Cattle Grazing in the Forest of,Arden in the Later Middle Ages

14 Pages·2006·1.12 MB·English

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Cattle Grazing in the Forest of,Arden
in the Later Middle Ages
By ANDREW WATKINS
tcartsbA
This paper studies the influence dna elacs of larotsap farming in eht economy of the Forest of Arden ni
the Later Middle Ages. It seeks to determine eht numbers dna types of slamina kept dna demonstrate how
the profits of larotsap farming benefited a number of social groups ni the region. Many demesnes were
retained yb their resident lords to graze cattle to feed their households while the fattening of beef slamina
for the market afforded scope for social dna economic advancement yb tnasaep .seilimaf This sisahpme on
animal husbandry encouraged the cultivation of yah dna fodder crops in turn helping to bolster eht elbara
economy in the .aera
T z~r tradition and emphasis in the cereals. The area under the plough shrank,
study of later medieval English agri-
most notably in the fifteenth century, and
culture has been firmly focused on
the most obvious way to utilize the lapsed
the large cereal-dominated ecclesiastical or
arable was to convert it to pasture.
noble estates of lowland England.
Although in upland Engand and forest
Although studies have been made of wool
areas animal husbandry had probably
growing, pastoral farming has very much
always vied with cereals for importance
been relegated to a secondary position,
this was not true of lowland England,
most historians preferring to stress, sa did
where the plagues helped a shift to a more
Postan, livestock's supporting role in cereal
mixed agricultural economy. Animals had
production.' This is regrettable as in many
a strong appeal for producers. Apart from
areas, mainly northern England, the north
their meat their by-products of wool and
Midlands, and a/so in the south-west, the
hides could be extremely valuable, and
raising and fattening of livestock both for
where cereal cultivation required large
subsistence and for sale had far greater
seasonal workforces animals only needed
importance than grain production." The
a few specialized stock keepers throughout
following study examines how this gener-
the year. Increasingly after the mid-
ally neglected type of medieval agrarian
fourteenth century landlords turned to ani-
economy adapted to the new circumstances
mals in a bid to shore up their demesne
of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centur- economies.3
ies.
The move in emphasis fi'om arable to
The plague and the following epidemics
pastoral in Warwickshire is well docu-
had profound effects on many aspects of
mented. Although the area of pasture in
the economy, one of which was to help
the Forest of Arden did increase in the
redress the balance between livestock and
later middle ages it was most dramatically
pronounced in the old settled Feldon of
* I ant greatly indebted to Christopher Dyer, Rodney Hilton, and
the south of the county where, in the
Jean Birrell for their kind and constructive help in the preparation
of dais article. century and a half following I35o, arable
' E Power, Medieval English Wool Trade, Oxford, 1944; M M land was lapsing to pasture alo a much
Postan, Essays no Medieval Agricuhure dna General smelborP of
eht Medieval ,ylnonocE Cambridge, t973, ch x .x Two notable greater scale than in the Arden. This move-
exceptions to the southern English cereal bias arc R Trow-Smith,
ment was noted and emphasized by two
A History of British Livestock yrdnabsuH ot tToo, 1957, and I
Kershaw, Bohon ,iroirP ' Oxford, t973.
H P R Finberg, Tavistoek Abbey, Cambridge, ~95t; N W Alcock, '- For a recent example see M Mate, 'Agrarian Economy a/ier the
'An East Devon Manor in the Later Middle Ages', snoitcasnarT Black l)cath: The Manors of Canterbury Cathedral Priory,
qfthe erihsnoveD ,noitaicossA CII, 197o, pp ~41-g8.
1348-9t', Ecou Hist Rev, and scr, XXXVI, 1984, pp 341-54.
