Threshing: The final stage of harvest

For our ancestors, the harvest was not just a period of gathering crops—it was the lifeline that ensured survival through the harsh winter months.

The harvest season was the pinnacle of the agricultural year with roughly one quarter of agriculture labour devoted to it. It marked the culmination of months of hard work and careful planning. From sowing seeds in the spring to nurturing crops through the summer, every step was aimed at securing a bountiful harvest. Without modern technologies, our ancestors relied on their knowledge of the land, weather patterns, and crop cycles. A successful harvest was a celebration, but if the harvest were to fail, this would often mean a long, potentially fatal winter ahead.

The age-old traditions and practices of threshing was the final step of the yearly harvest and was what made the harvest so significant. The process was physically demanding and time-consuming when carried out by hand. Threshing wasn’t mechanized until the end of the eighteenth century, but this revolutionary development meant this important job could be carried out at least 12 times faster than by hand!

Threshing involved separating the edible part of the grain from the stalk so that each separate component could be used for its intended purpose – whether that was as food, thatch or animal bedding. Threshing was traditionally carried out with a flail, two pieces of stick joined by a leather band. Wind, water or horsepower could drive threshing machines, however, steam became the most popular method with mobile steam engines driven to the field to complete the task.

The process, when carried out by machine, is completed by a threshing drum, run by the steam engine. The grain is separated from the stalk and comes out of the end of the threshing drum into bags. The stalk then comes out of another section.

Through various demonstrations and activities, visitors to the Museum get to step back in time and understand the pivotal role that the harvest played in our ancestors’ lives. Our exhibits and live demonstrations offer an immersive experience, showcasing traditional agricultural practices and the significance of each step in the harvest process. At the Museum, we sometimes have a steam powered threshing machine onsite in the autumn, threshing triticale – a wheat/rye mix with long stalks, suited for both thatching and animal bedding, as well as grain which we use to feed the ducks and poultry on site, and oats which we use to feed the horses.

The vehicle in the images shown that is used to power the threshing machine, is a Burrell 3935 7nhp Traction Engine, named ‘Surprise’. This class of machine was manufactured by Charles Burrell & Sons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has a robust and compact design, making it suitable for a variety of tasks on the farm, including powering the threshing machine. NHP stands for ‘nominal horse power’, which means that this engine could carry out the work of seven horses!

‘Surprise’ was ordered in 1922 by J P Morgan to power a sawmill on his estate at Wall Hall, Aldenham Herts. She had various owners until 2004 when she was deemed to require boiler work and was dismantled. She was recommissioned in 2019 and attended her first event in August that year, after a 15 year absence.