Meadows and Greensward

Page 209

15. Meadows and Greensward.

The Meadows.

The West Meadow was an area of just under a hundred acres with ancient enclosures next to the brook (Fig. 14.5). All the meadow lands were hedged off from the arable above. Some were Early hedges and then later on they divided the area up with Middle hedges including the twentysix acres of Dole mead. The Astmead /Astmore was an old enclosure of twenty acres (p213).

The Reverend Thomas Holloway left two lists of the farmers who had an acre of dole mead for every yardland they leased. After the first list made around 1579, he adds "This note... above wrytten is/ to be pay'd unto the parson of cropredye/ yerely every mans as here is noted in/ respect of the tythe hay of astmore." The pay included the West Meadow as well as Astmore. As they owed a penny an acre it gives us a useful list of the number of yardlands each husbandman was farming, but leaves out the two manor farms. Thomas began at the top of the town which was unusual [In brackets are the house numbers used in this book]:

"Rychard hentelowe ............................vd ......................[35]

Rychard hanwell .................................jd ob ..................[34]

Constanc[e] Willson ............................jd....................... [33]

Willia[m] Rede ...................................ijd .......................[32]

Jhon Kinde......................................... ijd ..................... .[31]

Rycharde howse .................................ijd .......................[28]

Willia[m] lile...................................... ijd ob ..................[29]

Roberte Robins .................................. ijd ob ..................[26]

Jhon gebes .........................................ijd...................... [25]

Rycharde howse.................................. vd...................... [24]

Jhon hunte......................................... iijd ob................. [16]

Umpprye sumerpert ............................ijd .......................[15]

Thomas whittinge............................... iijd ......................[14]

Rycharde hanlye.................................. jd ......................[12]

Willia[m] howse................................. iijd ........ ...............[9]

Jhon frence seniere ............................ijd ob................... [6]

Gorge devotion.................................. ijd ob................... [3]

Christpher butlere............................... jd .......................[30]

Willia[m] vahane ................................ijd.................. .... [23]

Jhon frence juniore ............................iijd....................... [4]" ...[c25/2 fol.1b] [ob=half a penny]

The list was without a date. The following events occurred which would affect the tenants making it either 1578 or 79, unless Robins took over the lease when his mother became ill:

i) Robert Robins [26] had just succeeded to the whole farm on the death of his mother. She was buried in February 1578/9.

ii) Henry Rose [60] died in March 1577/8 and had not yet been replaced by his son on part of Wm Lyllee's farm [29].

Page 210

iii) William Rede [32] succeeded to his lease in March 1577/8.

The above list does not tell whether the meads were in the West Meadow or the Astmead. Fortunately the vicar adds more in 1587 and 1588, when he mentions another payment the meadow users owe to him. First a custom tied up with these meadows:

"decimo augusti 1587; Mem.Uppon the eveninge that west; meddow ys cutt downe the dolsters; wth the neybours comi[n]ge unto the; cross at or nere Edward hunts house; there do the farmers of the parsonadge; of Croperdy pay to the dolsters in; money by the name of reringe money; the sume of iijs iiijd.
: Yt hath bene accostomed that the said money; wth the losses of our mowinge that daie in the; meddow was by the Dolsters used to by bredd; and ale & gyve the same amonge the poor; in the towne & makinge the mowers ther; drinke wth others of the towne."...... [c25/2 fol 1bv] (Fig.15.1)

The Dolsters 1587.

Page 211

The Hayway left the Cross on the Green going up the South Field to the Hillington Cross and on to the West Meadows (Figs. 14.5 & 14.6). The Cross on the Green stood according to the vicar near Edward Hunt's house. Here we have a problem for Edward managed to be born at a time when there is a gap in the registers. Did he belong to the Hunt family [16] who lived on the eastern side of the Green? If he did then the Cross was moved from below the churchyard at the back of Hunt's yard, or else it stood once on the other side of the Green at the front of their farm. In either case the Cross was moved to the western verge at the start of the Hayway. There is no doubt that by 1609 when Justinian Hunt [16] left money to repair the causeway going towards the Town fence Cross, it then stood on the western verge of the Green as it did in 1775. Not long after that the Cobbs purchased the close allocated out of the once Open Common Field to Haslewood's farm [14] and they encroached a large part of the verge into the close, so that the Cross was now in his field. A line of ancient elms which once marked the western edge of the Green were also taken into the field. Two elms can be seen on a photograph of the Cross taken from an old postcard of about 1908.

The ancient stone preaching cross has suffered over the centuries and water running down the shaft has softened the stone leaving a cup with a broken shaft or spoon [Cup and Saucer]. The square base has weathered badly and the former decorations which divided up the square to form an octagonal have become plain chamfered stops without any faces.

The words in the quoted extract from 1587 [fol. 1bv] (Fig. 15.1) are very interesting. Meads were often dole meadows being shared amongst the husbandmen. The word dolster being used for anyone who had been allocated one of these strips of meadow and because they had a duty of paying a toll to the poor according to the number of their strips, this charitable (though small) distribution transferred the name from the donor to the receiver. By now Holloway's use of the word "towne" rather than village will be more acceptable to our ears.

