ECONOMIC HISTORY

Agriculture

Open Fields and Commons

In the mid 13th century Black Bourton had two unnamed fields. (fn. 1) Probably in the 16th century and certainly by the 18th there were four: Westbrook field, adjoining Alvescot west and south of Black Bourton village; East and West Upper or Down fields, north of the village on either side of the Burford road; and the smaller Whitworth field, south-east of the village (Fig. 28). (fn. 2) Cadworth field, mentioned once in the 16th century, was perhaps another name for West Down field. (fn. 3) Furlong names suggest that the medieval arable occupied much the same area, perhaps with some additional land east of the village, which was later inclosed. (fn. 4) The name Breach furlong, recorded about 1240, (fn. 5) implies medieval assarting, and in 1768 the open-field arable was reckoned at over 40 per cent of the parish. (fn. 6) Between 1753 and 1769 the Upper or Down fields were divided into West, Hollybush, Ash, Alvescot mill, Copton, and East fields, which together followed an independent rotation. Westbrook field was divided into Mill, Alvescot Marsh, and Causeway fields, and for rotation was grouped with Whitworth field. (fn. 7)

28. Black Bourton parish before 1770, showing approximate location of open fields

Meadow totalling 76 a. was recorded on the three manors in 1086, most of it on the later Bourton Winslow manor. (fn. 8) In 1768 there was reckoned to be 200 a. in all. (fn. 9) Some, later 39 a., lay detached from the parish near the river Thames, (fn. 10) and other small meadows lay in the west by Shill brook. (fn. 11) Hunts mead (17 a.), a private meadow in the south-east near Shill brook, was given to Osney abbey by the lord of Alvescot in the late 12th century, and passed to Christ Church and later to the duke of Marlborough. (fn. 12) Lot meadows were mentioned in the 16th century, (fn. 13) and in the 17th strips in the Thames meadows and elsewhere were rotated annually in strict order; (fn. 14) in the mid 18th century Christ Church's manor also included pieces of Lammas meadow perhaps held privately, however, (fn. 15) and in 1844 most hay from the Thames meadows belonged to the duke of Marlborough. (fn. 16) Tenants' holdings of common meadow were usually small: a farm with 12¾ a. of arable in the 13th century (apparently ²/3 yardland) and one with 7 a. (¼ yardland) in the 16th each had 1 a. of meadow, (fn. 17) and the vicar's glebe (½ yardland) included 11 a. of arable and 1½ a. of meadow. (fn. 18) Copyhold yardlands in the 18th century contained between 20 a. and 38 a. of open-field arable with up to 3½ a. of meadow. (fn. 19) In the early 13th century temporary wooden bridges were built at mowing time for carriage of hay from some meadows. (fn. 20)

Pasture 4 furlongs square was noted on the later Bourton Inge manor in 1086, and a total of 14 a. on the two other manors. (fn. 21) In 1768 there was an estimated 500 a. of cow and horse common and 200 a. of sheep common. (fn. 22) The Moor or Marsh, mentioned from the 13th century, (fn. 23) covered much of the parish's southern part, adjoining Clanfield and Alvescot; the Downs, a sheep common in the north, was mentioned in the 18th century, (fn. 24) and in 1767 there seems to have been common pasture north-east of the village between the Burford road and the parish boundary, perhaps the North or East green mentioned in the 16th century. (fn. 25) Great and Little Nippenham (39 a.), adjoining the Marsh in the south-east, were perhaps common in the 13th century, when the lord of Bourton Winslow granted Osney abbey pasture there for 8 oxen, but by the 16th century Great Nippenham was reserved for the lord of Abbots Bourton from 25 March to 1 August, when it became commonable to inhabitants of Black Bourton, Clanfield, and Weald (in Bampton). (fn. 26) Lammas and similar pasture rights in some demesne closes, claimed in the earlier 16th century by Black Bourton and once by Brize Norton inhabitants, seem to have been partially recognized by the 17th century, though some copyholders were excluded, and the right was sometimes waived for a cash payment. (fn. 27) Commons in fields and meadows were mentioned from the 13th century, though in the 18th century Black Bourton tenants were excluded from Lammas rights in the Thames meadows. (fn. 28) The usual stint per yardland was then 4 cattle, 1 calf, 2 horses, and 40 sheep. (fn. 29) Furze cutting on the waste was regulated in the 18th century by Abbots Bourton manor court. (fn. 30)

