Page 530

Reconstruction of Lumberd's House [14]

Page 531

32. Three Farms on the Green [4,15 and 16].

Whytinge and Lumberds [14].

Page 532

1614: edward lumbert ux ....ijd ......1624: Edward Lumbert et uxor...... ijd

..........his daughter ..............ijd................ Edward Lumbert................... ijd

.........alyce lumbert .............ijd ................Isabell Lumbert..................... ijd

.........Jhon his shepherd .....jd................. Shacherie meedes................. jd.

The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 9.62.

The family name had several ways of being spelt: Lumbert, Lambert, but mostly Lumberd in this period.

In 1552 Elizabeth Lambert leased one yardland of 22 acres and 4 acres of meadow. She was the "relict of William Lambert and could lease one messuage, another yardland and half a toft," providing she remained "sole." Her eldest son Richard was able to take over the lease.

When one son is given the bound cart and a young horse, a daughter a heifer, bedding, and pewter and others sheep, how did the widow cope without these things? Some had to delay parting with them, but eventually the overseers would see the children had their inheritance (p159). The Lumberds stretch back into the unknown in Cropredy and all their energies were needed not only to prevent the next generation from slipping down the ladder, but to try and move upwards. Edward Lumberd the only one of three sons to survive to adulthood considered he had risen to yeomanry status when he made his will in 1630. Brought up by his mother and step father he eventually took over his rightful claim to the lease. His sense of possession may well have been very strong.

When Richard, Edward's father, had died his widow Allys was left to rear the four surviving children. She had two most important assets, the farm and her age. Allys may still have been in her early thirties having married an older man. Her third son was Edward and he was allowed to attend school (in Banbury?). After three years Allys married Thomas Whyting and their daughter Em was born nine months later. Thomas was to farm for only eight years leaving Allys again in control and bringing up the children.

When Em Whyting was twentythree she married Thomas Devotion [3] and was one of the few girls who stayed on in the town, though her mother might have thought she was moving down the ladder from a three yardland farm to a one yardland holding. How often were marriages arranged amongst husbandmen's families? Em was from a second marriage and her stepbrother had not yet married, was she in the way? Such children have fewer claims and none on the tenement. Em did however live near and when Allys grew old Em may have come up the Long Causeway to help with the daily care of her mother. By then Em would be in her 50's.

Edward had the lease after his step-father Thomas died and his mother would continue to use the downstairs chamber. He delayed marriage for eight years. As the Whytings would not have rebuilt in stone it was left to young Lumberd to rebuild sometime we presume between 1584 and 1592. Allys remained a widow for a further twentynine years into her eighties. Their house was now large enough to take three generations each with their own chamber.

Lumberds, Toms [15] and Hunts [16] were all on late sites taken from the Green. Toms delayed their rebuilding, but Hunt's went ahead and rebuilt in stone and Lumberds appear to have done the same.

Page 533

Lumberds site was just wide enough to allow a timber long house and barn facing east down towards the Cherwell. They chose to have an eastern entrance in their front elevation which allowed the hall to be on the right of the entry passage. Had they kept the timber barn while the house was rebuilt? Neither of the Lumberd inventories mention a kitchen bay which eventually took up one bay of the possible barn space and yet they built an entry passage between the hall and kitchen. If there had been no barn or kitchen bay they could have entered the house through the south gable as Toms did. Yet the house does not appear to have been built in two phases. In which case the passage was necessary to reach the farmyard on this narrow site.

In front of the possible early barn was a forty foot wide piece of land belonging to Lumberds which gave access to the house entrance and old barn or farmyard along the southern boundary with the blacksmiths. The hall and parlour end of the property was right on the verge until this was encroached in 1793 to form a front garden.

One thing the Lumberds had in common with the Toms was a house with a generous inner width of seventeen feet, but unlike the Toms they rebuilt using spine beams throughout.

