AGRICULTURE
In 1086 there was land at Branston for 5 ploughteams
but only 41/2 teams were actually being worked, of
which 11/2 were on the demesne and 3 were worked
by 5 villani and 3 bordars. There was 24 a. of meadow,
and woodland measured 1/2 league in length and
breadth. The value of the manor had decreased from
£3 in 1066 to £2 in 1086. (fn. 1) In the early 12th century
there were two demesne ploughteams and some livestock, and about half the tenanted land was then held
by villeins who owed fixed labour services and half by
rent-payers. Most of the cultivated land was let by the
abbey for 100s. a year to a monk named Eadric, who
possibly held it on behalf of his fellow monks. A villein
called Bruning the reeve presumably managed the
estate. (fn. 2)
Medieval Grange There was presumably a grange (or
home farm) in the late 13th century, when the abbot
made a grant of corn from the barn there. (fn. 3) The reeve
chosen by the vill of Branston at the manor court in
1324 was styled a granger in 1327 and 'barn reeve' in
1330. (fn. 4) What was described as 'the site of the manor' of
Branston was let by the abbey in 1431 to John Blount, a
butcher, and Ralph Stokton for 11 years; it comprised a
'great barn', dairy (le deyhous), and cowhouse (le
schepon). The lease also included 200 ewes, which the
abbey allowed to be pastured in Sinai park between
Holy Cross day (3 May) and Martinmas (11 November) and which were not tithable, although their lambs
were, as was any corn grown on the land. In the last
year of the lease the sheep were to be folded continuously from 3 May to 1 August on land called Conyngre
flat and Penkholm flat. The abbey reserved two sheepfolds from the lease, as well as two meadows. (fn. 5) The farm
was apparently still run directly by the abbey in 1537. (fn. 6)
Open Fields Arable, meadow, and pasture held by
tenants was confined to the eastern half of the township. A field 'towards the Trent' was recorded in the
mid 13th century, and in the early 14th century selions
were recorded in 'Nedderholme'. (fn. 7) There were possibly
three open fields: one north-west of the village where
there were closes called Barley furlong in the later 18th
century; one called Middle field to the east on the other
side of Clays Lane; and the third called Nether field
further north towards Burton Extra. (fn. 8)
Branston Holme In 1546 the tenants of Branston took
a lease of pasture called Branston holme, south of the
village beside the river and encircled by an arm of
Tatenhill brook. The lease was probably for the period
from Candlemas (2 February) to St. James's day (25
July) as the holme was common for the rest of the year,
at least by 1598. (fn. 9) Lord Paget's lease of the holme to a
Burton tanner, Henry Watson, in 1649 may imply that
tenants then had no rights there. (fn. 10) In 1738, however,
Branston holme was fenced at Candlemas and preserved from cattle until May day, when the earl of
Uxbridge as lord of the manor let it until the eve of St.
James's day (24 July) to a tenant; it then became
common, although the lord traditionally took the
first pasturage. The lord also took the first mowing of
a meadow called Branston Hollow, on the south side of
the holme. It too was fenced between Candlemas and
May day, when it was thrown open and became
common for the people of Branston, together with
those of Barton-under-Needwood who had the adjoining meadow in Tatenhill parish called Tucklesholme
meadow. (fn. 11)
Inclosure The open fields had been inclosed piecemeal by the later 18th century, (fn. 12) and Branston holme,
which covered 95 a. in the late 1750s, and other
common land was inclosed in 1773 under an Act of
1771. Only a small part of Branston green, which
stretched along the south side of the village, was
affected by the Act, 2 a. being allotted to Lord
Paget. (fn. 13) The rest of it was not inclosed until 1823
under the Burton inclosure Act of 1812; it then covered
7 a., of which 6 1/2 a. were allotted to trustees for the
poor of Burton and Burton Extra townships. (fn. 14)
Modern Farms Drainage undertaken in the early 19th
century much improved the quality of the farmland on
the marshy east side of the township, (fn. 1) and new farms
were established. Agricultural labourers without holdings had to make do with plots in an 8-a. field which in
1834 was cultivated alternately for potatoes and
wheat. (fn. 2)
In 1918 the farmland was devoted to dairy and
grazing stock. Besides Sinai Park farm covering 193 a.
