Threshing and Winnowing

Farmers were advised to first thresh the straw least favoured by the cattle, which was wheat, but to do this meant selling at the bottom of the market. In Cropredy if rye straw was long enough it would be kept from the stock and used for thatching. The remains going for bee skeps, baskets and truckle beds. In some parts of the country a long straw was left behind after harvesting the grain and then later on the straw and weeds were cut for stover straw. No mention of this practise has yet been found in the area around Cropredy.

The small-holder's rye was kept for bread, less the amount reserved for exchanging seed. Thomas appears to thresh wheat and rye for seed, or sale, to get cash to buy in, and then reserve the rest for later. Of course if there was a dearth then farmers were ordered by the Justices to bring corn to the market soon after the harvest was in. Barley was threshed whenever they decided to send some to the malt house on the bigger farms, and for barley bread with a little wheat and rye on the smaller holdings. The threshed barley had first to have the awns removed with a hummell stick and then the straw was fed direct to the cattle, or was stored on the vicarage farm in their straw shed. The peas being threshed out of doors as and when required.

Wet days found them inside threshing the corn. The threshing bay of the barn had a special stone, or close boarded floor. Once threshed the grain was winnowed to separate out the chaff and dust.Those who had large barns could regulate the draught by positioning the two opposing doors. The smaller barns had to use the winnow door. Small holders used their winnowing sheet outside in a windy spot. Once winnowed the grain was stored behind a board in the opposite bay to the unthreshed barley. In at least eleven inventories winnow cloths are mentioned, some doing service as window blinds, and older ones used as covers on their bedsteads. They were found at [1] in 1602. [8] had 4 in 1578, Kendall one in 1596, [13] 1 in 1582, [16] 3 in 1587, but 2 in 1609, [18] 1 in 1630, [32] 3 in 1577, [39] 2 in 1630, [47] 1 in 1578 and [51] 2 in 1598.

The smaller yardlanders must thresh to pay the rent, for the College demanded malt and wheat as part of their Michaelmas rent (p339). Contract workers were brought in to thresh if there was insufficient staff to cope on the larger farms. Usually it was expected that a man was kept at the threshing, although some must be saved for work on wet days. The vicar only mentions one payment when they employed John Bryan [47] to help with the threshing, although some days they thresh a huge amount which surely needed extra help. One man working full out could thresh around five or six bushels a day. The vicar and his son paid their share of 6d each for wheat and 5d each for barley to John Bryan [c25/2 f1a]. These payments show that when a load of barley and wheat were threshed it was cheaper to get barley threshed than wheat. However wheat being a heavier corn produced more bushels per load than barley. A bushel container was measuring by volume not weight, so that depending upon the size of the grain the average 4 bushels of oats weighed 12 stone, 4 bushels of barley weighed 16 stone and 4 bushels of wheat 18 stone. Corn could be kept in four bushel sacks for taking by packhorse to market. The very heaviest grains from each crop would fall at the thresher's feet. If they saved this corn for seed, or to sell, it would raise the quality of their corn.

The flails would be thudding soon after the harvest. At the vicarage they were threshing earlier in 1589 and 1590 than his other recorded years, though a great deal was either not written up or lost. With the remaining folios we know that in 1590 his staff had threshed 12 quarters of barley on November 10th. In December 1589 he threshes 5 quarters of barley on the 2nd, 3 quarters of peas, 6 strike of "mylcorne" and 3 strike of "otes" on the 10th. Most of these earlier references find Thomas having the barley in first and some peas as required, followed by maslin from February onwards, but there is no definite pattern. In 1590 they needed 4 quarters of maslin on December the 8th, but in 1588 Holloway had reserved the threshing of this crop until the 27th of April. In 1614 they began as early as the 22nd of October to thresh 4 quarters 6 strike of barley, and this could have been sold for seed, made into malt, or sold in Banbury for bread at the low price of 2s a strike.

To gain some idea of the recorded quantities threshed over the months a summary has been made of [c25/2 f1a &f1av], divided into quarters, bushells and strikes, followed by the vicar's total for each crop, which he wrote as quarters, bushells and strikes. In 1587 they threshed "betwixt" them:

[f.1av] "of maslen more threshed wch was left beinge then old in anno 1588 betwixt us xiij quarternes & a halfe" [Written in the summer of 1588 for the previous season of 1587/88]. 1587 was the first year he had leased these extra parcels [Not his first year as vicar].

