Blowing down farms on Salisbury Plain

We have often referred to 19th century farming on Salisbury Plain and know that there were several farms up there, in the parishes of Market Lavington and Easterton. These included Pond Farm and Candown Farm.

During the first decade of the twentieth century these were working farms with buildings …

… and families living there. This photo is of the Parrott family at Candown Farm in 1905.

However, when much of this area of the plain was taken over by the military, the farms were destroyed. One of the postcards in museum founder, Peggy Gye’s album, shows evidence of this.

This picture dates from 1911 and the caption reads –

Blowing down the farms on the plain. Effect of a burst shell. Note the shell in the foreground.

Advertisement