Two inventories remain which show a shared property:

Edward Lumberd Jnr March 1630/1............. Edward Lumberd October 1635

Hall [hearth] ........................................................Parlor

Upper Chamber ..................................................In the Buttery

...............................................................................Chamber over the Plor

...............................................................................Chamber at the Stair head

The stone house has generous bays and was kept separate from the barn and stables. It faced the river across the lower end of the Green, or Bridge Causeway, but their close behind the house bordered the south side of the Green as it stretched westwards. The stone house which has ashlar quoins is two and a half storeys high and still thatched. Each of the three bays have a three light casement window on the front elevation, two of which have been enlarged. The upper chamber windows have three lights. The main entrance once opened onto an entry passage behind the hall chimney and there was a rear exit. As the hall chimney was towards the front wall the entrance to the room was further down the passage on the right. In neither of the Lumberd's inventories was there any mention of the nether bay below the entry. This had a kitchen with dairy behind. The kitchen had another chimney backing onto the south gable. The parlour chamber was beyond the hall at the north end and had the buttery behind. To reach them they had to cross the hall unless a passage had been made. They would have had a newel stairs whose position is still not certain, but like Hall's [6] it was most likely against the rear wall in the hall bay. As the chamber at the stairhead appears to be over the buttery then it must have been at the rear. These generally in the sixteenth century took up an area measuring six by three feet with the steps turning round a newel post. The cockloft would have needed a ladder if the stairs only went up as far as the first floor.The walls and spine beams suggest a rebuild after 1570. The gable ends, central chimney and a roof truss support the roof. In 1663 there were two hearths.

The position of the cattle yard and timber farm buildings is uncertain. They were all replaced and the only record comes from the 1775 map which shows a building on the south boundary and the later stone barn which is not on the diagram (Fig.32.2 p538). It faced north and south with double cart doors onto the Green. A smithy was later attached and a late brick range formed a cattle yard to the west of the barn.

Page 534

Had Edward Lumberd moved to his land in Barford St Michael leaving his married son Edward to farm? It was unusual for the eldest to take the lease and marry when a younger brother was still only seventeen. Somewhere deeds must have been drawn up. When the young man is taken ill Edward senior returns without his wife for whom there is no burial entry in Cropredy, and carries on farming from the Green until he died in 1635. The blow to the father when Edward junior died must have been great. It also meant the land had passed onto his grandson, but young Richard never did take it on. The two Edwards, father and son, had divided the house up and some of the implements. They shared the buttery, but the hall went to the son who furnished it very elaborately. Father had a bedstead in the parlour where he slept. The chamber at the stairhead was furnished with a bedstead and bedding, perhaps for his relations. Edward senior stored his goods in the parlour chamber. His son having the upper chambers over the hall for the children and staff. This means that the two inventories need to be read together to get most of the house. The south bay was still missing and the cockloft with its window on the north gable. Had Edward senior used the kitchen fire to cook on and then given up his hearth when Nehemiah Haslewood moved in, so that once again the inventory would not reveal the kitchen hearth?

In 1624 Edward senior was in his late fifties and part of a small group of sixteen men who were over fifty. Only about six were actively farming and four were in trade which left six semi retired. There were about thirtynine coming up between thirty and fifty. As most men carried on into their seventies with ever diminishing parcels of land the bulk of the parish's arable had to be ploughed by around twenty Cropredy men over thirty with the help of relations and as many servants as they could afford. The task was daunting with only horse teams and a few oxen teams in the parish. In the early 1630's six of the then twentytwo farms were leased by widows (p116).