Ag Hist Rev, 37, I, pp Ia-a5 1 2
t 3I
CATTLE GRAZING IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
contemporary writers. John Rous, writing oxen and fourteen other bovine animals,
in the late fifteenth century, has perpetu- and a flock of 803 ewes and 214 lambs
ated the image of the Feldon of flocks of in I389-9o. Similarly at Birdingbury in
sheep grazing amid the dilapidated, I397-8 the grange account lists 342 sheep
decayed ruins of a village, while less dra- but only sixteen bullocks, while at Snitter-
matically in the I53os John Leland field in 1--o341 a flock of I67I sheep si
described it sa an area of corn-growing recorded, with twenty-seven oxen, twenty
champion villages interspersed with pas- cows, seventeen steers, and thirteen calves
ture land. 4 also being maintained on the same
Although a forest in the sense that it demesne. Conversely, they were hardly
supported much woodland the Forest of ever recorded on the Arden estates at Chil-
Arden in north Warwickshire was never a vers Coton, Grendon and Astley. The rela-
forest by strict legal definition, ,sa unlike tive importance of sheep on a north
Feckenham in Worcestershire or Rock- Warwickshire manor is well illustrated at
ingham in Northamptonshire, it had not Middleton in I355 where in an inventory
come under Forest Law. Although there of the goods and chattels of Baldwin Fre-
had been much clearance of woods by the ville it was recorded that he had owned
mid-fourteenth century a forest economy cattle worth 83£ S4I but sheep only to the
still functioned in the Arden in the later value of s8 .d3 6
middle ages. Common field land was lim- Although calves were reared in the
ited in area, there was an abundance of Arden, Wales undoubtedly provided the
closes in severalty and many inhabitants major source of beef cattle. Droving routes
pursued industrial by-occupations, s This from North Wales to the south-east of
in turn was only part of a much larger England passed through the area. Birming-
woodland area, stretching south-west into ham and Coventry possessed large cattle
the royal Forest of Feckenham while north- markets and two of the most important
wards it merged into Cannock Chase and routes of the early modern drovers passed
Needwood, which in turn became part of through the Arden market towns of Coles-
upland England. hill, Atherstone and Nuneaton, probably
Within Warwickshire the animal land- reflecting medieval routeways. 7 Some men
scape was split along the geographical div- in these towns were actively engaged in
ide with sheep dominating the Feldon, the trade, such sa John le Deyster, a drover,
while cattle, animals often associated with who was resident in Coleshill in I383 and
forests, were numerically superior in the by I4O9 had developed his trade to its
Arden. This was a trend going back well logical conclusion and was living in Lon-
before the fifteenth century and si well don. s Accounts from the Beauchamp
illustrated by surviving grange accounts manor of Wedgnok Park show that some
for the Feldon and Avon Valley. In
I379-8o at Sutton-under-Brailes it was re- " Sutton-under-Brailes: Gloucestershire Record Office, 31
1o99/M31/44:, Lighthome: Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust Record
corded that the demesne kept 2oo sheep
Office (hereafter SBT), DR 98/672a; Birdingbury: Devon ,P ecord
but only nine oxen. The Earl of Warwick's Office, 248 M/MG; Snitterfidd: Britisb Library (hereafter BL),
Egerton Roll 8624; Chilvers Coton: PRO, SC 6/1o38/2o; Grcn-
manor of Lighthorne possessed twenty-six
don: Staffordshire Record Office (hereafter SRO), D(W) 1744/19;
Astley: Warwick County Record Office (hereafter WCRO),
CR 136/c, 15o--2; Middleton: Nottingham University Library
4 C Dyer, ,VI lrwickshire Farmin(,,, ,o'..51.c-9431 l)ugdale Society (hereafter NUL), Mil 40.
Occasional Paper, XXVII, 891 t, pp 9-12; J ,P ot.,s Historia Rt~unt ,P A Holt, The Early Histor), of the Town of Birmingham 661~ ot
Angliae, T Heame (cd), 1745, pp 119-26; Lehvld'S Itinerary, L ,oo61 Dugdale Society Occasional Paper, XXX, 1985, pp m-f1,
Toulnfin Smith (cd), 19o8. ,V pp 40, 47, 5o. C Skeel, 'The Cattle trade Between Wales and Englaud fronl
5 This will hopefully be COnlprchcnsive cow'red in nay forthcoming the Fifteenth Century to the Nineteenth Century', Tram Rol,al
Phl) thesis "Society and Econonly in the Forest of Arden, Hist Soc, 4th ser, IX, 191o, p 148.
.'o451--o531 Birmingham Reference Library (hereafter BRL), A 368, A 454.
I4
THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
~'~e no.ON sigeR
.tF reknA
TAMWORTH
oWilnecote ~'Grendon ,k. -N-
o..u.. Middleton Merevale • ATHERSTONE
Coldfiold u,.~.. ",.. Kinclsbury • Ik
• ,.,. - • ,,~^.u. "~ • Drakonage • Mancetter
ou&-ry~
w=snaw eMarston= (, Coten •
•J.,,. • Halioughton Ha#shill~'~ wed¢
Erdingtone Curdworth • •Lea Marston
. ..~..,.......,/*- en----~'=~7~/* *~ Shust°k°
• Arley =Chilve=
COLESHILL • • Maxstoke Astleyo Coton
Castle
• BIRMINGHAM • Maxstoke • FUlongley
Priory
FOREST FO ARDEN
Solihull • Hampton-in-Arden COVENTRY • Brinklow
• Berkswoh •
Knowle Temple Brandon
• Balsall Stivichall•
SIonolo
Wroxall
Tanworth- • wootto., Look ...~ "4
• in-Arden Baddesley
• Birdingbury
Clinton
Wodgnock •
Budbrooke •
Snitterfield
• Oversley enruob• daR
• Chesterton
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON • Lighthorne
PRE-1974 BOUND
• PLACES MENTIONED IN
TEXT ~ Sutton-
SMALL TOWNS MENTIONED ~ =under-Brailes
IN TEXT ~ /
I
LARGER URBAN CENTRES J
o 5 Ol SELIM ~. ~'--
-,,,../
! ! t
FIGURE i
Late Medieval Warwickshire, indicating places mentioned in the text
!