By the time the vicar wrote this they may already have been thinking about having a poor rate. The tithes allotted to the lay impropriator and the vicar no longer going to help out the poor. 1586 to 1588 were dreadful years of near starvation after disastrous harvests, and in this middle year the vicar was no doubt witnessing a great deal of distress in the area. He may have recorded this one custom lest any in future should forget it. The meadow users had payments to make at Easter, during May and again in August.

The next list for 1588 has more details [c25/2 fol.3]. This time Thomas begins at the more usual south end of the town. Notice there are some changes in tenants. Lyllee and Rose are sharing [29] and Rychard Watts was at Rychard Hanwells [34], who may be ill. John Truss was Constance Wilson's son by her first marriage and so entitled to succeed [33]. The husbandmen's yardlands came to 46.5 and the A manor [50] who could have 6 yardlands (but sublet 3 to other tenants) plus the B. manor's [8] 4, brings the total up to 56.5 yardlands (Note: The 1578/9 list (p209) included land from the A manor demesne giving a total of 49 yardlands leaving [50] with 3.5 and [8] again with 4 yardlands).

"Aprill 8 1588, regine elizabeth 30

_____________________________________

This money followinge ys by the farmers of the parsonage of/

cropredy yerly to be receved of ye townsmen their dwellings/

for ther tyth haye in our west meddow and in astmore/

after the rate of a penie an acre at ester/.

Page 212

In primis Wydow delier [Devotion alias Dier] for 2 acres _______ _ijd ............[3]; Tho ffrench on acre in west meddow, & an acre in astmore ______ ijd.............[4]; Jhon ffrench 3 acres in west medow & an acre in astmore_______iiijd ............[6]; Wam howse 2 acres in We, half an acre in Ast________________ijdob....... [9]; Rychard handley one acre in Astmore______________________ jd ..........[12]; Wyddow Whytinge 2 acres in we one acre, & an eard in Ast_____iijdqr.......[14]; Vmphree somerford one acre & a halfe in We, & halfe an; acre & a eard in Ast___________________________________ ijdqr .......[15]; Justinian hunt 2 acres & a halfe in We one acre in Ast_________ iijdob...... [16]; Wam Vaughan one acre in We, and one acre in Ast______ _ ____ ijd.......... [23]; Jhon gybs halfe an acre in West, one acre halfe in Ast__________ ijd .........[25]; Rychard howse senior 2 acres in We, 2 acres & halfe in ast____ __iiijdob ....[24]; Robert robins 2 acres West & halfe an acre in ast______________ ijdob.... [26]; Wam lylee one acre and halfe [added] and an yeard_____________ jdob.... [29]; Wam rose halfe an acre in West_____________________________ ob.....[60]; Rychard howse Junior 2 acres in ast________________________ ijd......... [28]; Rychard hentlow 3 acres in West, one eard, & halfe; an acre & a yerd in ast _________________________________ iiijdob/qr[35]; Christopher butler an acre in Ast___________________________ jd .........[30]; Richard watts halfe an acre in We, & halfe an acre and a eard in; ast______________________________________________ ___ jdqr..... [34]; Jhon kind an acre in West, and halfe an acre and; a eard in ast__________________________________________ jdob/qr [31]; Wam rede an acre in West and an acre in Ast/ & a eard_________ ijd/qr......[32]; Jhon truss one acre in West medow________________________ jd.......... [33]
: Somma totalis iijs xjd ob; Of acres forte & six and halfe; & an eard, I say xlvj halfe & a yerde"

[eards = roods. Yerd = 3 roods. qr =a quarter of a penny, the old farthing. cf Glossary (p716)]

All the meadows which were not fixed mead strips belonging to a set parcel, must be allocated yearly by lot. In Cropredy these were known as "The Lotted Acres" of the West Mead and were distributed by some kind of "ball" on which were scribed various signs. One person drew the lots and indicated the strips in turn, as they were drawn. Presumably each household who had meadow rights had a sign attached to their farm, which had been scribed onto the crab apples, or whatever was used. Each tenant perhaps marking their strip as they were called to it. The College terriers give examples from 1704 onwards from three farms. They always kept the same sign.

Redes [32] had a lotted acre "marked with a double cross." Springfield [6] had "two lotted acres marked with the shorry" [a length of timber?] and one marked with "the horse shoe and calkin" [A calkin was the prominent part of either extremity of a horseshoe, bent downwards and brought to a point, to prevent the horse from slipping] [BNC: 554].

Devotion's farm which was taken over by the Wilkes family [3] had two acres "in ye Squar an lott pitt." In 1741 it is again described as being "marked with ye Squire and pitt" [A square with a dot in the middle?]. This was not necessarily Devotion's own mark as his Astmead one is different and may come from an extra half yardland parcel rather than a College one belonging to his homestall [BNC:552].

Page 213

Distribution of Yardlands in 1588.

Between 1704 and 1710 some of the Lotted meadows were not doled out, but allocated to a particular farm year after year and were then called the "Known lotted acres" [BNC:523]. Mansel [35] had in 1710 "one known acre" in the "doale" meadow. All were still valued at 4 shillings an acre.

The Astmead or Astmore.

