HOP picking was always a big deal in Herefordshire as the nostalgia pictures reveal this week.

According to Herefordshire Through Time website Hop picking was an art:

When a field had been completely picked the pickers would move to another part of the hopyard and the quickest pickers were allowed to have first choice of where to set up.

After the hops had been picked they had to be measured and bushelled so that the picker could be paid for the day's work.

The busheller would call out the number as he measured the hops into a sack, which had a mark inside giving a measurement of one bushel.

The count would be kept by the tally-man who carried a number of tallies on his belt. Tallies were pieces of wood about 15 inches long, split into two pieces.

One of the pieces would be given to the picker as a record of their total. The two pieces would only fit together in a certain way and the count was recorded by file marks across both pieces so the picker could not alter his or her total.

Thanks to the Paul Carter collection on the Facebook group Old Ledbury for permission to use the pictures.

If you have any old photographs of Ledbury or the surrounding area please email them to matthew.holmes@newsquest.co.uk