ECONOMIC HISTORY:
AGRICULTURE. In 1086
5 ploughs and one servus were recorded on the
demesne of the Crown's large estate at Westbury;
the remainder of the estate supported 32 villani
and 15 bordars with 8 ploughs between them. (fn. 57) In
1303 the demesne of Roger of Burghill's third part
of Westbury manor included 60 a. of arable and
12 a. of meadow. There were 13 free tenants,
two of whom held yardlands and the others smaller
estates, and 19 customary tenants with estates
varying between 1 a. and 25 a., although most were
between 6 a. and 12 a. The customary tenants owed
a fairly small number of works, including ploughing,
harrowing, weeding, mowing, and reaping; other
commuted works were presumably represented by
the cash rents that were owed. (fn. 58) Nicholas of Bath's
third share of Westbury manor included 260 a. of
arable, 12 a. of meadow, and 102s. 4d. rent in 1326. (fn. 59)
The share of the Gamage family in the mid 14th
century included two plough-lands in the open
fields, 12 a. of meadow, and £4 10s. rent of assize. (fn. 60)
In 1291 Walmore manor included 4 plough-lands,
meadow yielding 20 loads of hay, and 7s. rent of
assize; (fn. 61) the vineyard of Walmore mentioned c.
1200 presumably belonged to the demesne of that
manor. (fn. 62) Reynold of Abenhall's Stantway estate
in 1341 had 120 a. of arable in the open fields and
50 a. in common meadows. (fn. 63)
Rodley manor in 1274 had 120 a. of demesne
arable and 20 a. of meadow; there were free tenants
owing over £7 rent, customary tenants owing over
£12 rent and £2 instead of works, and 4 yardlanders
and 9 mondaymen. (fn. 64) In 1439 115 a. of demesne
arable and 16 a. of demesne meadow were leased
among a number of tenants, and the tenants made
payments instead of 48 weeding, 27 mowing, and
144 harvest works, as well as for bedrips and other
customs. (fn. 65) In 1591 the manor included c. 15 freehold estates of 30-60 a. and a large number of small
free tenancies. Customary tenants, who were later
described as holding by copy or by descent, held
between them 27 reeve-lands, usually c. 40 a., and
30 tithing-lands, usually c. 10 a.; the holders of
reeve-lands served the office of reeve on a rota
system. (fn. 66) Some of the tenants paid a rent called
sandgavel for the right of digging sand on the
manor. (fn. 67) At least 4 reeve-lands and 6 tithing-lands had
been sold by 1658, (fn. 68) and in 1698 it was said that most
of the copyholds had been enfranchised. (fn. 69) In 1847
there were still 19 copyhold estates on Rodley
manor but none was more than a few acres; (fn. 70) 8
copyholds, probably the last surviving, were enfranchised between 1904 and 1920. (fn. 71)
On the other manors in the parish customary
tenures were apparently all replaced by leaseholds
at a fairly early stage, a process which was presumably hastened by the decline or absence of manor
courts. In 1607 Boseley manor comprised, apart
from an inclosed demesne farm of 111 a. and four
small free tenancies, 16 leasehold estates mostly
held for terms of lives; one of the leaseholds was
106 a., another 81 a., two 30-40 a., and the remainder
only a few acres. (fn. 72) The Roberts family's Westbury
and Sellars manors in 1635 had c. 22 tenants holding
by indenture for years and lives, some of whom owed
heriots and additional rents of hens; the largest
estate was 15 a. and most were only c. 2 a. The
estate also included an inclosed demesne farm of
III a. and 60 a. of wood (evidently Ley Park), (fn. 73) a
number of small free rents, and some small parcels
of land held at will. (fn. 74) In 1717 the Earl of Kent's
manor of Ley had 13 tenants who held by leases
for lives with heriots payable; 5 held 30-50 a. and
the others smaller estates. Nine small freehold