51
CATTLE GRAZING IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
transactions were made directly with many other estates in the area this was for
Welsh drovers. Other demesne managers household consumption rather than for the
looked further afield. The Beauchamps market. Cattle accounted for a significant
bought what again must have been Welsh proportion of the livestock kept, which
cattle from Bromyard and Worcester, also included pigs, poultry and horses. In
while others bought in North Midland this period often there were about forty to
cattle from Lichfield and Tamworth, or forty-five cattle of which about fifteen to
some such as the Catesbys, who held a twenty were usually cows with calves.'-"
cluster of manors outside the Arden on the The remainder were heifers and bullocks
Warwickshire-Northamptonshire border, being fattened, many of which had been
made occasional forays to the market of originally calves of the dairy herd. The
Chesterfield. 9 stock was mainly self-replacing with both
The attractions of cattle for landlords a bull and a boar kept. Animals also came
were considerable. Clearly they were not into the herd as strays and heriots. Another
prey to variations in wool prices and herd of catle was evidently maintained on
neither did they require specialized feed. the Astley manor of Weddington, near
They cost little to maintain other than in Nuneaton, sa beasts were often driven
winter fodder and investment in the from there to Astley.
upkeep of enclosures and some form of The hunting park surrounding Astley
byre or shelter. Medieval cowhouses, Castle seems to have comfortably accom-
where recorded, seem quite large: the modated their grazing requirements as in
horns meant that considerable room would 14oo it was recorded that 'Greysacre' in
be required for each animal. At the Leices- the park had been reserved for the depas-
ter Abbey grange of Berwood in Curd- turing of the stock for the household.
worth a vaccaria of six bays was recorded.'° Crops were cultivated on the demesne to
Neither were labour costs very great as provide fodder and peas and beans, barley,
only one or two stockmen would be and oats harvested there were often fed to
needed throughout the year, rather than the cattle, sa well as pigs and poultry,
the large seasonal workforces demanded presumably during winter.
during cereal production or by sheep dur- The Duke of Buckingham's demesne
ing shearing. More labour intensive was at Maxstoke castle was also involved in
dairying, a task usually undertaken by grazing to maintain sufficient animals on
women both in processing and retailing the hoof for the consumption of the large
household which by the mid-I45OS prob-
ably numbered just over one hundred. 3'
I The demesne had been converted to pas-
The most detailed evidence of livestock ture and meadow and was organized to
keeping in the Arden are the accounts for provide grazing for the household's live-
the demesne of the middle-ranking peer stock, mainly consisting of cows, sheep,
lord Astley at Astley which survive for the
'" hi I395-6 twenty-five bullocks and eight cows with eight catvcs
late fourteenth and early fifteenth centur- were recorded. In t4oo-.-t two bulls, t,.vcnty-one bullocks, a
heifi:r, eleven cov,,s, and eight calves arc listed. In t40t-2 a bull,
ies." There the demesne was cultivated
twenty-three bullocks, ten cov.,s, and twelve calves appear in the
directly as late as 1432 although sa with extent.
~ Details of the demesne at Maxstoke Castle arc contained in the
dispersed Duke of Buckingham's ,P eceiver-General's Accounts:
Dyer, po cit, p 2o; WCRO, CR 895/8/18; CR 895/8/19; PRO, SRO, 1)6411tl21269 - D64ff1121276; ,PB L, DV 2 168-"36; PRO,
"
SC 6/Io43/Io. SC6/m4o/15; Maxstoke Castle, Fetherston-Dilkc MSS (I am
'°L Mitchell, A Histor), of the Manor "lq .aOOVl')eB Birmingham, indebted to Captain C B Fethcrston-l)ilke for kindly allowing
1926, p iS. mc to makc use of his archive); C ,P awliffe, The ,sdr&.atS slraE
" WCRO, CP, 136/c~5o (1395-6), CR 136/c15~ (14oo--Ol), CP, drbll.atS'lq dna Dukes of mahgnikcuB ,1-"51-4931 Cambridge, 1978,
t36/c152 (14Ol-2), CP, t36/ct54 (t432-3). pp .o7-..Yt6
I6
THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
and riding horses. The park was also used raised animals for their own consumption
for pigs, cows, and sheep in addition to and the market is well known. Within the
the deer. The demesne was occasionally Forest of Arden John Brome of Baddesley
leased out to farmers usually only for one Clinton lucratively indulged in buying beef
year at a time so it could be retrieved easily cattle from Coventry and Birmingham,
when the Duke and his entourage were in fattening them on his demesne, and then
