Seed Time to Harvest

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21. Seed Time to Harvest.

Purchasing seeds.

Cropredy's arable yardlands needed new seed for planting. How much seed did they require to sow an acre? Different soils and climates obviously led to a variety of sowing quantities throughout Britain. What our ancestors had to put by to provide the next harvest is still something of an unknown quantity in some areas. Not all seed could come from the same parish for it was well known that by buying in at least half their seed from neighbouring towns, or from a known source at the market, they could perhaps increase output, or prevent a repeat of disease. Would some try and increase their yields with better, more expensive varieties of seed corn, perhaps planted at more bushels to the acre than the local custom?

The Reverend's farm accounts note the seed purchased and sown. Like many husbandmen who could afford it the vicar had put in a bid to lease extra land with his sons and so needed more seed. Following the harvest the new farming year began immediately, for some wheat and rye must be threshed to sell as seed corn. The women and children were needed to help riddle the corn and pick out the best seeds. It must then be dressed with urine or lime to help protect it from vermin. The winter corn crop was sown on the prepared ground while the plough continued to prepare land for a January and February planting of peas. Barley must be ready by March to be followed by a last sowing of peas.

The vicar's accounts [c25/2 for 1587-1617] which unfortunately have several missing years, mention in 1614 how much land he was cultivating. One yardland was leased from John Hunt of the Green [16] and another from Thomas French at the south end of the Long Causeway [4]. These he added to his own three quarters of a yardland which would appear to be a generous one as he treats it like a yardland, yet other records find it less than Devotions [c26]. John Hunt was newly married. He had three more of his four sibling's legacies to pay off at £10 a time over the next four years, as well as continuing to provide their maintenance, so he was subletting their half of the farm to raise the money. Thomas French [4] was seventy and still responsible for four grandchildren and their mother. His grandson farmed the remaining yardland and the vicar's rent for the second provided some of their income.

By 1620 Dr Brouncker needed the Revd Holloway's accounts to give him information on local practices. He may have deliberately saved 1614, which had an average harvest for barley, but a poor wheat year. Holloway had also left a list of the rye and wheat strikes he bought in for seed.

Thomas either purchased the seed from the market himself, or sent his man. It required two trips to Daventry with a pack horse or two, to buy the following:

[f5v] "Corne bought for my seeding

anno 1614

In primis bought from daventry

the 29 of September of Ry ix stryks wch

cost 3s a stryke_________________________ xxvijs

Item that day of christopher cleredge of

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Ry fowere stryks________________________ xijs

Item of a [? man of eden] the 30 of september

2 stryks_______________________________ vjs

Item from daventry the 12 of october

of maslen 3 stryks________________________ xs

Item of lammas wheate 3 stryks_____________. xijs vjd

Item of pendall wheate 3 stryks____________._ xijs iijd

Item of whyte wheate 2 stryks______________viijs

Item of whyte wheate the 20 of october of

Tho bayly of chadson 2 stryks_____________ viijs" (Fig.21.1).

"Corne bought for my seeding" 1614 [c25/2 f5v].

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Records put the combined wheat and rye down as maslin, winter corn, or just wheat. Here the vicar was buying in 15 strike of rye and 3 strike of mixed wheat and rye calling it maslin, and 10 strike of different wheats to be sown on their own. With the wheat he could have planted a yerd (3r) of Lammas wheat, a yerd of Pendall wheat and two lands of white wheat. In actual sowing however he used one of the three strikes of good wheat to mix with rye as he harvested the wheat from only 1a 3r. Perhaps he made up the rest of the wheat from his own corn, or exchanged with another. The winter seed corn was home by the 20th of October giving them time for an early start to the sowing of wheat and rye. On the following year they required 24 bushels (48 strikes) of wheat and while at the market they took the opportunity to buy in their seed barley and all home by the 10th of October.