rents owed to the manor were then being withheld. (fn. 75)
In 1693 the majority of the tenants of Walmore
manor received new leases for 3 lives or 99 years
with heriots payable. (fn. 76)
In the mid 14th century a rotation of two crops and
a fallow was followed on the demesne land of Rodley
manor and of the Gamages' estate. (fn. 77) A large number
of open fields recorded in the late 16th and early
17th centuries included Rodley Marsh in the south
part of Rodley, Vicarage Marsh, Hill field, and
Windmill Hill field further north, Wilmoor and
Stanley fields between Cleeve and Bollow, Hay
Redding field south of Chaxhill, Bunweir Marsh by
the Noards, Walmore Hill, Court and Broad fields at
Lower Ley, and Stroud and Perry fields in Elton. (fn. 78) In
the early 19th century most of the open arable lay in
c. 17 fields in the part of the parish south of the main
Gloucester-Chepstow road; there were 7, mainly
small, open fields lying widely dispersed outside
that area. (fn. 79) The main common meadow in the parish,
recorded in 1591, was Elton Meadow, (fn. 80) lying
between Westbury village and the river, and in the
early 19th century there were other common
meadows at Rodley, Cleeve, Bollow, and Walmore. (fn. 81)
Some meadow lying in Great Wilmoor to the west
of Bollow was annually changeable between two
owners. (fn. 82) Walmore Common provided the main
common pasture of the parish. It was inclosed in
1871 when 159 a. was awarded to the Crown, and
rights of common in the residue of 68 a. in the
south-east were assigned to 27 neighbouring
proprietors; (fn. 83) in 1969 the use of the common was
regulated by a grazing committee. (fn. 84) In the Middle
ages the tenants of Rodley manor had pasture for
their pigs and cattle, free of pannage and herbage,
and the right of taking wood to repair their houses,
in the Forest of Dean. (fn. 85) In 1614 they also had common in c. 60 a. of marshy and sandy ground on the
manor. (fn. 86) There was no limit on the number of
animals pastured in the open fields of the manor
in 1591, (fn. 87) but in 1672 the court stinted the fallow
fields at 2 sheep for each acre owned, and 3 sheep for
a house. (fn. 88) Common in the fields in which the Boseley
tenants had land was unlimited in 1607. (fn. 89)
Little evidence has been found of early private
inclosure of the open fields. Some proprietors
applied for an Act for general inclosure c. 1813 but
the project was opposed by 55 other proprietors, (fn. 90)
and inclosure did not take place until 1851; c.
860 a. were then re-allotted among 50 proprietors. (fn. 91)
The award did not cover Stroud's field and Elton
Meadow which were inclosed by another award in
1861. (fn. 92)
The parish was said to be predominantly pasture,
meadow, and orcharding c. 1775, (fn. 93) and in 1839
there were c. 4,060 a. of pasture, meadow, and
orchard, and c. 2,530 a. of arable. (fn. 94) In 1801 wheat
and beans were the main crops grown with smaller
acreages of barley, oats, peas, potatoes, and turnips. (fn. 95)
Hops were being grown in the early 18th century, (fn. 96)
and flax and hemp were included in an undated list
of tithable produce. (fn. 97) Teasels were being grown c.
1775 and in 1827. (fn. 98) Dairying and stock-raising were
evidently important in the parish economy in 1804
when it was announced that two toll-free fairs would
be held each year at Westbury for the sale of livestock
and cheese, (fn. 99) and in 1856 there were 11 cattledealers in the parish, 6 of whom were also farmers.
A total of 69 farmers were listed in 1856 and the
number remained about the same in the mid 20th
century. (fn. 1) By 1901 the arable land of the parish had
fallen to 705 a.; (fn. 2) in 1969, when there was little arable,
dairying predominated, and there was also some
stock-raising.
