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D29.1 Group Three Properties in a Deed of 1681
29. Group Three Properties.
A deed was made in 1681 which concerned twelve of the properties built in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, and an extra one called Shotswell's House near the Lower Mill [Bodly 4950]. All these continued to pay tithes after 1775. They could not be redeemed with the other properties still left on the A manor estate having been sold off the estate in 1681. Three of the long house types [36, 38 &39] are in chapter 26. After looking first at the new windmills we begin with the two water mills [1 & 51]. The cottages in this group will be visited starting in Round Bottom. It will be noticed that they were all on marginal land from the former Green below the church, meadow land above the river and the edge of the demesne property. Fenny's [43] seems to take in the east end of Suttons, but awkwardly tucked into the corner of the vicarage.
The New Windmills.
In the area covered by the ecclesiastical parish at least five or six new windmills were built during the Reverend Thomas Holloway's time.
Williamscote had one by the Daventry road belonging to Chambres of Williamscote manor, who leased it to the Palmers [1] living at Cropredy's lower mill. He charged a £200 entry fee and a yearly rent of £3. The deed was witnessed by Arthur Coldwell [50] on the 20th of October 1617 [MS. dd Loveday c4/6].
Wardington built a most unusual windmill, it was on top of their watermill.
Bourton took advantage of their highest land along the ridgeway to build their windmill. It became know as the Windmill Quarter. As Bourton's Slat water mill was often flooded the millers built a windmill near Cropredy Lower mill [Bourton House grounds] which later shared the same miller for all three.
Cropredy was said to have built a windmill on the Cropredy side of the Broadway almost opposite the new Mollington Windmill, both taking advantage of the highest land. Or was there only one on the Mollington side? Brouncker wrote around 1620 that "The windmills lately builded the vicar forborne to take" any tithe. "From each watermill useale 4 in the parish/ I have two stricke of millcorne a quarter/ they plead custome for it" [c25/10 f4]. Brouncker somehow won these tithes from the millers "I am to have all other tythes for the mills besides" the fruits and small tithes [f2v].
The Upper and Lower Cropredy Water Mills.
The two ancient water mills were built before 1086. The Bishops of Lincoln only surrendering them in 1547. In 1572 they were owned as part of the A manor by Thomas Lee's widow who lived at Clattercote. A hundred years later in 1681 the A manor sold off the Upper mill, but kept on the Lower mill.
The centre of the river Cherwell had been used as a parish boundary and the lower mill cut which had to be made on higher ground was also used to take the returning parish boundary. This allowed Cropredy to have an extra mill, for the bottom mill was on a narrow strip of land jutting towards Bourton, instead of the boundary turning west at the lasher.
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The river had five water mills over a short stretch and although evenly spaced out to achieve the maximum head of water to turn the wheels, difficulties arose in years of drought. In wet seasons Cropredy's lower mill never suffered from flooding which were such a problem at Bourton's Slat mill. All water mills had a programme to fit in with the mills above and below, each storing water in their pound to release through their sluice to activate the mill wheel.
The upper mill at Cropredy [51] took advantage of the water from High Furlong brook coming into the fflempan which was a narrow channel to the north of the mill. It was also boosted by the stream coming down Creampot Lane. The channel crossed to the mill pound just above the mill house. The fflempan was possibly a man made shallow waterway which could be held back to give a sudden flush of power when most needed. The mill's lasher was made near the entrance of the High Furlong brook 's overflow into the river. Recently the Cherwell river bed was filled in and the lasher removed leaving just the mill cut alongside Prescote drive. Between the cut and the river was the miller's ham. They reached this by a ford through the mill cut opposite the miller's house on the Bank. When the canal was planned the mill tail pond was filled in. The mill, millhouse and cottages [51-54] were pulled down. Three cottages were built just north of the filled in tail pond to replace them. The Bank on which the mill house stood can still be seen.
D29.2 Reconstruction of Cropredy Upper Mill [51] 1681.
The mill pound for the lower mill as well as the Cherwell river have both been kept, although the height of the lasher has been changed. A connection between the river and the mill tail was lost perhaps when the mill was rebuilt next to the canal after 1818.
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Townsmen took their corn down very old ways leading to the mills. A mill lane came down from the Williamscote hill to the Lower mill and met another mill lane from Cropredy's Long Causeway.
The miller tested their flour between a finger and thumb after a short trial run. From this he should know the type of corn, its temperature, moisture content, whether it was freshly threshed or had been stored. All this information was necessary to gauge his milling to ensure the maximum profit to him.
No corn was stored at the mill as the miller would finish each customers sack, bag it after taking his toll and return the flour to the waiting customer. The corn miller took six quarts from a bushel of ground wheat or barley and eight quarts for oats. Increasing his income meant attracting townsmen away from other mills, a difficult task if the neighbours were efficient, though a good site helped some, especially those who had access to a windmill as well. An organised customer rota would be understood and everyone would anxiously watch the height of the water. Because of the size of the toll many millers were unpopular. Cropredy millers were keeping hens and pigs, but in some areas these were banned [Dorothy Hartley: The Land of England. Book Club Associates 1947 p188].
