On This Day in Wembury
14 October 1891 — Major Stock Sale at Old Barton Farm
On this day a large-scale auction was held at Old Barton Farm, Wembury, featuring 120 sheep, 50 bullocks, 5 horses, 22 pigs, and 4 tons of wool. The sale began at 1.30 p.m. and drew buyers from across the district. To ensure good attendance, a special conveyance left the Crown Hotel, Plymouth, at 11.30 a.m., bringing in dealers, butchers, and farmers. This kind of organised transport shows how important rural sales were to the city economy in the days before motor cars, helping to connect Wembury’s produce directly with urban markets.
The Old Barton auction underlines the scale and value of farming in late-Victorian Wembury. Large quantities of livestock and wool flowed from village farms into Plymouth’s supply chains, and the provision of transport reminds us that even before modern infrastructure, rural and urban communities were tightly bound together.
Source: Western Morning News, 13 October 1891 (advertising the sale for 14 October).