Work and trades

One of the most significant contributions made by the Gypsy Traveller community in Hampshire has been the range of seasonal work they undertook down the years. This great economic contribution made by Gypsy Travellers provides a wealth of material and information about their community.

In Hampshire two of the most important seasonal work opportunities were hop picking and strawberry picking. Gypsy Travellers were just one group out of many who undertook this work as many itinerant workers and local people also got involved at harvest time to supplement their incomes.

Binsted: a family working together in the hop gardens
Finding no. 153M85/1/21

Family making pegs. From St Barbe Museum

Other work included charcoal burning, razor grinding, peg making, basket making, hawking, china riveting, as well as skewer, mat and beehive making.

During the winter months many moved into towns and took up occupations which left them with a degree of independence, the men sometimes becoming fly drivers or coal heavers while the women continued to hawk or become char ladies.

Eel trap making
Finding no.105M93/4/17

Strawberry pickers at Swanwick
Hampshire Museums Service

Advances in mechanisation meant that from the 1930s onwards the seasonal workers were replaced by machines which were both quicker and cheaper. From the mid 20th century the traditional practice of scrap dealing became increasingly common and Gypsy Travellers took up new trades such as landscape gardening, tarmacing and roofing.

Today, people from the Gypsy Traveller community work in a wide variety of occupations in both the public and private sector.