Family Connections

The recording of Emrhys Coate, (b.1912), deals with the details of willow growing. In the 1920s women would strip the withies ready for basket-makers, growers would drop bundles of willow at the cottages and pick them up the next day, paying the women per bundle. The income generated by women was a crucial contribution to the pot, especially in the 1920s and 30s when Somerset – like the rest of Britain – was in the grip of an agricultural depression.

Listen to Emrhys and read the transcript.