residence. Most of the stock was purchased selling to butchers for considerable pro-
locally on the hoof, although occasionally fits. 91 In the absence of equally detailed
it was bought ready slaughtered as in evidence for the rest of the Arden it is
I452- 3 when £2I I6s was spent on I83 difficult to assess how typical Brome was
beef carcasses.'+ Purchases of animals were of the gentry of the area. However, cattle
usually made in fairly large numbers such grazing must have been an obvious and
as £I4 I4s 2d paid also in I452-3 to the practical venture with the proximity of the
local peasant producers Thomas Colet and Birmingham and Coventry cattle markets,
Thomas Underwood, while considerable Welsh droving routes and the potentially
numbers were bought from Coventry. S' large nearby urban markets. Coventry was
The nearby Maxstoke Priory also main- the unofficial regional capital of the Mid-
tained quite large numbers of anim/ils with lands, the third largest provincial centre in
cattle again predominating. In the I44OS England in the 1377 Poll Tax and even in
and I45os it frequently had mixed dairy I525 when undergoing a slump in fortunes
and beef herds numbering between forty it was still among the top rank of English
and fifty with a herd of seventy-two rec- provincial towns. Neither Birmmghana
orded in I442-3. 6' Most of its stock was nor Warwick were as populous or wealthy
either raised through the dairy herd, as Coventry but both by the fifteenth and
acquired as heriots or strays, or bought early sixteenth centuries appear to have
directly from peasants living in adjacent supported populations well in excess of a
villages. 7' The east Arden Abbey at Mere- thousand inhabitants. °'-
vale similarly owned beef cattle, most pur- The demesne stock presents a problem
chased from local villages or the nearby in determining to what extent animals
town of Atherstone, while there is fleeting were kept for sale, as distinct from meeting
evidence to suggest that Stoneleigh Abbey the needs of the household. In the case
was also keeping cattle herds. Maxstoke of Sir Ralph Shirley, who held a north
and Merevale both slaughtered cattle for Warwickshire estate at Newton Regis, the
their own table but some of the former's division is fairly obvious. On his death in
dairy produce was retailed in local markets, I516 he left livestock to the value "ro £82
such as Coleshill. ~1 6s 8d including ninety-four cattle of various
Below the level of the nobility and the types and I6o young sheep.-" Quite clearly
religious houses the evidence of pastoral
activity is less plentiful. The important role '"J R Birrcll, 'The Forest Economy of the Honour of Tutbury ni
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries'. Birm l-list Jnl, VIII,
of gentry in commercial livestock hus-
1961. pp 119-21; M 1. Bennett, Comtmotit),, ('.hiss attd C(lrt'('riet)l,
bandry in the North Midlands, where they Cambridge, 1983. p ;17 S M Wright. The Derbyshire G+'ntr ,I ni
the F{lieenth Cemltr),, l)crbyshirc Record Society. VIII+ Matlock.
1983. pp 19-21; C l)ycr. 'A Small Landowner in the Fifteenth
.4SRO, D641/1/3/4. Century', Mid Hist. ,1 1971-2. pp 1-14.
~' SRO, 13641/1/3/4. :" C l'hytllian-Adams. Desolation t+l'a City, Cambridge. 1979, pp
'" Bodlcian Library (hereafter Bod Lib), MS Trinity ,48 pp itS, 11-16. 33-35: Holt po tit. passim; ,P A Holt. 'Tile Economic
123. 129, 13o, 132, 134. llI 1442-3 the Primy had a mixed herd Development of l+irmingham bcforc I553'. Unpublishcd Univ
composed of forty-two bullocks, eighteen cows, twelve calves. of Birminghanl MA thesis, chapter ;6 VCH ll'arlt.ickshirc, VIll,
and a bull, MS Trinity 84, p t32. p 480.
.r Bod Lib, MS Trinity 84. pp t23, t29, 15o, 51 I. " Leicestershire ,P ecord Office, 26 1)53/1949. Although Shirk'y did
~' PP.O, E 315/-'83. this .91 27, Bod Lib, MS Trinity 84, p t29, own Newton Regis his livestock was almost certainly on his
SBT, I)P, 18/3o/t4/~1. North Midl,md estates.
'i
CATTLE GRAZING IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES I7
with this number of animals Shirley was Fragmented sa this information si it
producing for the market but for others would seem that many resident landlords
the proportion si less clear. were involved in subsistence grazing, often
The consumption of meat in an upper using their parklands sa a sort of larder.
gentry household si well illustrated by Sir However there were groups within Arden
William Mountford of Coleshill's receiver society that were able to exploit the con-
general's account of I434. In the r436 ditions and advance economically and soci-
income tax he was assessed at £258, the ally through cattle grazing and it is to these
richest knight in Warwickshire, and in the that our attention now turns.
