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History The Cheshire Agricultural Society (CAS) was founded in 1838 by the landowning gentry of the county. The inspiration came from the founder President, Field Marshall Viscount Combermere (pictured right) who was one of The Duke of Wellington's generals at Waterloo. He later received his Field Marshall's baton through his successful campaigns in Asia. Born Stapleton Cotton into a landowning family, he had travelled much in England and had observed better farming practice in the drier region of England than in his native Cheshire.At the age of 65, the Field Marshal persuaded his fellow Cheshire landowners to set in motion a whole series of competitions to encourage better farming methods. This spirit was also transferred to competitions for rural people to 'improve the moral and industrious way of life'. All this was to be incorporated into the CAS, which organised an elaborate system of competitions for farms of all sizes, all kind of crops, for live stock health and improvement, and for the well being of the rural people. In fact the social conscious of the Field Marshall was to group together into one organisation (CAS) all that the modern world expects from a whole variety of organisations that provide these services today viz National Farmers Union, Young Farmers Club, Churches, Parish Councils, government and Social Services etc. The CAS is fortunate to have written evidence of this period, as each selected judge had to submit a written report of the competition. Why was the CAS important or popular enough to attract so many outside landowners when it already consisted of powerful estate owner, like Grosvenor, Wilbraham, Cholmondeley, Legh, Warburton, Davenport, Leycester, Edgerton etc? I do not know the answer to this question. Perhaps Cheshire being a County Palintine gave it a certain standing and no doubt, our renowned cheese also helped. However there seems little doubt that the CAS became a kind of role model for other agricultural societies in England. The noted 'Cheshire Farming Ladder' was copied in many counties, as were our competitions. I guess not as successfully as Cheshire because of our unique farming structure. Cheshire was a county of hundreds of ''cottage farms'' and ''small holdings''. This policy w still continued by the Cheshire County Council after the first world war. Sadly today the economic climate and modern pressure from commuters to live in rural Cheshire has changed all this. From around 20,000 farmers a 100years ago the county has only some 2000 today with just 25% of those producing milk. The mission statement of The CAS for over 100 years read ''To promote agriculture and encourage the industrious and moral habits of the labouring portion of the community''. The series of competitions for farms, crops and livestock are unchanged basically to this day.' There is of course more variety and variations but the big difference is no prize is given to encourage betterment; to day the prestige of winning is sufficient! What is of supreme importance and interest is the series of competitions for the rural community. Firstly there seemed a need to increase the population for one of the most vigorously supported was for ''those families raising the highest number of children without seeking Parish Relief of either 1pence or 2 pence per week’’ The annual winners received a 1st prize of £5 while 2nd £4, 3rd £3 etc. The winner always had in the mid to late teens of children and in one year a 20child family appeared. There was a duplicate of this competition with the added condition ''if an old or infirm relative was also looked after without seeking Parish Relief''  Another popular competition was '' £100 per year, with a certificate, for the best 100 female servants, bearing the best written reference by her master''. There are pages upon pages of these winning ladies receiving £1 with a certificate. In the main the winners were ladies with 20 to 40 years service to the same household or farm. However in 1859 a young lady aged 19 unexpectedly received this award because of an exceptional reference by her master after only 9 months service.This was quite unusual. Her master was Thomas Shaw, Hatton Heath Farm, Tattenhall (former home of Lord Wolley). Some years later when I was researching Champion Cheshire Farms, I saw an enlightening factor by chance. It was contained in a judge's written report. This said the champion farm of Cheshire in1859 was the same Thomas Shaw and the judge wrote ''I also gave Mr Shaw a special prize for breeding foxes for the Cheshire Hunt. He is also doing improvements to his house and it seems to me he is going to start breeding in other directions''. We have no record of Mr Shaw getting married. The last illustration of a personnel competition was ''for those servants male or female age 25 and still working on the same farm, having left school at the age of 12'' This illustrates that the large family soon had the older children at work, with most of them 'apprenticed to live in'. There were many other competitions for the families to be involved with. Prizes for 'the neatest and cleanest cottage,'' including the thatch and lime wash both inside