In the above folio extract [f5v] and another of wheat threshed in Hall's barn [f7v], five types of wheat are mentioned. Wheat was grown best on the manured richer clays or heavy loams. Certain varieties became associated with various areas for their success there. The soil, climate and method of cultivation naturally affected the development of the plant. Thomas mentions first an old favourite the lammas wheat. Was this an early ripener for it was offered up at the lammas mass? In 1614 lammas wheat fetched 4s-2d a strike which was 2d a strike more than "white" wheat and Pendall wheat came between them commanding 4s-1d a strike. To confuse things most wheats were known as a white grain, but "white" wheat ripened earlier than other varieties and it could be planted with rye, otherwise as Tusser warned planting rye and wheat in the same strip could mean the rye "shed as it stand" waiting for the wheat. White wheat was of course distinguished from the red which was a hardier variety being grown on poorer soils. In other areas red wheat did not realize the same price as white on the market. Unfortunately Thomas fails to record its value. Millcorn appears to be the least valuable and sold at 3s-1d on January the 29th 1615/16. Wheat of an unknown variety sold that month for 4s-4d.

While acquiring enough wheat in 1615 Thomas had we mentioned also purchased 10 quarters of barley (80 bushels). Here he is buying all but 3 bushels of the 83 required [f8v] (p313). Were these purchased from the Gubbey [Gubbins] family of Wardington and the Wottons of Sulgrave because they were exchanging seed corn with neighbouring parishes? Before purchasing corn in bulk it must surely be sampled and then delivered by cart. Holloway himself sends away several small sack loads, presumably by packhorse, to Banbury, Southam and Warwick (p338).

[f11] "Mem. bought six quarter of barly of thomas gubbey

the 10th of october 1615 wch cost_________ ______viij£

Item more of barly I bought of edward wotton

4 quarter wch cost_____________________ ______iiij£ xs viijd

................................................................................... somma xij£ xs viijd"

The costs per quarter vary with Gubbey's at £1-6s-8d and Wotton's only £1-2s-8d. Unfortunately no named variety is given or the reason why he pays 1s-8d a strike for one and only 1s-5d a strike for the other. We have to assume Wotton's was a lesser variety. In Leicestershire the barley sold for 15s a quarter in 1614 when the yields were between 14.3 and 16 bushels an acre [Howell C. Land, Family & Inheritance in Transition. p278. 1983. Cambridge University Press].

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The Strikes (Bushels) required for each Cropredy Acre.

As Cropredy was using their own customary acre which if larger than the statute acre would take more bushels of seed corn and achieve a higher number of bushels per "acre" once the grain was threshed. Seeds were also smaller than the modern varieties. A bushel was measured by volume not weight so the number of seeds would vary from year to year (Bushels : Appendix. 2 p699). Barley could be planted as low as 3 bushels to the acre as they did in parts of Leicestershire where a higher sowing would mean a rank growth and fewer tillers which were required to produce the maximum ears from each plant. In 1534 Fitzherbert sowed 4 bushels to the acre in Derbyshire [Howell C. p151. Fitzherbert;Bodl. Douce xx3 (2) f10]. Holloway never actually uses the term bushel preferring to call it "two stryks" instead. He refers to corn in quantity as so many quarters, which was the customary way to record sixteen strikes.

The seed was home, the land ploughed and ready for the hand sowing of the seed as soon as conditions were right. In 1615 when the tilth was towards Bourton Thomas writes down how much seed he had needed to sow the strips on his two and three quarter yardlands:

Seeds Planted in 1615 [c25/2 f8v].

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[f8v] "My sedinge of pease

in anno 1615 was six

quarters & more 2 stryks

my sedinge of barly was ten

quarters six stryks or rather

eleven quarters.

The barly tilth towards borton

my wynter corne of wheate &

maslen was three quarters

my pease sede was almost seven quarters

my barly seede ten quarter & six stryks

So the seede in all sorts together

was twenty quarters for

anno 1615" (Fig.21.2).

With the above quantities the vicar has supplied the strikes required for a calculation to be made of how much was approximately needed for each strip of land in the South Field and for the lands planted with peas in the North Field. Although Holloway has recorded the seeds he used to sow the wheat, barley and peas on this particular year of 1615, he does not give the number of strips he actually had. For 1616 when the tilth was in the North Field he provided the number of half acre strips (lands), but this time the quantity sown was different. This means the only two examples we have differ in the quantity of seed, but it is still necessary to make a general rule for planting. Holloway uses strikes and quarters throughout (2 strikes = 1 bushel. 8 bushels = 1 quarter).

Wheat/maslin just over 2 strikes a land= 4 strikes plus to an acre.
Peas 2, 3 or 4 strikes a land= 4, 6 or 8 strikes to the acre.
Barley 2 or 4 strikes a land=4 or 8 strikes to the acre.
Oats 4 strikes a land= 8 strikes to the acre.