Early inclosures, estimated in 1768 at 500 a., (fn. 31) lay chiefly in the centre of the parish near the village and manor houses, and inclosure presumably accounts for a fall in the recorded number of yardlands (including demesne) between the 13th century and the 18th. (fn. 32) By an agreement of 1258 Osney abbey inclosed part of Whitworth field adjoining the Bampton road, and Robert Mauduit a croft between the church and his manor house; (fn. 33) a demesne furlong at the southern end of the later West Down field was inclosed between the earlier 13th century and the early 16th, (fn. 34) and closes surrounding Bourton Winslow manor house to the south, 45 a. in the 18th century, were presumably of medieval origin. (fn. 35) Land leaze (80 a.), Gastons or Garsons (20 a.), Blackpits (26 a.), and Great and Little Rowe (55 a.), all east of the village, were inclosed demesne meadow and pasture by the late 15th century or early 16th, taken perhaps in part from former arable. (fn. 36) Inclosure remained chiefly confined to former demesne farms, and no small tenants on Christ Church's manor in the 18th century held more than an acre or two of closes. (fn. 37)

Woodland Some 200 a. of woodland was reported on Bourton Inge manor in the 1550s, (fn. 38) and demesne closes around Bourton Winslow manor house were wooded both then and in the mid 18th century. (fn. 39) Garsons copse (4 a.), north-east of the village, was mentioned from the 17th century. (fn. 40) Over 250 trees, chiefly elm, ash, maple, and poplars, were sold from Christ Church's estate in 1812, and in 1827 there was a good supply of elm on the old inclosures, though in 1859 there was allegedly enough only for building repairs. (fn. 41) Tenants of Osney abbey's demesne farm had housebote and haybote in the mid 15th century, (fn. 42) and in the 17th century tenants of other manors sought lops of trees under local custom. (fn. 43) A tenant was fined for cutting and selling three trees in 1321, (fn. 44) and in 1624 Sir Anthony Hungerford was presented to the manor court for removing an ash tree from the common. (fn. 45)

Medieval Tenant Farming

In the late Saxon period Bourton, like several neighbouring parishes, was probably administered as part of the large royal estate of Bampton, but by the Conquest its inhabitants were tenants of small independent manors each with their own demesne. (fn. 46) Tenants on Pain's Bourton Winslow manor in 1086 numbered 10 villani and 6 lower-status bordars together equipped with 10 ploughteams, while Wimund's Bourton Inge manor had 9 villani and 3 bordars equipped with only 3 teams. Pain had a slave with 2 ploughteams presumably on the demesne, and Wimund 2 slaves with 3 teams. Both manors were worth £4 as before the Conquest, though Bourton Winslow, with its 12 ploughteams in all, was said to have land for only 8 teams, perhaps implying over-cultivation. On Abbots Bourton manor only 2 slaves with 2 ploughteams were recorded, perhaps in error; land for 2½ teams was noted, and the manor's value had doubled to £2 since 1066. (fn. 47)

In 1279 a total of 32 villeins, each with half a yardland, were recorded on the three manors together, 5 of them on Abbots Bourton manor. Fourteen cottagers on Bourton Inge and Bourton Winslow manors each held 5 a., and cottages were noted on Abbots Bourton manor in the 14th century. (fn. 48) Fourteen freeholders were listed in 1258 and eight in 1279, occupying perhaps a quarter of tenanted land; individuals held between 5 a. and 2½ yardlands each, sometimes under more than one lord. One owed scutage only, and another 1 lb. of cumin to a mesne tenant for 1 yardland, while money rents varied from 1d. for ½ yardland to 10s. for a yardland. Villeins owed rents of between 22½d. and 29½d. and works worth between 4s. 6½ d. and 6s., rents and services for all tenants being consistently higher on Bourton Inge manor and lower on Bourton Winslow. (fn. 49) Average taxable wealth per head in the early 14th century was around 40s.–43s., placing Black Bourton locally among the poorer rural settlements; total wealth taxed was £110 in 1316 and £145 in 1327. The wealthiest taxpayers included the lords of Bourton Inge and Bourton Winslow, taxed respectively on £8 5s. and £4 10s. in 1306, and members of prominent freeholding families; a man taxed on over £10 in 1316 perhaps held a demesne farm, and two other wealthy landholders were counted as feudal tenants in 1316. The poorest inhabitants paid on goods worth only 10–15s., but there was no consistent correlation between late 13th-century holdings and early 14th-century assessments. (fn. 50) Tenant farming was presumably mixed, and several 13th and 14th-century customary tenants brewed. (fn. 51) A freeholder around 1270 owned two dovecots. (fn. 52)