The above is Thomas Holloway's record of his produce for 1587. The barley, peas, oats, wheat and the maslin, a mixture of wheat and rye. His totals do not quite agree with his threshing records. First the barley he adds up to 45 qrs comes to just under 46 qrs which was near enough. He says the peas produced only 7 qrs so he had left out some of these from his "accompt." They then "gain" some wheat. The wheat total being 19 qrs 3s from a similar acreage to the peas.

In that year of 1587 when his produce came to over 72 quarters the country had corn harvests of 25% above average. The Holloways do not unfortunately record their number of cart loads coming in from the fields, but they did harvest 19 qrs of maslin from 12 acres which gave an excellent 12 bushels an acre [Bennett M.K. "British wheat yields per acre for seven centuries." Economic History Review 111. 1935 p12-29}Peas had a poor season for they had threshed out less than 5 bushels per acre which was hardly worth planting at 4 bushels except for the need for cattle fodder and maybe the servant's pottage.

No Holloway records survive for the disastrous years of 1594 to 1597, or for the better ones of 1598 to 1606. We join him again in 1607 which was below average before moving on to 1613 which had a poor harvest. The price of wheat in 1614 was 41s-8d a quarter or 5s-2d a bushel. It dropped to 38s-8d in 1615.

Once again 1614 has the clearest records with the vicar giving each barn's threshing days. The Holloway's staff go down to the rented barn at Hall's [6], which may have to be threshed first to clear the bays for the next Quarter day. By the 22nd of November his men had threshed 3 qrs 2s of maslin and some wheat kept separately, perhaps to sell for seed. The threshers returned to Hall's barn in December [f7v]:

They are distinguishing here only between the best and the poorer wheats by calling them red or white. Each variety had been sown on the best type of soil for that wheat amongst the strips they farmed.

When threshing the maslin for bread corn they kept it separate from the pure wheat grains. Once it was threshed and winnowed it went into a cornbin. This was tight boarded with a lid to keep out vermin. Wooden bins or partitions with some sort of cover separated the different grains, but as the barn did not belong to the vicar nothing could be stored here. When the last grains had been removed then the barn must be swept up and made ready for Mr Hall to repossess it. In all they only record 4 quarters from this barn, from 8 loads of maslin and 2 loads 2 strike of wheat, which means regretfully we cannot work out what his winter crop produced. Had the missing loads contained Holloway's own rectorial tithes owed to Hall, or some of the winter corn tithes collected by Thomas and Hall from the other tenants?

The vicar records the threshing from the parsonage barn far more accurately for he had to answer to the lay impropriator the results of threshing out twentyeight loads of barley in their tithe barn. They threshed the loads in there on three days:

This now gives us the number of strikes (19) threshed out of every barley load in 1614. It will be remembered that by providing a little information about the barns this solution has already been handed out (p318). The problem when trying to find the missing link is that each section requires the answer before it has been found. The other two barns were recorded on [c25/2 f6v]:

This is obviously incomplete for the Holloways had stored 13 quarters in there. Thomas then goes on to mention:

From the 1st to the 9th of March the threshers went from the parsonage barn to the vicar's barn. He recorded a frantic period of threshing that March, tidying up the barn for Mr Hall [6] and threshing corn out of the peas barn on the first, though we do not know which barn the corn was threshed in. On the 4th they move back to the vicarage barn and across to collect more from the peas barn on the 7th. The parsonage barn resounds to the flails banging out in rythmn on the 8th and 9th finishing off in the vicarage barn. What was the hurry? He cannot have required all that for planting the spring barley, their own malt, or even for rent so he must have been selling it for seed or sending it to be malted for sale. Unfortunately none of Thomas's remaining folios record what he did with it. The straw alone must have filled the straw barn, which was one reason to keep on the move from barn to barn while the men and women tied up sheaves of straw and stacked them to clear the threshing floor for more flailing or winnowing. That March they processed 32 quarters 6 bushels and 1 strike over five days of actual threshing. All must be moved on for the vicar could not keep threshed barley in his garner for the rest of the summer.