Page 214

The Astmead's twenty acres lay outside the parish to the east on the Northamptonshire boundary. This was inconveniently far away. The hay had to travel back along the Banbury Lane, from the Chipping Warden side of the river Cherwell as it passes to the north of Wardington. Soon after crossing the river at Hay Bridge they turned west towards Prescote (now a bridleway) and over another Cherwell bridge to the south of Prescote mill. On then westwards towards Brodimore to the cross roads in the middle of the Great Field. Here the carts turned southwards down towards Gorstelows who leased the Prescote manor. This road is now under the turf or plough having been moved nearer the meadow hedge. The journey was about two and a quarter miles, and a long way to bring the hay compared with the West Meads which were one and three quarter miles from the town. This was just the return journey. What a nightmare in a damp poor summer. The shape of the parish made these journeys long, but everyone had the same problems and there appeared to be a fair distribution of meadows throughout the period from the 1570's up to 1775.

The Enclosed Parish of Prescote and Cropredy's Astmead.

The Astmead or Astmore had been divided into two meads. The straight north eastern edge was a county boundary hedge and bank, at just under four hundred feet. A stream flowing first south west then south east and finally south to the Cherwell, may possibly have been diverted to form two of the boundaries. The land was highly valued at ten shillings an acre, even though it was a long way to go and turn the hay. When walking there the tenants would use the Prescote footpath to Chippy which runs straight across the Astmead.

Page 215

In 1588 sixteen tenants are listed as having "lotts in Ast," but the vicar neglects to say where a few had their strips. These also began as "lotted doale" meadows, but by 1710 they had changed to Lotted and Known ground.

In 1669 Devotion's [3] Astmore portion was "Half a yerd by lott and marked wth two scotches." A sign like "11" was written down on the 1741 terrier. In 1704 they had a "yeard" and "the eight part of one acre there in the two scothes lott." Were these marked on a piece of timber and the others "scotched" in the same way? Right up to 1769 came the mention of "the eight part of one aker in Asmore loted marke with two 11 scotthes" [BNC:552 & 554]. The word "scotch" continues to this day in children's hopscotch which they mark out on the ground in squares using straight scotches. The yerd was another way of writing three roods equal to three quarters of an acre. In 1743 Mansell [35] had three yerds in Asmore's "known ground. Wilks north [3]." This reminds us that not all the strips ran down hill, though the rest of his half an acre and half quarter in the lotted grounds did. Perhaps it was an error, because the meadow was set at an angle of north-west and south-east [BNC:552 ]?

Town Meadows.

In the terriers Mansell [35] and the B. Manor farm [8] mention some of the meadow land near the town. The advantages for their farms were enormous. The Mansells were millers at Slat mill in Bourton, and one son came to live in Cropredy when Hentlows fell vacant. The Hentlows gave up farming, but had remained as sub-tenants to the Gorstelows of Prescote manor by continuing to live at their old farmhouse. The homestall lay at the bottom of Creampot by Bullmoor, part of the excellent meadows alongside High Furlong [Cranemore] brook. Mansells were leasing this in 1688 [BNC: 552]:

"... one little meadow called by the name of Little Bullmore conteyninge about one acre of land bounded on the Eastside with the brooke Cranemore, on the west and south wth great Bullmore And wth the meadow called Ladymore on the North. And hath a cartway through the overend of the said Great Bullmore to goe as often as need and occassion requireth."

The B Manor farm [8] had all the meadows south of the Green to the east of the Long Causeway. The meadows were bounded by the Sowburge on the south, the Cherwell to the east and to the north by the Bridge Causeway. These are mentioned in fourteenth century deeds, but by different names, changing with the years, perhaps by dialect or spelling. In 1509 the meadows were called "Wortherchere Close, Morevinn Meadow, Littel Meadow and Mitchel Meadow" [BNC Hurst 88] In 1704 Thomas Wyatt, a Cropredy man whose grand -father was Thomas the Blacksmith, called them:

"The Broad meadow about four acres

The Little meadow about two acres

Browns Close about one acre and a rude

Ye Barne Close and orchard about one acre

The Pigeon Close and Hogyard about one acre and a rude"... [BNC:554] (Fig.31.5 p514).

Page 216

The surveyor fifty years later did not use the customary acre as the Wyatts did, but the Statute acre and he brought the acreage up from 9a 2r to 12a 1r. The worst news was the rent per acre stayed the same, at £1 10s per annum. This increased the rent for the same meadows by £4 10s. In the survey the revaluation was made to all the College tenants' land, so that once again we find a legal increase coming in almost by the back door [BNC Valuation Book One 1754]. There was apparently nothing the leasehold tenants could do about it.

The A Manor farm [50] had two closes to the north of the demesne farm. One was called Berry close, derived also from being part of the burgh or manor (p197). Their other large close was Calves close. North of the town alongside High Furlong brook were meadows that could have been part of the A manor demesne or their tenants.

The Leas and their hay.

The vicarage had a yardland in Claydon which was let out and from that the tenant expected in 1694 [MS. dd par Cropredy c26 f3] to have the following loads of hay from their leas:

"Leas in the Hay 13 or 16

A great piece of grass at Nearlong - 2 loads of hay

11 hades in Broad furlong - 2 loads of hay

In Horstone - 2 loads of hay

In Ryehill - 2 load of hay

In Vicars piece 2 loads, if ye leas are taken in then six loads..

In the Hamm 1 load."

This hay went into ricks as part of the winter feed for four cows and two horses and sometimes the twenty sheep for his tenant.

