Preface

There must be others who have felt the urge to personally gather up any snatches of oral history, record the churchyard memorials, complete a fields name survey, pace the hedges, measure the farm hovels and yet, especially in the 1970's, wonder if all this was really necessary!

As the material gathered others had been transcribing the registers and it was possible to make a copy to further the graveyard survey. The transcribing continued with the later tithe accounts and on through land tax to the census, but the greatest interest came with the repaired early tithe books.

The Reverend Thomas Holloway of Cropredy, Oxfordshire (1572-1619) made copious lists of their tithes and kept folios of farm accounts while his registers were fuller than most and a family reconstitution of the whole parish began. Holloway lived in a period of upheaval that changed the working of the land and rebuilt many of the dwellings which has greatly influenced the lives of all Cropredian residents ever since.

Could surveys taken amongst the old town and fields of Cropredy discover these changes, customs and old methods of farming? How to take account of the fact that agricultural practices which were obviously then influenced more by the size of the seed, the daily energy of an oxen team, the capacity of a cart and the need to build a barn to hold a sufficient number of cartloads? The Holloway folios did help to answer some of these questions and yet Thomas Holloway's parish, it was soon realised, did not always fit the national evidence.

Going back to walking the fields would surely reveal their strip system. It did but in places hedges with many shrubs went gaily across the ridge and furrows, and realigned streams cut across them. Pieces had been taken off the common all with hedges that were definately earlierthan the 1775 enclosure. All was again not quite what it seemed, but some clues remained and types of hedge were studied more closely alongside the few remaining records.

The houses looked easier only to reveal interiors that did not follow general pattern. It was a case of trying to make general rules and updating each property as solutions in one helped with another round and round site by site it goes. This could take years as renovations continue, though much has been lost. Would the hearth tax list help with the chimney's? Not according to the vicar's lists. It all depended upon how much land they leased, leaving the rest invisible, until a look into the cottages revealed more and the inventories confirmed this.

Thomas Holloway's easter lists were more reliable than the hearth tax lists to calculate the population from, but only for the adult residents in their households, the family was larger than that. The lists did enable the families to be placed upon a site tying them into available deeds and terriers which greatly extended the information. Having stepped inside to meet the family it was noticed in their inventories (which could be compared with many others already printed) which items were rare or readily available. When a senior member of the town died their inventory may show furniture for the bedstead and a few clothes. Was this old man or woman living then in a hovel without a fire or a cooking pot, or could we step into the downstairs chamber of a two and a half storey house and find just such a room?

Husbandmen's personal estate may show their assets were in stock and corn rather than in household effects and apparel, but the real value can only be assessed when seen as part of the whole town for that particular period. The year too is important for the situation could change rapidly after a disastrous harvest or drop in the price of wool.

The time for setting down the results could no longer be put off. It was hoped to provide one method of looking at the history of properties, or a way to approach a family history. Two studies that complement each other. Having divided the book into five parts the first two alook at the background to the parish, the redevelopment, the husbandmen and their wives who ran the town helped by the many craftsmen, their servants and children, all the while accomodating the senior members often relatives as well. It finishes with their final arrangements for the continuance of their own family. Part Three takes in the land greatly by Holloway's farm accounts while Part Four provides details the houses and the families living in them. The last Part visits the halls, chambers and service rooms in more detail, finding and comparing their equipment. Completing this section with the value and type of clothing worn by the residents which can provide a link between the family and their occupations, status in the town and the religious attitudes of their household.

The book ends with appendices and a glossary. A bibliography for sources and further reading. An index of people to locate information about a particular family who if in residence during this period can lead the enquirer to a house (A list of surnames with their site numbers under a map of Cropredy will be found in The Town of Cropredy. By printing a copy of this map it will help to fit families to properties and can also be used throughout the book to locate the sites mentioned in the text). Lastly a general index to chase up more information about a particular subject and four small indexes for apparel, field names, lanes and a list of occupations.

Without an accurate map for our period the reconstructions came from the following sources:

• The 1775 Enclosure Award map, now in the care of Oxfordshire Archives.
• The 1843 tithe map for Cropredy and Prescote.
• Sketches made from Brasenose College maps Clennell B. 14. 1/29a and 1/29b.
• Sketch maps made from the 1882 Ordnance Survey maps their permission.
• And lastly aerial diagrams using Mr Paul Baker's photographs, again with his permission.

These can only act as a guide to the position and size of the buildings. They cannot unfortunately prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the building shown represents the one built, or already standing, during the period covered by this book.