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PART III

The very strength of the town of Cropredy came from their fiftysix yardlands. Yearly the husbandmen inspected the parish boundaries and regulated the growing of their crops, meadows, greensward and commons. The vicar kept a close eye upon the stock, especially the cows, sheep, pigs and poultry leaving rare documents as he collected in his small tithes from the milch cows to sheeps wool. His own accounts are full of interest from sowing the seed to harvesting the corn.

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14. Cropredy. The Boundary and Land.

The ancient boundaries of Cropredy "... begin at a certain place called Clatercotehey. And so on by a certain hedge called Clatercote diche to a bridge called Bootam; and so on by a rivulet called Cranemeare to le Southbridge; and so on by Arbewell lake to a certain place called Haghorne; and so on by a Way called Ridgeway to le Foxhole and so on to the brook called Shotteswell Broke; and so by the hedge called West Meade to the field called Mollington; and so on by the said hedge to a way called Brodewaye; and so on by a way called Ridgwaye to Londymere; and so on to a place called Clatercote haye, where they begin containing iiij miles" 6 Edward VI [Royce p3].

The type of soil, the underlying rocks, the clefts and watercourses played an important part in the development of the township. They influenced the way it could be used to support the growing population who must use the resources at their disposal to the full. By the 1570's only a third had enough land to support their family with sufficient surplus to pay their way. The extra corn and cheese went to feed the families of the agricultural crafts necessary to keep the full time husbandmen in business. The craftsmen who had a little land produced no surplus to sell and so must rely upon their skills with leather, wood, wool or milling. The environment that might encourage some to make a success could render life so hard to others that they were forced to sell themselves for wages beyond the natural years of the apprentice. The few who rose above them all with their skills at shepherding were helped by the mixed agriculture of the area. It was a trading township, the centre of a triangle at the tip of north Oxfordshire. Cropredy's craftsmen could provide skills for other hamlets around.

The land and its boundaries had to be well looked after and maintained which brought about the manorial rules necessary for farming as tenants in common. To ensure that all was well the tenants had a yearly procession to beat the bounds (p28), but there has never been a right of way for the general public around this boundary.

The ancient description of the boundaries belonging to Cropredy town was probably taught to every boy who helped to beat the bounds. The above description began in the north west corner at "Clatercote haye". Was the "hey" from the dance of the boys as they received their first beating to ensure they would never forget the exact position of the boundary stones? Or from the celebrations at the start of the heyday by the spring feeding the pool? This stretch of water fed the stream which filled the ditch to form the northern boundary as it flowed east. Long before our period it had become known as "the leper's pool." Over the boundary in Clattercote parish the Gilbertine Priory of St. Leonard had opened a hospital for lepers. Their patients came up for their exercise on the paved walk surrounding the pool [VCH p195].

The vicar's party followed the hedge above the "Clatercote diche" flowing eastwards until they reached a ford, where Moorstone Lane left Cropredy parish, and on down to Bootham's bridge, except for some sixteenth century alterations at Washlands (later Elbow Ham) (p219). The stream meets two other brooks to become the Cranemeare, or High Furlong brook, flowing south through valuable meadows to join the river Cherwell by the town of Cropredy. The boundary followed the centre of the brook which forms the eastern parish boundary with Prescote and the river part of the boundary with Wardington, as it flows down to the south east corner of Cropredy. Williamscote-in-Cropredy lies further east, while down the Cherwell to the south east were once three detached pieces of Cropredy's meadowland.