The vicarage land in Bourton is not given, but in Mollington he had 14 leas giving him hay for about a yardland. In Wardington where the glebe consisted of two yardlands there were twentyfour leas plus the mead for the tenant. In Cropredy there were only two acres of arable and a piece of mead worth "six mens math in west meddow." A math is a mowing, or the product from one mowing. One man was expected to be able to mow one acre a day. In Thomas Holloways time he did however also get another load of hay yearly from the Parsonage close opposite the vicarage [21]. There must have been more for Thomas believed his glebe amounted to three quarters of a yardland (p309). There was also hay coming in from the two yardlands he leased. This was recorded in his account book for 1587-1617 [c25/2]. The vicar and his sons lease land and halve the produce. To store this he made partitions in his Hay house and Straw house, which may have been in the parsonage close. The hay of the churchyard belonged to the vicar and he was able to let his horse graze the aftermath there. The stable and a barn had been built on the south side of the churchyard. In 1587 the vicar had twelve "lodes of hay" for his part, from the two yardlands. In the accounts a few more years are given:

[f2] xiiij gates of hay in 1588

[f2v] 18 lodes in 1589 and 12 lodes in 1590

[f3v] "hay to my pte" 20 lodes in 1592

and xiiij or pte lodes for 1605.

Page 217

1592 was an exceptional year so that 12 or 13 loads, as his share would be, was a more normal hay crop. What he does not say is how many loads would be needed to fill the hay shed and how much he must make into a rick. An average stagg of hay in the west country weighed 5 tons, brought from the meads half a ton at a time on a sledge or slide car. Did Cropredy use "gates" towed by a horse up from the meadows using a shaft called a thill, with a hurdle on the top for the hay? Or else they used hand barrows, carried by two people. These were made from two parallel lengths of wood, joined by a number of cross pieces on which the hay was laid. Rather as a hurdle or gate would carry an ailing heavy sheep back home. The fortunate used a cart.

In 1693 a statute was made regulating the sale of hay. A truss (bundle) of Dry hay should weigh 56 lbs, but between June and August a truss of New hay should weigh 60 lbs while the load consisted of 38 trusses. A truss of straw weighed only 36lbs {Hartley D. The Land of England p324]

The inventories tell us whether the farms had their hay inside a building, or outside on a "hovel" or scaffold, though there are too few inventories to give a real value to the hay. John Cross [51] a miller stored hay in any available loft, but the quantity is still missing:

"a hovell with haye xiiijs iiijd/

a scaffolde wth haye over ye stable & haye/

over ye malte house xiijs iiijd" in December 1613.

In November 1592 Kynd [31] had hay worth 53s-4d for a farm of just under two yardlands. By the month of March 1598 his wife Alice's hay was worth 16s to see the stock through to May the third when they went out. Tanner [40] in September had brought in hay valued at £3 in 1630 for only half a yardland. Had the price gone up? It was no use looking to the lower mill. In October 1602 Palmer [1] had hay worth 55s from his half yardland in Cropredy, but his parcel contained mostly leyland and meadow for his corn came from the miller's tolls. Watts [34] I suspect farmed only the two yardlands he had in Cropredy and from these in August 1602 he had £8 of hay from the greensward third of his land.

Watt's next door neighbour, the shepherd John Truss [33] had the care of his grand daughter Dorothy in 1614 whose mother Annes was in Ireland. Wishing to ensure the welfare of Dorothy he leaves the responsibility with his son John by asking him to use "the profitts of one acre of land" from the hay "as much as the custome of the tenance can possible alowe thereof." He himself leaves in February only 10s of hay for two beasts, one calf and twentyseven sheep, apparently some hay could be sold to feed and educate a child and still leave enough to support Truss's married daughter Elizabeth's stock, her family and her shepherd brother John. It is quite certain Truss does not lease two yardlands, but he must have had some "leas" somewhere. By February 1634 his son, also a shepherd, left a rick of hay which was valued alongside a hovel of peas and straw worth £4-3-4d. The product of how much land?

Next door Richard Hall [34] left in March 1634 "heay & strawe in the yard" worth £3-6s-8d, on a farm of over two yardlands (The quantity of land being worked out from the eight cows and two heifers p224). Gybbs [25] in May 1629 had "heay in the barne £1-10s" left over from the winter. In Allen's [44] hay house he left hay, corn and peas worth 30s in January 1632.

On the smaller farms like Suffolk's [60] it is surprising to find he had "one hovell of heay" in October 1628 worth £6, which he would have required for his three horses. How did he acquire that amount? His neighbour Wood a cottager whose wife Judeth made butter and cheese, had less than 10s worth of hay in September 1624 for the wintering of their precious cow. The tailor Matcham [18] had a cow and hay valued together at 40s in December 1630. There is so much information no longer available and needs varied with the invisible amount of parcels sublet, but it is evident that only stock above their lands quota was sold off before the winter. Each cow or calf, each horse or colt, required enough hay to last them through the winter and in addition they needed to feed "pease haulm," chaff and straw. By increasing the leys they must have managed to create a surplus, to allow them to get through the winter. Where did they have this greensward which made up such an important part of their husbandry?

Page 218

Greensward Land.