Orchards were evidently extensive by the early
18th century when almost every farmer produced
cider, (fn. 3) and the parish had a reputation for the
quality of its cider in the 18th and 19th centuries. (fn. 4)
The large numbers of casks, described as pipes,
barrels, and hogsheads, which the churchwardens
were able to purchase in the late 17th century for the
repair of the steeple (fn. 5) and the parts of cider-mills
which survive at many houses in the parish are
other indications of the scale of local cider production. In the later 19th century plums and pears
as well as apples were grown in large quantities; (fn. 6)
there were 6 fruit-merchants in the parish in 1879, (fn. 7)
and 3 fruit-merchants and 8 commercial fruitgrowers in 1906. (fn. 8) The Chaxhill House estate
concentrated largely on fruit-growing in the early
20th century; in 1918 c. 140 a. of its 200 a. were
orchard. (fn. 9) In the late 19th century some of the fruit
grown in the parish was shipped by sloops to Bristol
and Newport. (fn. 10) In 1920 the Gloucestershire Fruit
and Vegetable Market Society opened a branch
market at Grange Court Station, (fn. 11) and much of the
fruit produced in the parish was sold there in 1969;
some farmers, however, had contracts with cider
and jam manufacturers or with Evesham fruitdealers. (fn. 12)
MILLS. A corn-mill south of Westbury village
where the Westbury brook flows into the Severn was
recorded as Garne Mill in 1255 when the Abbot of
Flaxley granted it to Henry of Bath in exchange for
another mill, called Wood Mill, at Elton. (fn. 13) A mill
recorded between 1337 and 1475 among the possessions of Henry's successors to the manor of Ley (fn. 14)
may have been either Garne Mill or a mill in
Westbury village. (fn. 15) In 1613 Garne Mill was part of
Joseph Baynham's Westbury estate; (fn. 16) by 1642 it
had passed to the Batherne family which retained
it in 1673. (fn. 17) The mill, known from the late 17th
century as Garden Mill (fn. 18) and from the mid 19th
century as Severn Mill, (fn. 19) continued working until
at least 1879. (fn. 20) In 1969 the mill, a small early-19thcentury brick building adjoining a house of similar
date, had had its machinery removed and was used
to house pigs.
Wood Mill at Elton mentioned in 1255 (fn. 21) stood on
the Westbury brook close to the boundary with
Flaxley; (fn. 22) it presumably descended with Flaxley
Abbey's manor of Walmore for in 1693 it was owned
by Anthony Kemp, and in 1731, when it comprised
two corn-mills, it was sold by his son Anthony
to Thomas Crawley-Boevey of Flaxley. (fn. 23) Wood
Mill has not been found recorded later.
Another mill lower down the Westbury brook
was usually known as Cut Mill until the mid 19th
century when it was called Boseley Mill. In 1607
it belonged to Boseley manor and was leased to
John Phillips; (fn. 24) the heirs of William Phillips occupied it in 1694, (fn. 25) and it was recorded as Phillips's
Mill in 1717. (fn. 26) In 1839 Cut Mill was owned by the
Crawley-Boeveys, who presumably acquired it
with Boseley manor. (fn. 27) The lessee in 1839 was
Anselm Bailey, (fn. 28) whose family worked it until the
1890s when it apparently closed down. (fn. 29) The mill
was dismantled c. 1930. (fn. 30)
Another mill driven by the Westbury brook stood
in Westbury village north of the main road. In 1717,
when it comprised two corn-mills under one roof,
it belonged to Ley manor; Richard Higgs was
leasing it and he apparently bought the mill at the
sale of the manor in 1725; (fn. 31) Mrs. Higgs, a widow,
occupied it in 1733. (fn. 32) It continued working until
c. 1925. (fn. 33) In 1968 the small stone and brick millbuilding survived emptied of its machinery, and
the former mill-pond on the west (fn. 34) had been turned
into a garden; the cottage adjoining the mill is
partly timber-framed.
Ley Mill on the Ley brook where it was crossed
by the Huntley road was owned by Richard Young
at his death in 1635, (fn. 35) and it passed with the adjoining
farms to the Probyns. (fn. 36) Between 1805 and 1879
the Coleman family worked the mill; it apparently
ceased working c. 1908, (fn. 37) and only a ruined stone
wall remained in 1969.
INDUSTRY AND TRADE. Although agriculture
remained the chief employer of labour, the proportion of the population of the parish in non-agricultural occupations was fairly high owing to the
livelihood provided by the fisheries and river trade.