Edward junior's marriage lasted for only five years when he either had an accident, or the 1631 fever struck. Alice was left with £24, thirtysix sheep and twentyfour quarters of corn and heavy legacies to pay off. The son had kept fiftyone sheep and when his father died he had increased the flock to seventyfive, but neither of them used up their quota for the three yardlands. Sometimes they have to employ a shepherd. By the 1630's larger sums of "ready money" were found in inventories for the next rent (p184) which explains the £24. Edward junior had eight pieces of pewter "which my father Edward Lumberd did give me" as part of his inheritance. Alice had been under twentyfour at marriage and although her husband died aged thirtyeight Alice was left a widow in her late twenties and could remarry. Her affairs are settled with her father-in-law, but this time neither of her children gain the lease, the holding changes to Haslewoods. Two months before the marriage Edward made his will. A case of an early will being essential after sorting the lease out at the manor court with Alice. Wills were only required to leave legacies and to tie up any loose ends for members of the family left at home. Those of the family already settled by leases or other legal documents might receive a token shilling out of love for them, so Edward did not need to mention Alice in his will, just as Dyonice Woodrose did not mention Martha [8].

Did Nehemiah Haslewood (or Michael as he is sometimes called) pay the two older children off? Their father had left them besides £10 each "a bed and bedding where in I now lie, a cubbord in the hall to brass potes eight peeces of pewter and all other household stuff which my father ...gave me."

Page535

Edward senior kept on farming right up to his death in 1635, even though he had to share with the Haslewoods. His own son at Barford could not come to take over the land, that belonged to Alice by her marriage. Although Alice's two younger sons John and Thomas Haslewood, remained in Cropredy as did their descendants, her two older children vanish. One branch of the Lambert family had returned to Cropredy by 1775.

Lumberds shared some of their house goods. How had this come about? Had they come as a shared inheritance or was Edward senior keeping half the value for another son? They shared: "Halfe one turning table & halfe 1 table in the plor, halfe one weighting stone, halfe one paire of pothangles, half a mash fatt, halfe a cheese presse, halfe the horse trough, well buckett and Curb, halfe four stone troughs, half two garners." Edward seems to have put by some of his fire equipment in an upstairs chamber used as his store, perhaps for another of his children, while he had the use of the parlour (p652).

Edward having been sent to school and as a leaseholder had obligations when on town business to offer his writing skills and services as all others did who paid rates. Having moved to his property in Barford Saint Michael or Hempton, he then apparently returned to Cropredy and took up his former life. When he made his will Edward was not over generous. Although he left Isabell Heath his daughter £2 he did not forgive her husband Abel 7s. His executor's overseers get only 2s for their trouble, the poor 3s-4d and the bequest for church repairs was the lowest of nine after 1617. A yeoman would be expected to leave much more, though he could quite naturally have felt the poor rate now covered any obligations towards them. If Edward considered himself a yeoman, William Hall [6] called him a husbandman even though he had acquired property. The land must have been purchased or inherited after 1627 for he was not on the tax list. His apparel valued at £2 was average for a husbandman though his son's had been higher at £3. Edward was obviously never going to let widow Alice run all the farm while he was alive, but by remarrying the whole lease would eventually come to her husband. Edward was to remain in Cropredy for he was buried in the church (p166).

In the years covered by the lists they had a large household averaging a high 9.6 residents. Edward's sister Alyce born about 1561 during a gap in the registers, arrives home around 1613, perhaps to help with their mother, and then stays on until 1616. There may have been room in the chamber at the head of the stairs. She pays her Easter dues for four years, but where did she spend the rest of her life?

Pages 535 -7

Toms on the Green [15].

 

1614: wam toms ux ......ijd.......... 1624: William Shotswell et uxor..... ijd

.........wam woode ux.... ijd................... William Tomes et uxor ...........ijd

.........his man................ ijd ...................William Tomes ........................ijd

The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 6.

The Toms and their neighbours the Hunts had been in the town since before the registers began, but once again the name was absent from the 1552 survey. Hunts were there next door, but on Toms' site it was possibly George Puller who had one messuage and one yardland late in the tenure of Will Myssendon. Their demesne land consisted of one and a half yardlands containing 2 roods and 6 acres of meadow. William Myssendon had only a married daughter survive him which was why Pullers moved in, though not for long. How had the Toms lost their claim to the Summerfords/Summerfields/Sumerperts who followed the Pullers?