The given threshing totals from the barns are not sufficient to clear them. In the vicarage barn 10 qrs 4b from 13 loads was too low so where had the rest gone? As the parsonage barn corn was threshed out to 9b 1s per load, the vicarage barn should have produced over 15 qrs. The Hall barn's 8 loads would give 9 qrs 5b, and from the peas barns' 9 loads would give 10 qrs, so that from the 30 loads would come approximately on that particular year 35 qrs 5b of barley not just under 33 quarters. Had the missing quarters paid for the extra day labourers brought in to thresh the barley?

When corn was plentiful, the price dropped and more must leave the barn, to cover the rent. A poor year took the price up and it was hoped there was enough for home and rent, but always enough to fill their purses against the next entry fine, marriage or stock replacement. A dreadful harvest emptied the purse, the garners and soon the barn. The A manor landlord in 1688, quoted above, generally had his rent from corn, but on occasions stock must first be sold to save the tenant from expulsion (p342).

London's demands for more wheat and malt may not have reached Banbury by 1640, although the city population had more than doubled during our period. Husbandmen were still using their local markets. Wheat commanding the highest price could absorb the local transport costs and still make a profit. Barley was more profitable as malt which increased its sale value.

Emergency procedures could be put into operation when corn was so scarce the poor were in danger of protesting. The Justices could set the price of a bushel of barley, wheat, rye and oats, to prevent it going beyond the purses of the labourers. Some of the market preachers stressed the need to keep the price of corn within the pocket of the poor. It would be helpful if more information was known about the effect this had on Cropredy husbandmen. Did the Justices act and if so did any of the farmer's grain stores come under scrutiny? The only evidence we have is the date of the sale of the Holloway's corn in autumn following acute shortage.

All corn or malt must go to the market except for the little sold to local day labourers who did not receive enough corn in lieu of wages, or to craftsmen for whom it was inconvenient to travel to market to purchase some. The vicar fortunately does record some sales to local people, who were his neighbours, and presumably all husbandmen did the same? At the market the poor had to be allowed to buy before the dealers. We do not know from Holloway's accounts if he actually took the corn himself to market. As a gentleman it would be expected he sent his man, except when he wished to purchase seed corn.

The vicar wrote down sales of maslin soon after the harvest of 1614 [f7], as there was a shortage of bread corn since the deficient 1613 harvest. He sent some maslin to "ba[n]bury" to sell at a low price of 2s 11d a strike:

The "halfe a quarter" of maslin sold the 3 of November for 11s (1s 3d a strike) was less than half that sold to Richard Hunt [5], weaver on the Long Causeway. Richard was the other rectorial tenant. Would he help the vicar with his harvest and the vicar in return supply him with seed or bread corn? Maslin sank from 2s 11d to 2s-9d by the 20th of October then continued upwards so that Richard was paying for two at 3s a strike and a third at 3s-2d. There are no records of the Hunts weaver having arable strips, but they could have leased some surely from a relative like Justinian [16]. Otherwise they made bread from the vicar's corn. This corn compares with the seed Thomas bought in for which he paid 3s a strike for rye, 3s 4d a strike for maslin and 4s for white wheat in October, but all good quality seed corn (p309). Hunt was purchasing at a time when husbandmen were out sowing their winter corn.

Thomas may give the dates for these sales because of the price, and to remember from whom and where he purchased seed and sold seed to, which was important, if he was to avoid repeating the transaction another year. Yet he also moved corn that was not included in any of his threshing records which may be why the maslin threshed and winnowed in Hall's barn does not add up to the number of loads taken and stored there, so that some unthreshed corn may have gone for rent. Or was this the corn that kept his house fed? Thomas did leave a folio mentioning barley going to be malted for home brewing (p668).

In the summer of 1615 [f7] Holloway sells the rest of the wheat, millcorns and malts which were presumably surplus at Wedgebury and Southam. On the last day wheat fetched 3s 6d and millcorn 2s 10d a strike, so there was little benefit that year of hanging on for a better price, but just to clear the garners for the new corn soon to come in. He sold some malt at 3s a strike in June.

