Photos: Museum exhibit charts history of livestock marts
Beverley Market 1981 © John Bentley A collection of photographs of livestock markets will be exhibited in North Yorkshire this autumn.
Settle-based photographer John Bentley has captured the farming community, throughout the decades, from the 1970s to the present.
From 5 October to 23 December 2021, his work, entitled “Going to Market”, will be displayed free of charge at The Folly in Settle, North Yorkshire.
The museum is open 11am-4pm Tuesdays-Saturday.
The exhibition contains a mix of vintage black and white and present-era colour photographs, mostly covering markets in Yorkshire, Cumbria and Derbyshire.
The pictures record the vibrant goings on, featuring the buyers, sellers and onlookers, as well as the market buildings and livestock.
Skipton Livestock Market 1986 © John Bentley
John Bentley first photographed a livestock market at Penistone in 1976, where cattle were being auctioned.
This was still the era when farmers dressed in characteristic long coats and cloth caps, and buying agents dressed in smart waistcoats and trilby hats or bowlers.
Bakewell Cattle Market 1986 © John Bentley
His latest photos show some market-goers sporting rugby shirts, jeans and baseball caps.
Skipton Mart sheepdpg auction © John Bentley
Across the past decade, John has visited many present-day markets to record what they are like in the 21st Century.
Hawes Market 2020 © John Bentley
John has been helped to stage this exhibition by a number of markets and auctioneering firms, including Bagshaws Auctioneers at Bakewell; Bentham Auction Mart; CCM Auctions, Skipton; and Hawes Auction Mart.
Bentham Market 2020 © John Bentley