Rent increases on Abbots Bourton manor were recorded in the later 13th century, though entry fines in the early 14th century apparently remained low, between 6d. and 6s. 8d. (fn. 53) Aid, presumably for the whole bailiwick, totalled 22s. 2d. in 1300. (fn. 54) Labour services for a cottage holding were still owed in 1321, but already in the late 13th century some harvest work was carried out by hired labour, and some or all labour services had been commuted by 1358, when two other cottages were held for rent and heriot. (fn. 55) Services on Bourton Winslow manor had perhaps been commuted by 1407, when total rents were estimated at 100s., slightly less than the total for rents and services in 1279. (fn. 56)

During the later Middle Ages the population fell, apparently prompting some amalgamation of vacant holdings. (fn. 57) Two 13th-century freeholds were absorbed into Bourton Winslow's demesne in the 14th or 15th centuries, (fn. 58) while some tenants were fined for neglecting or despoiling presumably vacant houses, (fn. 59) and on Abbots Bourton manor cottage holdings were evidently absorbed into copyholds of between ¼ and 1¾ yardland before the later 16th century. (fn. 60) No larger copyhold amalgamations were recorded, however. (fn. 61)

Medieval Demesne Farming

In 1279 the three Bourton manors each included 2 ploughlands in demesne. (fn. 62) Oxen, cattle, and over 100 sheep were bought for the Bourton Inge demesne in the 1190s, and corn and hay were sold; (fn. 63) the demesne was leased presumably from the later Middle Ages and certainly by the late 15th century. (fn. 64) Bourton Winslow's demesne, mentioned in 1230, was still 2 ploughlands in 1407, when it was worth 100s. perhaps in rent. (fn. 65) In the mid 16th century it was leased with the manor house, though by the end of the century the Hungerfords evidently exploited it directly. (fn. 66)

Osney abbey's demesne was administered in the late 13th century and the 14th through a local tenant acting as bailiff. Demesne farming on the abbey's manor was mixed, with an emphasis on sheep: 157 remained in 1280 after sale of fells and live animals, together with 35 pigs, 20 oxen, 25 other cattle, and poultry, while crops included wheat, barley, and dredge, with some oats and pulses. (fn. 67) The field-names Mileburne and Linton suggest that millet and flax were grown, (fn. 68) and there was some dairying. (fn. 69) Though some demesne produce was sold, much was sent to Osney, and around 1300 large quantities were being stored on the demesne farm. (fn. 70) In 1476–7 wool fells from 20 sheep which had died of murrain were sold at Woodstock. (fn. 71) During the late 14th century and the 15th the abbey centralized its flock management, with manors such as Black Bourton specializing in wool production rather than breeding, and most fleeces being sent to Water Eaton (in Kidlington): in 1477 there were 183 wethers at Black Bourton, but no rams, ewes, or hoggs. (fn. 72) The system continued after leasing of the demesne farm and manor house in the late 15th century and early 16th, lessees having custody of the abbey's flock, and being responsible for shearing and for conveying fleeces to Water Eaton at their own cost. (fn. 73)