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Cropredy had two mills where in 1607 the weary thirsty beaters of the bounds were denied their drink (p29). The upper mill by the town and the lower mill on the parish boundary where it returns westwards looping round the mill and back up the west bank of the mill pound to join the Sowburge as it enters this Pound. Tenseclose hedge along the Sowburge separates Bourton parish and the south boundary of the B manor farm [8] [burge from the manor or burgh]. The causeway coming down from Bourton entered Cropredy by the Sowburge ford onto Cropredy's Long Causeway. For walkers there was a small footbridge on the western side of the ford. The boundary continues on up the brook through the clay soils, giving the beaters either a cleggy walk in a wet season, or rough and hard underfoot in a dry one. On the western edge of Marsh meadow the brook is joined by a second one coming down from the Goggs across Cropredy's South Field in the Hayway Quarter. They were now alongside the Arb well [Harble] furlong and shortly would arrive in the Hackthorn Quarter west of Arb well "lake" (Fig. 14.4).

The soil changes as they enter the Hackthorn Quarter at the four hundred foot level, to silt and clayland over the middle lias, and from this level a line of springs arise. The Sowburge sprang from the Arb well at the head of a small dell. Westwards lies the hagthorn described more politely by Nehemiah Mansell (a Bourton man who came to farm in Cropredy [35]), as Ladyhorne. The name came from the ancient wood hawthorns planted, or left over from former woods, as boundary markers. On the better drained soil the conditions improved and they continued as before alongside the growing corn until the boundary reaches a track. This they follow northwards as the outer parish ring keeps to the extreme edge of the once wider ridgeway along the western hedge of the Upper Hagthorn Furlong. Just before the northern headland the boundary turned west running with the furrows across flatter Eastside Broadway, which lay over marlstone rock, and on to the Ridgeway (Figs 14.4 & 14.5).

The boundary turns north with the traffic then west through the hedge onto the flat Over Broadway Furlong. Here the boundary appears to have been taken piecemeal from former woodland on the flat land above the scarp face. It meanders, now hedgeless, partly across a field farmed from Bourton to a smaller steep field whose hedges contained ancient woodhawthorns, crab and hazel. Two hawthorns and one huge crab stood out as ancient markers when the ring hedge looped round, up and then down to a spring (the crab blew down in 1974 and the hedges vanished in 1980). Again the stream dividing the parishes emerges just above the four hundred foot line, near the foxholes and ancient badger sets (Cropredy parish boundaries were fixed by an Act of Parliament in 1774, but unfortunately this part of the definitive boundary, which included the ancient badger set has been removed). The scenery changes from corn, or fallow, to the closed off meadows with the hay nearly ready as they descend in single file to three hundred feet and follow the stream with the "Burton hylle hedge" beyond. The late spring growth making this procession's progress particularly hard going, especially once they turned north along the meandering Shotteswell brook.

Just before the brook were several ancient enclosures [A.E.]. The south west mead's eastern hedge was one of the Oldest (with over 8 species) in the parish, but lost in 1983. It contained ash, oak, elm and a rare black Italian poplar. There were also plenty of hazel, maple, blackthorn, hawthorn and elder. The Shotteswell brook hedge contained more oaks, alders, willows and ash trees, as well as the following shrubs: elder, blackthorn, purging buckthorn, spindles, both types of hawthorn and dogwood (p18). The parish boundary curved round the ancient meads, briefly meeting the Warwickshire county boundary and leaving it again to its meanders. The party of singing choir boys and elders now ascended eastwards next to the "Westmead hedge" and out into the steeper arable Copthorn Furlong before reaching the flatter edge of the furlong called "The Windmill Beyond Broadway Furlong." The westmead hedge was typical of the area containing wood hawthorns, blackthorns, elm, ash and oak, with the addition of maple, hazel, rose and elder. Some of the maples had become trees. Had the hazel spread from coppices in Copthorn Furlong?

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The parish boundary was not able to cross the Broadway in a straight line. The verge had been used for generations of drovers taking stock to market so that markers could not be placed. It must have been a difficult decision to establish the exact line the parish boundary was to take once the road hedges were ready to plant. The party would have tales to tell of the arguments over the allocation of the land. In the end a reasonable plough length would decide the length and width of the strips and the final amount to place in each parish for Mollington, Bourton and Cropredy all had land on both sides of the ridge. Cropredy's boundary went first south away from the present hedge, east then north again with the traffic, almost to the top of the hill where they met the exit onto the highway of an old ridgeway track. This had come from Landimore following arable headings. Mollington's windmill was bound to be looked at as it stood on the highest point, but there is evidence of Cropredy also having one on the homeward side of the highway. Bourton millers followed the trend and built a windmill in their parish on the ridge as the demand for flour grew.