If the family of Lords were using the mill power to full cloth as well as grinding corn, had the parish begun to send more corn away than previously, or had the windmills captured a lot of the trade? Cross [51] may have been still grinding corn after the Smythes family of millers left, but by 1681 the upper mill was sold to a collarmaker. Was this because it was difficult to get their landlords to finance repairs? The millstones were very costly, for they came from Derbyshire or France. The stones needed the constant attention of a millwright who might recut them as often as every four weeks. He used an adze to keep the sharp straight edge which cut the corn. The shallow grooves in between allowed the ground flour to leave the mill stone. Replacements of millstones for under tenants, as Cross and Lord were, could have caused much anxiety. Cross's lease was in the hands of Mr Coldwell of the A manor farm [50], but at least he too would have corn to grind. Coldwell's widow Elizabeth passed the tenancy to Richard Gorstelow of Prescote who already leased the Prescote mill. Did this help to take away trade from Cropredy's mill?
The two mill houses were built in stone. Smythes upper mill [51] house and Palmers at the lower mill [1] were both mentioned in the sixteenth century, but Shotswells [1a] may only have been built in the first quarter of the seventeenth, unless Robert Lord built it.
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Palmers, millers of the Lower Cropredy Mill [1]
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D29.3 Reconstruction of Cropredy Lower Mill [1] 1818.
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Down at the Lower Mill "Palmer's" house was built right next to the mill. It was still known by that name a hundred years later though they had been gone some time. "Shotswell" House was an L-shaped house and barn, built on the south side of the Mill Lane on a small plot in the southwest corner of the parish boundary. The house was demolished for the canal and replaced in brick across the lane on the edge of the canal brickyard. In the nineteenth century Hadlands used this new building for a stable and cottage. Robert Lord lived at the mill before Shotswell, but his entry in the Easter oblations had no line between his and Palmers so he may have resided at The Palmers. Lord, as the fuller, had managed the mill in Joseph Palmer's time. He ground corn as well as using waterpower to full the town's cloth for which he could be paid a set fee. His son also appears to live actually in Palmer's old house for Samuel Lord was taxed on two chimneys in 1663 while the miller Parsons, who presumably lived in Shotswell's house, had only one.
None leave a good inventory though Allen a later miller had two bays on the south side of the main chimney for his hall and parlour, possibly in Palmer's original house. In the south bay there was a buttery behind the parlour. To the left of the entry was a kitchen which also had a chimney. Upstairs in this one and a half storey building there were at least two chambers. The building was destined to end its days as a cow byre after being destroyed in the mill fire of 1905.
In 1681 there was a "way" which must be kept to the lower mill. To the north was a messuage now occupied jointly by a Shotswell and a Timms. Also belonging to the millers was a half yard land and two pieces which had been set to others with the Fflatt (Slat). They could keep two horses, eight sheep and one and a half cows. Half a cow surely indicates they had a cow common shared with someone else. In winter they could keep sixteen sheep. Back in Palmer's time he paid for four beasts in the tithe book [c25/4] from 1615 to 1619. He also gave the vicar a bottle of claret for the communion wine in 1619 which was recorded in the poultry book [c25/6 f12].
Palmer did not appear to have much equipment for the mill. These were some of the items in the list: "three kivers and an old tub for ye mill worth 12s. Certain loose boards 8s." "A stryke, a gallon, a dysh, payle" 1s-4d. "Windells for ye mill" 1s. Certain old iron 8s. "A box, millpecks" 1s-4d. A ladder, old saw 5s. Wood behind the mill 6s. "A leap" 12s. The main equipment belonged to the landlord.
Master Joseph Palmer was one of only two children registered at Cropredy. He was born in 1582, the son of the miller John and his wife Joane. He had attended school and in one lease of 1617 is called a clerk so presumably he went on to Oxford or Cambridge and having become a clergyman returned as a gentleman miller, putting in Robert Lord to attend to the mill. Millers or their assistant must be available at all times leaving it only to attend church. The Palmers came from Cheshire and when Joseph was twenty seven he married Anne Dodd a twenty year old Cheshire girl. Joseph and Anne Palmer's family beginning with Hannah in 1609 had reached twelve by 1633. Five girls and the rest boys. The second child John was sent to school and he went on to Cambridge university. He was to become the rector of Ecton from 1640 to 1679 and the archdeacon of Northampton from 1665. Here was a family which kept up with relations. John's daughter Sara came back to Cropredy and married William Taylor of Williamscote house [I am grateful to Ralph Mann for the Ecton information].
Joseph Palmer, clerk and miller at Cropredy died on the 16th of January 1645/6 and was buried the next day. Anne took her family to Ecton to her son John's house. The family through John's sons continued to be Rectors there right down to 1731/2. An elaborate monument to the Palmer's was put up in the church which contributed to their family tree.
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While Palmers lived in Cropredy they visited the Woodrose's [8], Hall's [6] and Coldwell's [50]. Joseph was not found leaving the church with the others because he could have been helping with the service. On the other hand it was most likely at his mill that the suggestion was made at the Rogation processions that the vicar should read prayers rather than demand a drink according to the custom (p29). Joseph was twentyfour at the time, not long out of university and still a bachelor.
The lower mill tithe had been computed to 12s-8d a year up to 1613. Were Lord's profits then in the region of over £6? The following year the tithe was increased to 16s. Mr Palmer attending when the tithe agreement was reached. Could the profits have risen to £8 with the extra revenues from fulling cloth?
Robert may be related to the Banbury fullers. This family recorded at Cropredy was from Robert's second marriage for in 1615 one son is already eighteen and yet Joane's children were only baptised from 1607 to 1616. They were a religious family if their biblical names are anything to go by: Benjamin, Rebekah, Job and Theophilus. How did he differ from Holloway's protestant faith?
Robert Lord did not like to pay his tithes at all, making sure it was paid only at the last minute. Even when Lord sold a hive for 5s the vicar was due 6d. The garden to the north and one to the west of the mill was well away from the town bees and had plenty of pollen amongst Calcott's new hawthorn hedges and trees. They also had the advantage of all the flowers then growing in the meadows, an ideal place for his bees.