In 1629 the practice of having permanent grass might have been condemned by Blith, but by then Cropredy had had at least sixty years of permanent leys without leaving any record of reseeding. The only local reference was in the next parish of Bourton. In 1614 Holloway wrote that Thomas Cherry "sold xiiij [sheep]...the rest deadd" [c25/4 f3v] and in 1615 "shepe [tithe to be paid] next [year] all fylles new layd." [f6]. The fossilized ridge and furrows from ancient plough land were still passing under Middle hedges around leyland until very recently (Fig.1.5 p19 at B). New headlands would have been created within the leyland enclosures when the land was reseeded. This would suggest the pasture had been kept undisturbed in some instances for four hundred years?

In Cropredy there were two leys to the acre. Most of the leys were for hay and grazing on the aftermath. For the rest of the summer the cattle were allowed to graze on the fallow land and then the harvest stubble. If some of the tenants greensward was on arable headings then they would lose out on grass during the fallow year. This must have been a real loss until they solved the problem by allowing each tenant sufficient enclosed leyland. Those in the Open Common Field were unavoidably exposed if they were on baulks and sideleys, used for the ploughmen to reach their strip as well as the plough teams using them as headlands. The farmer had to tether milch cows and mares if he wanted to use these and the times when they could be grazed were limited. Tethered stock also needed a boy to attend them.

On the B. manor each tenant had just over a third of their land as Greensward (p296). Throughout the terriers beginning in 1609 each of their leys appeared in the same area. When had they enclosed some of their leyland? In the rare A manor 1548 demesne terrier for the South Field there are no leys recorded in their Little Belser and yet in the B manor's terriers leys had been set there by 1609. The 1552 survey also shows that the yardlands did not have a third of pasture as they did after the 1570's. Somewhere in between a programme of improving the area of pasture land had been instigated .

The best example of Greensward is in the Downland Quarter enclosures to the north of the Moorstone Way to Clattercote. Here the Lower Horse Leys, Common Leys and Oathill Leys were all behind Middle hedges. The parish boundary with Clattercote being to the north, the road to the south and as it was a triangle the Ewe Furlong hedge to the east. This was later called Wyatt's hedge. Part of the area between the late eighteenth century canal and Ewe Furlong hedge has remained as greensward ever since and still shows the ridge and furrows of old ploughland. The flat land would be older leyland, or woodland especially where wood hawthorns are found in the hedges (Fig. 15.5).

Page 219

In 1566 a deed of exchange in the area of Oathill Leys was made between Lee and Brasenose College. Thomas Lee who rented Clattercote had recently become the owner of Cropredy A. manor. He managed to get the College to agree to an exchange of a parcel of "Hades of mead and pasture ground in Croprede on the furlong called Robertshill, shooting from certain meerstones there pitched and sett down to the ground of Thomas Lee in Clatcote, estimated to be three quarters of an acre, for 30 years" [BNC: Hurst 109 & 110] (Fig.15.4). In fair exchange the College leased a piece of mead called Washlands, measuring a yerd [3r]. There is a kink in the east hedge of Washlands (to the east of the canal) where the stream has been dyked to drain Washlands.The Early hedge goes north to another stream coming across Clattercote, making it certain that this was proof of a very old improvement. The most interesting point from this exchange was the fact that the Roberts hill already had a meadow by the stream and pasture land on the slightly higher ground. It was noted that the name of Robert's hill changed to Oat hill from the oats which grew so well on the hill's strips. Robert's hill leys would also gradually change to Oathill leys. All of the early enclosed leyland, north of the road which included the Horse, Common and Roberthill leyland area are now within the Oathill farm, for the commissioners used the leyland boundaries when they set aside the fortyeight acres for Elkington's portion in the 1775 Enclosure Award.

Boundary changes in Washlands [Hurst 109 and 110]. Number of species per 30 yards.

Ewe furlong to the east of Oathill was crossed by the Boddington Way. It had meadow dykes and hedge to the east and Annismore's hedge and ditch to the south. Wyatt's hedge to the west and the northern hedge was the parish boundary. Many of the tenants from both manors had leys in this furlong (Fig.15.5).

Annismore arable furlong was also divided in two by the Boddington Way before it reached Ewe furlong. There was a flat piece of leyland (about 100 ' north to south) at the north end of the Annismore Furlong on either side of the Boddington Way. Between the flat land and the arable to the west of the Way were five strips of ridged leyland running west taking up around 230' of land. The hedged boundary, south of these five raised leys (between the later canal which sliced through the strips and the Boddington Way) may once have been of hawthorn with elm trees. The hedge was removed leaving a huge elm tree behind to become a casualty of disease.

Page 220

Early Hedges from former Woodlands? Middle Hedges for Leyland and Meads.

There is an interesting area in Annismore to the east of the Boddington Way. Before the ditching of the lower land this may have been too wet to cultivate. Most of the land is flat but raised above some channels. A headland south of the elm tree stump stops at the Way. Directly opposite to the east runs a hollow (a) approximately 12' across which runs for about a 100' eastwards to a junction. This second hollow runs north and south (b) and measures about 10' across with a small bank to the east. The south branch of hollow (b) stopping after 25' when it meets (d). Going back to the first hollow (a) 36' from (b), a 10' wide branch (c) leaves at a rightangle for 25' before turning east again (d). This hollow (d) meets the north south line (b) to enclose a raised flat area approximately 36' x 25.' The southern hollow (d) continues on eastwards, but does not quite reach the deep dykes and hedge between Hale and Annismore. To the south the arable part of Annismore lies on slightly higher ground.