The 16th Century to Parliamentary Inclosure

The wealthiest taxpayers in the 16th century included the resident Seymours, lords of Bourton Winslow, and members of the Maisey and Dring families, lessees of Abbots Bourton demesne farm and later of the manor: Andrew Maisey was taxed in 1524 on goods worth over £26, the highest amount by far, and William Dring (d. 1549) on £30 in 1542. (fn. 74) Thomas Coxeter (d. 1548), taxed on £20, held all or part of Bourton Inge demesne farm, (fn. 75) and Anthony Strainge, the highest taxpayer in the 1570s and 1580s, (fn. 76) was perhaps a lessee of the Hungerfords' demesne. Less wealthy taxpayers included prominent yeomen, some of them probably copyholders, while 7 out of 21 people taxed in 1524 paid the labourers' rate of 4d. (fn. 77) The parish's social structure remained broadly typical of the area throughout the 16th, 17th, and earlier 18th centuries, with around 45 per cent of 17th-century testators leaving goods worth under £50, and a third over £100. (fn. 78) Two yeomen left goods worth over £300, one of them chiefly in debts owed him, (fn. 79) and Francis Edmonds (d. 1721), exceptionally, left over £800 chiefly in livestock and agricultural produce. (fn. 80) Most householders in 1662 (83 per cent) were taxed on between 1 and 3 hearths, exceptions including the lessee of Christ Church's Manor farm (8 hearths), the vicar (5 hearths), and the Hungerfords (14 hearths). Nine inhabitants were exempted through poverty. (fn. 81)

Copyholds granted for small customary rents and heriot continued on Bourton Inge and Bourton Winslow manors in the 17th century and earlier 18th, and on Christ Church's manor until inclosure, some entry fines being heavy. (fn. 82) By the earlier 18th century, however, large farms were more usually leased at approaching rack rent, some for lives or 99 years, and others for shorter terms of 21 years or fewer. (fn. 83) Only three or four freeholds, each of a yardland or less, were recorded in the mid 18th century, (fn. 84) the others having presumably been sold and absorbed into larger leasehold farms. The largest single holding may have been Manor farm, which in 1769 comprised 236 a. made up of former Abbots Bourton demesne, and which was let for lives to the resident Whittons, who occupied the house but sublet the farmland. (fn. 85) The 'farm of Bourton Inge', let for lives for £55 in 1701, (fn. 86) presumably also comprised former demesne, though some other large farms were amalgamations of tenant holdings, among them 4¾ yardlands (perhaps 180 a.) let at rack rent in 1767. (fn. 87) Several copyholds were sublet or held with other lands, (fn. 88) though in the 1760s a few small farms of 14–22 a. remained, together with some cottages. (fn. 89) From the late 16th century to the mid 18th all or part of the Hungerfords' and Elerses' large demesne farm was usually kept in hand and was managed by stewards, though not always efficiently: one of the Hungerfords' stewards was allegedly fraudulent, while Paul Elers, with little understanding of estate management, employed an octogenarian who traversed the estate 'on a little grey horse ... seeming to conduct a number of labourers who did precisely what they pleased'. (fn. 90)

Farming remained mixed, (fn. 91) the chief crops being barley, wheat, and pulses. Oats, rye, maslin, and hops were mentioned occasionally, and several 17th-century inhabitants grew hemp, probably in gardens or closes. (fn. 92) A few left malt, and some perhaps brewed. (fn. 93) In the mid 18th century some three-fifths of the arable was sown annually, (fn. 94) and hitchings, increasing the area of arable, were mentioned in the 17th and 18th centuries; (fn. 95) by 1769, following recent reorganization, four southern fields followed a four-course rotation, and six northern fields a two-course rotation. (fn. 96) Sheep farming and dairying also remained important: flocks of 340 and 160 were noted on demesne farms in 1549, (fn. 97) and in 1699 a wealthy mixed farmer left wool worth £38,140 sheep, 20 cows, and 300 cheeses, (fn. 98) while numerous lesser inhabitants owned smaller flocks and herds, or left wool or dairying equipment. Many inhabitants left pigs and bacon, several kept bees, and poultry included hens, geese, ducks, and turkeys. (fn. 99) The Hungerfords and later the Elerses practised similar mixed husbandry on their large demesne farm, which in 1680 supported 113 cattle, 354 sheep, and 21 pigs; in addition there were 18 deer 'in the park', presumably an enclosure in woodland north of the manor house, or perhaps east of the village. (fn. 100) No park was mentioned in the mid 18th century, when the woodland was exploited chiefly as domestic fuel in Elers's household, though an observer thought this highly inefficient since timber sales would have easily covered the cost of buying coal. (fn. 101) Local markets in the late 16th century and early 17th are suggested by debts owed to or by Black Bourton inhabitants in Witney, Bampton, and Burford, as well as in neighbouring villages. (fn. 102)

