Haymaking at Walton June 1930

Bucolic but back breaking: gathering in the hay in the Warwickshire hamlet of Walton.

Austin Edwards, who ran a firm in Warwick that manufactured photographic stock, is behind the camera for this idyllic look at one of the major events of the rural calendar: the gathering in of the hay. Everybody helps out in the race against the weather to collect the grass, which will be the winter's animal feed. In 1930 this was still a completely manual process - no tractors or balers feature amongst the trusty horses and farm workers armed with pitchforks.

Walton in Warwickshire is a small hamlet near to the village of Wellesbourne. Austin Edwards, who died in 1944, was also a councillor in the Borough of Warwick. He produced film for large format stills cameras under the Ensign brand name. His firm was part of British Photographic Industries Ltd.