Using the seeding given above, which Holloway provided in 1615 [f8v], it could be used to find the number of lands he might plant. The exact amount needed to sow his acreage with peas was 6 quarters 2 strike, so if planted at 8 strikes to the acre he had sufficient for exactly 12a 1r (which might be made up of 24 lands and 1 butt). For the record Thomas eased them up to a round number of "almost seven quarters," but for the actual planting he would expect them to be dibbed in or broadcast fairly accurately. If only 4 strikes were planted to the acre he could have planted twice the acreage available, leaving us sure he used the more generous amount of 8 strikes (4 bushels). Perhaps the extra peas were to fill in the gaps made by rodents taking the seed, or pigeons belonging to the manor dovehouse. The following year he apparently used 6 strikes to the acre which could plant 18 acres, but was this too great an acreage for the North Field in 1615 as he still had to leave room for the barley-fallow?

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Thomas needed 10 quarters and 6 strikes of barley and at 8 strikes (4 bushels) to the acre could plant 20a 3r, which must be correct as a smaller sowing of 4 strikes to the acre would need more acres than he had.

The average amount of seed for the winter corn (which included all the pure wheat and wheat sown with rye as maslin), was 4 strikes (2 bushels) to the acre. Holloway's 3 quarters (48 strike) would cover 12 acres which balanced his sowing of peas.

Holloway it is now suggested had planted in 1615

Winter corn at 4 strikes an acre

Barley at 8 strikes an acre

Peas at 8 strikes an acre

The arable he could plant came to 45 acres out of his 65.5 which was similar to an average three yardlands. His greensward at approximately 31 acres would include 3 acres of meadow. This gave him around 96 acres to farm. With this information and the working out of the seed broadcast on the lands it could be that the Holloways distributed their 20 quarters of seed as follows

12 acres of winter corn and

20a 3r of barley in the South Field.

12a 1r of peas and

20a 2r fallow in the North Field.

In 1615 on just under 3 yardlands the Holloways' had planted 4 acres of wheat to every 7 of barley. The peas were taking up part of the fallow field which would be used the following year for a similar acreage of wheat, while the barley followed the previous year's fallow.

We have now been "given" the approximate arable acreage of one tenant, the quantity of seed that had to be saved, or sold to buy in fresh, and the strikes the vicar was sowing per acre. However it was not quite as easy as that. The following year Thomas wrote down the number of strips (lands) he planted in the North Field and the number of pea lands he planted in the South fallow Field, which gave rise to the two different sowing quantities mentioned above. The two Fields varied in quality and possible size of strips.

[f12v] "My maslyn sowed in anno 1616 w[ere]

in lands 17 seede 3 quarters

Item of wheate in landes 7 in seed 7 stryks

Item pease in lands sowed 28 and the

seede was fyve quarters 2 stryks

Item barley in lands...[blank]."

The winter corn again took up 12 acres . The seed would be broadcast over the 1615 pea lands. Unfortunately the vicar left out the entry for barley. The sowing was as follows

Maslin on 17 lands (8.5a) took 48 strikes at just under 6 strike an acre, and the

Wheat on 7 lands (3.5a) took 7 strikes at 2 strike an acre.

Peas on 28 lands (14a) took 82 strikes at 6 strike an acre.

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If the total seed for maslin and wheat had again been combined, as he did in the 1615 record, then the 12 acres of winter corn were planted at just over 4 strike an acre. However in 1616 he separated the information to mention that he had sowed 7 lands with pure wheat using the low amount of only one strike per land. This was we saw half of the sowing required for the rest of the winter corn the previous year. The rye might require more seed or it could be the North Field having better soil took less seed?

The peas had to be planted on the fallow and that year their land was in the South Field but here the vicar planted only 6 strikes of peas per acre though in 1615 he had planted about 8 strikes per land. Which year was the unusual one? Or did the two Fields require different amounts? The soil varied enormously so that the Brasenose College charged ten shillings an acre for lands in the North Field, but only four shillings per acre in the South Field. The vicar's sowing quantities for the North Field were used to try and discover how many quarters of seed Thomas Devotion's [3] crops, which he left in 1630/31, had needed. The tilth was again towards Clattercote and the winter corn was at the lower rate of sowing:

..8 strikes of wheat for.2a.

