Every now and again, a box of ephemera comes across my desk containing something really special. This week, I was sifting through a bunch of papers, and hit a particularly rich seam of farming photographs from the 1920s and 30s. They came from the house of Joseph James, who farmed at Nether Row Hall, Caldbeck until he retired in 1941 (and I know that date because the pile also contains the auction catalogue from his retirement sale of stock).
There are just 30 or so photos, but they are just so vivid and full of history, it almost hurts to look at them. What's more, some of them come with their negatives...
Here's a selection of them: please forgive the quick and dirty photos-of-photos, which doesn't do them justice. The first couple are printed as postcards (though were never, as far as I can find out, commercially available), the rest are smaller snaps.