The sales for autumn 1615 began with half a quarter of wheat sold for 16s. The previous year we saw that 3 strike of maslin had been sold at a similar price of 2s a strike on St Luke's day and it was presumed this might be because of a dearth in 1613 (p336). Though the harvest of wheat in 1614 had been barely enough to regain the seed the price should have gone up. So why was the first sale of wheat in 1615 at such a low price? Had the authorities ordered it? Then suddenly two weeks later wheat rose sharply doubling in price. It remained at 4s from October through to March, then by the 21st went up 6d. It finally reached 5 shillings on June 21st, which was higher than the previous summer. Later in 1618 and 1619 wheat prices fell and then the bumper harvest of 1620 forced prices so low, sales stopped. This was then followed by two poor harvests. The value of corn can be realised by Widow Wallis's sown winter corn. Alice Wallis the blacksmith's widow of Bourton left in November 1622 one half of 2 lands, 2 yerds and one butt planted with winter corn worth 33s-4d which was just over 6s a butt, or 24s an acre. The seed must have risen very high indeed that year [MS.Will Pec.54/2/28].

In the winter of 1615/16 maslin remained steady at 3s-4d into March. Millcorn was lower, at 3s-2d, but little was sold from the vicarage.

Barley stayed down at under 1s-8d, usually nearer 1s-6d a strike. Malt brought in higher sales, but of course some of the bushel was lost in malting and the maltster needed paying. A quarter of barley weighed 448 lbs, but a quarter of malt weighed 336 lbs. This loss was equal to two bushels out of eight as one average barley bushel weighed 56 lbs. The price of malt in 1615/16 was 3s up to 3s-6d a strike.

The list of sales was longer for the year of 1615 to 1616 [fols.10v,11,11v]. Corn was sold to Holloway's neighbours. First to John Suffolk [60] who lived at the top of Hello. John bought a strike of malt at 3s 4d and 2 strike of wheat for 8s. Perhaps the wheat was for planting one land. 14 years before in 1600 [f12] John Suffolk had sold to the vicar 6 strike of peas at 1s-6d a strike, which the Holloways may have had for seed, and a second lot of 3 qrs "payd before hand" wrote Holloway and "more at the same price..." but it was not, for he bought it at half the price. Although no month is given this was surely a great bargain. If John had grown peas then he must also have been growing wheat, as all the farmers did to balance their rotation of crops, but the exchange is puzzling for it was the produce of perhaps two yardlands yet at that time Suffolk had no land being as yet unmarried. At a later date he took on William Rose's half yardland from the widow Ellen, and indeed had their house, so perhaps John was a relative, or had taken care of them on the understanding he was to get the lease. Meanwhile he appears to be in the business of buying and selling.

Charles Allen [44], who lived behind Church Street on part of Coldwell's [50] farm, purchased a strike of maslin at 2d over the current price, paying out 3s-6d on November the 18th 1615. Here was a man working for Coldwell's [50], who may have wanted fresh seed. A strike would however plant only one butt. We do not know how many strips he was allowed to cultivate for his own family.

Another man who resided near the Holloways was the whitbaker William Hill. He lived opposite them in a College copyhold cottage [20]. On the 20th of April 1616 Thomas sold him 3 strike of wheat for 13s 6d and eight days later 3 more strike at the same high price. In June William paid an even higher amount of 15s for another 3 strike. The following winter again saw the baker purchasing, this time 2 strike "at ten groats a stryke" which came to 6s-8d [f.12v] [A groat was then worth 4d, so 9 groats would be 3s (15p)].

We have been looking at the sales in the better recorded years of the second decade, but there are two torn, part folios in which the markets of "sowtham and bambury" appear, just under thirty years before in 1587 and 1588. Holloway also recorded his local sales. One of the purchasers was William Rose [60] who died in 1602. Was he a merchant as well as a grazier? Another buyer was "Jho edde of Bloxam," but what he sold him has been lost [f 1c]. Thomas Holloway sold malt in 1588 to "goodwyfe" Mosely and "goodwyfe" Kinge both of Wardington. Had they each turned to brewing, opening an ale house under their own roof, to pay the rent? [f.1cv]:

The 1588 list then switches to sales of maslin. First Thomas records an exchange of some maslin for oats with "Somerpor" who had Toms' farm [15] on the Green. William Rose [60] bought one strike for 1s-1d. The price rose sharply to 2s by March and up another 1d by the 12th of April. Another neighbour "goodwyfe wodd" was sold a strike of maslin in April for 2s. A third customer for the maslin was William Atkins [Adkins] who bought a strike in March and another in April. William was buying in only just enough maslin to make bread for two at 6d a week, yet they had five children already and the next baby just about due. Their stone and thatched cottage [10] was next to the Pages at the north end of the Long Causeway. Adkins (p497) kept this cottage, or another when the two cottages were merged with infills to make Cope's Row. We do not know what trade the Adkins followed. Other lists of sales up to 1614 have been lost.