The boundary enters the Hackthorn Quarter on the homeward side of the ridgeway at the north end of the Upper and Lower Windmill Furlongs. At Landimore an Early hedge of six species goes north to meet the Oxhay Road and again hazels and wood hawthorns are present. This furlong had been in existence prior to the only A manor terrier of 1548 which indicates that the Over and Nether Landimore belonged entirely to the A manor demesne farm [50]. The boundary line descends by the Landimore north hedge as far as an ancient crab tree, where it crosses the Way from Cropredy to Mollington to enter the dry Oxhay pasture called Ballards which had first a hedge and then just a ditch (Fig 14.6). Here once more the vicar and his party had descended to the spring line and the constant supply of water kept the Mollington cattle from mixing with those on the Oxhay cow pastures. The now piped ditch runs down to join a stream which uses a fault line to separate the Oxhay Pasture from the Field End Quarter of the North Field (Fig 14.3). Up the boundary stream going westwards is one of the loveliest of hedges. Here hazels abound, a sign of former coppicing. Plenty of wood hawthorns, crabs, some blackthorn, dogwood, elder, rose and sallow as well as elm, willow, ash and oak trees make up the hedge and just one sycamore which has crept in. The hedge passes Raven's well, where the stream emerges, and continues along the boundary as it curves northwards to the pool. It contains some maple and wayfaring trees which have not yet spread into the south boundary. Back at the start the whole outer ring fence measured apparently "four miles." In actual fact it was nearer ten even without Williamscote in Cropredy, the Astmead or detached meadows. The husbandmen may not in actual fact have begun and ended here for although a day's ploughing was no more than ten miles, there were some amongst them who did not need the extra mileage to walk to and from this point.

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The Open Common Fields.

There are very few Open Field systems left in Britain. On these all the farmers had their land in strips scattered throughout the Open Field. One called The Vile has been kept at Rhossili in south west Wales. It provides a valuable source of physical evidence to learn about Open Field farming, especially when some of the present day farmers use words to describe parts of the system which were used in sixteenth century Cropredy. An "Open Field" is a term used to describe a system of farming an area of land in which a husbandman's stock were not allowed to graze the fallow. In Cropredy they used a different term, for on their "Open Common Field" all tenants had rights of commonage to graze the stubble. Both types of system could like Rhossili separate their strips from their neighbours by a "lansher." This landshare consisted of a narrow ridge of grass. It could be that Cropredy did not have any such ridge, or baulk, between the strips although Wardington did (p290). In our period the vicar and townsmen spelt "common" with only one "m," the second "m" being added much later [The Enclosure Award of 1775 following the 1774 "Act for dividing and inclosing certain Open Common Fields Pastures and Waste Grounds called Cropredy Field and Ast Mead" p1].

Cropredy had two Open Common Fields. The North and the South. One was used to grow their crops while the other must lie fallow, though by the 1570's peas were always planted upon a portion of each tenant's fallow. The communal use of all the land in the parish was a very old one, though the actual starting date cannot be found. A Court of parishioners under the bailiff's command, undertook the complex running of the land once the reorganisation of the available arable and pasture had begun. The community had their prime target as one of survival and on this basis their method of ploughing the land in the best way possible was in the interest of them all. Cropredy's soil varied and while some was naturally well drained the rest had to rely on the method of ploughing up into ridges, leaving a furrow between to carry off excess water. All this occurred after the breast plough was discarded for an ox drawn plough and naturally more could be achieved by a team of eight oxen. Sharing a team was the only way for the smaller husbandmen and land was cultivated across an area with several teams until a reasonable amount of land had been ploughed over a number of days. This ploughed land could in theory have been divided up according to the number of oxen each man contributed, minus the Lord of the manor's share which they had ploughed as part of their tenancy agreement. After the final ploughing the whole prepared area was planted and shut off before going on to the next furlong. The two hugh arable fields were divided up into these furlongs. The arable section looks in more detail at the division of the ploughed furlong strips (p287). Initially they may have drawn lots for their arable strips, furlong by furlong, but later they all knew who were the tenants of the strips next to their own, for these "known" strips had become permanently fixed to a parcel and the majority remained with the lease of a particular homestall. In the demesnes terrier for the A manor in 1548 no neighbouring tenants were given and these strips could at that time have still been allocated by lot?

