In Season Four of Downton Abbey, decades of unchanged land production and investments have left the estate in financial trouble. Compounded by the rising rates of death duties and income taxes, Downton will surely vanish like other great houses of the time if no changes are made. The arrival of livestock in the form of pigs, and the scene where Mary and Charles Blake save the new arrivals, shows a change not only in the landscape of the great house, but in the attitudes of the upper class towards hard work to ensure the estate and aristocratic lifestyle will survive into the future. Through Blake’s endorsement of the pigs, the series encourages the audience to believe the Grantham’s pigs are the best investment for Downton.

The decline and fall of the great country houses in the Twentieth Century was a serious cultural tragedy plaguing Britain and the aristocracy. As a result of rising income taxes and death duties, these large estates could not produce enough income to survive, and many were torn down as a result. Seeing the decline of houses around the country, many land owners began to look for ways for their estates to generate additional income. As architectural historian Mark Girouard states, “in a curious reversal of history, instead of the houses existing as a means to support the ends of their owners, their owners now tend to be seen as a means to support the survival of their houses” (318). In a change of pace for many, the aristocracy now had to find ways for their money and estate to work for them, rather than sitting back and collecting rent from tenants and farmers on their land. To generate revenue, land owners did everything from opening their houses to the public for a fee to creating a safari on the estate (“Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain”). In the case of Downton, at the suggestion of Branson and Matthew, the family chooses earn an income and save their home in the form of agriculture by faming pigs on the estate.

The choice to farm livestock, instead of another type of agriculture, brings to light the cultural status symbol that is meat. Meat, because it is costly to obtain and maintain, has served as a status symbol, as Meat: A Natural Symbol investigates:

The supply of animals, and thus of meat, has tended therefore to be controlled primarily by the wealthier, the more skilled, the more powerful, the central actors in the human drama…those who accredit themselves as the more civilized of people. Its provision and consumption has in turn been used to demonstrate the supposed affluence and sophistication of those who command its supply. (Fiddes 175)

By farming and providing meat during meals, people are able to display their wealth and how far up the social ladder they place as well. Lavish dinners, like those given in the homes of the aristocracy, serve as opportunities to show off to family, guests, and important figures. One meat laden meal, cherished by the English as part of their food culture, is the full English breakfast. The full English breakfast, according to the English Breakfast Society, is a meal that considered traditional since the Victorian era and consists of “back bacon, eggs, British sausage, beans, tomato, mushrooms, black pudding, and toast” (Bule).  This time-honored meal serves as another opportunity for people to both display their wealth and embrace a national tradition. For Downton, producing a meat source is away to generate income, display wealth, and promote the food culture of the nation.

Pigs, in general, are a good investment for the Granthams when looking at the traits of the animals themselves and how they are farmed. Hogs, according to Wentworth’s 1922 Progressive Hog Raising, are the most efficient and uniformly most profitable animal. Pigs require less specialized attention than other types of livestock, multiply more rapidly, can be founded on limited capital, and can be brought to profitable return quickly and easily relative to other classes of livestock(3). As Wentworth explains; “The statement that the hog is the mortgage lifter of the farm is more than a generality; it is a most specific truism” (3). Because of their large litter sizes of eleven to twelve animals and ability to consume a larger range of food outside of solely forage, pigs are more efficient with quicker return that cattle or sheep. The Tamworth is a British breed, specifically, a bacon type pig, that is hardy, can be kept in a wide range of environments, and is resistant to sunburn (“The Tamworth”). This breed is also sought after because of its “tendency to produce white-fleshed carcasses with long sides and big hams.” (“The Tamworth”) In addition to big hams, this breed possesses the best qualities to ensure high return on the animal, as sides and hams are some of the most costly cuts, aside from the loin. The value of pork, especially bacon, reached a high after the war. As of December 1920, retail bacon prices were one-hundred and seventy percent higher than before the war at thirty and a quarter pence per pound, which are much higher when compared to prices at the same time six years earlier at eleven and a quarter pence per pound (Bowley 46, 50). Given the price of bacon and relative ease of farming hogs, the Granthams are sure to turn a profit if the initial trial with the animals can be overcome.

