Farming - 1839
The un-enclosed land and common in Holt was enclosed in 1810 . Several new fields were created on the Heath and at Ockeridge.
Under the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 a fair process for charging tithes was legislated for. That resulted in a survey of all land with the production of detailed maps and a field by field account of the land's value and cropping. Holt and Little Witley were surveyed in 1839. The map illustrated vividly the major changes that had taken place to field boundaries since the rent audit of 1793. All but one of the tenements and the small fields around Bentley had disappeared, with hedges and fences being realigned on other farms. Average field size increased in order to take full advantage of the continued improvements in agricultural techniques and equipment. The only farm not to have been greatly affected was Holt Castle. Its fields were already relatively large and square having been enclosed in more recent, post medieval, times.
In Holt one medium sized farm disappeared completely before 1839. That was New Inn Farm, when it was incorporated into Hollingshead, Bentley and Hurst Farms. There is no trace today of the farmstead which was located at, or just to the west of, the plot where a pair of Victorian cottages now stand on the Worcester-Tenbury road, between Bentley's north drive and Ockeridge Lane. The smaller Wall's Farm in Little Witley was incorporated into Chapel Farm at about this time.
The 1839 Tithe did not indicate orchards; including them with 34% of the area that was pasture. New varieties of top fruit were being introduced all the time, including the Bramley apple which was discoverd in about 1810. In the early nineteenth century many older orchards being replanted and new orchards established. In 1839 Worcestershire growers petitioned parliament in order to complain about the importation of large amounts of fruit from France and Holland following the abolition of import duty in 1838.
Bramley Apple
Hops were still much in evidence, particularly at Rowley Farm. The area however was slightly down on 1793. There were 65 acres in Holt and Little Witley in 1839. At that time hops were grown in 'hills' of three or four plants with the bines trained up frames of light poles. These poles were usually of Ash or Alder, hence the 'Orles', Ash beds or coppice areas on most farms. The poles were set up over each hill in the spring and removed each autumn as the crop was picked. Hop growing farms usually had their own drying kiln or oust house. One or two of these survive in the area today, but are either semi-derelict or dwelling conversions.
Arable land made up 60% of the area and had a similar distribution to that in 1793.
Nineteenth Century type Cropping
Before 1838 Lord Foley planted some 200 acres of woodland plantations, largely to replaced trees felled to construct ships during the Napoleonic Wars.
The more productive Shorthorns had largely replaced Durham and Longhorn cattle. The increased use of heavy horses was also a factor in the decline of the Longhorn for castrated bulls of this breed were used as draught oxen. By the end of the nineteenth century two thirds of the nations cattle were Shorthorns, of the Dairy and Beef types. Herefords had been improved, Lord Foley held a notable sale of the breed in 1815. In addition breeds such as Highland, Galloway Devon and Jersey were present in the county. Amongst sheep the Leicester predominated, particularly in the Midlands, but flocks were devastated by liver-rot (fluke) in 1831. The Earl of Dudley of Witley Court was a notable breeder of Leicesters, with famous sales of lambs, ewes, rams, fleeces and lamb’s wool being held at Holt Castle and Naunton Farms.
Hereford
............
Dairy Shorthorn
An agricultural slump started after the final battles of the war with France in 1815. Rents fell in proceeding years and many labourers were left destitute. By 1835 a revival had begun with much new drainage work evident across the county. Steam engines had just started to appear in agriculture as traction machines although the threshing machine did not appear in Worcestershire until 1840. Chemical fertilisers such as rock salt, Peruvian guano and sulphate of ammonia were recently available.
An Early Steam Engine
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E-mail