Tried Google, no luck. This is what i'm trying to respond to, Might need to call on the help of our East Angular members, @Trunky ,@Kristen ,@Daisies
Is it Large marrow? Maybe a Long arrow? or perhaps a type of bird, a cross between a lark and a sparrow? Could even be a light barrow? I dunno.
It may be a reference to hawthorn berries. The The oldest known living hawthorn specimen is in East Anglia. It's known as The Hethel Old Thorn. and is located in the churchyard in the small village of Hethel south of Norwich in Norfolk. It is reputed to be more than 700 years old, having been planted in the 13th century. The word "lorrow" is a very old word. It come up a lot in the plays of Shakespeare and means the state of being doleful or sorrowful. Also Shakespeare makes reference to medlars in his plays. The most famous reference is in Romeo and Juliet. I could of course be wrong in thinking it's a reference to hawthorn berries.....it will take a bit more research.....still googling!
Zigs you may be right when you say its a Norfolk thing. Some of the trees there are shrouded in myths and legends which may have been known to older generations......dunno. Maybe some GC members from Norfolk can help out?
I'm just picturing a group of GC'ers dressed in smocks & wellies with the tops turned over & carrying Jam Jars with candles in, going door to door in Norfolk saying "WE'VE COME FOR YOUR LARROWS." Tagged the obvious East Anglians, who else we got over there? @Gay Gardener @jjordie
I find the best way to gather intell is to find The local pub. Not a local pub, but the local pub. Every town and village has one. Then you have to establish what the older boys are drinking, and drink that. Best talk about machines, preferably of the horticultural/agricultural variety, loud enough to be overheard but not so loud as to be obvious and obnoxious about it. Then after about half an hour, a drunken old man will but in and tell you all the specification, characteristics, common faults and their remedies, and better cheaper alternatives to your machine. As a non-local, there is a temptation to just agree and hope for the best, but it is actually better to disagree, which frustrates the local and as he gets wound up he will open up more and bring others into the conversation. That is phase 1 complete. Phase 2 involves steering the conversation in very, very subtle steps towards the subject on which you want the intell. If the machine in phase one is a rotavator, then you can start with an anecdote about an accident you had while rotavating the ground ready to grow marrows (accident anecdotes always open people up (excuse the pun)). From there you make another couple of conversational hops, maybe even talking about hops, then on to fruits and veg that only grow or are only popular in your own area. That's phase 2 complete. Phase 3 involves anecdotes about people not getting what they thought they were getting when ordering food, and the joviality that resulted from their ignorance or error. An example@Zigs could be your mate who got the cured ham instead of the spicy dish of eastern origin that he was expecting. Everyone tries to out do each other with anecdotes, so sooner or later someone will pipe up with an anecdote about a tourist who didn't know what to do with his larrow. From there its plain sailing all the way Unless of course it turns out that a larrow is the norfolk equivalent of a haggis, in which case you'll be the butt of all the jokes after they've convinced you it is a bird with no legs, or an animal that lives in the mountains and can only run round the mountain anti-clockwise because its left legs are shorter than its right legs
