From the Sussex Ox to the First Tractor

Sussex oxen at Exceat
Ian Everest talks to the Beeding & Bramber Local History Society on Wednesday October 7th at 7:45pm in the Village Hall, Upper Beeding.

Oxen were still in use at Chyngton and Exceat Farms in Seaford until the mid-1920s and were reckoned to have been in use on the Sussex Downs for over one thousand years before. The talk includes photographs of them at work in Seaford, Bishopstone, East Dean and Lewes, together with some of the more unusual non-agricultural work that they were used for. Following the demise of the oxen in Sussex, the talk looks at the evolution of farming to horses and steam power, the rioting when the threshing machines were introduced and the arrival of the first tractors.

[GJMG notes: I attended a different talk by this speaker in Henfield a couple of years ago. It remains the best local history talk I have heard. Ian Everest was brought up on one of the farms he discusses and he really knows his stuff. In addition, he is an excellent speaker with well organized material.]