48 strikes of barley for 6a.

.9 strikes of peas for ...1a 2r.

.6 strikes of oats for ........3r.

Using the vicar's quantities Thomas Devotion's seed of all sorts came to 4 quarters 4 strikes for one small yardland in contrast to the vicar's 20 quarters on nearly three yardlands. The yardlands being uneven it cannot be said that the vicar's sowing of four acres of wheat per yardland with a quarter of seed meant every one of the 56 yardlands could do the same and Devotion makes it clear he could not plant more than two acres on his small yardland.

As many of the sixty households could no longer grow all their own corn, the husbandmen must grow more and more to sell (p342). The poorer purchasers required barley and peas, and if they could afford it, rye or maslin. They would be keeping an eye on the harvest, and contributing their help as a matter of routine. Cottagers' had a right to glean once the last stook had left the field. The abundance, or dearth of the harvest would affect them in the price they would be paying for their bread corn over the next twelve months.

The inventories had very little information about the crops. The peas we know were sown in the spring. The different varieties were sown in their own strips. Some must be planted by January or February and others after the barley. Smallholdings may have used children to help dib in the peas in straight lines. The seeds being planted in the bottom of a furrow. 8 strikes per acre were needed if 24 peas were dibbed in for every 36 inches and only 6 strikes per acre if planted at 18 for every 36 inches. Those who wanted the peas for cattle harvested them before the peas were ready and dried them in small field stacks for ten days.They must once have carried them back on gates or hurdles and Thomas still wrote of loads or "gates" coming home. Some pea ricks are mentioned in the inventories. These were threshed out in the open because of the thick black clouds of dust they produced. Only the vicar [21], Robins [26] and Rede [32] mention a peas barn and their buildings did not require a threshing bay. The peas produced a very poor return, but three things were in their favour. First peas could be grown on fallow land and improve the ground for wheat. Secondly their haulm was often essential to get cattle through the winter, and lastly peas were necessary for the smaller husbandmen's own family for their pea and barley "bread."

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The only inventory which has details for peas and barley seed was Richard Hall's [34]. He died the first week in January and the inventory was taken on the 18th of March 1634/5. The relatives had not yet begun to plant his late peas or barley, having still to sow 5 quarters of peas, and 6 quarters 2 strike of seed barley. The barley was worth 23s a quarter. At 8 strikes an acre they would plant 10 acres of peas and 12 acres of barley. Here the barley appears to be short by about 8 acres.

It is certain that all the farmers planted peas, but what about the third spring crop of oats required for the working horse? In which furlong would they go? They must have planted oats, as Devotion did in the rotating Peas Quarter. Oathill Piece (once Robert's Hill) was taken up by the B. manor and was not available for other tenants. Oats and rye are both hidden by being labelled "corn." The appraisers might record: Corn and hay £26, or Corn and hay £40. Hay would be about a quarter to a third of their crops, but even knowing the approximate value of the corn does not give the kind or variety used.

Before going onto the loads each acre produced there was one exception to generous planting found in a will. In Great Bourton, where they farmed similar land, a John Ellyott left "John Leeke my servant a Butt to sow Barlie on this yeare and a strike of barlie to sow itt wt all" [M.S.Wills Pec.37/3/8]. That was in December 1595 after three poor harvests and, though they did not of course know it, there were three more to come. Wheat rose from a high 56s in 1594 to 92s a Quarter in 1597. Rye was dreadfully scarce and although some was imported into the country the cottagers would have to make a kind of bread from barley and peas. Ellyott departed in the middle of a dreadful shortage. As a husbandman his own family would have had some food, but he was worrying about his servant's chances if he left the household. Whatever his thoughts were it was a most unusual bequest. Was a strike sufficient to plant a butt being only 4 strikes to the acre when the vicar was using 8? It may be that in famine years a thin sowing could not be avoided, but was bound to produce a poorer harvest, though it would hopefully produce sufficent for one man (p89).