John and Annes Toms had three children baptised, but having both fallen prey to the fevers that beset the town in the 1550's the children were too young to take over and were apprenticed to two husbandmen (p131). Meanwhile the Sommerfords appear to have Puller's land for they had taken on the lease of [15] until the eldest son Thomas Toms returns with his wife Johan to Cropredy. By then all their children had been baptised elsewhere and until that place is found we do not know the size of this family. Although eventually Thomas's eldest son Richard was due to inherit after the death of his father, he too died only a year later. The next son William must now return permanently to take over the Cropredy lease, which was obviously more important than any other he could have found. He had been farming at Chipping Warden with his wife Jehan even though seven of their eight children were baptised in Cropredy. William helped his widowed mother Johan while the children were being cared for by relations in Chippy. Their Cropredy grandmother was possibly too frail to have them in the house on the Green.

In 1608 Granny Johan left provisions in her will to help offset the feeding costs to her kinsman William Bessen of Chipping Warden who was bringing up the young Toms: "one cow and 2 strikes of barley, 2 strike of maslen towards charges to keep my son-in-law [son or stepson] William Tomes his children, now in his keeping, for a tyme longer at the discretion of my overseers." She lived for another ten months. Toms' timber house may have been built on the Green long after the principal farms had their allocated closes.

Page538

Like the Hunts next door theirs had been built on the Green below the church. Behind the house their plot extended back for about 240 feet to the Parsonage Close leased by the vicar. That too had been taken off the Green at a time when the Bishop of Lincoln had the A Manor and all Cropredy's rectorial tithes and land.

After the rebuilding in stone began Toms' house must have been considered sufficiently new to remain in timber until the new landlord wished to add a chamber over the Hall for his wife and self to lodge in on their visits from Derbyshire. If this was not the house, then Sir Boothby had added a chamber to the bailiff's farm [50], tenanted by Wyatts. The Boothby family of landlords had moved the bailiff's farm at least twice. It went from Church Street [50] to Toms on the Green and was then transferred in 1788 up to Cropredy Hill Farm. The Brasenose College purchased the manorial rights of the A manor and Hill farm from Boothby's and from then on owned all the manorial rights for the parish of Cropredy.

Reconstruction of Three Farms on the Green [14-16].

Page 539

The timber house and barn faced east across the farmyard. The only explanation for the buttery being at the west end of the chamber bay was because this was the rear of the house. The yard dominated and apart from the barn entrance which would be for everyday use the main entrance to the property came off the Green as it went south towards the river. The farm gate was opposite the Long Causeway. The Tom's house was entered through the south gable end directly into the hall (Fig. 32.3 p541). The hall had two 7' wide bays open to the roof. The third bay had a low chamber 8' wide by 12' deep and a buttery at the west end 8' wide by 5' deep. The inner timber walls would resemble those in Church Street (ch.25). An upper chamber would have been supported on two transverse beams and reached by a ladder attached to the beam in the buttery. If the hatch into the bedroom was later used for a newel stairs entry into the upper chamber then the ladder was just inside the buttery door. Evidence of the newel post's position was found by the owners during renovations. The newel stairs took up so much of the buttery that it is possible they extended the buttery from the usual 5' to 7' to allow an entrance door from the hall, but had to reduce the lower chamber to do so.

The hall had an open hearth. To the west was a three light window with seat and shutters, but without the present day height, judging by the length of the recycled shutters. In the 1680's the buttery one light window also faced west, but whether the timber cottage had that window is not known.

The upper chamber of the one and a half storey building must have had the ceiling above the collar. The ceiling was necessary as well as a good partition wall above the open hall to keep out the smoke. On the ground floor the low chamber had two doors, one into the hall and one into the nether end of the barn. Two three light casements lit the nether room and low chamber and possibly a two light casement at the east end of the hall.

