This week we take a close look at the worst rural jobs and remember those who risked their necks to maintain the heart of rural life, shifted excrement to produce enduring images of the countryside and saved souls in the villages by eating bread. Tony experiences life as a shepherd boy, nettle harvester, reddle man, thresher, chaff-box boy, sedge cutter, sin eater, pole man, lead-white maker and featherier. Then he tackles the most arduous job of all, that of the steeplejack when he climbs the highest spire in Oxfordshire.

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