Parliamentary Inclosure

The duke of Marlborough's acquisition between 1768 and 1771 of virtually all the parish, including the few remaining freeholds and the lease of Christ Church's estate, (fn. 103) was undertaken presumably with inclosure in mind: an Act was obtained in 1770, and the award was inrolled in 1771. (fn. 104) As owner, the duke was allotted 1,397 a. of newly inclosed land in the north of the parish, mostly for the former Hungerford manors; as Christ Church's lessee he received another 509 a. in the south for its manor, glebe, and tithes. The vicar received 121 a. on the west for glebe and tithes, and Paul Elers retained 45 a. of old inclosure around the manor house. Nippenham pasture and the detached Thames-side meadows were separately inclosed in 1851. (fn. 105)

During the decades after 1770 the duke attempted to capitalize on the inclosure. On Christ Church's manor he allowed surviving copyholds to lapse, and re-let them at rack rent, though copyhold lands were still distinguished until around 1860. (fn. 106) Rents for his own farms were doubled from around 1786, (fn. 107) and within 35 years of inclosure the price per acre in the parish was said to have increased sevenfold, though rents overall remained well below the highest in the county. (fn. 108) Not all the newly inclosed allotments were good quality: on Christ Church's estate the weak thin soils were contrasted with the rich deep loam of the old inclosures, although few old inclosures appear to have subsequently been converted to arable. (fn. 109)

Occasional fence-stealing by local labourers in the 1770s and 1780s was apparently prompted by lack of fuel, presumably exacerbated by inclosure, and in 1782 and 1818 inhabitants were also prosecuted for stealing hedgewood. (fn. 110) Continuing difficulties for landless labourers, by far the largest proportion of the population by the early 19th century, (fn. 111) were reflected in local riots following changes in the poor law in 1835, in which Black Bourton men were prominent. (fn. 112) Labourers' allotments of varying size, let at 50s. an acre, were laid out by the vicar in 1844 in a 13-a. field by the Alvescot road, and though initially disapproved of by farmers, presumably because of the independence they gave, proved extremely popular. (fn. 113)

29. William Wilkinson's design for model labourers' cottages at Rock Farm (now in Carterton), 1857

Inclosure to the 20th Century

Immediately after inclosure there were six chief farms of 240–540 a. each. By the late 18th century five exceeded 300 a. and two 500 a., all of them held under the duke of Marlborough either in his own right, or as Christ Church's lessee. Farmsteads included the newly built Rock and Lower or Mill Farms, as well as the preinclosure Manor (or College) Farm and the Old Farmhouse on Burford Road; Elmwood House Farm was built for the duke as a model farmhouse in 1858. (fn. 114) Another of the duke's farms was run from a Christ Church copyhold farmhouse north of Garsons copse, which fell derelict during the earlier 19th century and was demolished before 1894. (fn. 115) The glebe farm (c. 120 a.), undivided and unimproved until the 1830s when the vicar erected a barn, had no farmhouse, (fn. 116) and in the 19th century was worked from various homesteads. (fn. 117) Farms of unusually large size continued: in 1861 Rock farm was 750 a., and the combined Leaze (or Lower) and Manor farms over 800 a., while in 1871 Elmwood farm was 900 a. and employed 36 labourers. (fn. 118) A single smaller farm of 50 a. practised market gardening in the mid 19th century. (fn. 119) Prominent farmers included the Foreshews of Rock farm, the Coxes of Manor farm, and the Akerses of Manor, Lower, and (later) Elmwood farms. (fn. 120)

Mixed farming continued after inclosure, with an overall emphasis on arable. (fn. 121) Christ Church's Manor farm was 70 per cent arable in 1774 and over 85 per cent throughout the 19th century, with pasture confined chiefly to old inclosures. (fn. 122) Elmwood farm was 82 per cent arable in 1894, but Rock farm (64 per cent arable) included over 260 a. of pasture in the Downs and in former open fields, while Lower or Mill farm was predominantly pastoral. (fn. 123) The chief crops were still wheat and barley, and turnips were mentioned from the 1770s; (fn. 124) a cider house at Manor Farm was recorded in 1750 but was derelict by 1861. (fn. 125) Dairies, cow houses, hen houses, and piggeries were all mentioned, and a flock of 140 sheep, chiefly Cotswold, Leicester, and South Down breeds, was noted in 1820. (fn. 126) In 1880 the tenant of Rock farm had 60 horned cattle (chiefly beef) and 450 sheep and lambs, kept partly for mutton. (fn. 127) Blight created serious difficulties in 1850, when the tenant of Mill and Manor farms lost virtually all his crop and was granted a rent allowance. (fn. 128) Arable farming was partly mechanized by 1861, when one of the Akers family introduced a steam plough. (fn. 129)

