The Pattern Under the Plough: Aspects of the Folk-Life of East Anglia

George Ewart Evans records the customs, working habits and local language of East Anglian farming communities before mechanisation transformed rural life. Drawing on conversations with older residents of Blaxhall, Suffolk, he organises the book around the house and the farm, linking everyday work with inherited belief.

The domestic material considers building details, protective practices, hearth lore, illness, cures and the relationship between bees and the household. Farm life brings together animal husbandry, cultivation, sowing and harvesting, alongside magical practices and beliefs surrounding land and labour. A substantial section examines secret horse societies, including their initiation practices, while the wider account shows how older traditions persisted within ordinary rural routines.