ECONOMIC HISTORY:
Agriculture. In 1086
there was no demesne land in either Woolaston
manor or Aluredston, though the king held two
fisheries in demesne at Madgett. (fn. 6) By the late 13th
century, shortly before the manor was granted to
Tintern Abbey, there was considerable demesne at
Aluredston. Three demesne servants were employed,
and 22 boonworks at haymaking and 102 boonworks
at harvest were worked; in addition, labour-services
for threshing were provided by Tidenham tenants of
the lordship of Striguil. The livestock usually consisted of eight oxen and two other draught animals,
and wheat, barley, peas, and oats were grown,
together with a small quantity of beans and rye. In
1286 four casks of cider were produced, and in 1293
two casks and eight quarters of apples. (fn. 7) An orchard
belonging to the vicarage was recorded in 1261. (fn. 8)
There were 5 villani with 5 ploughs in the manor
of Woolaston in 1086, and the two manors at
Aluredston had respectively 5 villani and 3 bordars
with 3 ploughs, and 2 villani with 2 ploughs. The
larger manor at Aluredston had increased in value
since 1066, and was worth more than Woolaston. (fn. 9)
Rents of assize between £6 and £6 10s. were
received from Aluredston manor by the lordship of
Striguil in the late 13th century, and were increased
from 1289 by the addition of rents for new assarts. (fn. 10)
Shortly before the Dissolution the Tintern Abbey
granges of Woolaston, Madgett, and Brockweir and
the manor of Aluredston were all held at farm,
Brockweir being leased to a number of tenants.
Aluredston was worth only £3 10s., but receipts of
£25 12s. 8d. from fixed rents and manorial courts
at Woolaston, Aluredston, and Ashwell may have
included a large proportion of rents from that manor.
The grange of Woolaston, valued at £22, was worth
about three times as much as any other Tintern
Abbey grange. (fn. 11)
The only woodland and meadow in the parish in
1086 was within the manor of Aluredston, where
there was a wood half a league long by half a league
wide, and 10 a. of meadow. (fn. 12) Until 1300 the parish
lay within the bounds of the Forest of Dean, which
embraced Tidenham Chase, (fn. 13) and in 1170 receipts
from forest pleas included 6s. 8d. from the men of
Aluredston. (fn. 14) Besides the Abbot of Tintern's
assart of 200 a. made without warrant before 1282, (fn. 15)
some minor encroachments and assarts at both
Woolaston and Aluredston were recorded then and
in 1289-90. (fn. 16) In the higher part of the parish the
place-name Redding is common, Monks Redding
occurring at Madgett in 1476 and west of Woolaston
Woodside in 1864, and in 1476 the abbey tenants
held clearings called 'rydings' in addition to their
arable land. (fn. 17) The abbey itself was paying a small
annual rent in 1535 to the lordship of Striguil for
land at Ashwell and the Roads Grove, part of
Oakhill Wood, presumably for assarts or pasture
rights. (fn. 18) The abbey and its tenants had been granted
pasture rights in Tidenham Chase in 1223, (fn. 19)
and payments for pannage were made by Aluredston
tenants in the late 13th century. (fn. 20)
The pattern of landholding did not change
significantly as a result of the grant of the Tintern
Abbey estates to the Earl of Worcester, and up to the
late 19th century most of the land belonged to the
principal estate, but Plusterwine House, most of the
land in the hamlets of Brookend and Netherend,
and about one third of the cottages and lands enclosed from Woolaston Common were freehold. (fn. 21)
Fifteen freeholders paid chief rents in 1771-2, (fn. 22)
and 9 freeholders had land in the open fields at
Plusterwine in 1789. (fn. 23) The enfranchisement of some
copyholds was begun c. 1650, after the sequestration
of the Earl of Worcester's estate, but the process was
reversed by Cromwell, on whom the manor had been
settled. (fn. 24) In 1771-2 in Woolaston there were 23
tenants paying rack-rents and 15 copyholders of
small properties, holding them for the term of three
lives; at Brockweir three tenants paid rack-rents and
there were four copyhold tenements, including
Townsend and Madgett farms. (fn. 25) Heriots were paid
in the 1680s. (fn. 26)
The whole Beaufort estate in Tidenham and
Woolaston amounted to 2,123 a. in 1769. The largest
farm was Woolaston Grange, consisting of 484 a.,
chiefly arable but with a large amount of meadow.
The other large farm was Madgett with 371 a., of
which 44 a. lay in Tidenham. In 1769 it was about
equally divided between arable, pasture, and
meadow, but c. 1700, when its area was only 313 a.,
there was hardly any arable land. (fn. 27) The other
farms near the Wye, Brockweir, Townsend, and
Passage farms, each less than 100 a., also had a
small proportion of arable, as did Keynsham farm
and Ashwell Grange. (fn. 28) None of the other freehold
farms was of any great size.
In the late 17th and 18th centuries the only open
fields were at High Woolaston and Plusterwine.