The Lords lived near, or with the Palmers [1]. At the latter end of Thomas Holloway's time the vicar recorded that a "Fulling mill & windmill lately built, no fee taken" [c25/10 f6]. The water was reasonably sufficient and the fullers catered for Cropredy, the Bourtons and possibly Wardington. The short wool produced by the sheep was suitable for fulling. There were two weavers in Cropredy and more in the surrounding towns. In Northamptonshire the longer haired sheep wool was not fulled and was used for worsteds, a strong warm, but lighter cloth and quite different from the heavier felted broad cloth. At first the felting was done by stamping on the cloth with their feet turning the warp and weft into a heavy cloth. Later they took it to the mill where hammers driven by the mill stream beat it until warp and weft were one and resembled a felt.
Elizabeth Cleredge of Great Bourton mentions in her will "A gowne cloth...that is at the fullers" [PCC 20 July 1607].The vicar notes [c25/3 f7] "Recd of Robert Lord/ the 6 of September 1617/ when he brought home/ my wyfes clothe, for tow/ quarters before past/----viijs/ so at mychall next he/ will owe me iiijs." As he mixed up the two accounts (his tithe due from the mill and his wife's household costs), we do not know how much Robert Lord charged for fulling, only that he carried the finished article up to the vicarage on his way to pay the agreed quarterly tithe. Who had paid for this fulling mill?
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Shotswells [1a].
The Shotswells began married life at Watts the weavers [27] (p.453) where William supplied the vicar with silver buttons. This was a tithe payment and William was therefore making these expensive buttons which he either marketed, or sold to the mercers (p405). William and Annes Shotswell had their first child at Watts house in 1617. After moving during the early part of 1619 to William Toms' cottage on the Green [15], William their second child arrives. Toms' cottage dwellers were during Wood's tenancy included in with the Toms' household, but Shotswell's were definitely kept separate. There was a gap from 1616 after Wood's moved to Hyrens' old cottage [56] until 1619 when Shotswell's moved in.
Annes was twenty when she married. They waited for nearly two years before Annes became pregnant. Then on moving down to the Green to make way for her brother to marry, the Shotswell's had only a year between one birth and the next pregnancy, but the third child Robert died and after that the three last children were well spaced out. The sixth child coming twentyone years after marriage when Annes was fortyone. We do not know when they actually moved down to the mill, but it would have helped the family to live in a larger dwelling. They may have built the house which came to be known as "Shotswell's House" by the Lower Cropredy Mill [1a]. Nothing further is known about them.
Smythe and Cross, millers at the Upper Mill [51].
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In 1552 the upper mill had been run by the miller Thomas Smythe. He had one messuage, half a yardland, one water mill and one close called Mylne Holme containing one acre. His son Fabean followed him in 1578 with his wife Ursula. This could have been one time when the new house was built in stone. They had three surviving children having lost their other son Albonne. Smythe died in difficult times. The 1590's saw three terrible harvests from 1593 to 1595 and taking the flour toll must have caused great hardship and been increasingly unpleasant for the Smythes and unpopular with the townsmen. Their own family, like many others, would be suffering from scarcity. Then the epidemic struck and Fabean died leaving children aged eight, thirteen and sixteen. The widow departed after two more dreadful harvests having to give way to John Cross, or else she came to some agreement. An inventory was made in 1595 of Fabian's house and mill:
The entry passage may have gone behind the hall chimney with the nether chamber to the left of the entrance, but where was the "nether howsen"?
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There was only one upper chamber mentioned and a loft over the mill. The rest of the upper chambers may have housed John Cross and his growing family for he already lived at the mill. In Smythe's hall he had "a forme under the window" noted along with five other forms "unto" his long table. This exceptional comment may have been because of the unusual number, or their positioning. Most windows had seats and did not need a form as well. His oven appears in Cross's inventory, because it happened to have wood drying on the top. Someone in the household had needed a dagger, a bow and six arrows worth 6s-8d. Had he served in the militia, or been forced to purchase them to save his family if there should be a food riot?
The barn was by the entrance into the mill yard from Church Street. This would have had double doors facing south and either north doors onto the yard, or a winnow door. One bay may have housed the beasts. In the close at the north end of the house he kept wood and furzes and a great deal more in the "nether howsen." Part of the close had a wall while the rest may have consisted of "rayles" and posts. Fabean Smythe left behind in 1595 the longest list of miller's tools:
One thing missing is his very necessary fat (either goose or mutton) to lubricate the gears. The mill had a room over as well as a loft according to the above inventory. The theals were planks of wood and the toll tub his measure to receive payment in flour.
Fabean had oxen to pull the plough and these would be kept in the oxen "stable." Cross kept a horse. Some of Cross's hay was stored in a "standing" or loft. The three cows having stalls in the barn, or an open cattle yard with a hovel whose roof would be made from peas haulm, furze, or straw. The barley was on a scaffold and there were hay and pea hovels [ricks on standing stones]. Cross was one of the few who had turkeys. His five turkeys were worth 7s-6d (p.278). When John Cross's son Richard became miller he sublet the cow common to Densey [13] in 1615. Had the three cows his father owned gone as heriots and legacies? Having three cows meant he had been farming half a yardland as well as using his cow common. After that first year Richard settles down and again pays the cow common tithe.
