Milking at Lower Hook Farm 1920s

Four men in coats and protective caps are photographed milking short horn dairy cows at Lower Hook Farm, Lydiard Tregoze. The photograph was probably taken in the 1920s.

Farm labourer Ernest Thomas Skull (1895 -1952) is shown in the middle of the picture. Ernest had returned to Lydiard Tregoze after World War I in which his exceptional bravery earned him the Distinguished Conduct Medal. See Items of Interest for a transcript of his wartime experiences. George Ody is also believed to be in the photograph.

We can see in the photograph that the shed to the right has been newly thatched whereas the barn on the left has been patched along its edges with corrugated tin sheets slipped under the thatch. The sides of the shed are made of sawn planks, probably elm which was plentiful at the time.