5,000 acres for a pound ( 1934 )

Whilst at Agricultural College in 1980, as a class we hit the road in strange Agricultural Country in the South East of the UK.
We travelled by mini bus, slept in stock barns and endured the incessant rain of a typical English summer.

The lecturers took us to diverse Agricultural operations, quite different to what we knew in the sleepy West Country.

We visited a 5,000 acre farm in Kent.
The owner was elderly, spritely , old fashioned in his farming techniques but had a sobering story to tell.

The Farm that he owned and loved was purchased post auction by him as a young man for a Guinea ( see below)
The auctioneers had failed to sell the farm on many previous occasions, it was the Great Depression of the 1930,s
The wealthy family elite that had owned the farm for generations had gone bust in the 1920,s.

The hedges were overgrown, the fields full of weeds with thistles a yard tall, the draining system blocked from neglect, the roads blocked by overgrown trees and brambles.
All 5 villages on the estate had houses all boarded up, the 17 th century church with no vicar.

The farmer thrust his finger in the air, peering into our young students eyes, " as sure as eggs are eggs, a Great Depression will return in your lifetime "
He was well read, he spoke particularly about the Mississippi bubble which lead to the French Revolution, his huge distrust of Banks and never to borrow if it could be avoided.

Pretty much wasted on a student at the time, but I never forgot the earnest on his face.

BRITISH
the sum of £1.05 (21 shillings in pre-decimal currency), now used mainly for determining professional fees and auction prices.
historical
a former British gold coin that was first minted in 1663 from gold imported from West Africa, with a value that was later fixed at 21 shillings. It was replaced by the sovereign from 1817.