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John Cross had married three times. First to Joanne Wallis, then to Ellen Carter (1575-1607) whom he married in 1599, and lastly to Gillian Williams in 1609. Gillian had no children of her own and died just before her husband in 1613. The eldest son, Richard, who had received some education before his apprenticeship, had a responsibility beyond his twentythree years, for he must run the mill and bring up the younger children. Leonard was nine and Alice seven. Richard needed a partner and soon marries Elizabeth. They add a daughter and son to the household within four years. We do not know what happened to them. The registers and wills fail to carry us down the line of millers partly due to the collapse of the church court and lack of wills.
Most millers had help either from sons, relations, or by hiring a servant for the year. Richard has a man and a maid up to 1617, then a man in 1618, and a maid the following year when their baby son John arrives. In 1619 they managed without any adult servants and then the record stops. The mill ceases to make a profit at the latter end of the century and was sold to the Gardner family of collarmakers.
Pares and Carters collarmakers and Hills butchers [58 & 57].
The average for the household on this site for the 8 listed years was 5.19.
Banbury had at least fifty leather workers, yet there was still enough trade north of Banbury to allow two collarmakers and some cordwainers in Cropredy.
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When Pare needed a will writing he asked Leonard Gorstelow to act as scribe and so was one of the first to use phrases containing "Merits and passion" and "Saviour and Redeemer." The group who use this were the Palmers across Hello [59], the weaver Watts [27], Sutton [42], Matcham [18] and Lumberd [14]. All fairly religious families. Many of these ardent protestants worked hard and prospered.
Across the Hello passage from Palmer [59] were two properties. Here the whitawers, collarmakers and butchers lived. Each of these must keep to his own trade. A tanner could not use the cured hides to make shoes and neither could a butcher tan the hides from his animals.
Until very recently a long stone building stood to the south of the churchyard which could have been a cottage and separate barn, or in the late sixteenth century a long house type all under one thatched roof [57]. (A hundred years later two women had cottages here: Miss Alice Carter and Widow Mary Sabin). The cottage built right against the churchyard wall was about 32' in length and the barn a further 43.' The barn would need cow stalls and room for the collarmaker's shop and warehouse. The eastern cottage's upper chamber at one time acquired a three light window in the end bay's north wall facing the church. The top of the wall under the thatch stood 8' above the grave yard at the east end, but at the west barn end it was only 6.' Inside there was an inner stone wall dividing the cottage from the barn, but where was their chimney?
Next to Hello was a stone and thatched house lived in by the Pares [58]. They had a three bay house with two chimneys. John Pare's goods were seen in January 1609/10. The following rooms being occupied by John and Elizabeth:
In Pare's hall the chimney utensils included kettles and pots. The kitchen had a "fyer grate" which they used to roast meat on the spit. In the chamber were two beds and in the buttery three barrels. The servant's chamber would have been on the upper floor after the hall and chamber were lofted over. The rest of the chambers could have been allotted to John Pare's daughter Alyce who had married the butcher Henry Hill.
The whitawers business was to tan the hides by soaking them in their two "lyme vats" using a solution of alum and salt instead of the tannin from oak-bark which required a source of power not available, until Gardners took over the upper mill. The two lime vats were worth 4s and in Pare's warehouse he left five half hides and one whole hide worth 13s, two collars and three halters 3s-6d. The hides were left to soak in the vat, hair side down. The hair was shed into the vat when the soaking inflated the hair cells. After the hides were lifted out, the hair and lime could be removed and sold for plastering. The bleached hides needed scraping to remove the fat and after rinsing each was dressed according to its future use. The river was near enough to obtain water, though it is not known if they had a path down to the Cherwell between Bokingham's [55] and Evan's [54] properties. Once the Oxford canal cut through Evan's close a track was allowed to the canal for the occupiers of [57] and [58], which may have followed an older right of way.
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William Carter, a collarmaker, lived in the cottage [57] and his twin sister Elizabeth who married John Pare in 1578 moved into the house [58]. John Pare was then about twentyone having the full responsibility of the business, but perhaps advised by William Carter. William married the daughter of Thomas Brown, the whitawer, who came to work at Pares. By then he was a widower and lived in the servant's chamber. He died in his master's house in 1580.
The Pares had two daughters. The eldest Joan married and moved to Buckingham. She inherited the land Pare's had in Eaden, Northamptonshire. Alyce stays and brings her husband Henry Hill to live in her father's house. After John Pare died the widow Elizabeth moved over to the cottage to look after her nephew William Carter for his parents were no longer there. Young William Carter married Anne and two daughters survive, then after the parents die in 1648 one daughter remains alone which was most unusual. Had her father taught her the art of collar and harness repairs so that she could earn a living? Women could not be apprenticed, but many must have helped their fathers and learnt enough to carry on the business. Back in 1624 the list shows that William Carter employed a man which he may have done on other years (p96). He must have found plenty of work even though other trades were managing in 1624 without help due to the hard times.
Henry Hill and Alyce employed an assistant in 1613, 14 and 24 and Alyce Hill had a maid when the four young girls were infants. They were followed by a son and either an Edward or an Elizabeth who completed their family of six spread over thirteen years. (The register repeated three baptisms altering the name of two of the children, so that one baby was either an Edward, an Elizabeth, or they were twins following the Carter gene?).