The community had to have pasture for their sheep and cows as the fallow could not provide enough grass. So precious was their meadow land that it had always been kept free of the plough, with only the aftermath grazed by the stock. We will see that the Oxhay common provided some greensward, but the husbandmen following the manor court decision had begun to enclose certain former arable areas for permanent leyland. This process had hardly begun when the 1552 survey was made.

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The North Field.

The North Field had been divided into the Downland and Field End Quarters (Fig. 14.1). The Downland took up the land to the north of the town with Oxhay and Field End to the west and the A manor meadows alongside High Furlong brook to the east. Northwards towards Clattercote parish all the flatter land was enclosed greensward (leyland). The use of streams descending from the springs had formed convenient parish boundaries. The Oxhay brook flowing eastwards also provided suitable pasture areas, but left the Downland Quarter with less arable.

Oathill in Downland, Deepfurrow and Horsehill furlongs in Field End lay above a slight ridge where the clay and silt lands changed to clayland. The area below becoming yet more greensward: "shooting into Clattercote ford" on the south side of the road.

At the town end of the Moorstone Way to Claydon were Townhill to the west and Moorstone and Oland to the east. The land directly north of the town fence has been referred to as both the Old land as well as the Moorstone furlong with more of Oland beyond in Fenny lake and Hunter's Hill. Oland Middle and Further Furlongs reach up to Annismore Furlong at the start of the Boddington Way. Oland runs east to west in the terriers and the land by the town lies south to north, which favours the references to Moorstone being next to the town and not on Warkworth hill were later records place it.

It was quite a bitty Quarter made up of many areas crossed by hedged roads and bordered by dyked meadows. Brodimoor Lane, which goes east from Moorstone Way, was encroached on the north verge and a Late hedge planted. The Middle hedge on the south side next to Fenny Lake and the Coxes Butts all have four to five species. Coxes north hedge was actually planted over the furrows which could mean it was enclosed in our period and became leyland. Was this the little piece to the west of the meads which could apparently be used by copyholders? Across the Moorstone Way from the Butts was the seventeenth century Water meadow between the fault and the stream. This small valley began at Oxhay lake increasing in width eastwards down to the road and across the south end of Cox's Butts to Pleck piece, and on to Drimoor, an island on the High Furlong brook where it divided and joined the Oxhay stream as they flowed southwards.

The Warkworth hill faces south on the western side of Moorstone Way. It had two furlongs, Binn and one which is now called Moorstone. Running across them is another underlying land ridge, but more definite than the one where the ridge returns westwards below Deep Furrow. This is the fault line from Farnborough coming round the south edge of Field End, dividing the good arable land from the Oxhay common until the valley widens. The fault turned at the Moorstone Way towards Claydon following the eastern edge of the road as the clays and silts again gave way to the clays of Hunter's Hill. The fault line left the road at the corner near the bottom of Oathill Piece to run westwards above the new leyland as a distinct ridge across Downland and Field End Quarter.

