Researching the history of commons Some important sources Frances - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Researching the history of commons Some important sources Frances - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Researching the history of commons Some important sources Frances Kerner Mary Webb The origin and history of common lands in England is inseparably bound up with the history of the manor Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton Commons and Common Fields

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Researching the history of commons Some important sources

Frances Kerner Mary Webb

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The origin and history of common lands in England is inseparably bound up with the history of the manor

Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton

Commons and Common Fields 1886

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Questions The manor Definitions Court Records Maps Other records

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Questions

– What was the extent in the past ? – What were its physical characteristics ? – Can common rights be identified? – How was the common’s sustainability managed ? – Is there a scheme of management ? – Has it changed hands ? – What settlement, if any, developed ? – Who used the common ? – How was it used post 1860s ? – What memories can be collected ? – What photographs have survived ?

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The manor

a single administrative unit of a landed estate manor distinguished by court various size VCH: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/

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Common

A profit that a Man hath in the land of another person

Giles Jacobs 1744

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Common Rights (Appurtenant to property for use of dominant tenement)

Pasture Pannage Estovers Turbary Piscary Rights in soil

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Waste

Waste those lands which are not in any Man’s occupation, but lie Common; which are so called, because the Lord cannot make such Profit of them as other Lands, by Reason of that Use which others have thereof in passing to and fro, etc but upon this none may build, cut down Trees or dig without the Lord’s Licence

Giles Jacobs 1744

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Manorial Records

Court Rolls Court Books Surveys Orders Pains Bylaws Admissions and Surrenders

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Manorial Documents Register The National Archives

Buckinghamshire Hertfordshire Bedfordshire Oxfordshire

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Encroachment

Who is presented at court for encroachment ? What are encroachers fined for? Property & landholding

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Wm Sharpe of the parish of Fingest for digging Clay in the Lord of this Manor’s Waste

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The decline of the manorial court

Who manages the common ? Schemes of regulation Minute books Committees

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Other sources

Title deeds

Valuations, Sale Plans, 1910 IR Letters Maps/Sketches/plans Wills Parish Records Newspapers Census Photographs

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Maps

  • Ordnance Survey
  • County and Estate
  • Tithe Maps and Apportionments
  • Enclosure Maps and Awards
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Stokenchurch

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Ordnance Survey Historic maps Surveyors Drawings 1789 - c1840 2”to mile

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1805- 1874 1st edition

1” to a mile (1:63 360)

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1850-1880 1st ed. 6” to 1 mile 1:10560)

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1860- 1870 25” to a mile (1:2,500) Part of Cadmore End Common (1881)

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County maps Late 18th and early 19th century Oxon 1797 Richard Davis Bucks 1770 Thomas Jefferys Bucks 1824 Arthur Bryant Herts 1820 Arthur Bryant Beds 1794 John Carey

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Estate Maps

  • Maps made for land owners at various

dates

  • Less easily accessible than other types,
  • ften held by owners
  • Fairly accurate; more detail than county

maps

  • West Wycombe Estate Maps c1700 &

1767 private

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Tithe Maps & Apportionments c1840

  • Tithes – originally payment in kind to the

Church (a tenth of produce)

  • Disarray by early 19thC; resentment from

Non-conformists, towns

  • Tithe Commutation Act 1836
  • Surveys and Valuations of 75% of parishes

in England and Wales

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Tithe Maps & Apportionments c1840

  • Maps:

vary in appearance and size; show numbered plots

  • Apportionments:

record plot number and name; land owner and occupier; land use; acreage.

  • Commons and ponds recorded
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Stokenchurch Tithe Map 1842

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Parliamentary Enclosure

  • Most Chilterns common land enclosed under the

1845 (General Enclosure Act).

  • Maps show numbered plots for enclosure; new

roads; ponds; allotments for the labouring poor and for recreation.

  • Awards record roads to be laid out or stopped up;

ponds; plot number and land owner. Allotments for individuals, the labouring poor, for recreation

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Extent of Commons Stokenchurch

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Stokenchurch Enclosure Map 1861

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Field work

  • Remnant vegetation: Bracken, gorse,

woodland plants such as bluebells, dog’s mercury or wood anemone

  • Enclosure hedges: straight lines;

hawthorn; little ground flora

  • Old hedges (non-enclosure): mixed

hedge species; old stumps or evidence of hedge laying; varied ground flora including woodland plants

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Further Sources:

  • Victoria County History (VCH)
  • Local writers relating to parish or village
  • Old floras may provide some clues to

appearance of commons e.g. Druce 1886

  • Agricultural histories and comment e.g.

Arthur Young 1813

  • Early travellers around England e.g.

Daniel Defoe 1724, John Leland 1535-43.