John Pare when he died had a "lyttell pig," but no cow. Hill after taking over Pare's copyhold leased an extra cow common from William Hill the whitbaker in Church Lane [20] for he needed two cows for his growing family and business. Why then did William Carter let his cow common to Thomas Vaughan in 1614 and not to Hills? That year Henry Hill had his own and the use of William Hill's [20]. In 1615 Henry had only one cow, but two in 1616. In 1617 he managed to rent Cross's from the mill. He was also buying calves, either for suckling, or killing them for meat and perhaps selling the calf leather to Carters. He purchased four young Bourton tithe calves from the vicar. The first two were recorded in 1616. That year he has two of his own cows suckling calves. The last two calves were bought in other years. The four cost him 8s, 7s-6d, 7s, and 8s. No-one else left a record so we do not know who supplied them throughout each year. The rest of the town's calves could have gone to the market where the fell mongers dealt in hides.
The site in 1681 still had two lands and a sideling in the South Field's Landimore furlong, and in the North Field one land at Morestone and a sideling near the [Fenny] lake. Their leys consisted of two leys and a butt in Oxhay and commons to pasture one cow, one horse and four sheep in summer and eight in winter. This was equal to about an eighth of a yardland. The Hill family were followed by the Ortons who were also butchers. In 1634 John Orton had already arrived for he stepped across Hello to witness John Palmer's will [59]. Why had the family of Hills left?
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Thompsons, Mallins and Evans of Round Bottom [52-54].
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Below the churchyard across Round Bottom, at the east end of the town were the three cottages [52-54]. They were squeezed between the mill's tail pond, the river Cherwell and Round Bottom, possibly a piece of land formerly used for grazing as it had a pond. The first two were semi detached stone and thatched buildings. Each had two bays with a hearth and upper floor. The southern cottage of the two having a cockloft next to the gable end. There were barns and cowstalls to the pair of cottages, but their position is unknown. Both had a cow common and the following leys were shared between them: Five leys in Hawtin's Piece, and one ley and two half leys in Honeypleck. This worked out to about one and three quarter acres for each cow's hay. The second cottage appears to have two lands for barley and two for peas. In the 1660's Robert Wyatt managed to lease them both for his house and chandler's shop. He was followed by Edward Mole a husbandman. In the eighteenth century came the Fletchers, then Richard Taylor's family had the cottages from 1730 until they were sold to John Chamberlin in 1775. As the proposed canal route came through the properties the Oxford Canal company purchased and then demolished them both. It was in the chandler's rear garden that a multitude of bones were found from either a butcher's business, or from an extended part of the churchyard?
Each cottage had a hall, parlour and buttery. In the first lived George Thompson [52] and Kateren who remained there until they died in the interregnum so no will survived. None of their three children born between 1612 and 1619, take it over.
Next door at [53] had lived the Hursts. The only record which has survived from our era was widow Denys Hurst's will and inventory. Denys left her son Paul everything "Willing him to regard any his brothers and sisters in gyving at any time what he should think [fit] and convenyent." The vicar may have been the scribe and a William Hurst witnessed it. She was buried a fortnight later and the family asked John Pare [58] and Edward Bokingham [55] to come and make an inventory with William Burnslie. They found the following on the 13th of April:
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The Hursts had plenty of "bedsteads" for the whole family if they were all double beds. Each had sheets and one to spare, but of course by this time the family would have grown up and nearly all departed. Living with Denys was her married daughter Alyce, son-in-law John Mallins and two grand daughters. Paul allowed them to remain in the cottage after their mother Denys Hurst died. Three of the Mallin's four girls survive. After twelve years of marriage Alyce's husband John died in 1606. Alyce is left struggling to manage and either employs someone to carry on whatever trade they had, or takes in a lodger, possibly to help her with the land. The eldest daughter Elizabeth aged twentytwo married Richard Andrews who had been living in the house. The Andrews remain until Alyce dies, just after the grandson Nicholas Andrews was born. The young couple must then look for other accommodation, although the cottage may have been vacant in 1624. Once again couples overlap an older generation and any convenient accommodation has to do to start with. The Andrews entered the cottage in Church Lane [19] with their son Nicholas, who was to became a yeoman in Williamscote. Richard may have been leasing land somewhere to help his trade?
Between Mallins and Bokinghams lived the Evans' [54] whose cottage vanished long before the canal came and cut through his close leaving a narrow paddock on either side. This is not really in Group three for no mention was made of this cottage in 1681. By 1775 Richard Grisold [6] leased the close, then called Bridge Close, stretching from Round Bottom to the river bank.
Arthur Evans is called a neatherd and had the responsibility for the cows of the town (p.238). He married Ellen and three girls and two boys were born. He allowed Thomas the youngest to attend the school. Between 1613 and 1624 his household consisted of the parents, a daughter and Arthur's sister until 1617. Another Evans appears in 1618 called Allen. In 1624 Thomas, now twentythree, is back as well as Alice a twenty year old daughter. Repeatedly comes this question "What work did young adults find locally?" Surely it was mostly on the husbandmen's farms as day servants, but what did the educated ones do? Their homes were open to them into their thirties, even after a brother or sister had taken over, but of course it did depend upon the new wife and whether there was room to house them. Some paid employment was essential, unless they were replacing a servant and working in the family business. A marriage contract was often delayed, or unfortunately for some girls never contracted.
Rawlins, Corvisor and Shoemaker of Church Street [45].
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The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 5.25.
Rawlins' homestall had a little piece of garden between the cottage and Whyte's timber house [46]. By 1669 Richard Pitham who followed the Rawlins had erected another cottage on the garden. Both were at the rear of the plot allowing the timber gable of Whytes to be seen (p.369). Their well, a stone lined one, was in front of Rawlins' cottage (Figs. 25.2/3).
