Hop Pickers
Accommodation
A 1911 dedication ceremony to commemorate the opening of Dumbleton
Barracks.
It was religious ceremony and a postcard
was issued to celebrate the event
The photo was taken
from Dumbleton Lane and two of the four blocks of cabins can be seen
The end cabin of the first block,
cabin number five, in later years became “home” to Granny Shaw
The
Hop pickers were housed in military style wooden barracks and Eardiston was
home to two
of
them;
Moor Farm Barracks, sited in a lane close to the river Teme, and Dumbleton Farm Barracks,about
half a mile from the river, close to the top of Dumbleton Lane
Dumbleton Barracks was on an elevated site, bounded on one side by a very large cherry orchard
and on the other by one of the hopfields and unlike the Moor barracks, Dumbleton had a very
attractive open aspect with outstanding views over the Teme valley and it was an ideal playground
for us kids
An impression of the
accommodation, viewed from Dumbleton Lane
The
Barracks had a total of 34 single and double rooms (cabins)
----------------------------------------------------
Shanty
On the left of the Barracks is a communal
open fronted structure, called a “Shanty”; it contained
tables and benches and two large open fireplaces.
Hot food could be prepared at any time and this
was supplemented by a milk churn full of hot
broth provided free every evening by the Estate owners
Large
piles of chopped branches and logs (faggots) were stored alongside the Shanties
and those
Hop
Pickers with cabins opposite the Shanties—who also ate their meals in them--
took it in turn to
light
and maintain the fires
The
remaining families ate “al fresco” on individual tables and benches provided
for each family in
front
of their cabins.
The
overhanging roof of the Barracks provided shelter over the tables and created a
patio type atmosphere
Fresh
water was available from a standpipe and a laundry area, complete with
washbasins was sited
between
the shanties
A very early picture of an unknown group probably taken around 1920
Barracks
The
Barracks, stretching back about 100 yards from the lane, were built on a large
concrete
foundation
and contained 34 cabins in four separate blocks
There
was a mixture of standard and double cabins with the standard cabin about the
size
of
an average bedroom. Inside the cabins were raised wooden platforms onto which
straw filled
palliases
served as very effective mattresses, the double cabins had space for two beds
and were
for
extended family groups
With
the exception of those cabins opposite the Shanties, each cabin had a large
outside table
and
bench, with cover provided by an extension to the sloping roof, oil lamps
provided lighting
and
each cabin had its own glazed window
The
cabins were soon “customised” and made homely, including the odd carpet for the
wooden
floors
and many families left items of furniture in their cabins from one year to the
next
Wooden
partitions, about 8 feet high served as walls, there was no ceiling so that the
space
below
the apex roof and the partitions was open for the full length of the barracks
Unless spoken quietly,
conversations could be overheard and eavesdropping became a pastime
for us kids and, I suspect for many of the
“grown-ups”
Between
the Barracks and the hopfield there was a gap of about 30 feet to provide
access for the
horse
drawn carts to collect the sacks of hops
---------------------------------------------------
There
was a strict pecking order with the allocation of cabins; the best cabins
commanded the high
ground
nearest the road.
They
were prized cabins, were in the best locations and were allocated to the
Matriarchs of the
hop
picking fraternity
The
Bates family, from Albut Street, Cradley Heath had one,
My
Maternal Grandmother Granny Shaw, from Silverthorne Lane, Cradley Heath had
another, and
The
Billinghams another
They were
all double cabins
--------------------------------------------
Gran and
Grandad Shaw, pictured on their Diamond wedding day, in the 1940’s
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Our
cabin, with only Mom and myself in it, was a standard unit but on the high
ground close to the
lane,
on the southern side of the Barracks facing the Hopfield and overlooking the
Teme Valley.
But
whenever I could I would I would take my meals at Granny Shaw’s place—it was on
a raised
platform
and had a breakfast bar instead of a table and the food was pretty good
I had a younger
brother, Derrick, he stayed at home with an Aunt
Pictured in 2005, from what was the cherry
orchard, are the remains of one of the shanties
All that is left of the Dumbleton
Barracks
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Food A Plenty
Fresh
milk was on tap from the Whitehouse farm, a short walk down the lane.
Bottles
and jugs left on a table in a veranda, in the morning, were filled after
milking in the afternoon
and
fresh fruit was literally there to be “picked” from the trees
Apart
from juicy Victoria plums, damsons and pears there was a whole range of apples,
varieties of
which
are rarely seen today—Rattlers, Princess Pippen, Tom Potts—we lived well
Not
so healthy “lardy cakes” were also available from a travelling shop that toured
the hop fields and
the
memory of the aroma of the freshly baked bread from Lambert’s shop in the
village still makes
my
mouth water
Every
evening, a milk churn full of freshly made broth was provided free, by the
Estate owners, to
supplement
that cooked in the shanties
Any leftovers were drained off and given to
the Priests pigs at the top of the lane—as the most
nutritious bits always sank to the bottom,
they probably got the best deal!
Food
and general supplies were available from the Village shop where us kids could
also use up our
coupons
and buy our Wartime ration of sweets
To complete the picture, mention should be made of the
toilet block--a row of wooden cubicles in the cherry
orchard just below the end of the barracks—but I can’t
ever remember using them, an isolated corner of the
hop field was
good enough for me but this presented some logistical problems as the size of
the hop field shrank!
The Estate
was extremely well run and the accommodation was more
than adequate and was probably
almost as good as many of the pickers
experienced at
home—“brewhouses”in place of kitchens and outside
toilets being the norm in the
late thirties/early forties
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