In 1608 136 men employed in agriculture were
listed and 112 in other trades, (fn. 38) and in 1831 agriculture supported 246 families and trade 92 families. (fn. 39)
In 1969 a majority of the working population was still
employed on the land; the others worked mainly
in Gloucester. (fn. 40)
The fishery of Garne and Rodley belonging to
the Crown was recorded from 1157 when the tithes
had been granted to Farleigh Priory. (fn. 41) Lampreys
taken in the king's weirs of Rodley were mentioned
in 1233. (fn. 42) In the 1240s the fishery was farmed by
the men of Rodley manor, (fn. 43) and it descended with
that manor from the 1260s. During the 13th century
the farmers and lords of the manor were frequently
allowed wood from the Forest of Dean for the repair
of the weirs, (fn. 44) and in 1336 the customary allowance
was said to be two horse-loads of rods daily between September and May and great timbers when
the weirs were ruined by the torrent. (fn. 45) In 1424 a
lease of the fishery included the use of a fisheryhouse and two boats. At that period a number of
fish-traps (borrachia) in the river were leased separately; they lay in named 'rows', presumably weirs
made up of putchers on a timber framework. (fn. 46)
In 1521 the fishery, described as the halves and
halvendeals of Rodley Weir, New Weir, and Garne
Weir, with the fishery called Unla Water, was
leased from the manor to Alexander Baynham; (fn. 47)
Unla Water was the stretch of river under Garden
Cliff. (fn. 48) New Weir was presumably the weir of
that name at Rodley which Roger, Earl of Hereford,
had included in his endowment of Flaxley Abbey
c. 1151. (fn. 49) In 1634 putts, 'wheels', and nets were
used in the fishery of Rodley manor, and the lord
had the right to take all royal fish and casualties on
water and land; (fn. 50) catches of sturgeon were presented
in the manor court in 1717 and 1723. (fn. 51) The payment
of a custom called pridgavel gave tenants of the
manor the right to take lampreys in the river. (fn. 52) The
manor fishery had apparently been sold by 1735
when six owners owed tithes for shares in a fishery
at Rodley. (fn. 53) A fishery at the Noards in Bollow was
mentioned in 1812. (fn. 54) In 1608 five fishermen and two
fish-mongers lived in Westbury parish, (fn. 55) and eight
fishermen were working in Rodley in 1735; (fn. 56) five
fishermen and two fish-mongers were recorded in
the period 1813-23. (fn. 57) In 1969 putchers for catching
salmon were still put in the river at Broadoak, while
the long net was used off Rodley. (fn. 58)
Other parishioners were employed in waterborne commerce from the 16th century and presumably earlier. In 1591 Rodley manor claimed
keelage from all barques and pickards loading or
unloading goods between Newnham Pill and Garden
Cliff, (fn. 59) and a Westbury ship was trading with
Ireland in 1596. (fn. 60) In 1608 the inhabitants of the
parish included 22 sailors. (fn. 61) Men described as
mariners and seamen continued to be recorded
until the mid 19th century, (fn. 62) although it was probably always the local river trade that employed a
majority of the sailors of the parish; watermen, 23
of whom were recorded in the period 1813-23, were
apparently the largest group of non-agricultural
workers in the early 19th century. (fn. 63) Broadoak was a
small centre of commerce and ship-building. Five
sailors and two shipwrights listed under Elton in
1608 probably lived there, (fn. 64) and a mariner of Broadoak was mentioned in 1702. (fn. 65) Sloops and barges
of 40-70 tons, and in 1801 a West Indiaman of
263 tons, were among ships built at the hamlet
during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, (fn. 66)
some of them by Thomas Powell (d. 1785) and his
son Thomas (d. 1795). (fn. 67) The Boughton family were
merchants at Broadoak during the second half of
the 18th century: John Boughton was dealing in
cider in 1755, (fn. 68) and at his death in 1767 he left
cider-making equipment at Hawkins Pill, just over
the boundary with Newnham, and a brig to his son
Joseph (fn. 69) (d. 1782), who became prominent in the
bark and cider trade; (fn. 70) two other members of the
family owned a brig trading with London in 1786. (fn. 71)
Three pilots and a sloop-owner were among the
hamlet's residents in 1856. (fn. 72) In the late 19th and
early 20th centuries large quantities of stone for
use on the roads of the parish were brought up
