The most obvious members of the rural workforce are farm workers. Before the nineteenth century, most people lived in the country, but this changed with the industrial revolution when more and more people moved into towns. Farming had to adapt to these changes in the rural community and the new urban markets for its produce.

Hand sowing: BU04809

Wages for farm workers rose as labour became scarcer. Farming methods were forced to improve to produce more crops to meet the demand from the urban populations who could not grow their own food. There were many advances in farming theories, methods and practice during this time, but many of the more traditional methods lived on in the remoter parts of North Yorkshire long after they fell out of use in other areas.

Farmer’s diary, Grewelthorpe, January 1903: NYCRO1097