On this day in Wembury — 29 April 1887
An auction at West Wembury Farm drew farmers and dealers from across the South Hams. The sale was held by auctioneer John B. Body on behalf of the representatives of the late Mr Edmund Knott, a respected local farmer whose death had brought his well-stocked holding to market. The advertisement in the Western Morning News listed an impressive inventory — sixty-four double and single couples of ewes and lambs, thirty-eight ewes and wether hoggets, ten cows in milk and calf, and a full complement of horses, carts, implements and fowl.
Buyers could bid for everything from a four-horse power threshing machine with a straw shaker to spring market traps, wagons, harrows and harness. Refreshments were offered at half past twelve, with the sale beginning at one-thirty — a social as well as commercial event in the village calendar.
The notice took care to assure potential bidders that “the sheep and bullocks are healthy and sound,” an important reassurance at a time when outbreaks of livestock disease could ruin a farm’s reputation. The auction marked the end of an era for the Knott family, whose name had been tied to West Wembury for years, and it reflected a period of change in Devon farming as mechanisation and estate restructuring gathered pace.
(Western Morning News, 23 April 1887; auction held 29 April 1887)