Agitation by the Agricultural Labourers' Union was reported in 1872, when a prominent farmer denied evicting labourers who were union members. (fn. 130) Agricultural depression in the later 1870s and 1880s prompted rent reductions on the duke of Marlborough's farms before 1894, (fn. 131) and in 1902 Henry Akers of Manor farm asked Christ Church to make a recent reduction permanent, claiming that labour shortages, high wages, and low corn prices meant that some crops did not repay the cost of production. (fn. 132) Some changes of tenancy in the 1870s and 1880s perhaps followed from the depression. (fn. 133) Such difficulties seem not to have prompted a retreat from arable farming, and in 1914 the parish remained 71 per cent arable, barley and wheat being grown with some swedes and turnips (10 per cent), oats (8 per cent), and a few mangolds and potatoes. Average numbers of sheep, cattle, and pigs for the area were kept, though as elsewhere sheep farming was declining. (fn. 134) One chiefly arable farm in 1916 supported around 1,000 poultry, and a pedigree flock of 250 Oxford Down ewes which received 'extraordinary attention', sainfoin being grown specially for them. (fn. 135)

Similar farming continued in the 1940s, when Mill (286 a.), Elmwood (408 a.), and the combined Manor and Moat farms (703 a.) were between 41 and 53 per cent arable. All those farms supported sizeable flocks and dairy herds, including pedigree Friesians at Elmwood farm, while Manor farm had 800 poultry. (fn. 136) There was large-scale pig farming both at Elmwood and, from the 1950s, at the newly-built Reed Cottage Farm. (fn. 137) A mushroom-growing plant established at Elmwood Farm by the 1950s employed 60 people by 1976, (fn. 138) and continued in the late 1990s. Drainage improvements begun in the mid 19th century were continued in the 1930s and in 1977 by the building of weirs across the eastern branch of Shill brook, and in 1951 by the redirecting of the brook's western channel near the village, which did much to alleviate flooding. (fn. 139)

Trade and Industry

Though Black Bourton has remained a predominantly agricultural community, the usual rural trades were recorded from the Middle Ages. Thirteenth- and 14th-century surnames, evidently hereditary, included Smith, Cooper, Carpenter, Baker, Tailor, and, once each, Slater (le Sclattere) and le Batur, (fn. 140) the last associated perhaps with wool processing. (fn. 141) Rural tradesmen recorded intermittently during the 17th and 18th centuries included a shoemaker, (fn. 142) tailors, carpenters, (fn. 143) wheelwrights, (fn. 144) and butchers, (fn. 145) while masons were noted in 1620 and 1738, a bodice-maker in 1734, (fn. 146) and a currier in 1742. (fn. 147) A former wheelwright was licensed as a corn jobber in 1694. (fn. 148) Several tradesmen were also substantial farmers: a carpenter in 1662 owned 60 sheep, and a tailor in 1681 left goods worth over £200, chiefly livestock and agricultural produce, while a mason and another tailor held land in other parishes. (fn. 149) Malthouses were mentioned in 1767 and 1782. (fn. 150)

Fewer than 5 per cent of the population were employed in non-agricultural activities in the early 19th century. (fn. 151) In 1861 there were 2 blacksmiths (both lodgers), 2 carpenters and wheelwrights, a shoemaker, and a carrier's porter, and the tenant of the glebe farm was a carpenter and machinist. A coal merchant was mentioned in 1871 and a steam sawyer in 1891, and a few inhabitants worked as laundresses, dressmakers, or domestic servants, or on the roads or railway. (fn. 152) Grocers' shops were mentioned intermittently from the mid 19th century, one of them at the Horse and Groom public house. (fn. 153) By the early 20th century there was a shoemaker only, and no traditional crafts were recorded after 1911. A coal merchant's yard established near the railway station before 1920 continued in the 1990s, when there was also a small building firm on Alvescot road. (fn. 154)