Field End Quarter besides having the best clay and silt land had no roads cutting through it. The land rising to four hundred feet, with a great deal facing south. Most of the furlongs ran from north to south except for the Field End and New Poole. The area had hardly any inner hedges just boundaries on three sides. The fourth was the edge of the Downland Quarter which had no hedge growing along it. On the modern map Field End appears to have straight edged fields, but on the ground they curve to follow the original ridge and furrow, suggesting Chamberlin who was the first tenant of Cropredy Lawn farm had been content to follow his landlord's instructions to retain the proportions of the old furlongs as new fields. They kept the old drainage made by the plough with the high ridges and the wate furrow between. The landlord stipulated that many of the furlongs must be turned to pasture after 1775, which fossilised the curved ridges. Pool, Catsbrain, Horsehill, Ramsbalke and Deep Furrow were not to be ploughed. Hawthorn hedges were planted with elms along the old furlong edges which preserved the shape of the old ploughlands. The presence of timber ensured their survival until Dutch elm disease killed the trees. In the Downland Quarter, Annismore and Oathill were both kept for grazing and elms planted in the south hedge of Oathill alongside the drift road to the stonepit and Lambert's Barn.

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The quality of land in Field End was noticed by Chamberlin who was one of the commissioners, and also a surveyor who conducted the survey for the 1774 Act of Enclosure for Cropredy, and several neighbouring parishes. He had ample opportunity to study the soils, aspect and advantages of the Lawn site which he was soon to lease. The Boothby's A. manor having the largest Cropredy estate would naturally acquire the choicest farmland. In a Survey of 1754 this land rated as high as ten shillings for every Cropredy acre. Once enclosed it would eventually bring in an even higher rent. There were at least two springs and plenty of watering for pasture land. In the south part of the Quarter lie some Marlstone rock beds near the fault line. This was conveniently near the centre of Chamberlin's new farm and stone was quarried for his house and farmyard.

Cropredy Lawn's records also bring out the value of other land they acquire. They had purchased Ballards and Driland, the two highest and driest plots on the Oxhay, across the intervening Plainters Heath. The Heath, Chamberlin soon found needed considerable taming. On the edge of the Drilands, where the soil changed, he found a suitable clay to make bricks for his second round of farm buildings [Hants R.O. Cope's of Hanwell papers].

On the other side of the Oxhay Hill Lane in South Oxhay, Brickhill took its name from Anker's post enclosure brickyard. When Anker's needed more room they took in the verge (p18) as they had done on Brodimoor Lane and Hunter's Hill in the Downland Quarter.

The South Field.

The arable part of the South Field was divided into the Hayway and Hackthorn Quarters (Fig.14.1). The furlongs in the Hayway ran from west to east, except for Bretch Furlong and an area at the east end of Church Piece taken from the Oxhay. Most of the Hayway lies on clayland from Hillington Cross on the Broadway down to the town Cross on the Green. The rest lay to the west of the ridge. The Hackthorn Quarter was on the highest land over clays and silts, except along the ridge top which had a marlstone rock bed. At some point in time the parish needed to use the flat verges of the highway and around five hundred years ago they hedged the Broadway verge leaving a narrower road. The Middle hedges can be seen to curve with the arable furlongs which can be one of the indicators of an older highway. Both Quarters had this extra land taken in from the verge, including part of the Upper Windmill Furlong in the north part of the Hackthorn Quarter. Local information can remember nothing of a Cropredy mill, only Mollington's and yet during Holloway's time it is known that he failed to collect tithes from the new windmills. The 1609 terrier refers to the Windmill Furlong. Were they built following the narrowing of the once excessively wide highway?