account of I434 had an income of £274
I6S IV2d. Therefore his household's eating
habits may be more extravagant than those II
of other gentry in the area, but gives an Studies throughout the country have
idea of the likely consumption levels of shown the ability of elements within rural
other small households.:-" Meat was eaten society to take advantage of the landlords'
throughout the year apart from during withdrawal from a market-orientated pro-
Lent and on Fridays and Saturdays. The ductive economy by taking up demesne
Mountfords evidently kept a small herd of leases. As elsewhere the wide social range
mixed animals, buying twenty-three steers of lessees, including clergy, gentry, mer-
at Coventry for 7£ s5 ,d8 twenty sheep for chants, and peasants is apparent in War-
s53 and six pigs for s2I 2d. In the course wickshire. 4= In the Forest of Arden quite a
of the year thirty steers, fifty-six calves, number of demesnes were retained by lords
sixty-one ewes, and thirty-six pigs, taken to graze their domestic livestock. On other
both from the demesne stock and from Arden estates, usually lacking a resident
outside purchases made from local peas- lord, butcher graziers were prominent les-
ants, were consumed. Therefore ifa gentry sees. Pastureland of St Mary's, Warwick,
household was only supplying its own near to Warwick was nearly always leased
needs the number of animals involved by butchers, while demesnes and parkland
could be quite large. Apart from the at Tanworth-in-Arden, Berkswell, aeL
Mountfords other gentry families were Marston, Wedgnok, and Middleton were
maintaining similar herds after they had also leased by them. ~-'- They also leased
leased out their demesne arable. The Brace- pastures at Coleshill, Brinklow, and Leek
bridges at Kingsbury, for example, in O93I Wootton. 6~- Most of these butchers came
were grazing a cattle herd, while the Fre- from the large population centres: Benedict
villes repossessed parkland and pasture at Lee, Thomas and Edmund Wattes, and
Middleton in the fifteenth century to
depasture their own animals. Incidental 4: For example: F ,)1 H Du Boulay, 'Who were Farming the English
Demesnes at the dnE of the Middle Ages?', Econ Hist Reo, and
references suggest that other families such
series, XVII, 1965, pp 443-55; B F Harvey, IVestmim'ter Abbe),
sa the Ardens, Binghams, Bracebridges, and its Estates itt the Middh' A~os, Oxford, ,7791 pp ;2-151 J A
Clintons and Harewells may also have kept ,P aftis, The Estates "!t Ramse ,l Ahho),, Toronto, 1957, pp ;q.-o92
U ,P ccs, 'The Lcases of Haughmond Abbcy, Shropshirc', Mid
animals on their demesnes during the fif- Hist, VIII, 1983, pp ;92-31 J W Hare, 'The l)cmcsnc Lessees of
Fifteenth Century Wiltshire', ,.14. Hist ReI,, ,92 1981, pp t-15.
teenth 3~-.yrutnec
For Warwickshire ces l)ycr, W,o'wickshiro Farming, pp 4-5.
~' Minister's A ecomlts of the Colleqiate Chm'dl "tq St Mar},, lVarwick,
,58-2341 D Styles (ed), Dugdale Society, XXVI, ,9691 pp ,4 ,8t
'" SBT, I)R 37/73; H L Gray, 'Incomes from Land ni England ni ,34 134, ~34; SBT, ,33/8o1/73,)1)1 DR 37/1o8/51-5; Mi~ister's
,'6341 Etzk, Hist Rcv, ,LI ,4392 p .936 Accomlts o'tho lVarwickshiro Estates q/'tlu' Duke q/'Clarettce, 1479-8o,
~: NUL, MiM 162. 164, ;661 Colh'ctions.lbra Histor), tfSt,~.{tbrdshire, R H Hilton (ed), Dugdale Society, XXI, ,a591 p ;26 BRL,
XV. I884, p 14o; NUL 5/167/Iol; Rolls ql'the llS~,'wickshire ,Iml Norton MSS ,78 ,98 1ot, 19ycr, Warwickshire Farming, p ;81
Col,entr), Sessions of the ,ec~,eP E G Kimball .dc l)ugdalc Society, NUL, ,lO1/761/,:.. Mil')4437.
XVI, ,9391 p ;o" NUL, MiLs; W Cooper, IVootton II'alt,t'n: Its "'- BRL, A555, A568, SBT, I)R 1o/98, I)R IO/"243, I)R
History ,rod Records; Leeds, ,6391 p .41 18/3o/a6/16, I)R 18/3o/26/4.
18 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
John Savage of Warwick; John Lichfield, Drakenage sa Dey was styled 'of Draken-
Morrys Bocher, and John Deyster of age' from 1444 onwards, the year that
Coventry; and Henry Ball of Tamworth the previous fifty-year lease of the manor
who leased Middleton Park in I379. expired.S° When John Dey enfeoffed several
On the other Arden demesnes for which of the local gentry in 1472 his lands lay
documentation survives at Atherstone, in Lea Marston, Marston, Coten, Cliff,
Kingsbury, Maxstoke, Middleton, Old Fil- Wilnecote, Tanworth-in-Arden, Arley,
longley, and Sutton Coldfield a more com- Tamworth and Halloughton, and in the
mon arrangement was piecemeal leasing to enfeoffment he si styled a 'grazier'. 's
local inhabitants. 7~ This meant that few His activities are quite well recorded.