river and unloaded at Broadoak. (fn. 73) About half of the
sailors recorded in 1608 were listed under Rodley,
which evidently included Cleeve (fn. 74) where a number
of mariners lived during the 17th and early 18th
centuries. (fn. 75) In the 19th century sloops traded from
Rodley to Bristol and Newport. (fn. 76) Three owners of
sloops and two sloop-masters lived in Rodley in
1856, (fn. 77) and there was the same number of sloopowners there in 1879; (fn. 78) a barge-owner operated
from Rodley until c. 1920. (fn. 79)
Westbury had a small cloth industry in 1608
when 21 weavers (four of whom were described as
coverlet-weavers), two tuckers, a clothier, and a
yarn-seller were recorded in the parish. (fn. 80) A clothier
was mentioned in 1672 (fn. 81) and a weaver in 1772, (fn. 82)
but the industry had probably died out by the end of
the 18th century. A hosier was also working in the
parish in 1608 (fn. 83) and a glover in 1661. (fn. 84) Ten tailors
were recorded in 1608, (fn. 85) and there were five or six
in the parish in the earlier 19th century. (fn. 86) Other
craftsmen listed in 1608 included eight shoemakers,
six tanners, and a currier. (fn. 87) A tanner was recorded
in 1684. (fn. 88) Eleven shoemakers were mentioned in the
period 1813-23, (fn. 89) and there were several in the
parish until the 1920s; in 1856 there were also two
harness-makers, and a saddler in 1906. (fn. 90) A smithy
near Bollow was mentioned in 1502, (fn. 91) and in
1608 there were six smiths and a metal-man in
the parish; (fn. 92) two forges in Westbury tithing, one in
Lower Ley, and one in Elton were taxed in 1672. (fn. 93)
The parish had four or more blacksmiths during the
19th century and one was still working there in
1939. (fn. 94) A pin-maker of Adsett was recorded in
1638, (fn. 95) and there were nailers in the parish in 1778,
1817, and 1856. (fn. 96)
Masons were recorded in the parish in the late
17th and late 18th centuries, (fn. 97) and there were two or
three working there during the 19th and early 20th
centuries; (fn. 98) two thatchers were mentioned in 1778. (fn. 99)
A brick-works at Bollow was in production in 1863
and until c. 1880. (fn. 1) Five carpenters and two joiners
were listed in 1608, (fn. 2) and carpenters formed one of
the largest groups of craftsmen in the early 19th
century; (fn. 3) four carpenters were recorded in 1906, one
of whom was still working in 1939. The parish had
wheelwrights in 1879 and until 1935; (fn. 4) coopers were
recorded in 1697, 1764, and 1879, (fn. 5) and a maker of
the hoops for barrels in 1823. (fn. 6) Timber-merchants
were mentioned in the early 19th century, (fn. 7) and in
1856 there was one at Ley and another, who also
made agricultural implements, had the Chaxhill Saw
Mills; the latter apparently closed down c. 1880. (fn. 8)
Other small industries dependent on the local
woodland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
were rope-making from the bark of birch trees at
Northwood Green (fn. 9) and charcoal-burning in Ley
Woods; the charcoal was sent by rail to chemical
works. (fn. 10) The demand for fruit-baskets and putchers
for fishing made basket-making another local trade.
Several persh (or osier) beds recorded in 1839 were
presumably connected with the trade, (fn. 11) and there was
a basket-maker at Rodley in 1856. (fn. 12) The Jacksons
followed the trade at the Strand from the 1890s
and later at Broadoak where one of the family
still made baskets and putchers in 1969; (fn. 13) another
maker specialized in fruit-baskets in the early 20th
century. (fn. 14) A sieve-maker was recorded at Elton in
1608. (fn. 15)
There was a maltman at Rodley in 1608. (fn. 16)
Joseph Cadle of Longcroft was a maltster in 1788, (fn. 17)
and a malthouse adjoined that house in 1880; (fn. 18)
a maltster of Chaxhill was mentioned in 1828. (fn. 19)
Five butchers were among the inhabitants of the
parish in 1608; (fn. 20) nine butchers together with three
bakers, three shopkeepers, and a number of general
dealers, were recorded in the period 1813-23. (fn. 21)
In the 1930s there was a firm of linoleummanufacturers near Grange Court Station. (fn. 22) During
the Second World War a depot for the assembly of
huts, bailey bridges, and other war materials was
established west of the station, and in 1953 it was
adapted for the milling and pressure-creosoting of
imported timber; it had c. 30 employees in 1968. (fn. 23)