Although Rawlins had this cow common he never paid a tithe on it (according to the remaining records), so it must have been set to another with the land, though surely not the wood supply from the plot of bushes in Hawtin's Piece, which were essential for his fire and oven. The cottage had no arable at all and he does not appear to lease any, relying upon his trade as a shoemaker and corvisor (a corvisor may be an early name for a cordwainer).
Like most townsmen they had hens and in 1611 the vicar receives from him a cock, and later on two pairs of capons. None appear in his inventory and the bedding neglects to mention the feather pillows they could have produced. Rawlins had a lathe, stools and tools worth 4s and he kept leather in the house worth 10s, all for the making and repairing of shoes. These were in a shop which can only have been at the west end, perhaps a small extension that Walter had made. In which case it was no wonder there was no room for the cow.
Their cottage was a small one having only two bays. Built in rows of coursed rubble stone under a thatched roof, it has some how survived into this century. The front elevation measured 25' and the east gable 19' so that the inside was c19' long by 15' 6" deep. This was similar in size to Hills [20]. Two small one light windows lit the newel stairs leading to the first upper chamber. The upper floor was divided into two by the middle roof truss. Each chamber had a two light casement window facing south towards the church. The opening light did not open for the whole of the window for the upper part of the window was fixed. Unfortunately these old windows were replaced. The inglenook fireplace and stairs took up the eastern gable, but there was still room for the oven which projected eastwards into the tiny garden. The present entrance is beside the stairs. A spine beam holds the joists for the upper chambers. A buttery had been made out of the hall next to the western gable and it could be they once had a small inside entry from a west door. This went into the shoemakers shop which took up the place of the cow barn, unless there was another hovel taken down when the second cottage was built in the garden. The hall had a window at the front and possibly a small rear window. These would have had shutters to begin with and a front window seat in the hall for the table.
The second cottage having been built by 1669 was later extended until all the gap between the two buildings was filled. This left Rawlins' cottage without any lights to the stairs and the oven then jutted into the second cottage's extension.
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To the cottage in 1628 came Anne Fenny [43] and Joane Holbech. Walter Rawlins had asked them to witness his will which Joane's husband Ambrose was writing. The Holbechs had lived across the road at the vicarage [21] in the absence of Dr Brouncker, but had recently moved to Mollington. Joane was the youngest Holloway daughter and had known Walter Rawlins all her life. Although Mrs Fenny could not write she was probably a friend of the family having watched four of the sons from Walter's family grow up and develop their skills as young scholars at the Williamscote school. Two sons remain in Cropredy to eventually sign the 1641 Protestation return. Christopher and Thomas had no land to inherit, but neither did their schooling cause them to leave the town. Who had they been apprenticed to? Christopher in the vicar's lists was at home, possibly helping his father with his cordwainer's trade.
Walter married twice, first Bridget in 1590, then Cecilie Carter in 1609 and these two wives over a space of twentyeight years produced a large family of first seven boys, and then three girls and a boy. Three only of the first seven appear in the will. The step-mother would have her work cut out to maintain a good home in such a small space especially when her own children began to arrive. They must all have slept upstairs in the two old bedsteads worth 16s. Their six pairs of sheets were apparently coarse. The hall was for cooking, eating and sitting. The wives using the pot hook for their iron pot and two kettles. They also had a brass pan and two little posnets. In their buttery they kept three barrels one pail, one cover and three tubs.
In 1613 Cecilie the second wife had an educated step-son at home and possibly two other stepsons as well, the thirteen year old Thomas a pupil at Williamscote and the nine year old Walter. This at a time when she was either pregnant or feeding her own second baby. Three other sons of the first marriage may have visited. By 1619 Cecilie's son and third daughter had arrived. As her four children were left out of the will what had Cecilie agreed to before she was married? Had she promised to allow goods to go to the first family and the rest to herself, but leaving out her own children who when she became a widow were aged between nine and eighteen? Her relations may have provided for her children knowing they would have no legacies. In 1628 Walter leaves "Sisley" his wife "the rest of my goods" which included the main cooking pots and five pieces of pewter. Her spinning wheel was worth 1s -3d. In 1634 she marries the widower Edward Whyte next door [46] (p.376).
Christopher as the eldest surviving son was executor and had a cooking kettle, hall table and form as well as "the bedsted bed and beddinge where on he now lyeth," a coffer and two pair of sheets in his chamber (where then did the other children sleep?). Son Thomas, one of the scholars, has the book of Smith Sermons, and his brother Walter a coffer. No mention that a son could have the implements in the shop or the leather in the house. Did this all go to Christopher as the next life on the copyhold, or was Cecilie and any other son trained to accomplish repairs? Christopher gained the cottage when Cecilie moves next door in 1634. He was by then fortyone and had twentyone years on his own for he appears to die a bachelor.
Walter Rawlin's apparel was valued at 10s. Altogether without stock and corn he is worth only £5-2s-7d and yet he not only sent children to school, but Walter had obviously managed to provide enough income from his craft to bring up a houseful of children and still survive. Rawlins may have been taught to read and his Bible and sermons were important to him.
Local legend believes the mason who built the church lived here. The cottage which has a spine beam is several centuries later than the church, so perhaps the stone mason lived on this site, but in an earlier timber cottage?
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Ffendrie of Church Street [43].
D29.4 Reconstruction of Ffendrie's Site.
