ECONOMIC HISTORY
Agriculture and Market Gardening
Early settlers were drawn from a wide geographical area,
including London, the north of England, and continental Europe, as well as from a wide variety of backgrounds including former soldiers and policemen,
pensioners, and a few with businesses elsewhere. Of 112
occupiers listed in 1917, about a third depended chiefly
on their smallholding, among them poultry farmers,
market gardeners, and labourers; 47 (almost 45 per
cent) had a pension or some private income, and 22 (20
per cent) were hauliers, higglers, traders, or artisans.
Most holdings were small, between 1 and 5 a., though
some settlers had up to 30 a., often scattered in different
parts of the estate. Nearly all were freeholders by 1910,
though Homesteads Ltd retained some plots, and had
mortgages on a few others. (fn. 1)
By the mid 1920s the settlement, despite early
difficulties, was said to be 'one of the most prosperous
places in the country', (fn. 2) and was still attracting immigrants from far afield: in 1920 one settler transported his
family and possessions from Chelsea in a horse-drawn
trap, while he himself walked alongside. (fn. 3) The chief agricultural activities were fruit-growing, market gardening,
poultry farming, and dairying, with some barley, oats,
and potatoes grown presumably on the larger holdings.
Soft fruits, particularly strawberries, grew well on all
plots, and hard fruits on the heavier land, and in the
1920s Carterton was renowned for eggs, good-quality
grapes, tomatoes, and other hothouse fruits: the
'Carterton tomato' was said to enjoy a high reputation
even at Covent Garden. (fn. 4) Larger businesses included the
Humphries family's Frenchester Nurseries south of
Brize Norton Road, well known for black grapes, (fn. 5) and
another nurseryman in 1908 specialized in maiden
apples and roses. (fn. 6) Most holdings were intensively cultivated by 1917, with some settlers supporting 5 or 6 cows
on only 6 a.; on one holding cows were tethered in
summer on 1 a. sown with lucerne, the remaining 5 a.
producing white oats, roots, and catch crops, while
smallholders with 2 or 3 a. often kept 2 or 3 small Jerseys
or half-breeds. (fn. 7)
Most dairy produce was sold in Carterton or at local
markets, and most poultry either locally or in London;
market-garden produce went chiefly to Oxford, Witney,
or Lechlade (Glos.) and even to the West Country. Poor
rail-links prevented markets at Cirencester, Cheltenham, and Swindon from being exploited effectively,
though some larger cultivators nevertheless established
'profitable connections' in those areas. A Co-operative
Society formed in or before 1907 to facilitate distribution had 60 members by 1913, but met with only limited
success: the 'most enterprising' members sought out
private markets 'which a general trade could not touch',
and a commentator in 1917 noted a 'lack of the
co-operation which forms such a strong argument for
the group system'. (fn. 8)
Trade and Industry
Early non-agricultural settlers included higglers, bootmakers, builders, a carpenter, and, from the 1920s,
drapers, tailors, a butcher, and a wireless dealer. Other
residents included a photographer in 1907, and in 1924
a model engineer; a motor garage and petrol station was
opened on Alvescot Road in 1923. A general store was
established at the crossroads in 1902, and another in the
Emporium about 1911, and by 1939 there was a tobacconist, a fried-fish dealer, a hairdresser, a coal dealer, two
motor repair garages, an hotel (the Beehive), and a
boarding house in Rock Farm. (fn. 9) Carterton nevertheless
remained predominantly agricultural until its expansion
after the Second World War, (fn. 10) when local employment
became increasingly dependent on the military airfield.
In the 1970s the RAF employed 400 civilians directly,
but other local employment was by then confined to the
shops, banks, public houses, and post office, and much
of the population worked in Oxford, Witney, or
Swindon. Many were newcomers attracted by cheap
housing, which, combined with the number of RAF
families, created an unusual preponderance of younger
inhabitants and increased employment difficulties. (fn. 11)
The acute need for more local employment prompted
planning decisions in the late 1960s and early 1970s to
provide more shops and offices, together with a 15-a.
industrial estate south of Milestone Road. (fn. 12) The latter, a
joint initiative by the district and county councils, was
opened in phases from around 1973, with preference
given to labour-intensive businesses; by 1977 it accommodated a variety of firms both local and from outside the
county, though criticisms were levelled that it was too
expensive for some smaller firms, and Carterton
remained 'embarrassingly dependent' on the RAF for
employment. (fn. 13) A second industrial estate on the town's
eastern edge was opened in the early 1980s, when unemployment in Carterton, as in nearby Witney, was particularly acute following national recession: in 1980 there
were 80 applicants for a single production-line job. By the
mid 1990s local unemployment had fallen significantly,
though industrial estates in both Carterton and Witney
were still failing to attract businesses as successfully as
other areas of Oxfordshire, which was attributed partly to
inadequate transport. (fn. 14) Completion of a new link road to
the A40 was hoped in the early 21st century to have
increased Carterton's competitiveness, and there were
plans for a new 23-a. business park east of the town. (fn. 15)
35. Carterton badge of office
A chamber of commerce was established in 1964 to
encourage local shopping and to influence planning, and
in the late 1980s held well-attended trade fairs; it
continued in 2004. A Thursday market established in
1973, on land west of Black Bourton Road, also met with
great success, though by 2000 there were signs of decline
caused partly by rising stall rents. (fn. 16)