It has been said that the fortunate harvesters brought back the equivalent of only four small grains of wheat for every one planted. Thomas Holloway's wheat and maslin may have had a poor return. In 1607 he had a poor wheat year, yielding eight loads of maslin, but only one of wheat to bring into the barn. In 1613 the maslin again cropped eight loads, but the wheat being only half a load [c25/2 f4]. In 1614 the maslin was again eight and the wheat rose to two loads. This was ten loads from 12 acres [f4v]. None of the three given years yielded a great return. By keeping some wheat separate from rye it could be sold at a higher price, and the lesser wheats used to produce maslin. We do not know how much rye was actually planted on its own for no separate rye loads are given.

An acre of barley could produce one and a half loads per acre on an average year. Most yardlanders planted between 6 to 9 acres of barley hoping to get nine to fourteen loads per yardland. Peas produced little per acre, but in 1614 the vicar brought in six loads from about 12 acres. This was better in 1607 when they had thirteen loads of peas or just over one per acre [c25/2 fols 4 & 4v].

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Fitting the Loads into the Barns.

If the vicar records all the strikes threshed out of his barley loads on the average 1614 harvest then we will be nearer the answer to the question of how much each acre produced. The number of sheaves of corn to fit on a load varied with the length of the straw. On poorly manured ground, or wet land, the straw would be shorter. Sheaves were shorter in northern and wetter western areas. When the crop was mowed, rather than reaped, then the mowers cut near the ground. If, which is unlikely, the wheat, oats and barley were all mown and the corn had all been tied up in sheaves ready to load, then the wheat had the smallest number of sheaves per future strikes (average 18), the oats would have perhaps four more and the barley about six more (average 24, though barley was usually kept loose). A load of threshed barley therefore produced fewer strikes than a load of wheat and a lot more straw (p332).

After a low yield in 1613 Thomas found his harvest of 1614 producing eight more loads of barley to store. He found room at Hall's [6] barn for eighteen loads of barley and ten of winter corn. Thomas must bear in mind the capacity of his carts for the three different crops and then recall the distance the various strips were from the barns to organise the staff accordingly. All the work must dovetail together. Everyone would be out helping and every cart called into service, so the vicarage would need to supply enough equipment to gather three yardlands. If the vicar had a carter to each waggon and a boy to lead, he still needed one or two men to load and then another to stack the barn. This was when craftsmen were asked to help. Perhaps some cottages were traditionally attached to a particular farm and would expect help in return. They might ask the husbandman for the loan of a cart or help to plough up a strip, as they did in Ceredigion until recently.

These rare records do provide a unique glimpse of his harvest and the list below is a gem. Taken slowly it conjures up a vivid picture of carts trundling slowly down from the Field, over the Green and up Church Lane before swinging round into his barn, or into the parsonage close opposite. Some had to clack clack clackety clack down to Hall's barn which faced south and had the gable end towards the Long Causeway [6] (Fig.20.5 p303). One of the Holloway's would be in attendance ordering the loads into the barn bays: [f4v] "A Remembraunce of all sorts/ of my corne erded in anno/ 1614 then havinge a yerdland/ of Jhon Hunts a yerdland of/ Tho french & three quarters of/ my owne in all 2 yerdlands 3 qrs.

Vycaredge ........In primis of barly in; barne ................ the vycaredge barne; ........................... then erded xij loades; .......................... Item more one load; __________________________________
: Halls barne...... In primis of maslen fyve loads; ...........................Item more of maslen 3 loades; .......................... Item ther of wheate 2 loades 2 [?]thraves; ...........................Item ther of barly 5 loads; ...........................Item more 3 loads; ___________________________

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Pease barne..... Item of barly 4 loades; ...........................Item ther more 3 loads; ...........................Item ther more the 15 of; ...........................september 2 loads; Of the Reeke....Item ther six gates; ________.__________________
: .........................of barly 30 loads; ........................of maslen eight; ........................of wheate tow" (Fig.21.3).; ____________________________

Thomas's last three lines are the total of that years' produce from his leased yardlands. Did he set it out clearly for a purpose? It provided a good reference point for later harvests, and Holloway was still teaching his youngest son about farming. The barley had three loads from 2 acres and the winter corn 2 loads from 2a 1r. The peas figure is again below average. The six gates of peas had to go onto a rick (Reeke), while the barley went into the peas barn.

