ECONOMIC HISTORY
The two Westwick
manors had contrasting economic structures in
both the late 11th and the late 13th century.
Lisles in 1086 had land for 2 ploughteams,
notionally 240 a., of which three quarters was
occupied by a home farm and one quarter by 2
villani and a bordar, the villani presumably
holding a full 30-a. yardland apiece. By 1279 the
villein tenements had been divided and more
had been created from the demesne: there were
then 8 half yardlands of 15 a. each and 6 quarters
of 7 1/2; a., together with 2 villein cottagers. The
rest of the manor was occupied by 60 a. of
demesne and a freeholder with 15 a., who took
his surname from Westwick. The smaller Belbouches manor had land for 1 team in 1086,
though none was recorded at work, and it may
then have been occupied only by the household
of the Norman undertenant Robert, whose stock
comprised 103 sheep and 27 pigs. Villein tenements were never created on Belbouches and
in 1279 there were still 2 1/2 yardlands, notionally
75 a., in demesne, the remaining 1 1/2 yardlands
being held by four freeholders with 30 a., 10 a.,
3 a., and 2 a. (fn. 95)
The meadow for three teams recorded in
1086 (fn. 96) probably lay in the low-lying north part
of Westwick, where the More had been ploughed
up by 1361. (fn. 97) By 1315 the arable was divided
into three fields. (fn. 98) The northern field in the early
15th century had arable strips on Peas hill in its
north-west corner, and the middle field in 1315
and 1406 extended west of the brook into Beredole or Bardole, both later inclosed. The southern field may likewise have extended further
west before new closes were created. In 1637 an
8-a. inclosure had the name New close; leys and
meadow by the river at that date were later
arable. (fn. 99)
The inhabitants were keeping sheep in the
early 15th century. (fn. 1) In the 17th century, as
presumably earlier, they had the right to put
sheep and cattle into the Cottenham commons. (fn. 2)
In the 16th century barley and wheat were
grown; (fn. 3) the names of Peas hill and Oat close
show that those crops were also cultivated. (fn. 4)
In the late Middle Ages the parish had a social
structure similar to that of neighbouring parishes
despite its much smaller scale. The lord of Lisles
manor in the early 16th century received twice
as much from the rents of his customary tenants
as from the demesne. (fn. 5) In 1524 the hamlet included two men assessed on goods worth £10
apiece: one was evidently a tenant farmer and
the other owned both freehold and copyhold
land. (fn. 6) The freeholder's family, the Harwards,
had acquired part of Belbouches manor between
1346 and 1428, (fn. 7) were prosperous yeomen in
1434, (fn. 8) and remained copyholders until 1610.
The lord of the manor's son was attempting to
buy up their estate in that year, (fn. 9) and Martin
Perse bought at least 25 a. while lord, (fn. 10) but other
small farms, one of c. 50 a., survived in the mid
17th century. (fn. 11) A Londoner owned a 100-a. farm
in the early 18th century, half arable and half
pasture but part probably in adjoining parishes,
leasing it to a member of the Linton family in
1703. (fn. 12) It was probably that farm which was
broken up by sale in 1796. Its pasture, lying in
Cuckoo closes in the north, found a number of
ready buyers, (fn. 13) while the arable seems eventually
to have passed to the Lintons, who at about the
same time bought two other freeholds of 22 a.
and 29 a. (fn. 14) Already in 1764 the Westwick estate
comprised 360 a., partly in other parishes, (fn. 15) and
by 1836 the Lintons owned almost four fifths
of Westwick. (fn. 16) Ten other people, probably all
residents of Cottenham, (fn. 17) then had 35 a. between
them, none more than c. 5 a. and mostly pasture
closes. Six and charity trustees from
nearby parishes owned another 37 a., mainly
field land, some of which was let to the Lintons.
