Coastal Communities Museum
A volunteer led local museum in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland

Winter Talks

We have a regular Winter Talks programme for Members and Patrons.

Our talks are held in the chapel area at St Andrew Blackadder Church, St Andrew Street, North Berwick EH39 4NU.

Drop in to talks welcome – £5 entrance donation. Doors open for 6.30pm for a 7pm start.

Interested in being a Member or Patron? Get in touch with Barbara Clark for free trial membership

including free admission to our next talk. You can be sure of a warm welcome.

Winter Talks – Bondagers and the Bondage System, Thursday 5 December 2024

Hoeing in the Fields (Pitting Potatoes), William Marshall Brown (1863–1936)
© ELCMS

Sepia photograph of women working in a field.

© Sybil Straughan

Bondagers and the Bondage System, Thursday 5 December 2024

We continue our popular season of Winter Talks on Thursday 5 December with ‘Bondagers and the Bondage System’, a talk by Dinah Iredale.

Bondagers were part of an old method of employment called the Bondage System which involved the employment of the hind, a skilled ploughman, and a woman worker known as the bondager. In South-East Scotland and Northumberland this old system was still a feature of farm life throughout the 19th Century and into the early part of the 20th Century.

The farms in this area were large and therefore needed a lot of workers. The women workers were proud of their role on the farm and could be distinguished by their colourful costume which always included an impressive hat. This costume was very much their uniform for work and when not working they dressed in the fashionable clothes of the time. Join us to hear about the hinds and the bondagers and how a dispute about the system 1866 brought about its gradual decline.

Dinah’s talk will commence at 7.30pm in the Chapel area, St Andrew Blackadder Church, St Andrew Street, North Berwick EH39 4NU and is open to all. Entry is free for Members of the Coastal Communities Museum, and by £5 donation for Non-Members. The talk will be followed by some light refreshments.

 
 
Judith Booth