Page 221

If this is the plain it was bounded on the north by Ewe Furlong, to the east by Hale's realigned ditch and the Way to the west. In this area of Annismore Devotion had a "yerd by lott marked wth two scotches." Could it be that when the deeper dyke was made it left this ditch arrangement redundant? Would they have created a water meadow which then had controlled hollows to drain it off? It bore no resemblance to the Waterings nearer the town which were properly constructed to give an early bite to the grass. Neither did it look right for the site of a moated property being very exposed so far from the town. The drovers who used the Way may have impounded their stock in the tiny 36' x 25' area, or did they have a hut there at a sufficient distance from Banbury market to drive the cattle in the next day?

One piece of land in this area was nicknamed the Penny Plot. It could not be the raised platform for surely this was a round area? In a terrier of 1687 "The sixth p'te of a plott in the plaine in Eastland called Penny Plott. Eastland south the longe furlong in the Plaine North" [BNC: 552]. In 1669 Rede [32] had "one little plaine in Eastlande changeing with george/ devotion every year." Devotion [3] also had "the 7th pte of a plott in East [land] and ye furlong in ye plaine north." If Eastland was south of the Plain, Ewe Furlong was parallel to it.

East of Annismore were two old enclosed pieces of land called Far and Near Hale, which being above the flood area had been anciently ploughed. Later still it became leyland with the old inverted "s" ridges and furrows preserved under the grass. The drainage ditch to the west of Near Hale follows this old curve and separates a small flat area of leyland between Annismore and the Hales which could still be seen surrounded by ditches in the 1980's. An Early hedge to the north of the leyland had an average of seven species and one section contained ash, blackthorn, crab, elm, hawthorn, purging buckthorn, rose and willow (this section has very recently become a casualty to wide machines). The western hedge and straightened ditch has only 4.5 species like many other Middle mead hedges.

Five College Farms.

Terriers for the the five B manor farms reveal the distribution of the husbandman's leyland strips.

Devotion's [3] farmstead had 9a 0r 20p of greensward spread over both the North and the South Fields. If all his leys were behind hedges, he was lucky, or perhaps as the tenant of one of the smaller farms he needed it to survive. There were 3a in West Mead hill and in the North Field three leys in Upper [Over] Horsehill, which may be the only open leyland there, but on the other hand the hedge may have been lost when the railway cut right through leaving two tiny "pikelets" on either side. He had 3.5a in Ewefurlong, the rest in Eastland and the Astmead. His yardland came to 26a 1r 20p including his half acre "coppus" and a grassyard behind the house (p415).

Mansel [35] had two yardlands totalling 71a 1r which had more acres per yardland than Devotion's (p295). The Greensward came to a third, for in the South Field he had 10a 2r and in the North 14a 1r. The North leys were in Over and Nether Horsehill, Common Leys, Ewefurlong and Eastland, all hedged except perhaps Over Horsehill. He was not so fortunate in the South, for three leys were by the track called Belser (Fig.1.5 p19). Mansel had another ley further up Hayway on a sideley in Hillington, but at least it was on the way to his seven leys and three lotted acres in the West Mead. Sometimes leys had to be shared, or just the aftermath, and the tenants must arrange this. Mansel had to share four of his leys. It was obviously not possible to divide up the land without sharing these remnants.

Page 222

Rede [32] had 41a 1r 20p in 1754 [Valuation Book] on exactly the same strips as the farm had more than a hundred years before. How had his one yardland increased to this size? His greensward was 5a 3r in the South and 9a 3r 20p in the North Fields. In the South three were open to arable, one at Sowcroft next to the Long Causeway, another in Little Belser and one in Hillington sideley. Fortunately he also had five leys and a yerd in West Mead, besides his lotted acre. In the North all were in an enclosed area: two leys at Clattercote Gate, five in the Lower Horsehill and Common Leys area and seven and a half in Ewefurlong, with the rest in Astmead.

Springfield [6] as a larger holding farmed two and a half yardlands made up of 75a 2r in 1754. Briefly they had three lotted acres in West and one in Astmead. In the South Field only the 2a 2r in the West Mead were enclosed all the rest were open: two leys and a yerd in Sowcroft, two leys in Belser, a yerd in the Marshes and a ley in Church furlong. In the North Field the 11a were distributed in Over Horsehill, Ewefurlong, Eastland Playne, and the Playne. In 1754 the farm still had 11a in the North Field at 10s an acre, and 5a in the South at 4s an acre, but in the West Mead 3a of lotted mead had risen to five shillings an acre after they had been revalued.

The B Manor farm [8] had one of the largest herds at one time. We have already seen their meads, but they needed some pasture on their four yardlands. In 1754 their surveyed acres totalled 149a 1r: the greensward in the North came to 14a 2r and in the South 17a, which with the twelve meadow acres came to just under a third of the farm. There were extra acres in the South Field. A plot of common land by Oxhay brook, which had the Cottiers Hill to the east, was made up of twentyone leys and a "hadeley," presumably all in lieu of collecting the B Manor rents and acting as bailiff. The field now measures 12.4 acres with Middle hedges to east and west. The rest of their leys were two in Sowercroft, three yerds shooting into Bourton's Theale, three yerds in Belser, a sideley shooting into Arble, and another in Hillington Goggs next to the Hayway. The last two in West Mead were enclosed. The other ten acres of mead were next to the farmstead and for their own private use. Apart from two leys and two butts in upper Horsehill, they had 5a in Eastland, 1a in Ewefurlong, 5a 3r in Common Leys and Oathill area and 3r in Pleck piece. Pleck was by the Oxhay brook to the north of Moor meadow. The rest in that mead must have belonged to the A Manor.

