An auction was held at Thomas Blockley’s farm premises in Shearsby on 14 April 1845. The reason given for the sale was that Blockley was leaving the farm. The lists of lots for sale give an idea of the style of agriculture being practised in the parish in the mid-nineteenth century and the material conditions of farming life. They included:
- 40 ewes and lambs
- 55 lambhogs: 2nd year lambs
- 4 shearhogs: lamb between first and second shearing
- 1 dairy cow
- 1 superior in-calved cow
- 2 young cows (heifers), expecting their first calves
- 2 sturk heifers: one to two years old
- 5 2-year old steers: Defined by Baker (1854) as “a bullock, after it is one year old, till it enters its fourth year, when it is termed an ox”.
- 3 yearling calves
- 2 7-year old cart horses
- 1 5-year old superior harness horse
- 1 hackney mare
- 1 foal, sired by Mundig
- 2 pigs
- 2 4 1/2 inch carts
- Ploughs, harrows, horse tackle, etc.
- 60 acres of grass-keeping rented until the 10th October
There is a mix here of sheep for grazing and other animal to support domestic consumption. The foal “by Mundig” (a horse well known in fox-hunting circles) may be an indicator of the social pursuits of its owner.
There were no members of the Blockley family present in the village when the 1841 Census was taken. They may have arrived since that date or merely been visiting elsewhere at the time. Although the sale may have brought an end to Thomas Blockley’s time on that farm, he was still living in Shearsby in the following year, 1846. At least “Thomas Blockley, Shearsby” was called up as one of the jurors in a criminal case on Tuesday 7th April when the Rev. Edward Bullivant was one of the defendants.
One William Blockley, born in nearby Bruntingthorpe in 1830, would have been a teenager at the time of this move. He married Elizabeth Bottrell, 4 years his younger and from Shearsby, in August 1851. They brought up a family in Bruntingthorpe.
References
“Valuable live and dead stock”. The Leicester Chronicle: or, Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser (Leicester, England), Saturday, April 05, 1845; pg. [1]
“Easter County Sessions”. The Leicester Chronicle: or, Commercial and Agricultural Advertiser (Leicester, England), Saturday, April 11, 1846; Issue 1845.
Baker, Anne Elizabeth (1854) Glossary of Northamptonshire words and phrases · 1st edition, London: J.R. Smith
Featured image: taken from page 415 of ‘Angol-Skóthoni napló 1858 és 1859 évekről‘
Shearsby History Notes 