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17. Horses.

Documentary evidence for horses like other stock cannot be calculated from inventories alone. When compared with such records as Thomas Holloway's colt tithes, it is evident that many husbandmen had kept breeding mares, but had none when they died. The number of horses required to plough a yardland varies according to the type of land and the strength of the horse and their equipment. Two pairs of horses could plough a hundred acres at the turn of this century, when they would have been powerful shire horses with good collars to help take the strain [local information]. It was not quite the same in the sixteenth century. In the less favoured areas, such as Aberarth in Ceredigion, the land was already enclosed and had been divided up into 30 acre farms, later known as two horse holdings. Cropredy was in a mixed farming area and the land required two horses for the average yardland which was equal to 32 acres.

In Cropredy we will see below that an average yardland had 21.5 acres of arable and 10.5 of greensward (p296). A pair of horses would be under the control of one horseman, but if a gentleman had the tenancy he must employ a carter and boy for every team of two or four horses. Most yardlands had strips on varying types of soil and tenants might have to employ a team of four on the heavier clay lands near the town. A two yardland farm would already have four or more horses. Once the number of yardlands for a farm is known, then the horses and stable staff, including lads learning the trade can be roughly calculated. Larger farms would add a jobbing horse. At two horses a yardland Cropredy's fiftysix yardlands would require over a hundred and twelve horses. Enough to keep the farrier very busy and the collar and harness maker in full employment. However it was noted that Wardington allowed five horses per yardland and Claydon three, but the number of oxen still working is unknown throughout Cropredy's ecclesiastical parish.

The ploughing day would start off to the fine sight of the teams setting out for the North or South Field to a particular furlong. The men would always be in sight of several other teams and pausing at the headlands could pass a comment or two. Artistic standards would be high and the pleasure of achievement on a fine sunny autumn day would surely bring out the traditional ploughing songs echoing across the land. On wet days with the sticky clay mounting under their feet and sacks keeping off the worst of the weather it may have been necessary to sing to keep up their efforts. The wettest days or evenings would find the smithy full of horses and men, taking the chance to air their views, or to listen to the latest news while the smith sharpened their shares or finished shoeing their horses. One subject of conversation would be breeding or obtaining good horses so essential to the survival of their farms. A Horse Market was held every Thursday at Banbury and horse fairs twice a year were recorded in 1606 [Banbury charter 1607/8 B.H.S. Vol.15 , p99. LR 2/196 f181 Vett p59].

Horse teams were already taking over the ploughing long before the 1570's, yet some still hung onto their teams of oxen. The arguments for and against horses must still have rung around the anvil, though there was less danger of the army seizing a strong cart horse in the peaceful days of Queen Elizabeth's reign. Horses required better hay and pasture to graze than oxen. A horse however is a fussy feeder and will leave manured patches to seed and weeds to grow, which other stock would clean off. How did the new ruling help to enrich their pastures if they kept them in permanent leys, unless it was by rotating the stock?

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Where horses were used for ploughing instead of oxen it was considered a fairly rich agricultural area. There must have been enough corn over for the horses. Oxen were cheaper to feed, but a horse would work harder and get more done, though the carter had longer hours tending to their needs. Horses must be baited and groomed for two hours before they left the stable at 6.30 am, for they did not of course chew their cud as the cows did. Around 2.30 pm their carter would be heading back to the stable, where he spent further hours attending to their needs. The horse teams over the season achieved a greater acreage, even on the worst lands.

One of the first to leave an inventory mentioning horses was Elizabeth Gybbs who in 1577 had six kyne for one and a half yardlands and to work the land "iv horses and one mare" worth £9-6s-8d. Rede [32] buried in November 1577 left three mares one horse and a colt in the stable valued at £7-16s. Next came Elizabeth Howes [9] whose inventory was taken on the 14th of May 1578. With her yardland lease worth £5 the stock and equipment formed 4/5th of her estate. Here they confirm that two horses could manage a yardland:

"iiij kyne ..................................... vij£

ij horses....................................... iij£ xiijs iiijd

one carte & a plough ............... iij£

ij hoggs .............................................. xs"

Only two ox-bullocks [51] are mentioned in the inventories. Horses had to work the farmland, but were only mentioned when the head of the household died suddenly while still farming, for then they appear in the stable. A husbandman confined to bed for any length of time saw to it that the horses were passed to the son who was doing the ploughing. It was unfortunate for Hew Page [?12] that the son was still a minor and the team must become part of the declared estate. Those who had already passed on their team to a son managed to die without having to think of their favourite mare passing to the landlord for a heriot, though he would still have to pay the value of a beast in cash. Denzey, French, Toms, Truss and John Hall [13,4,15,33,29] were amongst those who had passed the stables over to others and must therefore have given up ploughing.

