.png){kind=small}
The Rural Life Collection
housed by
On behalf of the Cotswold District Council, the Old Prison hosts the
Lloyd-Baker collection of wagons and farm implements.
HERITAGE
The Cotswolds is synonymous with farming and rural crafts. Learn all about rural life before the farming revolution and visit our replica Wheelwright’s workshop and working Blacksmith’s forge.
Rural Crafts
Inextricably linked with farming and agriculture, rural crafts were once mainstays of the rural community and economy. Many crafts that thrived in the Cotswolds before the farming revolution have all but disappeared, although some still exist today. Learn about Blacksmithing, Wheelwrighting, Wainwrighting and the Wool Trade.
The Lloyd-Baker Collection
The Friends of the Cotswolds house this collection of wagons and farm implements on behalf of the Cotswold District Council. The original owner of the collection; Miss Lloyd-Baker was a landowner at Hardwick Court. She gathered the collection together in the decades following the 2nd World War. The pieces date from the end of the 19th century through to the first quarter of the 20th century.
​
In 1910 there were over 1 million horses working on farms across England and Wales. 50 years later this number had reduced to 60,000. By the 1980s the use of horses in agriculture had ceased entirely.
​
On her death in 1975, Miss Lloyd-Baker’s collection was accepted as part of estate duties and it came into the care of the Cotswold District Council. They moved the collection to the Old Prison in 1981 when they owned the site and remains here today under the Friends of the Cotswolds’ care working closely with the Corinium Museum.
The Blue
Timber Wagon
Dating from around the 1880's, originally this wagon was used to carry sawn tree trunks and other timbers from woods to the sawmills. The length of this wagon was designed to be adjusted to suit purpose.
Road
Wagon
Dating back from circa 1910, this road waggon was used by farmers and small businessmen to carry goods as it was sprung front and back.
