Local farming - the War at Woodoaks

(With thanks to Lisbet Sherlock, drawn from her book ‘Woodoaks – the Findlay Century’)

A very typical local farm was Woodoaks, since 1922 farmed (and since 1938 owned) by Jack and Peggy Findlay). The problem of feeding the population should war break out had been recognised as early as 1936, and by 1939 planning was well advanced. Then, with Britain isolated in 1940, most of its European allies occupied by the enemy and the US not yet in the war, the extent of the problem became clear - feeding the nation and its army was going to be a huge challenge. While national campaigns like “dig for victory” in 1939 turned city parks, football fields and residential gardens into vegetable production sites, and householders were encouraged to keep chickens, the role of farmers and farming was now crucial to the nation’s survival. An additional 6 million acres of land was brought into agricultural use during the war, and the area being farmed grew from 13 million acres to 19 million. Increased mechanisation was vital to managing this additional land and increasing productivity.

The National Service (Armed Forces) Act imposed conscription on all males between 18 and 41 years of age. Farmers and agricultural workers were classified as reserved occupations, so exempted from joining up, and farmers were encouraged to draw labour from a wider pool than usual, by hiring older workers and women (who were only called up between the ages of 21 and 30).

At this time, Woodoaks had a relatively large workforce of around 30 workers. The 1939 register shows Jack, Peggy and their two daughters (their son was at boarding school) along with Jack’s cousin, 20-year old Jessica who had recently married neighbour George Baker. Workers in 1939 included a foreman (who was also the carpenter and joiner), three general labourers, a tractor driver, a cowman/dairy worker and a ploughman. Later in the war six land girls came to work on the land, and included sisters sent by their family from their native Netherlands to England for safety. Three of the land girls went on to marry farm workers at Woodoaks.

With the loss of supplies when Norway fell in 1940, domestic timber production needed to increase dramatically. The crops at Woodoaks had always included timber grown in woodland areas, and at this time timber from Bottom Wood was taken to be made (especially but not only) into rifle butts for the army, leaving just the perimeter trees in place – what is actually an ancient woodland now has very few ancient trees. Woodoaks was, however, like many in west Hertfordshire, a mixed farm - crops in 1942 were potatoes, wheat, oats and clover ‘leys’ (unploughed land) and a fallow area. Cattle were important, and the large dairy was well equipped to deal with the 59 cows on site (plus two shorthorn and one Ayrshire bull). There were bottles, churns (for both milk and butter), sterilisers and a milking machine.

Farming was good business during the war, though taxation rates for farmers were very high. A wartime inventory document preserved at the farm shows a real mix of horse and machine - three Fordson tractors, a lorry and two delivery vans worked alongside eight working horses. The inventory lists the different horse harnesses for the different jobs as well as the pharmaceuticals vital for keeping the horses in healthy working order. Ploughing and drilling were done by both horse and tractor, with the tractors probably fuelled by Tractor Vaporising Oil (TVO) with petrol supplies severely limited. Equipment included ridgers, grubbers, potato grading devices, stone separators, scarifiers, diggers and drills, just as would have been used 80 or 100 years before. Artificial fertilisers were now a distinct feature of farming and Woodoaks held supplies of nitro chalk, superphosphate, sulphate of ammonia, ICI “complete” fertiliser and some steamed bone flour.

On some local farms the harvest of 1940 (and afterwards) was gathered with the help of a range of unusual, amateur, workers, in a throwback to the days of the previous century where the standing workforce was augmented by contract and/or casual labour.

One of the provisions the government made in case of enemy invasion was to protect the supply of truthful information to the population. Newsprint was stored in caches around the country so that, should there be an enemy occupation, it would still be possible to print newspapers for people to read. One such store was at Woodoaks - the spot, known as ‘concrete road field’, is now a rewilding area just where the M25 enters the farm on its northbound journey.

Woodoaks was physically unscathed by the war, but local people had important war roles. Jack Findlay himself, a veteran of World War One and now approaching 50, became the local leader for the Home Guard, often now seen as a rather comedic operation but actually doing much important work at home - over 1200 people died as a result of their service. Most of those serving in the Home Guard were either too old for conscription or were people unable to serve for other reasons, perhaps being in reserved occupations. By the summer of 1940, nearly 1.5 million people were serving in the Home Guard and undertaking tasks such as bomb disposal and manning anti-aircraft machinery. The local platoon met at Woodoaks throughout the war, and eventually a Nissen Hut arrived for them to use – but only in 1945, just as the War was ending, so it was never used for its intended purpose, becoming one of the farm buildings.

As the war ended, ex-service men also came to work on the farm with wages subsidised by the government. On some farms prisoners of war were employed in farm work, but there is no record of that happening here – there was no POW camp nearby anyway - although local legend is that Italian POWs were employed. More research is required!