In the mid 1800s, the rate of illegitimate births in certain parts of Northumberland was nearly three times the national average. It seems pretty likely that this was at least partly due to a specific type of farming known as the 'bondager system', in which young unmarried farmworkers lived away from home, and sometimes in the same house. As Alan Crosby points out, "with young unmarried people of both sexes, in their late teens and early twenties, living in close proximity and well away from parental supervision... the inevitable happened". In my illustration for Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, I've included figs, poppies, cornflowers and myrtle – all historical symbols of fertility.