Stables.

Most of the farms which had inventories mention the stable or the colt house at some time, but the records do not cover every homestall. Horses had to have accommodation and may have taken over the ox-stable, but they required a higher loft and much more substantial wooden stalls which were set at five or six feet apart. According to the inventories many tenants had put in mangers across the width of the stall. Over the hay racks and stalls were scaffolds of loose boards for the hay which could be pushed down into the racks. When the scaffolds are not mentioned they may have been left by the former tenant, and become the property of the landlord. Ventilation may have been better for horses than cows and their doors were wider, but again in two sections. Possibly stone stables had a wooden shuttered wind hole at the front. Many had sloping floors to a manure passage. Built into the wall would be a doorless "cupboard" for a candle. Harness was hung from wooden pegs on the wall. A muck shovel, a corn chest and very little else was recorded in their stables.

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Manor Farm Stable [8] in 1976.

In the stable some chaff would at first be kept in sacks and the corn in the wooden chest, or garner. The husbandman would carefully measure out the daily ration taken from the corn bin. That way it was kept safe from vermin and none was wasted. As farms grew in size chaff houses were made within the stable or nearby. In 1612 Smyth of Bourton had "they skaffouldes over they stable. A manger a racke. A chafe howse in they sayd stable wth over layers" 13s-4d [M.S.Wills Pec. 51/1/2]. To keep the husks from the threshed grain Robins [26] had a chaff house built between 1603 and 1631.

The horse required a good bait to keep them in prime working condition. Some fed them on six stone of feed a week. This meant keeping back a little for Sunday. Oats mixed with beans (if grown) were carefully measured out and wheat chaff added. As chaff was very dusty from the threshing floor, it had first to be shaken in a sieve to remove the dust. Hay was teased into the rack. Water was provided at the horse trough in the yard. The same Thomas Smyth of Bourton having "a stone troffe to water cattell standing by they wells," written possibly by Christopher Cleredge who had an eye for such details. Robins[26] in 1631 had a horse "troe" and so did the Redes [32]. "Troes" being made of stone to last (p672). In some farms the granary was made on a close boarded floor over the stable, though some objected to the ammonia fumes and kept it either in a chamber in the dry farm house, or even in the attic.

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Brasenose Manor Farm [8] had a three bay stable and gatehouse built by the farm entrance and bridge over the causeway ditch. A drawing was made of the remains of this stable in 1976 with some details from the roof, before the building was altered to make a dwelling. Other bayes to the north had long since been lost (Figs. 17.1 and 17.2).

Plan of Stable [8]

After the gateway was walled up, an extra stable was created out of it and a new approach made to the north of the old gatehouse. A steel truss was found to support the main stable roof having replaced a tie beam [roof truss A] when a new tightly fitting floor for a granary was put in. Truss A was supported by the walls and the principals crossed at the apex to hold the ridge pole. The collar was half lapped, but not jointed to the principals and the roof had through purlins with added supports beneath. A block of wood supported the base of the west principal. The northern truss [B] over the gatehouse still had a tie beam placed above the floor level. The collar was jointed into the principal rafters which met at the apex. Two slits were cut into the principals, now empty, but the purlins in situ were butting into principals. In one building two entirely different roof supports. The northern gable end had also been altered to take a loft door and light at the apex. This was not a traditional method of finishing off a gable end in Cropredy (Fig.17.1). Stables were mentioned on the farm sites of [3,8,15,16,23-26,28,30-32,34,39] and colthouses at [16,25,34].

The Husbandmen's Horses.