It would seem from the above B. manor examples that the larger farms did not take all the best leyland as each yardland had a reasonable share of opened and enclosed land.

The leyland near Clattercote boundary was a mile from the town, but with the shape of the parish and the town placed half way between the two areas of Open Common Field, it was easier to have land at a distance for summer hay, than for winter ploughing and hoeing. The only leys near to the farmsteads were on the abandoned arable furlongs in the water logged area around Marsh furlong and Little Belser. Cultivating these clays without extensive drainage might have led to a solid pan of earth below the surface, further increasing the waterlogging. This would have been the first to come out of cultivation when the pressure on land eased. Some of the A manor cottagers had their leys just half a mile from the town in the Oxhay's Honeypleck and Hawtin's Piece on either side of the Oxhay Road (Fig.15.6).

Leyland for cottagers on the Oxhay Common.

A few A manor tenants' leys were found in a deed of 1681 [4950 Bodleian]. These had been allocated to a group of properties built for craftsmen in the late sixteenth century (p455). Odd inventory references reveal a little extra information. The rest is gleaned from terriers when A manor tenants were named as farming the adjacent strip to a college tenant.

Page 223

This was most helpful when the strips remained constant to a particular farm. The extra half yardland parcels from the A manor demesne let by the year cannot be checked.

Nehemiah Gardener [39] a later resident at Tanner's (p408) appears in the 1681 deed with one cow common and land attached to the A manor property. A total of 3a 2r of leyland with 5a 2r of arable, one of the largest amounts of land attached to a smallholding, though a few cottagers leased extra half yardland parcels. The holding had land in Elbow Ham (Washlands) along the Clattercote boundary, which Lee exchanged with the College (p219). After it had been joined to the rest of Lee's land he could then let it to his tenants.

The B manor estate had small amounts of land for the copyholders, but far too little to keep their stock on without obtaining commons or land from other tenants, except for the blacksmiths [13], Matcham [18] and Bokingham [55]. The land allocated varied from the smith's six acres with three commons to Lucas's [2] one cow common and an orchard of one rood (Ch.27).

Smaller copyholds were thought to be of little use in encouraging farming enterprises as a second skill, yet many started farming on these small amounts. When John Gardner lived in [19] he had managed to farm some of his aunt's land, and the blacksmith family of Wyatt's rose from one of the three cottages [13] to become husbandmen and finally gentlemen, but many had to remain as butchers, bakers, tailors, carpenters, blacksmiths, glaziers or wheelwrights. They were joined by younger brothers of husbandmen when their father apprenticed them to a craft.

The leyland which was so necessary to provide the cows' food throughout the year was not replaced by just the ability to graze a cow with the herd at certain times of the year on communal land. Many of these cottagers would have to find ways and means to supplement their cows' food.

Commons.

The main function of the Oxhay was to provide grazing for the oxen which had been the power source of the parish, but we do not know how long this went on for. The Oxhay was let to the husbandmen once the lord's farm had sufficient for their cattle. What of the cottagers? By law they must allow all tenants' sufficient pasture and grant the cottagers, who had no other land, an area to graze a cow and to collect furze for their fire. The Cottiers Hill, Honeypleck and Hawtin's Piece may all have been part of the Oxhay where the cottagers had rights. The footpath up to the Field End Quarter passed through the Cottier's Hill. All rights of stone, minerals and hunting over the pasture belonged to the landlord or his bailiff. The Oxhay common was not an open heath, free for all to roam in, but for different types of tenants who had specific areas of the common, where they were tenants together (Fig.14.6 p206).

In 1681 a deed showed that the leys made from Hawtins and Honeypleck on which tenants had "a cottage of bushes" or "a lay of furze ground" were for their rights of firebote coming from "all the furzes bushes and thorns from time to time coming grown or arising out of all these leyes." In the 1775 Enclosure Award the commissioners dealing with the enclosure of the Oxhay and the customary rights of firebote state that the

"poor residing within the township of Cropredy... had for some years then last past used and exercised the Liberty of cutting Furze or other fuel growing within and upon a certain piece or parcel of ground called the Common Bush leys being part of a quantity of land and ground called Oxheys... to be spent and consumed by them in the nature of Firebote in their dwelling houses within the Township of Cropredy" [Enclosure Award p18].

Page 224

It had already been partly enclosed before the late sixteenth century and because the North Oxhay was never ploughed, the hedges would have crept out onto the pasture to be used as firewood before being cut back and laid. The cost of a share of this pasture, which included other rights of grazing on the fallow, was recorded as eight shillings a year to be paid with the rent. Only Cropredy tenants could set stock there and before 1575 each was allowed a cow and a breeder per cottage common. In Claydon a husbandman's yardland was valued at £10 plus £2-8s for four commons per annum. The two horse commons were extra costing 13s-4d, but the sheep commons were of such little value none was given.

