Farms
Agriculture (and agricultural services) was the main source of village employment before WWI, and remained a major source until after WWII. Thereafter rapid industrialisation of farming led to the consolidation of the farmland into fewer and larger farms and the village began to adopt the character of a dormitory village. One of the first moves in this direction was the conversion of Manor Dairy Farm’s farmhouse into the Dice House Social Club. Whilst old cottages were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s, the 1980s saw former farmhouses and redundant farm buildings being converted to houses.
For accounts of farming practices from the 1930s and a description of the very many farms that once co-existed in the village, see the accounts by Allan GEESON and John KIRTON in the People/Oral Histories section of the website.