256 A FARMER'S YEAR 



are carting hay. That from the All Hallows layer, No. 37, having 

 been in cock, has taken no great harm, but the stuff from Baker's, 

 No. 45, is much damaged, and will, I think, need to pass through 

 the chaffing machine before it comes to the manger. We are still 

 cutting on No. 5 with the machine, but owing to the grass being so 

 laid and twisted it is a tedious and difficult business. This morning 

 Robson, Hood, and I had a great confabulation as to the roofing 

 in of the cattle-yard at Baker's. The span is very wide, nan}ely, 

 twenty-eight feet, and we came to the conclusion that two rows of 

 oak posts will be necessary for the support of the roof. Galvanised 

 iron is not heavy in itself, but the strain comes in winter, when it 

 may chance to be covered with six or eight inches of snow, 

 weighing, I suppose, a good many tons. This shed will remain 

 my property, since I am putting it up as a tenant's fixture, and 

 at the end of my tenancy it must either be taken over at a valuation 

 by the landlord or sold for what the materials will fetch. 



/jcly 6. — On the night of the ist we had torrents of rain, 

 which stopped the haymaking and set all hands carting and 

 hoeing. Truly this year Candlemas has been as good as its word. 



On Sunday I went to afternoon service at Woodton, which is 

 quite close to Bedingham, the two churches being not more than 

 a thousand yards a[)art as the crow flies. Indeed, Bedingham 

 seems to have been the ' mother ' church of Woodton, and it is 

 several times mentioned in the registers that certain leading 

 inhabitants of the latter place and of Topcroft received the Sacra- 

 ments there. I believe also that in old days two chapels existed 

 in Bedingham church dedicated to Woodton and to Topcroft, by 

 which I understand that they were set apart for the use of the 

 dwellers in those villages. Woodton church is a small but very 

 curious and ancient building, standing quite away from the village, 

 but near to the site of the Hall, which was pulled down, so says 

 tradition, by an owner who lived some miles away, and who feared 

 that after his death his wife would return to live at Woodton, 

 the old home which she preferred. At least it is gone, and there 



