It's the thread nobody asked for
hay ricks
give us a sec
Okay this is a good one.

This is a bean stack in Essex, thatched with a roof of straw.

#ArchivesHarvest

rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/m…
(if you're too embarrassed to ask - ricks are just packed piles of harvested plants, usually grasses, topped with a thatched roof for storage until threshing or as feed in Winter)
Problem with a lot of ricks is they sometimes get too hot and set on fire, so this is a

'Hot Rick Rod'

which you stick in a rick to make sure it isn't going to kill you with fire. Because you have enough to worry about as it is.

#ArchivesHarvest

rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/m…
The equivalent of a wet flannel on the face for a rick was to poke holes in it to let it breathe.

Here there's not only ventilation underneath, but they've also jammed sheep troughs in there to get air inside.

#ArchivesHarvest

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Here's a beauty of a corn rick in Foxhole, Driffield. Look how beautifully combed it is.

Look at it.

#ArchivesHarvest

rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/m…
And this here's a linseed rick, built by Rev Houghton of Hipe Farm.

#ArchivesHarvest

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The problem with storing food out in the open - much like leaving open a packet of quavers in the average London bedsit - is that it attracts rats.

Here we have some men killing rats after threshing a rick.

#ArchivesHarvest
Thatchers were brought in to finish ricks.

Mr W. Huggett here built in the west of England fashion, and here he is on Mr George Bentley's Moated Farm, Addleston, Surrey.

#ArchivesHarvest

rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/m…
Ricks were once a common sight across the countryside, but you're now much more likely to see those round things wrapped in bin bags or just bricks of hay.

You have the invention of the baler to thank for that.

#ArchivesHarvest

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That's not to say that some couldn't get inventive with bales, but the construction of ricks is now a very rare thing.

#ArchivesHarvest

rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/m…
That's pretty much it for ricks.

If you want a bit more information on the decline and death of ricks in England, check out this article: latlmes.com/culture/the-de…
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