The long list of sales show which markets the vicar uses. He sent millcorn to Southam, ten miles to the north, on the 25th of January 1615/16, and barley there in June. A quarter of barley went to Banbury, four miles to the south, on February 16th. Their sales at Warwick, seventeen miles to the west, were the most important sending over at first eight bushels, then twelve on five occasions: Feb 18th, April 6th, 13th, 20th, and 28th. Each four bushel sack of barley, weighing sixteen stone, lay flat on the packhorse's back. Although the road from Brackley to Warwick passes through Cropredy it seems a long way to go except that the countryside there was more pastoral, and barley for malting, or bread would fetch a reasonable price. Was Holloway sending his corn to Warwick with Christopher Cleredge the woolwinder, dealer and farmer of Great Bourton as he had earlier sent his stock? Or was his own man able to do this?

How large a household could a yardland support? Adult males required a quarter each of barley and peas per annum for bread and pottage, so that only some of the larger farms were able to use their barley for malt. The yardlanders needed most of their barley for bread, adding a small quantity of rye, wheat or a mixture of these two to help it rise a little. Rye added taste, though on its own made a good flat bread which took a longer time to prepare and produce. Peas were a necessary addition to the diet for pottage and sometimes used for a "bread," but because it was so fractious they made a "cake" using barley [Howell C. Land, Family & Inheritance in Transition] . Eating two to three pounds of barley bread could provide adequate calories a day, with the addition of butter, soft cheese, home grown onions, garlic or leeks as well as ample greens from the garden (p284). All that was lacking was salted herrings or protein from some local meat. Their own cheese and bacon came from the holding, though only just as it may have to pay the rent, if all else failed.

What did the harvest have to pay for?The out goings were many. First the lay impropriator who farmed the great tithes had their rectorial tenth of corn, if not straight from the field at least by Martinmas. Secondly outgoings were paid to the vicar which included an annual tithe of 6s-8d on every yardland, as well as tithes on cows, calves, sheep, wool, poultry, eggs and fruit. They must also give their 2d each year for their Easter oblations and pay their meadow dues.

Twice yearly the rent must be found. By an Act of 18 Elizabeth [1576] a third of the old rent had now to be paid in kind by the B manor tenants. Those that had to send malt to the College paid dearly for it as the following four tenants found.

In 1540 the B manor farm [8] had a hundred and fortynine acres at a rent of £ 5-3s-4d. By 1586 their rent was down to £ 3-15s-6d, but in addition they must now send 1 bushel of good wheat and 7 quarters 3 bushels 1 peck of malt, and this made a much stiffer rent. The Brasenose College certainly gained at the expense of the tenant. For example in 1615 the malt alone was worth £23-12s and the wheat 8s. A total of £27-15s-6d, or just over 3s-8d an acre, but remember they were fortunate in having the valuable meadows.

In 1609 Hall [6] on seventyfive and a half acres paid £1-3s-4d rent plus 4 bushels of wheat and 1 quarter 5 bushels of malt. This could have cost him in 1615 £1-12s plus £ 5-4s, a total of £7-19s-4d. A rent of about 2s-3d an acre.

Devotion [3] on twentysix acres had a rent of 8s-8d, 2 bushels 1 peck of wheat and 4 bushels of malt. This was for a small yardland and meant he paid over all 2s-3d an acre.

Hentlowe's [35] sub-tenant on seventyone acres paid £ 1-1s rent, 3 bushels of wheat and 1 quarter 2 bushels of malt worth £6-5s in 1615. This was only 1s-9d an acre, but like the other tenants several acres could not produce and the productive part of the farm upon which the rent was paid came from the corn field which meant those acres took all the costs of the outgoings. In Devotion's case this meant each barley and wheat acre must raise 7s-3d per acre for the rent alone in 1615.

Robins [26] in 1603 had when he died four years left of his lease of two yardlands worth £16 which was of course £2 a year per yardland from his original entry fine. He also leased another half yardland parcel for he had two extra cows.

