Carts

Husbandmen occupied themselves..."in making a thousand pretie things of wood - such as are platters, Trenchers, spindles, Bathing Tubs, Dishes and other things requisite for household store...as Harrowes, Rakes and handles for tools, he shall repair his teames Yokes, Ploughs and all other Instruments necessarie for cattle going to cart or plough, to the end that all may be in good order when they goe to labour" Gervase Markham (1568?-1637).

In 1557 Thomas Robyns gave to Richard his son "a paire of new wheeles for to be bounde at holy roode daye in Maye next commying and a plough and all the yron that longith thereto" [183 253r, 253v]. Robyns cart had a pair of wheels, not four, and this was the type of cart that continued to be made throughout our period between 1570 and 1640. Only four ironbound waggons were mentioned.

Those husbandmen fortunate enough to pass on the farm to their son and continue to live a while longer, were unlikely to leave a cart in one of the yard hovels. Neither would any mention of one appear in their wills or inventories. Sudden illness while in full command produced only twentyfour inventories in which carts and implements of husbandry were amongst their personal estate. Fit men farmed into their seventies, hanging onto at least a third of the lease and allowing the married son or son-in-law two thirds. They may have continued farming having found no reason to cease providing for themselves and their wife, while it was still possible to do so. Sudden death found them still in possession of their carts and ploughs. Two left carts in their seventies, six in their sixties, two in their fifties, seven in their forties, one was only thirtyfour and six had ages which escaped the Cropredy records.

Those whose executors proved their will in London at the Court of Canterbury, lost their inventory and unless the will gave details all knowledge of their equipment has gone. These included the Vicar [21], Mr Coldwell [50], Mr Hall [6] and Hentlowe [35] and all these must have had carts being some of the wealthier tenants. William Lyllee [29] who was nearly eighty kept half his land letting the other half and possibly the cart to his son-in-law, John Hall. Inventories might also be made like the one Thomas Gybb's [25] appraisers drew up which valued all his husbandry implements at £10.

Richard Lumberd in 1563 left to his son Edward [14] his iij yron bounde carts or "ells xxxiijs-iijd wch he will," giving the cost of each cart as 11s. To Richard his second son he left the "plowe yron and paire of harrows and carte bodye" worth 8s.

Robert Hunt in 1564 left "to John my eldest son the carte and the carte geres the plough geres..." and by 1587 the Hunts [16] possessed:

Robert Robins [26] in 1603 left to his son Robert "My best yron bound cart"... "as long as his mother and he doe occupy together." This was mentioned in the inventory:

In September of 1612 Thomas Smyth of Bourton whose useful inventory has helped on many occasions also left carts, ploughs, harrows, and one sledge worth £5-10s [MS. Will Pec.51/1/2]. That type of horse drawn sledge remained on into this century in the hilly pastures of the Brecon Beacons and many other areas [Evan Thomas Williams born near Brecon recalled one]. In Oxfordshire they still had their uses even when most farms could afford a cart. A sledge could carry about 5 cwt, but none would carry a ton. Ten loads going to make up a rick of five tons, known as a stagg of hay. On Gower a sledge load of hay was worth 6d around 1600. Each quarter acre yielded on average 2s worth of hay, making sixteen sledge loads per acre [Emery F.V. p29]. Were these loads also called "gates?" A hurdle put across a sledge or pair of thrill poles would make a "gate." A thrill was a shaft, either a straight or curved pole, used on either side of the horse to form the base of a sledge. One "thill" appears in the inventories.

Hay was piled high on a cart and end gates raised the load. Wheat, rye and barley must be carried with care across the bumpy headlands and lanes to avoid the loss of grain, so the cart had to be close boarded and have solid sides and was not loaded as high as for hay.

A waggon bed stood four feet from the ground and to clear the barn door lintels the load had to be less than eight feet high. An Oxfordshire waggon was eleven feet long and where the sides widen out at least six foot seven inches wide. The floor was in two sections with the front measuring five foot nine inches by four foot three inches, and the rear section five foot three inches long. Carts and waggons needed shelter chiefly from the sun, but also from the rain and winds. Their hovil would face north so that the sun's rays did not dry out the wood.

Twenty inventories mention ploughs, but only half give the number on the farm: Six had one plough. Three had two. Two had three and Hunts five.

Twentytwo farms had harrows and five had a pair of roles. There does not seem to be any mention of iron harrows so presumably they only had wooden ones, and these were nearly always in pairs, except for two husbandmen who had three and Hunts five. Hanwell in 1592 was still in possession of his "old plow and harrows vjs viijd." A horse rake was mentioned in 1641.

Up to 1601 William Howse [9] had "edge tooles and yron ware" xls. The edge tool made by the blacksmith could be sharpened and was more useful than the blunter wooden tools made by the carpenter, or the husbandman himself. About the same time John Palmer at the lower mill was using a grindstone for his tools to work on the mill coggs and owned "twoe ploughs and harrows." Up in Bourton the Hall family had iron coulters for in 1588 William left 2 "plowes with the shares, curters and plow timber and 4 harrowes" worth 26s-8d [MS. Will Pec. 41/1/12].

There are obviously a great many tools which the appraisers skim over and call other "trumpery," "thrash," or just other implements there, but Wallis of Bourton made implements to last. He had a small industry turning out necessary metal tools and could afford to stock pile against the harvest season. A list of these are given on page 441.

The majority of the husbandmen's tools were replicas of their ancestors equipment. Their hoe, spade, axe or billhook were all there in Chaucer's time. The Romans used hatchets and axes and their carpenters had malletts, chisels and hammers as well as the pedal lathe. Two thirds of the named pike or pitchfork come before 1600. After that they called them shippikes. Had the design changed or just the appraiser coming from elsewhere? Dungforks were recorded throughout the period.

In a no. of	Number of Tools	Example of Sites
Inventories.	occurring.	and Quantity
10	32 pike/pitch forkes	[8] had 7
11	16 dungforks	[4] had 4
7	9 shippickes	[16] had 3
11	17 iron or shiprakes	[25] had 5
8	8 shovels
11	12 axes	[31] had 2
14	19 hatchets	[55] had 3
6	6 bills
8	16 scythes	[16] had 5
1	3 reeping hooks	[26] in 1578
3	6 staffs	[4] had 4
8	8 spades
3	3 mattocks

Smyth [51] the miller and Hudson [48] had tenant saws and augers. Hudson who also had a thacking rake appears to be a thatcher and so did Kendall who had an awl, thacking rake, hammer and a pair of syssers. Bokingham [55] had an auger, spokeshave, grindstone and a wheelbarrow (p434). Russell [13] the blacksmith had three grindstones in his special building behind the smithie [A list of tools appears in the General Index p754].