The 40 loads given above were coming from the vicar's leased land during August and September 1614 produced from the following acreage. The rectorial tenth had already gone to the lay impropriator:

12 loads of barley from 8a. .......1 load of barley from...... 3r
.5 loads of maslin from 6a 1r .. 3 loads of maslin from 3a 3r
.2 loads of wheat from 2a 1r.... 5 loads of barley from 3a 2r
3 loads of barley from 2a ........4 loads of barley from 2a 3r
3 loads of barley from 2a ........2 loads of barley from 1a 2r
Total.(barley& wheat)20a 2r.Total.(barley & maslin)12a 1r

The barley coming from 20a 2r was being "erded" into the barns during the summer of 1614. It had been planted over the winter of 1613/14 towards Bourton when the vicar could plant 45 arable acres. They finished the barley with the last load on the 15th of September. The vicar reached for his quill and ink and brought his records up to date.

In the fourteenth century Bennett found that wheat on average yielded 8 bushels (16 strikes) an acre, oats 10 bushels and barley about 13 bushels [Bennett H.S. Life on the English Manor p87-89]. How many bushels were Holloway's and the townsmen's acres producing on these two years? In May 1614 Leicestershire expected barley to yield 14 to 16 bushels an acre. Cropredy, if the same, was carrying about 28 to 32 bushels every three loads at an average of ten bushels a load. Could this be anywhere near the right quantity? The vicar added more information from the parsonage barn loads helping us to work out the average yield of a barley acre. We still need to know the capacity of the barns and then study the threshing to reveal the actual bushels produced. This helps to understand the reasons behind so much of the agricultural processes in Cropredy: the size of the parcels, the number of bays in a barn and the yield necessary to pay the outgoings and still allow the family to survive.

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"My corne ordered in" 1614 [c25/2 f4v]

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The Parsonage Barn.

Having just entered up the corn from his leased land Thomas goes on to mention corn in the Parsonage tithe barn. A vicar of Cropredy was not entitled to any rectorial corn which was stored in that barn, unless they had purchased the right to farm the rectorial tithes. Thomas was rector of a second parish, but he had already bargained with the Hampton Poyle parishioners to be given money instead of one load out of every ten harvested. This brought him in £23-13s-4d [f9] ( Appendix 5 p709). However those rectorial tithes of Hampton Poyle had nothing to do with Cropredy's tithe barn.

The Bishop of Lincoln had formerly been the rector who put in a vicar to look after the ecclesiastical parish of Cropredy. As rector he had required a barn to hold the great tithes until sold. By Holloway's time the rectorial tenths which included hay, corn and peas, had been separated from the church and sold to lay impropriators who farmed out their rights. The Halls [6] collected one moiety of £50 and by 1614 it would seem Thomas Holloway had purchased the right to collect the other moiety of £40. In his will Holloway leaves "the tythes of the Parsonage of Cropredye with the profitts as it is nowe used, shalbe, and ever remaine duringe the yeares after my wifes decease, or daye of marriage to my son Thomas Holloway."

The vicar wrote down all the corn he had going into the Parsonage barn from his moiety of the tithes in 1614:

[f5] "Tyth corne in parsonage barne

...of barly 28 loads 1614

...of maslen 4

...of wheate halfe a loade

Note the end of the parsonage barne

for my parte to kepe contayneth

yerely twenty loades of barly

the rest is layde of barly in the

other end wth the maslen &

comonly in barly yerely 30 loads."

Here the vicar and Hall are sharing the barn. It was obviously not a narrow 16 foot wide building for that would mean numerous bays to accommodate the huge load. Thomas has shown that for every yardland in 1614 ten loads of barley were produced. The rectorial tithe took just over one load from each of the fiftysix yardlands. The parsonage barn was built to hold all this barley which they now shared. The Holloway's "comonly...30 loads" and Hall's twentyeight plus some winter corn in the end bay. Swacliffe tithe barn is 22 ft 9 inches wide and Upper Heyford's 24 feet [Wood-Jones R.B. Traditional Domestic Architecture in the Banbury Region Manchester Univ. Press 1963 p20] and with wide bays it might have been possible to fit in 7 loads of barley per bay. A tithe barn built to store the parsonage corn might be divided up like this:

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Two threshing bays would have been included in such a large barn. A porch at the entrance [D] sheltered the corn if a storm blew up, or a second waggon could arrive for unloading as the first stood near the rear doors. Once threshed there was still the need to store the straw. With the quantity produced some must have been bound into sheaves and stored in the barn or in the straw house. On a normal farm the straw would be used up as the threshing progressed all through the winter.

