Journal entry – John Grey – 6 Aug 1834

Wednesday 6th August



Some of the Whittonstall Tenants called in the morning on their way to Hexham fair, & I afterwards saw others there from different parts of the Estates, most of them, I regret to say being of one mind as to the necessity of giving up their Farms.  The Crops in this district are generally rather below an average, while the prices have rather a tendency to decline rather than to advance.  It is no wonder then, that farmers almost wholly dependent upon Corn, should take alarm at the responsibility they are under.   The principal article of Sale at this days Fair, is Lambs, which are brought in great numbers from the pastoral districts in the South of Scotland, & were sold at high prices.  But as a County Fair is a place of general resort for business transactions of all kinds, it affords an opportunity of meeting many people that one wishes to see, & sometimes of making Sales of Wood & collecting payments for it.  Wrote to Mr Forster expressing surprize that he should not have come to examine the Hospitals Collieries, as I had expected for some weeks past.