Leases were mentioned in only twentyseven wills between 1578 and 1634. William Shirley of Bourton who died in 1602 had nine years left of his cottage lease which worked out at 5s-6d a year, though he would still be owing a yearly rent on top [M.S.Wills Pec. 50/5/24]. If the lease had been entered quite recently and the fine paid, then this was an item to include in the inventory. Tenements with only a few years left might leave more money in their purse, or out on loan ready for the renewal of the lease. Entry fines could be increased if the house had added advantages such as being a two and a half storey building, leasing a larger than average close, or extra meadowing. As properties improved, often at the tenant's cost, then the wealthier men paid higher entry fees and entered upon a former husbandman's farm. This happened at the B manor farm [8] and Springfield [6].

Every copyhold tenant must pay an entry fine and on the death of one of the three lives enrolled on the lease a heriot was due. If after fourteen years no-one had died an extra heriot had to be paid to the landlord. The best beast was often taken for the heriot or else its value in money.

The parish was soon to have a Poor Rate and a Church Rate in place of Church Ales. There was also the constant drain on the purse keeping the buildings in repair. Endlessly they thatched the roof with their own straw, though old thatch went out for manure. Apart from keeping buildings in repair the tenants had to keep their own home close walls stockproof and other hedges in the parish allotted to them. The landlord owned all the trees (p207) supplying wood for major repairs. The tenants keeping the stock of trees going by replenishing the mounds yearly. Eight small ashes might be required for a small barn roof repair and the manor bailiff would select the appropriate size. They must keep all the ditches flowing and attend to the waterings. Time and effort must go on the parish roads and the vestry attended to, all of which meant a longer and more exhausting day.

How much did the A. Manor tenants pay? The land was presumably valued at the same rate, but they do not appear to pay in kind. This meant on some years the tenants could benefit more than their neighbours from rising prices. The College husbandmen leased extra land from the A. Manor whenever the chance arose and on that land they could make the extra money. Many had land in other parishes and let it out. The vicar let a yardland of his glebe in Claydon for £10 a year in 1670.

After a few years of dearth then the husbandmen may have been forced to under sow their land, especially the smaller farms. Even with endless weeding and manuring, as much as they were able, their farm might take years to recover. They knew the thin margins and strove to rise above the bread line by sheer hard work, and hopefully a multitude of good seasons.

Crop Valuations.

The farmers of Cropredy, like anywhere else, would if asked be able to put an estimate on the value of the crop growing in their fields. In September 1592 Rechard Howse's [28] crop on the ground was worth £10 for his one and a half yardlands. In 1587 the crop of three yardlands just gathered had been worth £20 or £6-13s-4d per yardland. The five years had made no difference to the price so this appears to be a standard value rather than a true value. It may have been based on the rent per acre, though that was not the case on the B manor, which we saw varied. It could be said that the neighbours were not using their market judgement, but conforming to a traditional figure which took no notice of the market's yearly fluctuations. Unless the time of year was all important? They themselves were well aware of the real value which so depended upon the weather, the state of the market as well as the husbandman's skills at farming, yet this was not called for here. They were expected to honestly appraise the moveable goods, especially the stock in a just and careful way (under oath) so that if necessary the goods could be sold at around that price. Below are some of the valuations of their neighbours' crops:

Farm	Name	Date	Reference	Value	Comments	Ydland
[25]	Gybbs	Jany. 1577	One cropp of corn	£4	c 10 Qrs	1
			A Rycke of pese	£2	c 4 Qrs
[32]	Rede	Feby. 1577	The cropp of corn	£4	c 10 Qrs	1
[8]	Nuberry	May !578	Crop of corn & grass	£26-13s-4d		4
[26]	Robins	Feby. 1579	Corne & peese	£7
			Crop of winter corne
			Sowen being 16 redges	£2-13s-4d		2.5
[16]	Hunt	Oct. 1587	Crop of 3 yardlands	£20		3
[35]	Hanwell	Nov.1592	Crop in barn & sowell	£6-13s-4d		c1
[28]	Howse	Sept. 1592	Crop on the ground	£10		c1.5
[35]	Watts	Aug. 1602	Corn crop in the field	£20		2
[26]	Robins	Dec. 1604	20 lands of maslin	£5	c 10 acres	2.5
[14]	Toms	June 1607	Crop of one yardland	£10		1