Episode Seven of Season Four marks the arrival of the Tamworths to Downton Abbey and the future of the estate. Still in their formal dining wear, Mary and Charles Blake decide to go and look over Downton’s latest investments after dinner. Blake is quick to observe that the animals are dehydrated and require water immediately. Mary and Blake proceed to work through the night filling the troughs, and, in the process, manage to completely cover themselves in mud. Once they have filled the troughs and the pigs are beginning to recover, Blake tells Mary to go on back to the house. She furrows her eyebrows and replies, “I’m not going. They’re my pigs.” For once, Mary has stepped far outside her comfort zone and goes against how a lady of her class should act by performing manual labor. Her actions in the face of potential disaster show she is committed to seeing that the pigs survive and are profitable. The audience recognizes a change in Mary’s thought process when she refers to them as “my pigs” rather than “my family’s pigs” or “Downton’s pigs.” They are her pigs because she understands their success ensures her, her son George, and Downton’s survival into the future and is committed to seeing they are well-off. By taking control of the pigs, Mary has taken control of her future and is willing to do what it takes to make sure her outlook is a bright one.

The shift from a static aristocratic estate to an agricultural enterprise shows how those managing these estates have to adapt given the economic conditions of the period: like the Granthams' estate switching to pig farming. Watching the other great houses of the time fall to financial troubles, the family of Downton Abbey recognizes the same fate could be theirs if no changes are made to how the estate is used. Initially, Lord Grantham fights Matthew and Branson’s plans to put the estate’s land to work as he feels it is betraying the trust of the tenants who have lived and farmed the land for generations. In the Season Three Christmas Special, while the family is at Castle Duneagle, Shrimpie says to Robert after telling him they are losing their home, “It’s my own fault. If I’d had any gumption and modernized, as you did. But I sat on my hands as the money drained away. Now it’s all gone.” After hearing of his old family friend’s failing and the dire situations painted by Napier and Blake that other great houses are facing, Robert begins to realize the reality facing Downton.  Following Matthew’s death, Robert is much more approving of Mary (as the new co-owner of Downton) and Branson’s plans to begin  farming on the estate. Changing from how their lifestyle has always been feels like going against tradition and somehow seems less noble as a result. Unfortunately, these ideas are too costly and must be overcome in order to survive.

Recognizing they are making the right choice, the arrival of the pigs also suggests a change in attitudes of the Granthams towards labor and how one’s money is made. Mary has taken her role as a manager of the estate seriously and her actions to save the pigs demonstrate this change. In previous seasons, Mary couldn’t be bothered with anything more than her love life. Now, she is physically taking control of her future by getting out of the house and into the mud with her pigs. Her conversations with characters like Napier and Blake are also significant because much of the talk is about what great houses are doing to keep from going under, and how she is making sure, with the addition of the pigs, that Downton does not follow suit. Acknowledging her hard work and dedication to the pig project, everyone at the house praises Mary for the night spent with Blake saving their bacon, when in the past they may have scolded her for being un-lady like. Mary’s change in attitude towards work and labor, in addition to the family’s shift in how they view her working with the animals, points towards a fiscally responsible change in how the aristocracy is adapting their long held views to survive.

The series also endorses pig farming at Downton because it is not only a means of survival of the estate into the future, but for the food culture of the great houses and England as a whole. Tamworths and the full English breakfast are representatives of the traditions that the British value, and their loss would signify a significant change and loss of culture if they disappeared.  More importantly than the great houses, these pigs and pig products are traditions that classes outside of the aristocracy hold dear. The loss of these traditions would impact English culture and people of all classes. By producing pork, Downton is ensuring the survival of the traditional full English breakfast, half of whose parts consist of pig products. The Granthams’ investment in pigs not only supports the future of the estate, but sees that the survival of these traditions continues for all of the English and supports the nation.

Bowley, Arthur. Prices and Wages in the United Kingdom, 1914-1920. London: The Clarendon Press, 1921. Google Books. 23 March 2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=Fiq0AAAAMAAJ>

Bule, Guise. "The Full English Breakfast." The Breakfast English Society. N.p. 04 Jan 2014. Web. 13 Apr 2014. <http://englishbreakfastsociety.com/full-english-breakfast.html>.

“Destruction of country houses in 20th-century Britain” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 April 2014. Web. 13 Apr 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_country_houses_in_20th-century_Britain>

Fiddes, Nick. Meat: A Natural Symbol. London: Routledge, 2004. Google Books. 23 March 2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=jSqIAgAAQBAJ>

Girouard, Mark. Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978. Google Books. 23 March 2014. <http://books.google.com/books?id=8KmrdrHhZusC>

"The Tamworth." britishpigs.org. British Pig Association. Web. 23 March 2014. <http://www.britishpigs.org/breed_tw.htm>.