large-scale peasant holdings incorporated At Kingsbury in the late SO44I he was
an entire demesne. However through a frequently fined for depasturing his beasts
gradual accumulation of pasture and in demesne pastures and for overstocking
meadow land a number of peasant families the commons. He may well have engaged
in the Tame Valley were able to pursue in some form of cereal production to sup-
pastoralism profitably. port his livestock sa he was selling straw
The most spectacular example of such a to the Buckingham household in 1453. He
family were the Deys of Drakenage who was also involved in other enterprises sa
amassed and consolidated a large estate in 1447 he was farming a fishpond at aeL
based on cattle grazing which ultimately Marston and may have been the John Dey
led to gentry status. Their origins are leasing the Middleton mills in 1435. "3 The
obscure with no one of that name appear- Enclosure Commissioners of I517 rec-
ing in either the 1327 or I332 Lay Subsidies orded that Richard Hastings had evicted
in Kingsbury or any adjacent parishes. twelve peasants from Drakenage in I497
John Dey became the first member of the and enclosed 2oo acres. The present site
family prominent in surviving records. In of Drakenage includes a reasonably large
the absence of detailed rentals it si difficult moated site, where in 1394 there were
to determine the extent of his holding but recorded a grange and chamber. s3 Field
it seems to have included land in the walking has identified what appears to be
manors of Kingsbury, Middleton, and aeL a complex of small enclosures to the east
Marston. s'- In the twenty years following of the moat, probably animal pens, and
144o he steadily accumulated more land. these may have been contemporary with
In 1444 he took on the holding of William Dey's occupation of the manor. 43
Lyndon in Marston; sometime later in 1459 By 1472 John Dey had built up a con-
and 146o he obtained the holdings of Wil- siderable estate in the Tame Valley. The
liam Barber and William Bodymoor in aeL Deys' power and status si well attested by
Marston; while in I464 he acquired a toft
in the same village. In 1447 he had leased °~ NUL, Mild 4234; Report on eht HastinCs M,umso'ipts, I-tist Ms
for life nine butts in Kingsbury. )''- Probably Corn, I92S, I, p 149.
,3 NUL, Mild 4238.
he also farmed the Hastings manor of
'-s NUL, MiL ;5 ,PS O, D 64/1/3/4; BRL, Norton MSS 68a; NUL,
MiM Ut/36a, MiM 169.
7: Atherstone; SRO, D 64/H2/269; Kingsbury, NUL, Mil)a 9o; u. The Domesday of ,serusolcnE I S Leadam, (ed), Royal Historical
Maxstoke: SRO, D 641/I/269 - D 641/1/2/276; BRL, DV2 Society, ,1I %981 p 442; Hastings ,stpircstnu,M p 149.
;632861 Middleton: NUL, MiM 163, I75, 206; Old Fillongley: u. C J Bond, 'lgesertcd Medieval Villages lli Warwickshire: A
Coventry ,P eeord Office, Bond's Hospital Miscellany, E o ,P eview of the Field Evidence', Trans Birmingham tma erihskci,uraVI
Sutton Coldfield: SBT, BRT/II31iSo. Arch Soc, LXXVI, 1974, p 94. 1 am most grateful to Mr Bourne
s,. NUL, MiM 169, MiLs, ,PB ,L Norton MSS 64. Obviously the Wathcs, the present resident of l)rakenage Farm, for kindly
surname 'l)ey' with its usual association of the humble, wage- allowing access to the site, and also to Christopher l)yer and
earning dairy-maid, may be relevant in the context of the family's Simon Penn for accompanying me and giving the benefit of their
origins. expertise. I am also grateful to the members of the Kingsbury
~" NUL, MiD 4234; SRO, D64/2/272; ,PB L I)V 5o6 41899, I)V Historical Society tbr sharing their knowledge and resources on
5o6 418923; NUL, MiD 4237, NUL, MiL .5 Drakenage's later development.
/
CATTLE GRAZING IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 19
their frequent appearances sa witnesses in in the court rolls. A chance reference makes
gentry deeds and by the equal frequency clear his likely source of revenue as in 14o7
of gentry acting as witnesses for them." It he was recorded as having sixty cattle. °4
is from 1472 that John Dey styled himself In 141I, probably after his death, his son
a gentleman, a title borne by his son Thomas had his father's lands in Middleton
Thomas, who seems to have continued confirmed to him. These included two
his father's activities. 63 After the I48OS the messuages, two crofts, one toft, thirteen
main branch of the family apparently left acres of arable, meadow land, and 4os
the area, although certain relatives lingered worth of pasture. '~ Thomas added to this
at Lea Marston well into the following by taking a tort and croft in 1415, and in
century, and a succession of new farmers, 1417 another croft and lands, while by
who were also graziers, came to Draken- 142o he was leasing considerable parts of
age. Without sensationalizing or over- the demesne. "-4 In a rental of 142o his own
dramatizing, Drakenage, the centre of this holding was given as a messuage, a rood
grazing activity, is one of the few deserted and a garden, a croft and meadow, and a
villages of the Forest of Arden, possibly cottage with a curtilage worth IIS, but he
although not probably, a parallel with was leasing demesne meadow and pasture
some of the Feldon villages such sa King- worth 3£ s8 4d a year. s4 Philip and Thomas
ston, depopulated because of the profit- Bailly both joined the gild at Lichfield and
ability of animal grazing." also witnessed gentry deeds. 44 In contrast
The Baillys of Middleton were another to the Deys their lands were centred in one
peasant family who were able to acquire manor, but like the Deys they abruptly
considerable lands and wealth through disappeared from the area. Although by
cattle grazing. The founder of the dynasty 145o there were at least five men with the
was Robert Aston, bailiff of Middleton, surname of Bailly in Middleton, a 1524
who in 1362 was the recipient ofa seignor- tithe account, listing all the households in
ial grant of a messuage, croft, two acres, the parish, records not one. s4
and six selions of land. s3 Later deeds make Before the detailed probate inventories
it clear that the family soon became known starting in the sixteenth century it is
as Bailly and occasionally as Bailiff, extremely difficult to draw any precise
reflecting their original role sa manorial conclusions about the livestock keeping of
officials. Robert's son, Philip, increased the 'ordinary' peasants. Although the evidence
size of their holding between 1391 and is limited, it has been generally accepted
.OO4I In I39I he leased the Courthouse that in the post-plague period livestock
and attached land in Middleton. Six years ownership became more widespread and
later he took on the holding of John Gres- disseminated throughout peasant society. 64
brook in the same manor. By OO4I he was In the north Arden cattle were the type
styling himself as 'of Tamworth' a move of animal most commonly owned by the
perhaps reflecting his increasing wealth." peasantry. A comparison of strays in court
He possessed assets from which he fre- rolls for the area between 135o and OO5I
quently advanced loans of money, suggests a ratio of about three cattle to
although, unfortunately, no sums are given
v, NUL, MiM t31/29- MiM t3H33, passim, MiM 131/34.