Thirtyfour townsmen who had other stock left no horses, but thirtytwo died still owning them. The larger farms naturally left more horses. Three [8,16,26] had seven or more in the stable. Other husbandmen left four or more [9,24,26,28,31,34].

An early stone and thatched stable at the Brasenose Manor farm [8], shown above, had in the stable loft over the horses two staff beds and all "the bedding upon them" in 1578. Under the servants' chamber Nuberry kept

"syx horse lockes, iij paire of fetters....

"vij horses and mares_____________________xij£

viij horse harnes ij paire of harrowe geers ij paire/

of thill geers and ij cass saddells____________ xs

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A brydell _____________________________________ vjd

ij waytrees____________________________________iiijd

v younge horse and mares ________________vij£."

In the hall house were two "saddells" worth 13s. This was for a four yardland farm requiring at least four pairs of horses. What did the other main farms have?

In 1603 on a two and a half yardland farm Robins [26] left

"in the stable

v drawing horses & mares ij colts

and a weaning Colt wth furniture for/ ye horses xv£"

 

John Pratt [24], Justinian Hunt and Widow Alese Howse all die from the same epidemic of 1609. In May Alese Howse [28] had on her two yardland farm

 

"ffoure payre of horse geares with loggers ffetters...

the Scaffold over the beasse and horses with

Rackes maungers & beases stalls_____________ xiijs iiijd...

foure horses____________________________x£."

 

John Pratt: "one hovel one lofte within the stable the/

racke manger and layers__________________ xxvjs viijd...

the teame and geares ___________________v£...

the horse lockes fetters loggers."

A shaped fetter was for tethering a horse by the leg, which they must do if they were grazing (even when attended by a boy) on one of the leys, sidlings or headings amongst the sown corn. Widow Robins [26] in 1579 had two horse loggers, two pair of fetters and a horse lock worth 1s-4d.

If Alese Howse had four horses worth ten pounds, Pratts [24] may have had a team of two as they were valued at five pounds.

Justinian Hunt [16] had four horses and mares and a yearling colt worth £10, "the horse geares, rackes mangers" and three cartropes worth 46s-8d. He had dropped down from three to two yardlands (according to his cows and horses), allowing his son to have a yardland.

Devotion [3] as a yardlander, but leasing extra half yard parcels, had two cart horses and their furniture worth the small sum of 50s in 1631.

Hanwell [34] in 1592 had "four horses & mares £5."

Kynd [31] the same year had a team worth £4, and two lockes and two fetters worth 1s-8d. His wife Alice still had a team six years later in 1598. They farmed one and three quarter yardlands in 1588.

Watts [34] in 1602 had four horses worth £5-11s-8d.

Thomas Gybbs [25] had five horses and three colts worth £20 in 1629. He had eight beasts for two yardlands and needed an extra horse. Were they breeding for sale from the mares?

As the seventeenth century advances the price of a horse rises. In Kibworth, Leicestershire Dr Howell found that good mares in 1550 might be worth 15s, by 1600 they had doubled in price and by 1630 were around 70s [Howell C. Land, Family and Inheritance in Transition. 1983 Cambridge Univ. Press p112].

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In Cropredy the millers needed at least one horse each, but the Shotswells [1a] had two horse commons in 1681. The mercer [39] could afford one for his land and trade, whereas the tailor's common, mentioned in 1614, had been sublet to Truss [33] possibly due to ill health or poverty. Breeden [37] also paid a tithe for a horse common, but his trade is missing. The collarmaker and butcher's site [57/58] have one horse common and Rede's farm [32] had access to three cow commons formerly four horse commons in their 1669 terrier. For four generations Redes have been breeding horses and then Richard having just taken over the farm appears to have changed from horses to cows. The younger widows kept on farming, but the older ones who had retired to their chamber were without horses and required help with their provisions. Shepherds seldom leave a horse, though they could have afforded one.

Value and Quality.