Farm	Name	Date	Reference	Value	Comments	Ydland
[14]	Toms	Oct.1609	Her pt. of 7 ridges of	£1	@ 5s-6d an acre
			wheat sowed...
[15]	Hunt	April 1609	18 strike of mault	£4-10s-9d	@ 10s a strike
			Crop in the field	£50		c3.25
[8]	Woodrose	May 1628	Corn on the ground	£40		4
[26]	Robins	June 1631	Corne on the ground	£40		c3.5

The Brasenose College had their rent we saw partly paid in kind, but this was not to the advantage of the tenant, except it saved them the difficulty of acquiring coinage. As far as we know the A manor continued to pay customary rents. All might appear well on the outside, but the struggle to provide enough to keep the stock fed, to pay the bills, the legacies, the entry fines, all went on regardless of the convenience of the new stone building with their new fireplaces, separate chambers and dairies, for these did not pay the rent and all the other outgoings. Finding money to meet expenses often proved very difficult, especially at the start or end of their farming life. The absent landlords only wanted the rent paid. The cause of nonpayment was of no interest to them. There was no excuse for delay once the harvest had been safely gathered. In 1688 their landlord, Sir William Boothby, grew very angry at the slowness of his rent payments from Cropredy. "My tenants at Cropredy have less reason than most others, who live upon grasing and cannot sell their stock for what they bought them in and some out of the principal stock (this falls heavy). But my tenants in Oxfordshire have not this to say for them, Corne is all ways ready money." He wanted a set rent day and all to pay, "for I had rather my land lie fallow than my tenants eate them out, and not the rent paid to doe me service at the time I expect them and must have them to supply my occasions" [Add. MS. 71962 p120: Dec 2nd 1688 letter to Mr Osbourn].

There is one other problem that greatly affected all husbandmen and smallholders and that was their loss from corn spoilt by rats and pigeons or other vermin eating the freshly sown crops. At the end of the seventeenth century there survives a book of church wardens' accounts showing they paid for the collection of sparrow heads and urchins (hedgehogs), but why not rats or mice? Rats not only brought disease to people, but also to stock. They contaminated the corn, the hay and anything else they touched. By keeping their garners in the servant's sleeping chamber they hoped to keep the rats from spoiling it. The staddle stones acting as the base for ricks also prevented rats climbing up, but they still stole eggs and polluted the ditches. Dogs must have been used to check the pests, but neither dogs (p274), nor cats are in any of the Cropredy records.

Not all the townsmen had land to help pay the rent. Out of the sixty households in 1624

Who was growing the extra corn for them to buy? We have seen there were 56 yardlands which would have once fed the entire population of Cropredy. Now there were only twentyfour households and sometimes less devoting their entire energies to husbandry. Their first yardland must feed at least six people in the household. The second and perhaps third yardland's crops (after outgoings had been paid off) were sold and bought by the nonfarming townsmen. It was of course not quite as simple as that. The smaller yardlanders were on a marginal existence with many outgoings draining what they did manage to harvest, even Rede who could grow corn on 11.5 acres had to rear horses to gain extra resources. Both Rede and Devotion had improved the situation by growing peas for themselves and the stock, but still the fact remained that after paying the rent there was little over for others. That left those with one and a half or more yardlands to produce enough grain and cheese. The corn for the landlord whether sold by the tenant to pay his rent, or by the landlord at the market would of course have gone to feed the population of Cropredy. Now there were only twentyfour households and sometimes less devoting their entire energies to husbandry. Their first yardland must feed at least six people in the household. The second and perhaps third yardland's crops (after outgoings had been paid off) were sold and bought by the nonfarming townsmen. It was of course not quite as simple as that. The smaller yardlanders were on a marginal existence with many outgoings draining what they did manage to harvest, even Rede who could grow corn on 11.5 acres had to rear horses to gain extra resources. Both Rede and Devotion had improved the situation by growing peas for themselves and the stock, but still the fact remained that after paying the rent there was little over for others. That left those with one and a half or more yardlands to produce enough grain and cheese. The corn for the landlord whether sold by the tenant to pay his rent, or by the landlord at the market would of course have gone to feed the population along with the tithe corn sold.

With no owner occupiers all the townsmen had rents to find which makes it all the more remarkable that they were still able to help build such sound dwellings, many of which are around us today. Part 4 introduces us to these families in their new homes.

23. Threshing and Winnowing.

Crop Valuations.