The house may have only needed the yard end of the nether bay, leaving the rest for cattle. The cart doors into the barn could have been facing the Green in which case the cows entered that way, or else the winnow door was on that side and the cart doors opened out into the yard. No nether chamber was mentioned in the inventories so the loft may have been kept entirely for hay. Once the house was stone walled the new inner stone gable was used as a roof support. From the upper chamber a hatch doorway was made into the barn loft, possibly to speed up access to feed the stock? Otherwise for general storage? This inner gable was built on a clay base which was apparently higher than the stoned front wall. Why was this for surely they added stone to all the walls at the same time?

By the 1680's the walls were already stoned and on the south gable an inglenook chimney was added to the hall, with an upper hall chamber fireplace ordered by the landlord. The ground floor windows on the western wall had specially cut lintels, but without a central keystone. They had moved the important elevation from the east to the west, but kept the south entrance with the new two light window for the hall chamber above. The spine beam to support the hall chamber floor went above the older transverse beam, so that the new floor was higher than the old upper chamber. The newel stairs were built to reach the hall chamber, for a landlord and his wife could hardly be seen climbing a ladder to bed. In the inventory of 1698 it confirms that the stairs had indeed been made for "Goods in ye roomes above stairs " had been valued at £3-3s. Upper chambers were now "rooms" and Toms' ground floor rooms,or "house," were called the parlour, dwelling house and "daryhouse."

Many alterations occured down the years. The thatch was taken off and the roof raised allowing two new windows to the upper floor facing west. A smaller hall chamber window eventually faced east when a water tank blocked the southern one and a new stairs went straight up from the entrance door, releasing more room in the buttery when the newel stairs were taken out.

Page 540

A new spine beam was used to support the old upper chamber in the parlour below, later hacked and encased when more head room was wanted. Moving the stairs left a hole and another boarded floor went over the buttery area in the upper chamber. The old upper chamber partition wall was moved southwards to widen the room and it may be at that point that the door opened out rather than into the hall chamber? Moving the partition left a long raised "step" all along the upper chamber side of the wall. Two doors entered this room so it may have been made into two small chambers.

The parlour acquired a chimney built into the stone inner gable wall using bricks on their side so that the chimney breast remained as flat as possible. A kitchen was added eastwards onto the yard, since pulled down and replaced by a south extension. The interior has been modernised and the two upper floors reduced to one level area.

In June 1607 a collection of people came through the door into a hall still open to the roof and with the cooking done on an open hearth. The vicar [21] coming down Church Lane, Justinian Hunt [16] from next door, Edward Lumberd [14] from across the Green and William Lyllee [29] who must come down the High Street to help value the stock. The son William having asked them to come would no doubt show them round. There was a chair for the scribe. The rest had the bench to sit on while writing out a rough inventory. One article mentioned was an iron worth ten shillings. This could be a sword or part of the cooking trivet, usually the later. One table was left to the daughter Isabell and another to young John. Two bedsteads were crammed into the small lower chamber, with a press and "cubbard," two coffers with sheets and spare bedding. The buttery contained two barrels, "payles" and a cheeserack. Above the buttery in the long upper chamber was a standing bed. Many of these had a high panelled head and foot connected by a wooden or cloth tester which once kept the dust from the thatch off the sleepers, even though Toms' probably had a ceiling.