Fenny/ Feney/ ffendrie had a cottage tucked into the vicar's square of land, with an angled north boundary into a close which could have belonged to his cottage. By 1814 the close and cottage had been separated and the cottage and yard which measured only 10 perch sold to the vicar. The Revd. Ballard then recycled the stone (and lined it with Cropredy brick) into his huge garden wall, straightening the boundary at the same time. Fenny's frontage was mostly onto the church yard and the rest facing down Church Street, which is why the corner of the tall stone wall now projects beyond the north church gate as it took in part of Fenny's old house. It is possible that Fenny's was only a one cell building, but being longer on the east side and not as deep on the north gable he could have had two bays, though in his inventory the hall and over chamber are all that are mentioned. Having a chamber over the hall allowed him a chimney. There is no mention of a buttery, or chamber over in a second bay. In fact the salting trough was in the hall as well as the cowpery ware and woollen spinning wheel.
It could be the second bay was his barn to store the crop from the cottage's 4.25 acres which came in eleven separate pieces.
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They had also leased an extra parcel of land for in October 1636 Fenny left corn, peas and hay worth £2-10s, the product of just under half a yardland. The land which went with the cottage (an eighth of a yardland) was discovered in the 1681 deed. It revealed he had only 1.75 acres of arable to 2.5 acres of leyland as well as one cow common, showing the balance of ley to arable was unusual. Across the yard was another building perhaps for the stock. Fenny left two cows and six sheep worth £7 which made up a third of his estate. The inventory gives no clues as to the nature of his craft, but he is not called a labourer. The only clue as to a possible employment was the position of Fenny's cottage which was close to the churchyard and vicarage. Had he acted as the vicar's bailiff? They were also paying the vicar tithe candles. Would he making enough to owe a tithe?
Fenny was yet another Thomas. The town had plenty and nick names must have been quite common. In 1599 he married Anne Lamprey, sister to George, and Isabell who married Edmond Tanner [39]. They appear to have at least three Fenny girls, but only Hester was baptised at Cropredy. Was this his second marriage? Isabell (surely called after Anne Fenny's sister Isabell Tanner) was not baptised at Cropredy and they must have taken her elsewhere. Why did they baptise her in another church and if so where?
The cow was again essential to their economy and they manage to have two right up to his death in 1636 when Thomas may well have turned sixty. He has had some of his barley malted and Anne had equipment to brew following the same household tasks that her neighbours undertook inside and outside as well as caring for the cows, milking and cheese making. Inside they had ample bedding with seven pairs of sheets. There was also a clothes press, two coffers and three boxes. Their collection of pewter included four platters and was worth the price of a good ewe. They sat at a table which had a frame, not an old trestle, and there were benches to sit on. There was an open "cubberd" for the pewter and a "screne" for the door which may have opened directly into the hall. The screen could of course have come from an older timber cottage. His apparel was in the G bracket (p685) and ten shillings more than the tailor Sutton's next door. Working on the land required tough clothing and left them with a modest wardrobe.
When Fenny wishes to make a will Joyce Vaughan, the seventeen year old twin from [23] came to witness it with John Hunt [16]. Thomas had still to settle Isabell's dowry and it is worth quoting to show what his wife must be sure to give her. It was his last wish to see her fairly provided for.
Isabell was to have "the elder cowe of my two beaste, a coverlid the best I have, two payre of sheets, a payre of blankets, two bolsters, a payre of pylloes, a woolbed the best, a pylloebase, halfe a dozen of table napkins, a table cloth, one woolin wheele and a coffer, one great platter & a kettle. I give unto my sayd daughter the bedsted that I now ly upon my wife having the use of it during her life." His wife was to have the rest and he elected her sole executrix. Without a son the name vanishes after only one generation.
When this site was purchased by the Reverend Ballard in 1814 for his vegetable garden he may have had all traces of Fenny's old cottage dug up and removed. The site has not so far been searched for signs of any old foundations, but there was an outline sketch of the house and yard kept with the vicarage papers [Bodly 2112 No.3. 1814 (now in Oxfordshire Archives)].
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Breedens of Creampot Lane [37].
The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 3.99.
The last cottage to be sold from Group three had been added to the south gable end of Huxeleys house [36], though it did not block the south gable window lighting Huxeley's cockloft. It must have been added soon after the Huxeleys arrived. Elderson's and Huxeley's were not quite in line and Breedens was either built further forward, or this was altered at a later rebuilding of the front wall? The first floor was not tied into Huxeley's and therefore added after it. The transverse beam was supported on the outer stone walls and two pillars. The roof may have had a tie beam by Huxeley's gable. Had there been an earlier timber building replaced by Breeden's?
Breeden's had three bays, one of which was eventually used as a wheelwright's and blacksmith's shop and later turned into a bakehouse. Still later a cordwainer's shop was built behind the house. Between Elderson's [38] and Breeden's [37] they left a wide entrance to the back yard and close.
The property was without arable and leyland which again seems to prove it was an extra building put up around 1574. They did have a cow common, but any land had to be found by the occupiers. Richard and True Breeden had five sons (two died) and two daughters, but none left an inventory, or knowledge of their trade. Breedens were followed by Truss the molecatcher's son in 1669. A branch of the Hunt's family who were shepherds and blacksmiths followed before buying the property next door [36]. It remained as a smithy up to 1812 when Thomas Andrews lived there. Andrews sold to Robinsons the bakers, who sold out in 1829 to William Smith the cordwainer. Smith had had to leave the family home in Church Street [46] as other relations succeeded to the property. William made two bays of the property into his house, raising the roof and replacing the thatch with slate. He altered the entrance making a passage and put a fireplace in the front room.
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His office was made out of the old narrow parlour to the right, which also had the newel staircase. He was a postman and relieving officer (The house was not a post house or post office for the first post office used "Elderson's" front parlour [38]). The Smiths made a second cottage out of the third bay and across a passage built two new thatch cottages, taking in the farm entrance. Access to the rear garden was now by foot along a passage.
