History

Around 635 AD a monastery was founded on the nearby island of Lindisfarne by an Irish monk called Aidan. From this base the new religion of Christianity spread throughout the British Isles.

The patron saint of Northumbria, St Cuthbert was a monk and later the bishop of Lindisfarne. Cuthbert’s life and the many miracles he was associated with, were recorded by the Venerable Bede.

Sometime after 700AD a team of monks produced the illuminated manuscript we now know as the “Lindisfarne Gospels”. These original manuscripts were added too over the next 300 years producing the dazzling work now on permanent display in the British Museum in London.

The name Beal is thought to derive from the original Bee Hill – Perhaps this is connected with the production of honey for use by the nearby monks on Lindisfarne in the manufacture of Lindisfarne Mead?

Viking Raiders

Viking raiders shattered the peace of Lindisfarne during many raids beginning in 793AD – The start of the “Viking Age”, and continuing for 100 years or so. By the end of this period, the entire social make-up of the region had changed and the people became predominantly Anglo-Saxon.

With this Anglo Saxon strength, Northumbria became a powerful, and very large kingdom in it’s own right extending from the Humber to the Mersey and right up to the Forth.

Continuing internal struggles and wars broke up the county into smaller fyfedoms, and as a result of these battles, many of the foundations of our great castles were established including nearby Bamburgh, once capital of Northumbria and believed to be Sir Lancelot’s castle, “Joyous Guard”.

Debateable Lands

Sitting on the hotly contested border between England and Scotland made Northumberland a rather dangerous place to live during the Middle Ages.

Sitting in relative isolation from distant seats of power in London or Edinburgh, Northumberland and the Scottish Border counties became “Debateable Lands” roamed over by large gangs of bandits taking what they could.

These, “Border Reivers” as they became known, gained power through family strength and the ability to put large armies of men to arms very quickly. It was said that one particularly notorious family of reivers, the Armstrongs, could put over 3,000 men at arms together at a single request.

The reivers from both sides of the border, carried out the same basic line of work – Riding into neighbouring lands and stealing the livestock and whatever else they could carry from their victims.

The legacy of these times can be seen all across the region with fortified homes and houses known as “Bastles” dotted across the countryside. The Farmhouse here at Beal has wall over 5 feet thick in places, which is probably a result of fortification during these times – When an Englishman’s home HAD to be his castle!

Union of the Crowns

In March 1603, James VI King of the Scots took the throne of England. This brought England and Scotland together as one unified country – in theory!  In fact, the two countries existed very much as separate entities until the Acts of Union in 1707 effectively joined them.

The stability the union provided allowed a more agriculturally focused economy to be established with large villages and communities establishing themselves where once it would have been tantamount to suicide.

The remains of a medieval settlement here at Beal can be seen across the road with evidence of the “Ridge and Furrow” cultivations carried out with oxen and plough.

Communities grew and prospered – and the farmers became prosperous. With a ready supply of skilled labour nearby, high demand for their produce and increasingly improved transport options by sea and road, farming became the key industry of a nation.

At Beal a sign of this prosperity is the dovecott located by the farmhouse. In the day before refrigeration, dovecots were a source of fresh meat and eggs and a symbol of high status.

The Industrial Revolution

The first powered farm implements were “Portable Engines” – steam powered engines on wheels which could be moved to where they were needed in the early 1800’s.

Around 1850 the first “Traction Engine”  was brought into use for agricultural work – By 1911 a successful diesel powered machine was available - and so the tractor was born!

By the 1920’s agricultural tractors with internal combustion engines together with a suite of implements to make tasks such as ploughing and cultivating became popular and economically viable to the farmer.

This brought about great social change to rural economies. With less need for manual labour within the agricultural areas, there was less need for villages who traditionally found work on the farms. Many labourers migrated their families into the built up areas where labour was needed in the new industries of engineering, shipbuilding, mining etc.

Many of the holiday cottages dotted around Beal Farm and many others in the region would have once been home to workers on this and other farms.

Post War Needs

One of the greatest changes in agricultural practices came about after the two World Wars. Food shortages and the awareness of being self sufficient brought about a great drive for the efficient production of food. This was the beginning of Agri Business.

In a continuing drive for production, marginal and unproductive land was drained and fertilized to bring it into production. Miles of hedgerows were removed to make more land available to plough and cultivate with ever larger and sophisticated machinery. And extensive use of nitrogen rich fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides were used to control any natural threat to production.

We now realize that the drive in production increases by these methods was not sustainable and that the price our environment paid was simply too high and we are working through initiatives such as the Environmental Stewardship Scheme to re-dress the balance.

Today’s consumers are now questioning the wisdom of transporting food across thousands of miles by plane, ship and lorry, with its inevitable impact on the global climate.  As well as rediscovering the superior quality and taste of fresh food, grown locally.

We as farmers are “re-learning” to do what our hunting, gathering and farming ancestors always have done: To enjoy the seasonality of food, to celebrate the harvest of the seasons, and to co-exist in harmony within an ever changing natural landscape.