Outside seven ewes with their lambs have been gathered into the yard. Four little piglets in a pen, small because worth only a shilling each. The stable was "empty" so the horses had already been passed to the son. Three beasts may have been necessary to pull the plough. Four hens, a cock and eight chickens complete the livestock. The cart, plough with its tackle, two harrows and two taywythes [?] stood on one side. In the stable old horse gear and old collars were perhaps waiting the attention of the collarmakers down Round Bottom. The standards were two troughs and two mangers. Their tools consisted of wooden forks, shovel and a dung fork. Toms had their rickyard beyond the backyard and there a scaffold was standing on staddle stones upon which stood in season the precious peas awaiting threshing. Hay if not in the hay lofts was also kept in ricks. When the men looked round they came upon some old hay with straw left over from last year. Toms had moved this into the barn and may have filled one whole loft being worth £7, leaving room for the new crop due into the rickyard. The last of the barley had been malted ready to brew for harvest. The sown yardland was worth £10 which had represented one and a half yardlands in 1592. Being thirsty their attention was drawn to the well in the yard with the bucket, rope and links. Returning into the nether end of the three bay barn they came across the brewing vessels and a kiver. They moved from the kitchen or nether room next to the house through a door into the downstairs chamber. Finally sitting down for refreshments and writing out the list completing it with the women's linen spinning wheel and part of their woollen wheel. Having finished they would leave with the customary payment in their pocket, or a promissory note. Nothing was said about their farm cottage, so if it was occupied the tenants had provided their own furniture. The wishes expressed in Thomas and Johan's wills are mentioned on (pp 107, 637 & 638).

Page 541

After brother Richard had died and his mother was buried, William had brought his family back to Cropredy: Sara was fourteen, William ten, John five, Ann three and Jane. Two more had been buried, but a third Avis was missing in her granny's will and also in the burial register (unless Avis was Jane?). William and Jehan were married for thirtyfive years, farming for twentyone in Cropredy before dividing the holding up to allow their thirtyone year old son William to marry Elizabeth Sowtham in 1629. Although a grandfather William had not relinquished all his stock for when he died there were two cows and seven sheep in his inventory and he had planted six lands of corn and one of peas. His three leyes of grass waiting to be cut were valued at £3-6s-8d and the stock £5-6s-8d formed the major part of their assets. Jehan had kept her pots, pothooks and equipment in the shared nether room. They must have slept in the low room where all is "old," not surprisingly for it was a frugal household. The scribe writing "One old bedstid...one old wool bed... an old press," but in spite of this there was adequate bedding. Once her husband had passed away Jehan did not stay in Cropredy to die. Did she and Ann go back to Chipping Warden to live, or to join Sara or Jane?

William Toms and Elizabeth Sowtham's marriage took place eight years before his father died so that another three generation family slept under the one roof. Of their nine children the fifth one, William, was the husbandman next on this farm to be followed in turn by his son and grandson both Williams. The family stays in Cropredy until the nineteenth century when by then they had married into all the local families and the last generation remain unwed, living out their days at Cropredy Hill farm. The Hill farmhouse and yard were built in 1788 and a year later the Toms left the Green to move up there.

Once the husbandmen moved up to Cropredy Hill the old farm on the Green was sold and the barn turned into a dwelling for Kinman's the collarmakers. The stables, cowshed and calf house running back from the barn became Kinman's outhouses, while the original house was taken over by Cook who was a carpenter.

The inside once resembled the cottages described in Church Street, but with the addition of a barn. Later alterations have complicated the building, but the plan can still show the possible size of the timber dwelling.

Reconstruction of Tom's Timber House and Barn [15].

Page 542

Hunts on the Green [16].

1614: John Hunt ux ..ijd..... 1624: John Hunt et uxor.... ijd

.........his man .............ijd ...............widdowe Gibbins..... ijd

.........his mayd.......... ijd ................John Times............... ijd

.........his shepherd... ijd ................Alice Gardner........... ijd

..........................................................John Cosbrooke ......ijd

The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 5.75.

Page 543

Hunt's house was rebuilt at the west end of their close [16], but Robert Hunt who had taken over William Walker's yardland by 1552 lived on the Green by the Cross (p211). Was Robert the father of John Hunt who died in 1587? John was on the farmers meadow list in 1578 and his son Justinian on the one for 1588. Both farm next to Toms in a house and barn facing west across the Green. Most unusually the landlord of the A manor was asked by John to be one of the overseers of his personal estate. For this service the Right Worshipfull Mr Richard Corbet received the large sum of ten shillings. Hunt's farm was the third largest at that time and they could afford more than most. Justinian born in 1548 was thirtysix before his eldest was born. We can only surmise he had delayed marriage to rebuild their longhouse.