with 38 a. of woodland, the largest farms were Pool
Green (203 a.), Branston Court (201 a.), Lawns
(167 a.), Manor (162 a.), Postern House (122 a.),
and Rough Hay (75 a.). (fn. 3) Of the 551.6 ha. (1,363 a.)
of farmland returned for Branston civil parish in 1988,
grassland and rough grazing covered 278 ha. and
woodland 4 ha. The main crops were wheat and
barley (201 ha.) and oil-seed rape (58 ha.); beans and
potatoes were grown on 10 ha. There were 711 head of
cattle and 161 sheep and lambs. Of the 11 farms
returned, only one was over 300 ha. in size; two were
between 50 and 99 ha., and the rest less than 19 ha. (fn. 4)
WOODLAND
The hays exempted from Eadric's lease of Branston in
the 1120s (fn. 5) are presumably identifiable as Little hay and
Rough hay in the north-west corner of the township.
Little hay, where fowling glades (volati) were recorded
in the earlier 13th century, was enclosed in 1292. (fn. 6)
Rough hay remained open and covered between 60 a.
and 80 a. in the late 16th century. Tenants in
Branston, Horninglow, and Anslow, in Rolleston
parish, then had unlimited pasture rights there for
cattle but had to pay pannage for their pigs. (fn. 7) In the
early 18th century Lord Paget tried to exclude the men
of Rolleston from Rough hay, but a settlement in 1709
confirmed their pasture rights by reason of 'vicinage'. (fn. 8)
When Rough hay was inclosed in 1773 under an Act
of 1771, it covered 100 a., almost all of it allotted to
Lord Paget as lord of the manor. (fn. 9) Fences set up
immediately after the Act was passed were pulled
down by a gang of women, allegedly encouraged by
the lord of Rolleston manor. (fn. 10)
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Grindstones quarried in Derbyshire were traded at
Branston in the late 16th and early 17th century,
presumably having been brought across the Trent at
a ford near Branston village. (fn. 11)
A factory built on the north side of Burton Road for
the manufacture of machine guns was opened apparently early in 1918 but closed later in the year when the
First World War ended and before production had
commenced. (fn. 12) The office block is of brick with stone
dressings, and the site is fronted by a high brick wall.
In 1920 the government sold the building to Crosse
& Blackwell, preserved food manufacturers of London,
who remained there until 1924, having adopted Branston as the brand name for sauce and pickle recipes. (fn. 13)
In 1927 the factory was taken over by Branston
Artificial Silk Co. Ltd., but was closed in 1930. (fn. 14)
From 1937 the site was used as an ordnance depot
by the War Office, which retained control directly until
1964 and indirectly until 1974. From 1976 it was run
as a supply and transport store by the Home Office
prison service, still its use in 1999. (fn. 15)
In 1920 Eatoughs Ltd., a firm of shoe makers in
Leicestershire, converted a late 19th-century building
at the east end of Burton Road beside the railway line
into a shoe factory. When the company moved premises to High Street, in Burton, in 1924, the Branston
factory was used for making shoe boxes by the Wilcock
family, still in business there as box makers under the
name Burton Box Co. in 1999. (fn. 16)
Branston Gravels Ltd. were digging for sand and
gravel between Lichfield Road and the canal by 1932. (fn. 17)
Quarrying ceased in the 1950s, and the quarry filled up
naturally to make the present 40-a. lake, which was
landscaped and opened to the public as a water park by
the district council in 1989. (fn. 18)
A tile factory opened by Marley Tile Co. in 1935 on
the west side of Lichfield Road on Branston's southern
boundary was still in production in 1999. (fn. 19)