" NUL Mild 4238, MiD 4239, Mild 424t. '~ NUL, MiD 4454.
m. NUL, Mild 4241; BRL, Norton MSS 9-'. :4 NUL, MiDa 87, Mild 4455, MiM 175, MiM 2t4.
,3 M W Beresford, 'The Deserted Villages of Warwickshire', Trans ~4 NUL, MiM t75, MiM, 214.
Birm A)vh Soc, LXVI, 1945-6, pp 49-1o7; ,P 1-1 Hilton, The ~4 Lichficld Joint ,P ecord Office. 91 77/t, fo 7o; NUL, Mild 4445;
English Peasantry ni tile Later Middh' Ages, Oxford, 975, pp SBT, DR to/5tS.
169-73. s4 NUL, MiDa 91.
ss NUL, Mild 4427. 4"C Dyer LoMs dna Peasants in a Changing Society, Cambridge,
~" NUL, MiM t3H3t. Mild 4446, MiD 4447. t98o, pp 323-4.
20 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW
every sheep, which is unlikely to be a true developments the origins of this seem
reflection as sheep were notoriously prone firmly rooted in the later Middle Ages. "-s
to stray. 74 Late fifteenth-century tithe
accounts for Mancetter suggest widespread
cattle ownership with 87 per cent of hold- III
ings paying for them at Hartshill, 57 per The importance of animals within the For-
cent at Oldbury, and 67 per cent at Man- est of Arden meant a considerable acreage
cetter. Similarly, tithe accounts for Middle- was devoted to hay and fodder crops.
ton in 1524 show that out of forty-three Accounts indicate most seignorial house-
households only two did not pay tithes holds keeping livestock had more animals
for cows or calves. ~4 Incidental references, than they were able to feed from their own
mainly recording trespasses, show that resources. Obviously all animals required
some peasant cattle herds were reasonably winter feeding but the most specialized
large, and comparable in size with many requiring oats were horses and oxen, the
found on demesnes. In 135o a herd of latter infrequently mentioned in the Arden.
thirty was recorded at Hampton-in-Arden, Cattle were mainly fed hay, which
twenty:-six oxen at Tanworth-in-Arden in although cheaper could still cause problems
138o, herds of twenty-three, twenty, and depending on how much meadow was
sixteen cattle at Erdington in I35O and available, and often extra hay was bought
1379, and smaller herds of sixteen in 136o, in. Sheep, pigs, and poultry also needed
and fifteen, and thirteen in 1375 at Wrox- winter forage and along with cattle and
all. 94 Small herds of between ten and dog packs were frequently given peas and
twenty approximating to the averages sug- beans, while substitutes such as browse
gested by Skipp for the Arden in the mid- wood, twigs, holly, acorns, and nettles
sixteenth century would therefore seem to could be given to cattle, 3s
have been common in the previous century The Duke of Buckingham's household
and a half. °s The tithe accounts also show in the I45OS had to buy in considerable
the presence of at least one and often two quantities of fodder and bedding to main-
milch-cows on most holdings even in the rain the ducal string of horses, beasts of
town of Atherstone. Much of this dairy the chase, and their domestic animals. Well
produce would have been for subsistence over one hundred carts of hay were
but the Mountford and Willoughby house- received in a year, with an outlay of £14
hold accounts record a thriving trade in to £18 not being uncommon, 4s In 1454-5
milk, butter, and cheese, with peasant pro- the household purchased 300 cartloads of
ducers supplying gentry households either hay, thirty-two cartloads of straw, o41
directly or through local markets, ls By the quarters, and two bushels of oats worth
time of Defoe, Warwickshire was £18 s7 Ild, and even in a comparatively
renowned as one of England's foremost slack year, 1453-4, paid twenty-seven local
cheese counties, with Atherstone especially peasants £9 S9I d2V5 for oats, barley, and
prominent. As with many early modern straw." Some were able to make consider-
v4 For sources see Table .3 Tile court rolls list 3,6 stray' bovine :~ A Dyer, 'Warwickshire Towns Under tile Tudors and Stuarts',
anilnals but only 99 sheep and lalnbs. Warwickshire History, Ill, 197(~7, pp 122-34.