Barns.

Arable farming could not manage without storage barns and shelter for stock. This left a legacy of barns standing in the yard and some barns attached to houses.

The smaller the farm the greater the need for an all purpose barn which could shelter cows and a horse if necessary for outbuildings were expensive and took up valuable space in the grass yard or close. A cart had to be borrowed and this must have easy access, be unloaded fast and quickly returned to field or owner. The position of the large double doors depended on the relationship of the barn to the lane outside. At Huxeley's [36] the cart swung round into the rear yard to the large double doors and left the same way, backing out when empty into the yard. Elderson [38] had to bring the cart straight in off the lane and back out again. The horse in this barn leaving by the winnow door into the rear yard. Huxeley's winnow door, opposite the cart doors, faced the Lane (until Bachelor built the barn in front p397).

To know the size and average number of harvest loads per acre was important when building a barn for any tenant's holding. If they leased other land then the extra accommodation to hold it over winter was the responsibility of the occupier. Local knowledge would provide the number of bays required once the size of the particular yardland was known. It would be presumed the rector's tenth and corn to pay the rent would not require storage.

The builders of Cropredy's stone barns were at first all using thatched rooves and these could like the houses be supported on principals spanning an internal width of 15.5 to 16 feet. Thatch being lighter than the stone slate used in the Cotswolds. The spacing of the roof trusses could be as narrow as 8 or as wide as 11 or 12 feet which formed the bays. The barn bay with the cart door had to be 12 feet wide. Huxeley's [36] now blocked doorway was wide enough, but the inside measurement of the barn was only 28 feet in length so that the bays were 8: 12: 8. There were a few like Robins [26] who built a wider barley barn to limit the number of bays required. The central bay of a small barn was also the threshing area. All threshing bays were kept open to the roof to allow room for the flails.

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In some barns carts could leave by a second cart doorway with two shorter doors, for once the load had been stacked inside, the exit was only as high as the horse and cart needed to clear the lintel. Others had only the horse or winnow door and while the horse was led out the cart had to be pushed out backwards. The heavy cart doors were hung well above the floor. Three or more boards were placed across the entrance to keep out the poultry while they were threshing. These boards which slotted into a frame were kept in place when the barn doors were shut. Once the barn was empty in June then the cart doors were unhinged and put down to shear the sheep on. In some cart doors a smaller man door was made to save opening the large heavy door once the corn was inside.

Reconstruction of Huxeley's Barn [36].

How much could a local bay hold? Richard Sowtham of Banbury, yeoman, left in September 1597 three "bayes of barlie" worth £30 [MS will Pec.50/5/18: Wills and Inventories BHS Vol 13 :42]. The price was high because the harvest of 1596 had been very poor sending up the price to 50s a quarter. This meant that each bay held 4 quarters. In February 1626/7 an inventory mentions a bay and a half of barley worth £13 which came to just under 7 quarters when barley was around 38s a quarter [MS.Will Pec.45/1/25: Wills & Inv. BHS Vol. 14 :278]. Although the width of every barn is not known few barns that were not storing tithe corn were larger than 16 feet wide inside with the figure of 4 quarters per bay being confirmed by their threshed loads.

How many loads produced this amount? The vicar in his threshing accounts below (Ch. 23) had at least 32 quarters of barley from 28 loads. Can this formula be used for barley?

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28 loads gave 32 quarters to fit into 8 bays.
14 loads gave 16 quarters to fit into 4 bays.
..7 loads gave 8 quarters to fit into 2 bays.
3.5 loads gave 4 quarters to fit into 1 bay.

Cropredy's remaining barns were measured. The seventeenth century terriers on the B manor gave the number of bays for the stone and thatched barns. Hall [6] had a barn of four bays which had the stable in a fifth bay and perhaps a loft over for corn as there was also a five bay hay barn. Such a loft was however far from ideal due to the rising ammonia fumes. The barn would be divided into three bays for storage and one for threshing [BNC:552]. The vicar put eight loads of barley needing two wide bays into Hall's barn and then added some wheat. How could ten loads of wheat fit into the last bay, unless there was extra loft space? How much room did wheat take up? It has been stated above that barley took up an extra quarter of cart space, but that still left at least half again of wheat to store, though it depended on the length of the straw and winter corn had a poor return that year. The wheat has not yet been satisfactorily sorted out.