The early wills of the mid-sixteenth century give no clue as to the value of the horses for their inventories are missing. In a will of 1551 Rychard Howse [28] left two of his horses, the best after the landlord had had his heriot, to his son Rechard. He could have them when he was ten years old. When he too died in 1592 he left "4 hors" worth £6. Above we have already quoted some appraisers valuations, but what of the horses quality? To a careful appraiser who kept a good stable of horses nothing would annoy him more than poorly looked after stock. If the horses were old and in poor condition due to negligence, or poverty this may come out in the general overall description of the personal estate. To gain the value of younger stock is very difficult for like the cows no clues are given about their real condition, or usefulness, except they avoided any derogatory label. No-one kept an old barren cow. Occasionally "old" or "blind" describes the farmer's horse. Suffolk [60] and Cattell [30] both had these. Suffolk's [60] poor stock were only valued at "one white horse 6s-3d, one old blind mare 5s and one old blind dun horse 18s-4d." Untill they went for slaughter someone was bound to have an elderly horse.

Horse Commons and Colt Tithes.

Horse commons were not part of the Open Common Field customs. These had to be altered to cater for them. Bourton and Cropredy ran their commons in a similar fashion as far as the records can tell us and when in 1619 a James Bachler of Bourton owed a tithe for his eight new mylch cows Holloway adds "wherof one a horse and a colte..." [c25/4 f25]. He had elected to give up an oxen common for a horse. A few horse commons are recorded, but the name of "beast" covered first oxen and milch cows and later horse and cows when the farmer was paying his tithe. Cropredy has no surviving colt lists or tithe book for beasts, except for the two manor farms and mills and out of these only Mr Coldwell [50] leasing the A manor farm and upper mill had an entry for a colt.

Little Bourton had seven farmers and Great Bourton about thirtythree. They farmed from a half yardland up to two and a half. Occasionally a farmer leased more. Many owned land which is spoken of in their wills. They were farming with horses. Over a period of six years, 1614-19, thirtytwo farmers had to pay colt tithes [c25/4].

Twelve had one colt each.

Nine had two colts.

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Six had three colts.

Richard Hitchman and John Lawrence had four each.

Thomas Cherry had five.

George Gorstelow had six and

George Gardner had nine colts.

George Gardner's will and inventory prove the point that reliance cannot be placed on these documents to gather stock levels, especially for horses. George may have had the most colts in the Bourton tithe book, but just a few years later in 1626 he owns none of the horses on his farm. He had already stopped ploughing. With ten sons of which at least seven survive he had several legacies to set up and part of a team would be a valuable contribution. Nathaniel his eldest was able to supply him with his needs. One son Nehemiah married Constance Tanner the mercer's widow at Cropredy [39]. George's wealth lay in property. His two and a half yardlands which he had purchased included "Croes House and the Close" in Great Bourton, but these only come out in his will and would not be included in the £37 valuation of his moveable estate. He had kept "some bease and a weaning calfe" worth £10 and his corn, malt, peas and hay were in the cowhouse worth £5-10s in March [MS. Will Pec.39/3/38]. The point here is the lack of mares and colts. The similar lack in Cropredy cannot be because the farmer never had any. On the other hand several still had horses when they died, though we can tell they were still working their holding and had in fact died suddenly. One of these from Bourton was Thomas Sabin who died in 1620 leaving "mares and colts, being the one half of the teame prised at" £6 [MS.Will Pec.51/1/26]. He paid no colt tithe in 1618 or 1619 to account for these colts. Did some escape the vicar's knowledge? Or were they newly purchased?

From 1614 to 1619 there were seventysix colts born in Bourton and noted by Thomas Holloway who then received a penny tithe. If we had had to rely upon the wills and inventories which were checked for the thirtytwo people who paid these tithes then the information would be quite different. We have just seen that George Gardner, a yeoman left no traces of horses in 1626. Thomas Cherry who had five colts in the six years also left none and as the list was gone through it was discovered only five out of thirtytwo who had had them between 1614 and 1619 died still owning horses.