Hunts were not content to remain in a timber dwelling and by 1584 may have moved into the thatched stone house and barn with plenty of farm hovels around the yards. It was rare to have an Inward Court yard and this sounds as though they came in with a flourish, but on the 1775 map the whole of the Green end of their close was built up. Was the gatehouse entrance then at the north end, or did they come through the barn? Two exits were valuable if not essential at harvest time on a busy farm. Did the carts come off the Green into the three bay barn and once empty turn into the inward court and swing round to a gateway to the north of the barn? The gateway could have a loft over for the carts were now empty. The entrance still gives access to the present property built at the rear of the Inward Court in the early 1800's. The Haddock's cottage [17] was situated at the north west corner of the close which meant the Hunt's put in the tenant. The cottage gable end faced onto the Green next to this entrance At the south west corner of the close a further gable end took in the southern bay of the house. Could the Dea House and Kiln house be in the rear extension? This is pure conjecture except for the two sideways cottages rebuilt about a hundred years ago out of Hunt's south bay using the east, west and south stone walls. Part of the Hunt's backyard behind the house being the forerunner of the present cottage gardens.

The plan was made up from the descriptions found on pages 242 and 243 under cowpens and cowhouses. This is just one possible way the site could have been set out:

Reconstruction of Hunt's House, Barn and Yards [16].

Page 544

In the Inward Court yard the cart hovel with a haulm roof over would not face south (for the sun would dry out the cart timbers), but north and could have formed part of the division between the backyard and the court. The pigs were bound to be near the dairy and the cowpen behind the backyard rather than behind the courtyard as that was taken up by a rickyard. Their ricks needed to be near enough to bring down the corn to the barn for threshing, yet far enough from the house for threshing the peas outside, perhaps in the rear grass yard, to keep the black dusty clouds from the house. A cow hovel with "standers" could be used to separate the backyard from the cowpen, but have entrances for taking water and hay in and bringing out the milk to the dairy. There was also a second hovel which possibly backed onto the rickyard's long hovel, holding wood, hay, corn and barley, or the work hovel in that yard. A large amount of wood was kept in the rick yard. Along the north side of the rickyard and court yard were the stables and the colt house, with possibly a rear wall of stone. The horses would be let out into the orchard behind the rickyard, leaving the last area for vegetables behind the cowpen? A bullock house was mentioned in 1587, but not with the cowpen hovels. The ploughs and equipment would be reasonably near the carts in the courtyard area.

When Justinian's father, John, died in 1587 only half of the house was given in the inventory for Justinian and his wife Elizabeth, who was not a local girl, lived in the rest. After 1587 John's second wife Gillian would exchange accommodation with her step-son, but she did not stay for long apparently preferring to live elsewhere. Six of Justinian and Elizabeth's nine children survive. The youngest died and was buried with his mother Elizabeth in March 1599 leaving the father to cope with two boys and four girls. Staff had always been needed and he continued to manage in this way until his sudden death ten years later.

Justinian had attended the sick widow Toms next door and shortly after he had to ask the vicar, Thomas Wyatt the blacksmith [13], and the miller Cross [51] to come and witness his own will. An unusual combination of people. After he died the vicar, Hall [6], Broughton [9], Lumberd [14] and Wyatt [13] were able to reveal the size of the house.

