Champion ploughmen will be travelling to Naburn Hill Farm, Crockey Hill, York on the 13th and 14th of October to compete in the 2007 British Championships. Naburn Hill Farm is the home of Roger Hobson, president of the Society of Ploughmen. The vintage ploughing will be held on the 14th , when entrants will be competing for a place to represent England in the 2008 European Vintage Ploughing Championships. Over 15,000 visitors are expected and entry is £7 for adults and £4 for children and senior citizens. Attractions include Shire horses, steam ploughing engines, vintage machinery, static vintage tractor display and of course the ploughing competition.
SATURDAY 13th OCTOBER
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9.00 am
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Machinery demonstrations begin
Parade of competitors
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9.30 am
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Horse ploughing commences
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10.00 am
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Ploughing commences
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1.00 pm
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Plough Manufacturers Challenge commences
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2.00 pm
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Tractor ploughing ends
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3.00 pm
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High cut tractor ploughing ends
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3.30 pm
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Horse ploughing ends
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4.00 pm
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Plough Manufacturers Challenge ends
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5.00 pm
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Machinery demonstrations finish
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5.30 pm
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Announcement of results and presentation of trophies
(approximate time)
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5.30 pm
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Close down
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SUNDAY 14th OCTOBER
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9.00 am
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Machinery demonstrations begin
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9.30 am
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Horse ploughing commences
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9.45 am
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Parade of Plough-Off Finalists
and other competitors
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10.30 am
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Vintage tractor ploughing commences
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11.00 am
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National Plough-Off Finals commence
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3.00 pm
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National Plough-Off Finals end
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3.00 pm
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Tractor ploughing ends
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3.30 pm
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Horse and vintage ploughing ends
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5.00 pm
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Machinery demonstrations finish
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5.30 pm
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Announcement of results and presentation of trophies
(approximate time)
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5.30 pm
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Close down
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Here are a few photos from the 2007 event. Over 200 acres were used for the whole event and so a long walk was the order of the day in order to see all the tractors, classes and demonstrations.
One of the problems of the Doe tripple D tractor was that although the machine had superb power and traction, the hydraulics were not matched to this. Here we see the plough carried on a frame to overcome this limitation.
The crawler tractors were given slightly heavier land to work with. This Fowler, belonging to John Colwill, was a pleasure to see in action.
This John Deere 720 belongs to Geoff Liddle of Cawood, York. The sturdy 720 is a heavy machine and was pulling the cultivator with ease, gaining traction with 16.9 in tyres. This petrol fueled tractor is believed to be only one of 3 in the country - or do you know differently?
There was also a demonstration by a pair of ploughing engines. The engines stand on either headland and pull the plough using wire ropes. The speed at which the engines can pull the plough is impressive in comparison with a tractor - and only using a fraction of the power available from the steam engines. This pair of Fowler engines can plough 20 acres on a good day and will use about 1/2 tonne of coal each to do the work. The wire rope is actually attached to the axle of the plough which is able to slide slightly along the frame of the plough. Therefore as the engines reverse the direction of pull, the centre of gravity of the plough changes and the plough tips over to plough in the opposite direction.
A crowd of just under 16,000 visited over the 2 day event and although heavy rain had fallen on Tuesday, the land had dried nicely by Saturday to provide near perfect soil conditions. The title of 2007 National vintage trailing ploughing champion fell to Michael Watkins of Maltby, South Yorkshire; the vintage hydraulic class was taken by Bobby Douglas from Ancrum, Jedburgh and the classic ploughing class was won by David Greenwood of Garforth, Leeds.