Of these five Gorstelow left four horses and mares worth £8 in 1624. He had paid for six colts in the tithe book. Thomas Gudden "all my team" three horses and gear including a plough and other implements were valued at £10 in 1630. He had paid for one colt. Thomas's father had left in 1597 a horse, mare and colt worth £5-6s and now Thomas left the team to his son. George Hopkins left a mare and a colt in 1631. He had paid for one colt. Richard Hitchman who had one mare worth £3 in 1640 had previously paid for four colts. Robert Mansell of Slat mill had paid for a colt in 1616 and left five horses in his will. This was a very small proportion of husbandmen out of the thirtytwo who had been active. Wills and inventories can only, it must be repeated, be relied upon when the farmer dies suddenly in full possession of his team so it is worth looking at a few made in Bourton between 1557 and 1610, prior to the vicar's lists [MSS. Wills Pec.39/3/33, 39/4/10, 39/2/19, 41/3/18, & 41/3/48] .

Thomas Gyll in 1557 left to his daughter Elizabeth "my best iron bounde carte and to Jone my wyffe and Elsabeth... my sole teeme as it is nowe" (Had he already divided up the horses?) Jone and Elizabeth were made joint executors [Wills p695].

In 1574 Johannis Sherman of Little Bourton left to William "my whole teeme, my cartes my ploughes my harrows and all furniture there unto belonging"[MS.Wills Pec.50/5/4].

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Before 1588 the husbandman with the most yardlands had been William Hall of Great Bourton who left to Henry "one horse or mare by the discretion of my overseers," and two iron bound carts went to his daughters. His inventory mentions a saddle and bridle worth 3s-4d and seven horses, mares or colts worth £13. Henry had one colt in 1614 and two in 1615 [MS. Wills Pec. 54/1/48].

In 1605 William Gill left two mares and a gelding and four pair of horse gears valued at £5-10s, but no colts. These helped to farm about 1.25 yardlands (They had 5 beasts). Thomas his son paid a colt penny in 1616, 18 and 19, but no inventory survives for his 1634 will [MS.Wills Pec. 39/3/5].

Another member of the Hall family, Thomas of Great Bourton, left in 1606 three horses, mares or geldings, one filly and two colts worth £3 [MS.Wills Pec. 41/1/39] on a three beast farm. A penny was paid by this family for colts in 1615 and 1617.

Lastly Robert Mole died in 1610 possessing three mares and a gelding with furniture worth £9-10s [MS.Wills Pec. 41/1/21], on a two beast holding. His son paid two penny tithes, one in 1618 the other in 1619.

We have no names for the horses left in Cropredy wills, but once again John Cleredge of Bourton leaves named stock. Hob and Short, went to one son Richard while Dendale and the mare went to Christopher [PCC 114]. We find Christopher paying a colt tithe in 1619.

One farm in Cropredy required an extra team [21]. This rare record was found in Thomas Holloway's accounts which he shared with his sons

"Item 2 men with teme for harvest charges ---xls" [c25/2 f 1a] in 1587.

Harness and Collar Makers.

The harness makers had arrived making it possible for the horses to have collars. These allowed them to take heavier loads and safeguarded their pressure points from damage. Heavier ploughs could now be used and production naturally went up. One of the collarmakers was a John Pare [58] (d 1610) who lived between Hello and Round Bottom. He was followed by the Carters who once worked for him. Gardners, also harnessmakers, bought the upper mill [51], but possibly only after it ceased to mill corn. In 1614 the miller John Cross [51] had a pair of "pannyers" for his old gelding. This was the customary way to move small amounts of corn or flour. Saddles are rarely mentioned and bridles even less for these would be included with the horse gears as were most fetters and "lockes." In 1588 "a saddle and a bridle" worth 3s-4d did appear in William Hall of Bourton's inventory [M.S.Will Pec.54/1/48]. Another was John Gardner's for in 1691 he left a saddle, bridle, boots and spurs worth ten shillings, as well as bow and arrows valued at 2s-6d. Woodrose [8] had in the stables two saddles, but Nuberry kept his in the chamber.

Toms [15] had two pair of old geares and two old collars for his one yardland farm, but the son must have had the horses for their stable with the scaffold and two mangers was "empty" in 1607. One of Tom's horses he had already left to his eldest son Richard or else he could have £2 in money. William Toms had made his will in January, but the inventory was not taken until June and the stable then contained £7 of corn, while his hay and straw were in the barn (p540). When his son returned from the field with the horse and cart he would have the use of the buildings, having taken on the lease. The appraisers would not value the sons' own possessions.