Rattenraw Farm
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Description
"According to A History of Northumberland, in Three Parts by John Hodgson (1827) Part II, Vol.1, p.134: "Rattenrow formerly consisted of a straggling row of miserable dwellings, situated on the march dyke, between the enclosed lands and the fell. It belonged to several proprietors, and only a few years since was divided into five or more farms, the successive occupiers of which were so wretchedly poor, that they brought a heavy burden on the land. At present the whole of it is the property of John Davidson of Otterburn, esq. and is occupied as one farm." There is a detailed discussion of the origin of the placename which is shared by other places in the county and further afield. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zr53bt1nvqoC&pg=PA134#v=onepage&q&f=false The poor farming situation here is said to have led to the phrase: "Rattenraw Burn will not make a crowdy after May Day." That is, each farm raised only a small quantity of corn scarcely sufficient to re-sow the ground and support the family till the succeeding harvest. Crowdy (or crowdie) refers to a dish of meal, especially oatmeal and water, or sometimes milk, stirred together (i.e. gruel; brose; porridge). The Denham Tracts, vol.1, p.338 (1892) https://archive.org/stream/denhamtractscoll01denhuoft" Photo by Andrew Curtis, 2017. -
Owner
Andrew Curtis -
Source
Geograph (Geograph) -
License
What does this mean? Creative Commons License
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Further information
Link: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5696642
Resource type: Image
Added by: Simon Cotterill
Last modified: 4 hours, 1 minute ago
Viewed: 9 times
Picture Taken: 2017-03-09 -
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