The Diary of a poor Suffolk woodman

This is probably the only poor man’s diary you will ever read.

Several years ago we began work on editing an amazing diary. It had been written in the margins of a Prayer Book, between the years of 1827 and 1842, and then passed down through the family. The writer was a poor woodman, who lived in Thorpe Morieux near Lavenham in Suffolk, by the name of William Scarfe. Together with Léonie Robinson,a direct descendent of William Scarfe, we have searched for further evidence of the events he wrote about.

In May 2004, this remarkable book was published by Poppyland Publications. (ISBN 0 94614867 8). Written in the dialect he spoke, William Scarfe's journal gives a unique insight into the life of a working man in a small and out-of-the-way village.

It will prove particularly valuable to the local historian, as he wrote about all the people he knew, across a number of villages in that part of Suffolk. This is a book of special importance, as it is a poor man's account of life in the early 19th century. There are details here that probably exist nowhere else.

Generously illustrated in colour and black and white (192 pages) the book can be obtained at a much reduced price from Poppyland Publishing.

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