The B manor farm [8] had a seven bay barn which was still not large enough for a four yardland holding. Lacking at least four out of the necessary ten barley bays they would have to put them in the rickyard behind the barn on the south side. Where was the wheat to go?

Devotion [3] had four bays with three for storage. His six acres of barley might bring in nine loads on an average year and the wheat four loads. With the 3r of oats his barn ought to hold it all. Outside to the east in his grass yard he would make a peas rick with the three or four gates of peas, but store as much hay as possible in the lofts over the cow and stable bays.

Rede [32] had a corn barn of three bays which was inadequate for the crop of perhaps eight loads of maslin/wheat and around eighteen of barley when they leased extra land in 1578. There could be as much as eighteen gates of peas to go in the peas house and rick. Before the homestall was reduced to make a smallholding in the close to the east, the farm had had a range of buildings along the edge of the North Field. By 1570 only half belonged to Rede for the Truss family [33] were given the buildings standing in their close. When leasing extra land the Redes would have to make ricks on staddle stones in their rickyard to the west, or put up an extra building. Failing this they could try to rent space (as the vicar did) in another farm's barn. They could of course have put some of the wheat into the peas barn.

At the bottom of Creampot Lane Hentlowes [35] had once leased five yardlands. Their stone barn had five bays allowing four to store barley. It was sixteen feet wide inside with eleven foot wide bays. Like all the other barns of this size the walls were twelve feet high. Hentlows had an eastern barn door for carts to enter from the yard (pp605-8). Again where did he store the surplus? Either the crops had increased or they relied on their rickyard.

On the A manor Robins [26] had built a barn with twelve feet wide bays to a depth of twenty feet (p567). This was to hold barley from twenty acres, which on average meant twentyeight loads. They had besides the large barley barn a smaller wheat one as well as the peas barn. In 1720 the wheat spilt 20 bushels into the peas barn from the wheat rick which was valued at 150 bushels [M.S.Wills Pec. 33/5/25 J.Blackamore]. The threshed wheat from each acre had produced 15 bushels 1 strike, less 1 bushel 1 strike to the lay impropriator. The tenant that year bringing home 14 bushels from each acre, but in how many loads? Barley could never be brought straight home. First it must be stooked and allowed to stand over three Sundays. The church bells having been rung thrice they ordered it home loose on the cart.

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Farmers put a lad onto a carthorse and they rode round and round under the barn roof to press down the loads. The horse, securely strapped, was brought to the ground with the aid of a hoist and rope over the transverse roof beam.

If Huxeley's [36] had to give up a bay to the cows and horse the bay left would store only 3.5 loads, threshing out to 4 quarters of barley. The straw going straight to bed and feed the stock. The walls were 12 feet high, but storage went right up into the steep thatched roof. Storage for Huxeley's small bay barn could be compared with others: Barns with:-

A small bay 16' x 8' ...........c3.5 loads.
A medium bay 16' x 11'... c4.5 loads.
Robins bay 20' x 12' .........c6+ loads.
The tithe barn had to accommodate at least 7 loads per bay.

Thomas Holloway [21] had he tells us a "Vycaredge barn" into which he orders thirteen loads. His tenancy was for a large three quarters of a yardland and on this he would grow two to four acres of wheat and six or seven acres of barley giving thirteen to eighteen loads. His thirteen loads in 1614 would fit into three bays of a four bay barn like Devotions [3]. This barn had and needed the threshing floor.

The vicar also had the peas barn into which he put nine loads of barley and six of peas in 1614. It therefore had at least three bays. How could they use this building for corn which needed threshing? Thomas had apparently to take it elsewhere: "Barly threshed oute of my pease barne in wynter 1614" [f12], whereas he mentions that barley was threshed in the parsonage barn. Did they complete the filling of the peas barn from upper loft doors? The whole crop did not have to go into the barns of course if the rent was sent off first.

Cattell's [30] four bay barn has since had the walls raised and a new roof. Figure 21.5 shows the ventilation slits and the barn as it was in 1980. The north gable upper loft door could be fed from a standing cart which would then enter the stable yard to turn (Fig.34.4).

Before going onto the threshing and winnowing chapter the carts and equipment had to be mentioned.

Cattell's Barn [30] in 1980.

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