The house was associated with some of the first Wesleyans. Smiths were followed by the Neals who called it Fernleigh. They had purchased all but the first three cottages of the row. Mary Smith, school-mistress and non-conformist tells in her autobiography of escaping up into the attic to read her books purchased at a sale by her father William. There by the light of the little lattice window she read books far in advance of her years. Mary left the little we know of this house and the cottage where she was born [46] in her book. Told perhaps to console herself in the harsh (according to Mary) north country where she went to work. {Smith M. The Autobiography of Mary Smith. Bemrose & Sons, London p3].
Breedens arrived in 1574. Richard and True had a daughter followed by three surviving sons and a second daughter: Annes, Richard, William, John and Tru. By 1613 goodwife True Breedon was still living with the eldest son Richard at home, but she left during 1614. Over the following years as the sons marry they return home, presumably having married after their apprenticeship and journeyman period had been completed. In 1619 Richard and wife, John and his wife Bridget, together with William and his wife Elizabeth (who were married that year in Banbury) were all working in Cropredy and somehow sharing the one cottage. If only we knew what their trade was. Then Richard died and his sister-in-law Bridget, the wife of John was also buried. John left Cropredy for a while, but had remarried by 1628 when Joane gave birth to Thomas in Cropredy. In the 1624 list only William and his family remained. None of the sons had married young. John was thirtyone and William thirtyeight. Had they haggled over whose name was on the copyhold? Or did their business mean long hours at their "shop"? Richard was mentioned in the cottagers' cow tithes book letting the common to Vaughan [23], using it himself, giving it up and letting to Fenny [43] when the record stops. The family material is so slight, but William and Elizabeth's youngest son George did stay on, marrying Anne who was possibly the last to hold the copyhold. Once again the lease fell out after just under a hundred years. It was sold to Thomas Truss [Trise] the younger. In "Elderson's" [38] lived Richard Watts who in 1662/3 married Hanna Trusse. Were these relations of the rich young shepherd who had once lived at [33]?
A Summary of what happened to the A manor Cottages.
Group One :
None survived. Watts [27] was rebuilt. Ladds [40] and Bostockes [41] gone. Suttons [42] lasted into the 1950's. Hyrens [56] and Palmers [59] lost to the vicarage garden in 1814.
Group Two :
Allens [44], Whytes [46], Bryans [47], Normans [48] and Coxes [49] all managed to survive.
Group Three :
All sold in 1681. The mill houses [1a and 51] lost to the canal. Palmer's [1] to Hadland's rebuilding the mill and house in 1818. Huxeleys [36], Breedens [37], Eldersons [38] and Tanners [39] have survived. Ffendries [43] lost to the vicarage walled garden in 1814. Rawlins [45] remains. The two cottages [52 and 53] lost to the canal were rebuilt as Riverside Cottages. Carters [57] lost in the 1990's. Pares [58] rebuilt to face south after 1700?
Evans [54] whose group has been lost may have gone not long after our period.
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Rectorial Cottage : Hunts the Weavers [5].
The average in the household for the 8 listed years was 5.37.
One other tradesman lived in Cropredy between the French's [4] and the Halls [6]. Anthony Hunt [5] was a weaver and lived in a cottage which had land on part of a lay impropriator's rectorial tithes estate. The tithes had been split and "farmed" out for collection from the field, where every tenth cart load of corn was payable as a great tithe to William Hall [6], or one of the Holloway's [21] (p709).
Anthony Hunt born in 1540 died aged seventyeight after a life of farming and weaving. He had been able to take a part in the town affairs for he leased a parcel of land. He married Elizabeth Wallis who could be a member of the blacksmith family of Great Bourton. Anthony's eldest brother lived on the Green [16]. Anthony could not write but he helped to witness the French [4] wills, on two separate occasions. He was twice asked to help with inventories.
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In his day hardly anyone at their end of the town could write, but he made sure his son Richard attended the new school. This meant he had the chance to continue witnessing wills and helping with inventories, though he may never have been called upon to write any. Richard being the eldest was able to stay and weave in Cropredy. He married Marie Howse in 1602/3 and his father was around to see the grandchildren, three sons and two girls born. We do not know when or where Anthony's wife Elizabeth was buried. Had she been there in March 1608 when the family tragically lost three sons John aged seventeen, George aged twentyone, and William aged twentythree? William and John were buried on the same day followed two months later by George. The registers at Cropredy very rarely give the reason for death, and how or why this triple tragedy befell this family is not known.
In 1619 Richard had "his man" to help, but none in 1624. There was a severe crisis in the weaving industry in the 1620s. In 1618 he had had Jhon Rocke with him as well as his father, then Anthony died that year aged seventytwo. No wills or inventories survive from the 1618 court. Richard and Marie nee Howse's youngest son was christened Solomon, a name which occurs in the Howse family living three doors away at [9]. Had the bachelor shepherd Solomon acted as godfather to the boy? Richard died in 1646 and left his eldest son John weaving, but he died the following year still a bachelor and there does not appear to be any more Hunts weaving from this property.
Eventually their house became a barn. Did this mean it had been a three bay property, two for the house and one for the workshop? They faced the Long Causeway and had a close behind. After 1775 the close was exchanged with other land, and the part once taken up by the house and backside became part of Springfield Farm's garden [6], while the rest of the close returned to farmland (Figs 29.5 &.31.1).
D29.5 Reconstruction of Hunt's [5].