The West Meadow Way or Hayway started from the Cross on Cropredy Green coming up the Hayway furlongs to the Hillington Cross before passing over the Broadway and on down to the Western Meadows. As the Hayway left the Green and passed under Lamescote furlong it must once have entered the Oxhay and crossed it without hinderance up to the Rushford and the south side of the Hillington Goggs stream. Once part of the Oxhay was taken under the plough, the track must pass north of Marsh furlong, which in 1548 was "shooting unto the same Way," and then turn south to the headlands of Bretch and Little Church Piece joining the Belser track (otherwise by following the present footpath it had to cross Bretch's ridge and furrows, cutting across the eastern Church Piece and only gaining a "sydlyng" next to the B manor Church Piece, before turning south on the heading to reach the ford below Rushford Furlong). The Belser or Smallway left the Long Causeway opposite the B manor farm [8] up Clyfton's [7] close coming up alongside ("hayding to the same") the Long Marsh Furlong on the south heading of Marsh Furlong to Bretch and Church Piece all heading into the brook. This stream cutting across the Hayway arose from the Ryngstone spring to pass through a "sydling" into the Hillington Goggs and down between the Church Piece and Harble passing round below that furlong to the parish boundary along the western side of Marsh Meadow. The stream was realigned during the reorganisation at the junction of Bretch, Marsh Furlong and the Harble (Fig.1.5 p19).

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The Hackthorn was made up of three sections. The north and the south on the Homeward side of the ridge being separated by the Hayway valley. Landimore and the Windmill Furlongs in the north and in the south the Homeward Broadway, Rushford, Over Hagthorn and Nether Hagthorn Furlongs all above the spring line. The third part of the Hackthorn Quarter was across the Broadway and consisted of Over Broadway and the two Foxhole Furlongs.The Hayway taking up the rest of the higher land beyond the Broadway consisting of the old verge over marlstone and the steeper Preen and Copthorn Furlongs with their clay and silts of the middle lias. These had small pockets of rough land, especially in Copthorn which could not be cultivated. Preens lower headings on the four hundred contour line was marked by the Western Meadows hedge, but Copthorns butt into a flat "sydling" and at the same time give the inverted "s" shape to the West meadow Way. A watering hollow remains on the north side of the Way.

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According to a deed of 1322/3 thirtysix acres were reserved for the landlord the Bishop of Lincoln who had his cow pasture in the upper West Meadow [BNC Hurst 10]. The rest of the Meadows were divided amongst the tenants.

In 1322/3 the B Manor let 3 acres of arable land in the South Field upon "ateporne" [Preen] reaching in length from the western "cowland of the Bishop of Lincoln's to the Royal Way and the Way Br[o]adway" at Hillington Cross. This Royal way from Brackley to Warwick had a choice of routes. The West Meadow Way, presumably before the Bretch was taken from the Oxhay pasture, across the south Oxhay up to Hillington Cross and then on through Cropredy meadows over the Shotteswell brook and up to the Warwick road, or take the Oxhay Road and reach the Warwick road via Mollingon. As far as the parish was concerned the Oxhay Road, which could be more conveniently hedged to keep driven stock off their land, would surely be considered the better route. It must have been settled in the twelfth or thirteenth centurys during the population explosion when arable was so desperately needed to feed the people. The name of "Royal Way" lingered on as "Turnpikes" were to do later.

The Oxhay.

The Oxhay pasture anciently considered as part of the South Field when rents were due, took up a central position in the parish. The Oxhay Road to Mollington from Cropredy divided the "comon" (as Holloway called it) in half. The North section was further divided into two. The portion alongside the road which belonged to the A. manor demesne farm was known from west to east as Ballard's, Driland, Fysshers Hill and Hawtin's Piece. The portion alongside the stream, consisted first of Plainter's Heath which was allocated to yardlanders, then the B. manor had North Oxhay, leaving the remainder for the Cottiers. This may always have been in three clear cut areas, and left in three distinct fields after the 1775 Enclosure Award (Fig. 14.6).

The Oxhay's had two well drained areas called the Baulands [Ballards] and Driland which were both above four hundred feet on the clay and silts. The rest is all on the lower clays. There is some evidence of internal hedging which would have helped to separate off the grazing. Plainter's next to the stream in the north-west corner was an area of heathland. This is interesting as heaths generally refer to open dry land where heather and undershrubs grow, though if neglected they will revert to woodland [Rackham Oliver The History of the Countryside 1987 p282-3].