In 1575 Wardington and Cropredy decided to change their customs. In the Brasenose muniments room amongst the Cropredy records catalogued by Mr Hurst, is a document he mistakenly dated 1490. Without the work done by Mr Hurst towards making available the College estate records, it would not have been possible to extract the only available information about the Open Common Fields. His slip of the pen is all too easy to do. The real year was 1590. This can be arrived at by checking the five signatures on the document. We know that Justinian Hunt only farmed from 1588 and that John Russell the blacksmith died in 1601. The other farmers' names appear on two of the vicar's lists of 1578/9 and 1588. The record refers to a change in custom that took place approximately fifteen years before in 1575, at a time when the new A Manor landlord was reorganising his estate. One important point this raises is the fact that Open Common Field farming could be subject to change and improvements. Here they are trying to get a good balance between stock and arable. They must cater for the increase in horse teams by reducing the commons for oxen. Reducing cattle when there was a growing demand for more cheese could only be entertained if by improving the cows' grazing and hay the milk would increase. These milch cows must be better fed on improved pasture, in less crowded conditions, though no longer competing with the working oxen. The horse needed a better diet than oxen to produce the power required. For a long time there had been no waste land to expand into and this meant the tenants must reorganise the allocation of their commons, by reducing the number set aside for cows and allowing enough for the horses. To confuse matters the horse "joined" the cows and they all came under the one heading of "beasts" in the vicar's tithe accounts.

"They saye theire auntient coustome is and time out of mynd of man hath bine to keep 5 bease and 42 sheipe for every yardland and one beast and a breeder for evereye auntient cottage and not above tyed or untyed within the comon about 15 years ago they agreed to diminish one cow for every yardland and the breeder for the cottage to improve the pasturage. The rule has been attended to except by one individual.
: signed by Justinian Hunt [16]; Thomas Frenche [4]; John Gybbes [25]; John Russell [13b]; Edward Lumbarde" [14] [B.N.C.Hurst 80].

The settlement of the new rule had been agreed by all but one, and he apparently broke it. His name was tactfully not given. This ruling greatly reduced the Cropredy herd.

Page 225

They diminished the stocking rights to balance the loss of commons now turned to permanent leys, as well as the small amount of arable allotted to smallholders. Had this been taken from the husbandmen?Devotion's [3] terrier of 1669 mentions a second reduction to three cows per yardland and in 1676 Springfield's [6] terrier confirms this [BNC:552]. Better grazing and careful breeding should produce larger cows who in turn would require more grass. Had the number of cows begun to drop before this, not because they needed less milk, but because their pasture expansion had taken up too much arable? At the same time all over Britain stock was dropping in numbers as other parishes made the adjustment to their stints (limiting their rights of pasture), but by 1700 stock was again rising, except at Cropredy which had still not reached a good balance. Corn became more important than stock yet there was a limit to expansion until they planted roots on the fallow (p308).

How did the cottagers' manage to rear their own heifers to continue their own stock? If they could no longer rear the bull calves, how would they get commons for the heifer? In later centuries some tradesmen had cows on loan, but no evidence has arisen, unless the missing cows in inventories were due to having a loaned cow on their commons? By 1717 the cottagers once again had a "comon of pasture for 1 cow and a bullock called a breeder" [BNC:Court Roll. Hurst 184].

Cottagers used to keep the same line of cows from generation to generation, rearing perhaps a female calf every three years, rather than taking it to market, and selling the rest in the intermediate years. When the cow grew too old then she had to go, but the heifer left at home would be a direct descendant. I was told of one such line of cows existing in a partially Open Field parish until 1995, and indeed watched them returning each night to the cowstall off the common. The grandfather over a hundred years ago brought to his marriage, at the wife's small copyhold farm of thirty acres, a calf and an apple tree [Curtesy of Mrs O.Williams]. This way of renewing your stock is of course within the pocket of the cottager from the smallest cottage with common rights and access to leyland. The cow was the backbone of the town's economy. The B. Manor cottages in Church Lane had cowhouses, but insufficient land, except for Matchams [18]. How would they manage unless some husbandmen allowed them some leyland in return for help, or sublet them an extra common?

Most cows in the town had names and when a cow was looked after in close contact with the family they were well cared for. It was their most valuable possession. Cottage commons belong to Common Rights not the cottage building. The landlord granted the use of the rights to the tenant and that person had the benefit of them, though sometimes they had to sublet their cow commons. The copyholder paid the vicar's tithe not the cottage. In 1775 the cottagers were to loose the remaining cow common and leyland often for an inadequate amount of land, but in most cases on the A manor for none at all. In 1775 the College copyholders were given small parcels of land mainly insufficient to keep a cow though most of the plots were already enclosed and they had no need to fence them. The Poor were awarded 4a 1r 28p, on a new close called the Poor's Ground, in lieu of their rights of firebote. It was to be leased out at a set rent by the trustees who would then purchase coal from the profits for the town's poor. Although this replaced ancient rights the distribution became a charity with all the stigma attached to handouts. In between the years of 1570 to 1640 covered by this book each tenant would have some access to gather fuel on their part of the Oxhay.

Page 226

"Cotengers Tythes" [c25/3 f6v].

Contents Homepage (back to top)