11.9 When the Second World War began in September 1939, Britain needed to increase food production at home. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (“MAF”) was empowered under Defence (General) Regulation 49 to set up County War Agricultural Executive Committees (“County War Ags”) which had the authority to direct what was grown, take possession of land, terminate tenancies, inspect property, and organise farm workers. To assist with this 85% of the agricultural area was surveyed between June 1940 and early 1941 with farms classified in terms of their productivity; however, only summary statistics survive from this survey.

In April 1941 MAF authorised a survey of every farm and holding of five acres or more, giving rise to the following documents:

A Farm Record with information on conditions of tenure and occupation; the natural state of the farm, including fertility; the adequacy of equipment, water and electricity supplies; the degree of infestation with weeds or pests; and the management condition.
A census return for 4 June 1941 including statistics of crop acreages, livestock numbers and information on rent and length of occupancy.
A map of the farm showing the farm boundaries, on an OS base map.

The National Farm Survey began in spring 1941 and was largely complete by the end of 1943, being undertaken by the district committees made up largely of farmers who visited and inspected each farm, interviewing the farmer. Copies of the documents produced by the survey, as well as background information on the purpose and organisation of the survey, are held by The National Archive.

Section B of the Farm Survey form includes two questions relating to ‘roads’, identifying as ‘good’, ‘fair’ or ‘bad’ under B.4., the “Situation in regard to road” and B.7., the “Condition of farm roads”. B.4. seems to refer to the position of the farm in relation to access to and from the public road network for the transport of goods to and from the farm (B.5. similarly refers to railways). B.7. refers to the condition of farm roads, however, the inclusion of a particular route is unlikely to be identified on the relevant map; even then it is possible that public rights could co-exist with any private rights and so the value of the record is questionable. There are instances where a road is excluded from the farm boundaries but, from a sample, these appear to be known vehicular highways. B.7. was frequently crossed through if there were no internal roads.

The records do provide reliable information regarding land ownership and tenancy at the time they were compiled; it is often referred to as the second Domesday survey. It is possible that information regarding rights of way might arise from the Survey, although, from an investigation of the records for several areas of the country, it seems unlikely. In any event the primary purpose of the records should be borne in mind when determining the weight to be given to any evidence arising.

(February 2009)

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