By the time that the open-field arable, 218 a.,
was inclosed in 1856 under the general inclosure
Acts, several of the small private owners had
sold out to the Lintons, though others retained
their old closes. Five institutions and one individual received allotments totalling 32 a. on the
eastern boundary stretching north from the road,
and the remainder of the land allotted went to
William Linton, (fn. 18) whose grandson John bought
most of the closes in the north before 1880. (fn. 19) The
Lintons' farm extended well beyond Westwick to
cover 500 a. in 1861 (fn. 20) , reduced to 450 a. in
1910. (fn. 21) A bailiff and two farm servants lived
with the Lintons in 1851, though by 1861 the
bailiff had been provided with a house and from
1868 presumably lived at the new Westwick Hall
Farm. (fn. 22) A workforce of 25 or more was employed
from the 1850s to the 1880s, rather more than
half of whom lived in the Lintons' cottages in the
hamlet. The Lintons were gradually gentrified:
John Linton's domestic staff grew from 2 in
1861 to 5 in 1881 and he employed a footman
in 1871 and a gamekeeper by 1881. A large fox
covert established at about that time north of
Westwick Hall Farm was largely cleared in the
early 20th century. (fn. 23)
In the late 19th century Westwick was run as
a mixed farm cropping c. 175 a. of cereals, with
roots, clover, and permanent grass for a flock
that declined from over 700 sheep and lambs in
1866 to barely 100 in 1905. (fn. 24) John Linton bred
hunters c. 1870. (fn. 25) The farm was let from 1891
to a succession of tenant farmers, who from 1894
also occupied the Hall. (fn. 26) From 1939 to the 1970s
most of the parish was farmed from Westwick
Hall Farm by the Pearson family. (fn. 27)
Apart from an elderly shoemaker who moved
from Oakington in the mid 1850s and died in
the late 1870s, (fn. 28) a carpenter in 1841, (fn. 29) and a few
railway workers, the hamlet in the mid 19th
century was inhabited almost exclusively by the
Lintons' farm labourers. Few families were long
established, most moving away from Westwick
within 10 or 15 years, or dying out after children
had left to find work or to marry. Over half the
residents in 1851 had been born in Westwick,
but barely a third of their successors in 1881.
Westwick men mostly took wives from neighbouring villages, though not predominantly from
Oakington, while labourers were drawn from a
slightly wider area, successive shepherds having
been born in Stapleford, Balsham, and Haddenham. (fn. 30)
The Morris family, resident in Westwick by
1779, (fn. 31) took up market gardening in the early
19th century. (fn. 32) Although Joseph Morris moved
to Oakington in the early 1830s, (fn. 33) in 1838 he
maintained his business in Westwick, owning
2 a. of horticultural land south of the road,
renting an adjoining plot, and letting a few
cottages to labourers. (fn. 34) Gardeners living in
Westwick in 1861 and 1871 (fn. 35) were presumably
tenants or employees of the Morrises, who occupied the holding themselves by 1880, (fn. 36) and
again lived in Westwick from the 1890s. (fn. 37) Their
holding in 1910 covered 8 1/2; a., (fn. 38) the rented part
of which they bought in 1921. (fn. 39) A house was
built at the east end of Westwick in 1914 for
Miss Bertha Morris, (fn. 40) who was still running a
fruit growing business there in 1937. (fn. 41)
One of the cottagers of Lisles manor in 1279
was surnamed the miller, (fn. 42) and in 1315 Sir
Robert de Lisle's windmill, Lowe mill, stood
close to the Cambridge-Ely road, (fn. 43) probably on
the high ground at the south-east corner of the
northern field, which was named from the mill
by the late 14th century. (fn. 44) In the early 16th
century the rent of the mill was declining sharply, (fn. 45) and the mill later fell out of use. There
was probably no mill c. 1810, (fn. 46) and the windmill
operated by the Lintons by 1836 and until the
1860s (fn. 47) stood south-east of the Hall. It was
removed between 1886 and 1901. (fn. 48) A malthouse
at Westwick Hall was in use throughout the mid
19th century. (fn. 49)