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We do not know just how the South part of Oxhay below the road was allocated, but again it could have been in two portions. The road edge as pasture, but the south portion reaching down to the Hayway track and beyond being ploughed up at some earlier reorganisation. Changes to Cropredy's Open Common Field system might arise from a population explosion leading to the ploughing up of some of the Oxhay pasture to feed the extra mouths, or from the need to raise productivity following a sale of one of the manors when the landlord expected more income to arise from the land. The first arable expansion onto former pasture land occurred before 1300, possibly after a rise in deaths from starvation. The second when the Lees of Clattercote took over the A manor, they sought to improve production from the small township so that the grain harvests, and therefore rents, could be increased. Was it in the 1570's when the former Oxhay "pieces" came out of the common Oxhay pasture, to be attached to three farms: the B manor [8], Toms [14] and Hunts [16] as well as some land for the parish clerks, or had this come much earlier in the thirteenth century? In which case when did these "pieces" become attached to two of the three farms which had encroached upon the Green? Perhaps at the same time as a Bishop of Lincoln enclosed his two Parsonage closes taken from the Green, below the church. There is still so much to discover about the land changes up to our period.

We have now been right round the boundary and looked at the four Quarters of the parish and the central Oxhay. In the town itself each farm had a close charged at a high rent per acre. The farmsteads built on these closes will be looked at in Part 4.

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The parish was divided into three types of communal land. First the most expensive, the meadowland, which was subdivided again into those meadows belonging entirely to the demesne farms of the A and B manors which were not communal, and the rest which after the hay had been taken, became common pasture for tenant and lord alike, under the same grazing regulations. Each yardland being allocated one acre of meadow land.

The second was the Oxhay pasture which was subject to the landlord's jurisdiction, but he had to provide pasture for his tenants and especially his cottagers who were allocated "The Cottiers Hill." Long before the 1570's areas of the South Oxhay, like Bretch, had been taken from the Lord's demesne into cultivation and were then under the same rules as the arable for grazing after the harvest. The rest of the ley areas had also been reallocated as they had been attached to leased parcels of land. In the 1570's more of the North Oxhay was split off for leyland and would then become subject to the manorial court rules which applied to all the tenant's leyland. The "waste" lands [including the verges] remained in the hands of the lord until the Enclosure Award when an unusual clause was added:

"We the said Commissioners do hereby...appoint the grass and herbage growing & arising upon all and every the before mentioned Public & Private Roads to the use and benefit of the several & respective Owners and Proprietors of the lands and grounds through and over which the same are laid out and their ...heirs and assigns" [1775 Enclosure Award p27v].

The Green and Lanes in the town remained with the Lord of the A Manor until transferred to the Brasenose College in 1788, after which the College allowed various encroachments to take place and took quit rents for the land enclosed off the verge.

The third area of communal land was the North and South arable Fields divided up into strips and let in half yardland parcels scattered amongst the furlongs. Once the harvest had been gathered and taken home, the herdsman and then the shepherd could bring in the town herd and flock. All had equal rights in proportion to their yardlands.

In 1570 the whole parish was well supplied with water to make waterings for stock and wells for the husbandmen. The meadowing was improved by good water dykes with the double purpose of draining water away from arable furrows, so that they could farm back of the water. The ridge and furrows did help to drain the higher land, but the wet clays needed more than this and although plenty of alterations were made near Marsh furlong it remained true to its name and was put back to grazing. Some of the wet boggy areas were eventually drained into ponds, or lakes were opened out from the streams for waterings at Arbwell, Rushford, Oxhay and at a grove between Over Horse Furlong and new Poole furlong, where a small spinney and pond remain. The [leper's] Pool was made from the Clattercote stream long before the 1609 terrier for it took up some of the Cropredy farmers land and they had "hades" in Ewe furlong by the Boddington Way, to compensate for the loss. In High Furlong Far mead "two layes by the watering, Rede south" [BNC:552], shows that cattle waterings were made in the brook bank, unless someone had made an expensively constructed water meadow.