Two inventories survive belonging to this site. The rooms are given in the order the appraisers went round:

John Hunt October 1587.............. Justinian April 1609

Hall ....................................................Chamber beneth the Entrye

Upper chamber ................................Upper Chamber above the same room

Seconde chamber ............................Hall House

Kytchinge .........................................Kiesin

............................................................Chamber above the hall [S.bay]

............................................................[Butterie]

............................................................Chamber over the butterie

........................................................... Chamber above the hall [Over]

............................................................Chamber over the Entrie

............................................................Lofte over the kilne house

........................................................... Kilne house

............................................................Dea house

On the 1775 map the barn and house were of one long building like Huxeleys [36], and if they had followed the custom of having the hall to the right of the entry on the west elevation, then the one chimney could have backed onto the passage.

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"Above" the hall and next to the rear buttery was the main chamber in the south bay. The inventory taken by "me Holwaye vicar" and four others definitely says "In the Chamber above the hall." Not "over" as the first floor buttery and entry chambers were written, but "above." Just as the chamber "beneth" the entry was also below the hall house and the master's table. So the master's chamber, in this case, was above the hall in importance. Neither were underneath or overhead, but on the same ground floor, though there could have been a step at the door. At French's in 1617 the main chamber was "below" the hall in importance and might have been a step lower. By 1632 it had become the parlour for sleeping in. Only later did the French's sit in there. The "Chamber Beneth the Entry" at Hunts which could accommodate widows, servants or young couples, was in the nether bay next to the barn. Where exactly was the kitchen? Did it have the rear half of the nether bay behind the entry chamber, so that the window faced east onto the backyard? It was then conveniently near the back entry door with access to the yard, dairy house, kiln and well.

When the appraisers go round Hunt's in 1609 they went first left into the chamber "beneth the Entrye" which had a ladder to reach an upper chamber. On down the passage to beyond the chimney to reach the hall door on the right. The newel stairs fitting into the last three feet? To get to the kitchen they must come back and enter the kitchen door opposite. They again entered the hall (from the kitchen) to reach the south bay by passing across the hall to the master's chamber "above the hall." Behind this chamber was the buttery (which they forgot to name, but the contents recorded belonged to a buttery). It too was entered from the hall just past the stairs. The stairs wound up into the hall chamber. Off this was the childrens chamber which took up the whole bay. The scribe refered to this as the buttery chamber because it was entered directly above the buttery area and so at the rear of the house.

The chimney was confirmed as soon as the hall chamber was mentioned. Hunt's hall chamber was kept as a store and the male servants would pass through it to sleep in the chamber over the entry and at the same time guard the malt garner. The men's chamber does not appear to connect with the loft over the chamber beneath the entry so the Hunts could reserve that loft for the maids.The main elevation was facing the Green to the west, so they needed windows which lit each bay at the front.

There was still room for a three bay barn between the house and the gateway. The barn on the map was larger than the house projecting forward and giving room for an extra bushel or two of corn. Robins [26] had done the same when he built a wider barley barn (p323). Hunt's entrance gate to the yard was between the cottage [17] and the barn but lacked a loft. The property may have deteriated with the loss of income. Around 1813 a new house was built to the rear of the courtyard, and Hunts place demolished except for the cottage at the north end and the southern wing. What had happened to the Hunt's?

John (1585-1641) and Elizabeth had nine children and eventually passed the farm to Thomas (1612-70), a man who believed in setting all his sons to a useful trade so that they were all able to remain in Cropredy. Their five sons and one daughter born between 1641 and 1655 must have felt keenly the unrest of the times, but also the hopes of those who had been educated and brought up to read, who could now find in print material once suppressed by the clergy. They also had to live through the battle of Cropredy Bridge and the divisions between their neighbours. By the time Thomas's inventory was taken in September 1670 he had fallen behind with the rent, whether through illness or the severity of the times we will never know. The house was the same size, though the rooms below the entry were now called nether rooms. Butter and cheese were still made in the Dea House. No mention now of the kiln and the farm was down to perhaps three quarters of a yardland. Widow Elizabeth left Cropredy in 1673 leaving no clues as to where she went. John (1642-1699) had a bakery on this site. The old hall oven keeping his family in business.