and out''; '' the neatest and most productive cottage garden'' - (a) under 1acre, (b) under 2 acre, (c) under 5 acres; ''the best fatted cottage pig'', ''best pair of cottage heifer calves''. Then similar competitions repeated again for smallholdings - (a) under 20acres, (b) under 30 acres, (c) under 50 acres. Farms were grouped: small 100acres and under, medium150acres and large over 150 acres. This series of competitions formed the basis of the ''Cheshire Farming Ladder''. A candidate for a smallholding emerged from the winners of the cottage farms competition and a candidate for a small farm emerged from the smallholders class and so ''up the ladder''. There were competitions to encourage the better use of manures, including 'bones' and 'marl'; and especially for drainage and also for building works. In 1850 Mr John Ralphs of Saighton won a special prize for building a new house. The judge wrote '' Mr Ralphs built his new house with his best rooms facing the farm yard; when I asked why he had sacrificed the views of his meadows to the front of the house, he replied for 2 good reasons. Firstly I can sit in my best rooms and watch the men working, while the females work at the back away from the men! In an essay like this it is impossible to cover much of the history, but I will list some of the more interesting bullet points. In 1860John Lowe of Wheelock took 1st prize for a ''new crop'' of ''Swedish Turnips'' The judge counted 30,721 per acre. Judges today don't count sugar beet!1860Charles Sherwin, Sudlow Farm, Tabley had the Champion Shorthorn cow. It had a pedigree to 7 generations and the 8th was ''by Mr Howarth's very good bull''18611st exhibition by Mr Plant and Mr Hancock who made farm implements in their back garden at Sandbach. One was an iron plough. A vote was taken by CAS to allow this plough to compete in the annual ploughing match against the traditional wooden plough. The vote was lost as it was considered ''too heavy to become popular''. However a vote the next year ''allowed an iron plough to compete but without any help being give''.1862Thomas Emberton of Haslington took Champion Cow and Champion Cheese.1869Mr Hancock had a new partner Mr Foden; they exhibited a 6hp steam tractor costing £170.1871Edwin Foden exhibited latest 8hp steam tractor costing £200.1869James Whitlow, Stretton 1st prize wheat-'' had scythed it green in March and fed to cows''1875Burgess Bros, Northwich 1st stand--plough costing £2; Lawnmower costing £1: 1 Bed £1, but deluxe model with ''brass knobs'' costing £1.50!1893Cheshire Show first came to the Rodee, Chester; there was record attendance--400 visitors paid 2/-each -10p; 7400 paid 1/-(4p) and 1192 paid extra 1/- (4p) for grandstand. For the 1st 60 years the Cheshire Show rotated around every main town because livestock had to be walked to the show. Most towns soon started to have their own show and by 1900 it was revealed that the county show was suffering financial loss because of lack of support; - it seemed the local show became more popular. However during the 1950's most local shows suffered the same fate and they disappeared; Nantwich Show being a surviving parish show.1904The Cheshire Show amalgamated with the Chester Show and settled on Rodee for next 50 years. It was reported people packed the walls and enjoyed the show for free. The show lost money so following year they erected canvas along the walls to stop free viewing. The show still lost money! It seemed the Lancaster Show was going through a similar period of hardship.1908A letter was received from James Birch, secretary of the Lancashire Agricultural Society suggesting ''a Federation of Lancashire and Cheshire Agricultural Societies'' with Sir Gilbert Greenall as President. In 1909 this Federation held a joint show. This co-operation had started as early as 1894 when a joint approach was made to government to take steps to eliminate TB from cattle. However no other records appear after 1909, but I guess it was the start of the now strong 'Federation of County Shows'.1925Show joined with The Royal Show on the Rodee.1955Show had outgrown The Rodee and was held at Hooton, Wirral1973/4Show not financially successful on the Wirral so returned to Chester for 2 years but wet weather and growth of traffic in the city hampered viability.19745/6Sadly no Cheshire County Show for these years and little prospect of continuation.1977Small group revived The Show in Mid-Cheshire on humble lines but a strict discipline.2005Largest Light Horse Show in UK, with over 30 Qualifiers for Horse of the Year Show. Spectacular Rare Breeds show unequalled, one of the largest Open Dog Shows. Finest WI Show anywhere. Over 3 miles of Trade Stands. Cheshire Rural Village, Game Fair.Today The Cheshire County Show is thriving and is again a leading county show with many new ideas always evolving and again setting targets for other shows to follow. I recommend contact with Nigel Evans our user friendly Executive Director and discuss membership and involvement. Ask Nigel for the latest annual report, which will give a good insight to all that is going on at the show and all that is good and best in rural Cheshire. |
 
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