The records have left a little extra information about timber.

Timber.

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Husbandmen must ask their landlord for any timber they required for house and farmyard repairs especially when they needed new roof rafters (p12). Yearly they must plant three or six trees according to the terms of the lease. This timber was not theirs to touch. It belonged to the estate. When a tree was felled on one of their closes, or a hedge they were responsible for, then only the tops belonged to the tenant. The difference between timber from trees and wood from a coppice, or hedge would be evident to all.

Ash was needed for hurdles, hay cribs and handles for axe, pick and hammer. The carpenter and wheelwright needed not only ash, but elm for carts and ploughs. Rakes used willow and ladders required it for staves which would not turn slippery. Hazel wood was used for forks, hawthorn for flails and alders for the blacksmith's charcoal. Oak being durable was much in demand, but the hardest to obtain in sufficient quantities, and requested for house posts, wide timber floor boards, tables, ladder legs and gate posts.

Pollarding willows into a wide flat crown to give the most poles was done at eight feet from the ground, out of reach of grazing stock. Willow was used at the wheelwrights for brake blocks. The cooper needed it for his tubs and barrels. Willow was required for kitchenware which was constantly in water. The millers used it for the waterwheel's slats. The shepherd's hurdles and willow baskets all needed rods from a pollarded willow. Osiers along the river banks, or in special beds needed care in their growth and so did all coppices until well grown, to prevent spoil from rabbits, brambles and weeds.

Coppice wood of hazel, ash, or small oaks could have been grown by Devotions [3] in his "Coppus" opposite his house, but only on a very small scale. Hedge wood was carefully harvested and saved in nearly everyone's yard or backside. There were so many needs for wood and timber that patience had to be exercised. Recycling took place whenever possible.

Occasionally the timber was specified. Wyatt's [31] left to his son Robert in 1635 "a hundred of Elme boards by measure." Unfortunately the appraisers then valued them with "the hovels wood & boards" giving a lump sum of £7-10s. Truss [33] left "old wood and oake bords" in 1634. Hunt [16] in 1587 left Elizabeth his daughter "Tymber to make her a bedsted" and the neighbours found "the tymber and the Bords that is in the grasse yarde" worth £2-10s. Widow Howse [28] left "certain plough and cart timbers" and then a real valuation of "Three hundred [feet] of Boards xvs."

In the yards could be found "two bord and wood to mak a ladder" [23], "seven bords" and "certain bed timber" 5s [34], "A Lofte over the kilne house...Eight boards and a planke.." and in the rickyard "sawed bords and other harrow timber iij£ xs," plus "two woodpiles of wood wth other timber and offell wood viij£" [16]. Alese Howse [28] also left in her yard "a woodpile wth other certaine wood, a hovell wth halme upon it and other od wood about yard" £8. This was no doubt taking up a great deal of room, but a very valuable commodity as the only source of fuel gained by careful harvesting from the land and not paid for like coal.

The weaver Watts [27] had "in the Chamber over ye hall iiij Boards iijs iiijd".."in the Chamber over the shoppe...in the same roome Certaine loose boards..." whose value was lost in the other items. The "timber in the Barne & Boards" had their own value of £3-10s. French's [4] kept three iron wedges to split the wood about the yard. In 1617 they had two hovels with wood and boards and other timber in the barn. William Lyllee [29] kept his two iron wedges to the end being very useful tools. Once partitions and lofts were completed on the tenant's property, they turned their attention to saving timber for legacies. A few households had boards ready to make the next generation's furniture. Hudson [48] left five new boards for the children's legacies, but others who died without being able to make such arrangements had only fuel for the fire. An unexpected deadly fever left Palmer [59] with only "certayne wood and furze..." on their yard in 1631 and it was the same for his son in 1634.

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