The Land Army in Much Wenlock

During 2005 one of our members, Brenda Sayer, compiled the memories of two Land Army girls, Nina Edwards and Paddy Hampson, who stayed at Bourton Manor Hostel, Nr. Much Wenlock during World War ll

Bourton Manor Hostel

The stables at Bourton Manor were requisitioned by the government as a Land Army hostel in 1941. It appears to have remained open for approximately eight years.
Bourton Manor Hostel was the main hostel in the Much Wenlock Area. There were others; at Morville and one off the Stourbridge Road at Bridgnorth. Colonel and Mrs Field owned Bourton Manor at the time and the farms around the village. The Fields were in the forces in India.

The plan shows the rooms used by the twelve land girls and the matron as remembered by Nina Edwards. She joined the Land Army in 1946 aged 17. There were two land girls who helped the matron to cook the daily meals. The other land girls cycled to local farms.
Typical meals were:
Breakfast: porridge, toast and a very small piece of bacon and occasionally an egg.
Lunch: (referred to as 'dinner'). This was held in the hostel except at harvest time and consisted of vegetable stew and a little meat and a pudding - usually a 'stodge'.
Tea: cups of tea and fruit cake with very little fruit.
Supper: bread cheese (rationed), to which one helped oneself.
Nina worked at Norris's farm of 250 acres to which she cycled. She started at 8:00am and finished at 6:00pm, except in the summer when harvesting and as it was British Summer Time it did not become dark until 10:00pm.
Another land girl, Leah, worked on the same farm and they had alternate weekends off. Both girls were relatively local and would go home by train (from Presthope), sometimes taking a gift to their families of extra eggs. nina milked the 14 cows, fed the horses and the bull, mucked out, fed the chickens and drove the tractor. All these skills had to be learned.
The farm grew sugar beet and corn. It was all harvested by hand.
All the girls became good friends and visited the other hostels.

Paddy Hampson joined the Land Army in September 1941 in Preston, Lancashire and was given her uniform. Her uniform consisted of corduroy breeches, socks, 2 Aertex shirts, poplin blouses, khaki overalls, overcoat, pullover, tie, hat, badge, brogues, a pair of wellingtons and two travel warrants.
Wages were 32s. 0d. per week of which 16s. 0d. was paid for lodgings. The wages were increased to 43s. 0d. by the end of the war.
Paddy was met at Much Wenlock railway station and went to Lea Farm, Presthope and lodged there for 18 months. The hostel at Bourton Manor was not open at that time. She was the only land girl at the farm. Later she went to Bourton Manor Hostel where there was more company, but worked on the same farm together with two more land girls. All farm work was undertaken by the girls. Paddy enjoyed driving the tractor but not feeding the chickens!
There were two matrons in the hostel in the four years Paddy worked in Shropshire. The first one was less strict than the second. Paddy met other land girls at the Morville Hostel on the Corvedale Road.
Paddy finished as a land girl in December, 1945 and continued to live in Much Wenlock until 1981, working as a tailor. She visited the first National Reunion at the Albert Hall in 1969. Many Land Army friends married local boys but some returned home to Liverpool where one, Lily White, wore a wedding dress donated by the people of the United States of America.