uncredited. It was he who took over the Victory Mill on the side of the beck on Priestmans Lane, supplying the whole area with his famous Gold Medal plain flour. Many of the activities seen in the film are still going, including the point to point race meet at Charm Park, Wycombe, and the Derwent hunt; although the annual Pickering Carnival has recently come to an end.
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