Quarrying

Stone quarries on the cornbrash in the north of the parish were recorded from the 16th century, together with Quarr or Quarry way, which ran apparently up the parish's west side towards the later Quarry Bank near Shill brook. (fn. 155) A freeholder in 1756 left ½ a. in Upper field 'wherein a stone quarry is now made', and a highquality slate quarry was discovered in 1763. (fn. 156) Ownership of some quarries was claimed by the Hungerfords and later by Paul Elers, who leased them, (fn. 157) while Christ Church evidently also claimed quarrying rights, citing Elers before its manor court in 1741 for quarrying in the common. (fn. 158)

In the 1770s the duke of Marlborough, as lord of the whole parish, kept some quarries in hand: (fn. 159) stone from one of them was used for the new Witney town hall in 1785, and in 1870 a later duke allowed stone from a Black Bourton quarry to be used for Clanfield school. (fn. 160) Small-scale gravel extraction continued in the 19th century and early 20th, (fn. 161) and a quarry north-west of Rock Farm, near Quarry Bank, survived in 1894 but was abandoned apparently in the earlier 20th century. (fn. 162)

Mills and Fisheries

In 1086 two mills owing rent of 3s. and 4s. respectively were recorded on the later Abbots Bourton and Bourton Inge manors. (fn. 163) The former stood perhaps near Millhams, a Lammas pasture adjoining Shill brook south-west of the later mill at Mill or Lower Farm, (fn. 164) but seems to have gone by the later 13th century. (fn. 165) The latter was perhaps a mill south of Robert Mauduit's manor house, mentioned in the mid 13th century, and standing presumably near the later Swan pool; if so, ownership had by then passed to the lord of Bourton Winslow, who in 1279 let it freely for 1d. annual rent. (fn. 166) Before 1284 Geoffrey of Bourton, as lord, gave the mill in free alms to Osney abbey, which in 1307 returned it to Geoffrey's son for rent totalling 24s.; it remained part of Bourton Winslow manor thereafter, (fn. 167) being retained by the Elerses with the manor house from 1768 to 1812. (fn. 168)

In the 14th century it was a corn mill, and so remained: under the 1307 grant the canons and their servants were allowed to grind at the mill without toll, and villeins were obliged to grind there. (fn. 169) In the earlier 16th century the mill was let with the demesne, and in the 1550s Alexander Seymour the elder, as lessee, allegedly allowed it to decay. (fn. 170) Perhaps then, and certainly before the late 18th century, the mill was rebuilt further north near the Hungerfords' manor house, at the west end of Mill Lane. (fn. 171) An inhabitant was fined in 1761 for obstructing the mill stream, (fn. 172) and in the later 18th century and early 19th the mill was let with a bakehouse, nearby cottages, and pasture grounds. (fn. 173) By the 1840s it was in disrepair despite repeated appeals by the tenant, (fn. 174) and it apparently ceased to work soon after. It was demolished before 1881. (fn. 175)

A water grist mill at Mill (formerly Leaze or Lower) Farm, built in the late 18th or early 19th century, (fn. 176) was let with the farm and continued to operate apparently until the mid 20th century. (fn. 177) The building, some 90 m. south-west of the farmhouse, is two-storeyed with a loft, and is of coursed limestone rubble; in 1894 a single breast-shot wheel drove two pairs of stones. Mixed wood and iron gear survived c. 1983, but the wheel had by then been removed. An attached barn on the north, sharing a continuous stone-slated roof, was added probably in the early 19th century. (fn. 178)

A water-powered threshing mill at Manor Farm, backing onto Shill brook, was constructed in the mid 19th century, perhaps incorporating remains of an earlier corn mill, and continued in the 20th century. It was converted into housing about 1987 but retained some of its machinery in 1998. (fn. 179)

Fisheries granted by the lord of Bourton Winslow to Osney abbey in the mid 13th century lay in Bampton parish. (fn. 180) Unspecified fishing rights let with Manor Farm from the 16th century were presumably in Shill brook. (fn. 181) The Swan pool, held with Bourton Winslow manor house, was reportedly stocked with fish in the mid 18th century. (fn. 182)

Footnotes