sa ,PP O, E ,ol 5'9/3'; NUL, MiDa 9'. s~WCRO, CR 136/c15o, CI~. 136/cz52, CR 136/c154; NUL,
~,4 PRO, SC 2/207/3 ,; Bod Lib, MS Top Warwickshire c ,, fo ;86 5/z67/1ol; Trow-Smith, p0 cit, pp 117-8; J ,P adley, 'Holb' as
BRL, DV 723 247853, DV 723 347856; PRO, SC 2/2o7/94, SC Winter Feed', Ag Hist Rev, 9, 1961, pp 89-92; M Spray,, 'Holly
2/207/95. as Fodder in England, ibid, 29, 1981, pp 97-9.
~°V H T Skipp, Crisis and Developtnent, Cambridge, 1978, pp 4~ SRO, D 641/1/2/271 records in 1444-5 £'4 paid for o21 cartloads
89-90. of hay for the lord's cattle and SRO, D 641/I/2/275 records lli
s' SBT DP, 37/73, NUL 5/,67/Jm, MiA 9, MiA ,41 MiA IS, I475-6, 891 carts of hay.
MiA 2o. s5 SRO, D 641/1/2/272, D 641/I/3/4.
CATTLE GRAZING IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 2I
TABLE 1
Land use recorded in the Forest of Arden in Final Concords
(in )serca
elbarA Meadow Pasture Woodland Miscellaneous Total
1345-65 1584 138 58 227 - 2007
(79%) (70) (3%) (II%) - (IOO%)
139o-I4IO I I60 I 13 38 73 40 I424
(8i%) )%8( )%3( )%5( )%3( (ioo%)
I44O-6O 3 82 66 369 3 2 822
(46%) (8%) (45%) (o.6%) (o.4%) (IOO%)
I49O-I 509 1723 276 2o27 254 - 428o
(40%) (6%) (48%) (6%) - (Ioo%)
Source: Warwickshire Feet of Fines, Volume III, I345-~5o9. L Drucker (ed), Dugdale Society, XVIII, I943.
able amounts of money, such sa William However this shift may have come earlier
Harries of Coton, who was paid so2 for sa demesnes at Middleton, Lea Marston,
oats or Henry Porter of Maxstoke who and Tanworth-in-Arden consisted entirely
received I7s for hay. Similarly the livestock of pasture by the early fifteenth century, 7s
keeping of other members of the gentry Although there was a shrinkage of arable
and nobility stimulated the cereal and hay acreage it showed a degree of stability in
cultivation of local peasants. The the latter two-thirds of the century, and
Mountfords, Binghams, Astleys, and Fre- such movement away from arable was not
villes lla bought in extra grains, hay and nearly so pronounced or so progressive sa
straw for their herds, 6s This must have in the Feldon. As the number of animals
stimulated other cereal growing sectors kept in the area was rising throughout the
within local rural society, while the fifteenth century, sa is witnessed in the
demand for fodder and bedding must have frequent complaints of overstocking, tres-
extended downwards from the gentry passes, and stints, the demand for fodder
through the ranks of the butcher-graziers must have correspondingly increased, both
to the peasants within the villages and in arable cultivation and in the nurturing
hamlets. and mowing of meadows for hay. ~5
The emphasis on animal husbandry The predominance of animals in the
therefore encouraged a particular type of Arden may even have influenced the types
cereal production. This in turn helped to of crops grown. Grange extents provide
keep land ill arable cultivation. Obviously the best source of any comparison between
there had been changes in land use in the Arden and Feldon. Table 2 compares
the Arden during the period. The best the types of crop recorded sa harvested on
indication of this si given by the type nine Feldon and Avon Valley demesnes
and amount of land recorded in concords. and eight Arden manors between I353 and
These are all imperfect source sa they do I43I. There are clear differences in the
not represent a reflective sample of lla land types of cereal, with pulse, maslin, and
in the area but they do broadly indicate dredge being more significant on the Fel-
the underlying trend. Table I suggests that don demesnes but the major difference
the decisive movement towards pasture in
the Arden came in the period x4Io-3o. 7s NUL, MiM 167, MiM 175, MiD 4227; ,LLIB Norton SSM ;35
SBT, I)R 37/Io7/z.
ss Dyer, erihskciwraW ,,gnimraF p ;13 WCRO, MR ,I NUL, LiM
5;WCRO, MR t3/35; NUL, MiM 133/'1; BRL, DY 723 ;368743
.5 SBT, I)R 37/73; NUL 5/~67/ml; WCP, O. .PC 136/cl5o, CR Norton SSM ;25 NUL, 5/169b/17; WCRO, CR ;892/6881 TBS
151c/631 , CR136/cl53, CR ;451c/631 NUL, MiM .561 DR .197/3