Historic farm sale set to be amazing debut for new Lincolnshire auction firm

Will Barker & Co are handling the farm dispersal auction following a management buy-out of the Pygott & Crone Agriculture Department.

Preparations for the sale at Riseholme Farm, at Gosberton Risegate, have unearthed some astonishing antique agricultural tools, equipment and collectables that are not thought to have seen the light of day for almost a century.

“My father bought Riseholme Farm in 1932,” said Brian Tidswell, “and in 89 years you obviously build up quite a lot of stuff. However, not only have we discovered things that probably haven’t been moved for sixty or seventy years but we found things that we didn’t even know we had, things that pre-date my father buying the farm. It has been a bit of a shock.”

Following the decision of Brian and his wife Jane to retire, the farm has been sold and new, Sleaford-based land agents and auctioneers Will Barker & Co has been instructed to stage the dispersal auction on Saturday November 20.

Auctioneer Will Barker said: “The vintage stars of the sale include the first new tractor that Brian’s father acquired for the farm back in the 1930s – a Caterpillar D22, a kerosene crawler tractor that was bought from H. Leverton & Co of Spalding, the firm which had just been appointed the Caterpillar Main Dealer for the entire eastern side of the country. We have the original invoice for the sale that shows that the tractor cost £397 - plus duty of £35.

“The auction also includes a second Caterpillar, a 1938 D2 diesel wide gauge crawler that arrived at Riseholme Farm in the late 1940s after being bought at a post-war farm sale. That comes complete with its original logbook.

“Other vintage tractors going under the hammer include three John Deere Model As dating from the 1940s, a Little Grey Fergie, (TE20), as well as the later machinery that was used on the farm including an International 885 XL and an International 574 Hydro.”

Will added: “It’s a particularly special auction for me as the first under the the new livery of Will Barker & Co and also having grown up in the area and knowing the vendors and the farm.

“In total the sale extends to over 250 lots and apart from the tractors, it ranges across trailers, cultivation equipment, sprayers, spreaders, spares and all the rest, plus workshop equipment, not to mention all the other stuff that is needed to run a small farm – or could be needed!

“We also have some wonderful collectables. Amongst the things that Brian and Jane found during the clear-out was a pair of thistle pullers, the giant wooden nippers that were used to get rid of the pesky weeds back in the Victorian period. The back of one shed also yielded a wooden yoke of the type that milkmaids used to carry their pails and who would be without the pole hook to lead their bull around by the nose?”

The auction catalogue is available at www.willbarker.co.uk. The viewing day is Friday November 19 (12noon to 4pm) at Riseholme Farm, Gosberton Risegate, Spalding.

The auction on Saturday gets underway at 10am.

For further information contact Will Barker on 01529 414555 or ([email protected]).