Much of the north part of the parish was woodland
or waste, and the former Tintern Abbey granges were
enclosed. At High Woolaston in 1743 the open
fields were on the north side of the hamlet and were
called Keynsham, Hoardy or Worthy, High Woolaston, and Upper, Middle, and Lower Dean fields. (fn. 29)
They were apparently enclosed between 1743 and
1769, when there also remained some evidence of
strips north of Knights Farm. The open fields at
Plusterwine lay almost entirely south of the road to
Chepstow and east of Plusterwine Lane. The arable
fields were Goose Land or Goosling field, Little
field, Middle field, Little Thornwell or Thornhill,
Lower field, and, adjoining the Severn on the west
side of the lane, Cone House field. Along the Cone
brook were the open meadows of Mickla Mead,
Thornwell, and Little, Middle, and Great Clanna. (fn. 30)
In the late 17th century the meadows were commonable after haymaking and the open fields until sowing
time. The fields were mostly divided in ½-a. strips
and were inclosed by the agreement of the ten
landowners in 1789, when the Duke of Beaufort and
James Woodroffe were the principal owners, with
82 a. in 109 strips and 42 a. in 74 strips respectively. (fn. 31)
Winter corn and spring corn were chiefly grown, but
rye, barley, oats, and peas were also recorded occasionally. (fn. 32) Tithes on those crops were payable in 1727,
and on clover, apples, and pears as well as livestock. (fn. 33)
The continued importance of fruit-growing is revealed in the presence of cider-mills at all the larger
farms in 1813, (fn. 34) and a variety of pear called a
Woolaston was recorded in 1801. (fn. 35) Potato gardens
existed at High Woolaston and Keynsham farm in
1769, (fn. 36) and allotments for potato gardens were
made under the Inclosure Act of 1810. (fn. 37)
Common rights were enjoyed in Woolaston
Wood and claimed in Tidenham Chase in the 16th
and 17th centuries, although the inhabitants of
Tidenham and other parishes were denied similar
rights in Woolaston Wood. (fn. 38) For a short time in
1660 the wood was committed to the care of the
Commissioners of Dean Forest in order to check the
felling of timber, coal-mining, and iron-works,
which had become more extensive during Oliver
Cromwell's ownership of the manor. (fn. 39) Minor encroachments on the waste, including the erection of
cottages, were made at Park Hill, Woolaston Wood,
and Brockweir in the late 17th and 18th centuries. (fn. 40)
Under the Inclosure Act of 1810 encroachments
made before 1789 for which no rents were paid were
allotted to the possessor, and encroachments made
between 1789 and 1809 by freeholders were allotted
to them, all others being allotted to the Duke of
Beaufort as lord of the manor. (fn. 41) The lands inclosed
in Woolaston were chiefly at Woolaston Woodside
and Woolaston Common, but c. 60 a. of meadow at
Plusterwine were also included. The Duke of Beaufort was awarded 40 a. for manorial rights, and the
rector 47 a. for tithes; 36 a. were allotted for horseand cow-pastures and potato gardens for persons
holding lands worth less than £10 a year. (fn. 42) There
were 33 a. of common land at Woolaston Common
and Common Wood in 1969. (fn. 43)
In 1842 apart from the Duke of Beaufort there
were only two other important landowners paying
tithes, James Stevens with 176 a. at Woolaston
Woodside and Plusterwine and Francis Hammond
with 126 a. chiefly at High Woolaston, (fn. 44) but altogether
there were 16 freeholders paying chief rents. (fn. 45)
A few additional tenancies had been created by
1845, when there were 116 copyholders holding
small plots for terms of lives, 22 cottagers holding
at will, and 33 farmers paying rack-rents for the
larger holdings; nine tenants with leases for terms
of years were recorded in 1845 but not in 1842.
At Brockweir six tenants held by rack-rent and one
for a term of years. (fn. 46) Later in the century many
of the larger farms were held on yearly tenancies, (fn. 47)
until after the sale of the Beaufort estate to S. S.
Marling in 1872 when the tenancies were converted
into leases. (fn. 48)
Under the Inclosure Act 162 cottagers in Tidenham and Woolaston claimed ownership of their
cottages. The Duke of Beaufort's agent, Zouch
Turton, contested 59 claims in Woolaston, and the
majority of the cottagers agreed to hold by lease for
three lives, but in 1820 there were still ten unsettled
claims. (fn. 49) There were 39 cottages at Woolaston
Woodside, Woolaston Common, and Brookend
belonging to the estate in 1872, (fn. 50) but by 1905 Sir
William Henry Marling had sold them all. (fn. 51)
Throughout the 19th century Woolaston Grange
remained the largest farm in the parish, its size
varying between 570 a. and 586 a. It was described
as one of the best belonging to the Duke of Beaufort
in 1813, when some of the outbuildings, despite
repairs by the tenant James Hammond, needed
renewing. (fn. 52) It suffered from the neglect of a later
tenant and in 1873, to overcome a labour shortage
blamed on the proximity of the parish to the mining
areas, a surveyor recommended the building
of six new cottages, which was apparently carried
out. It was a livestock farm, carrying 370 sheep and
200 lambs in 1888, but the offgoing crop in 1873
included 680 gallons of cider. (fn. 53) In 1921 it was
primarily a dairy farm, although c. 200 a. were
arable. (fn. 54) The other large farm on the Beaufort
estate, Madgett, underwent several changes. In
1813 it was in a bad state handicapped by its
shortage of water and with much of its land overgrown; the tenant also held a farm at High Woolaston, apparently working the two holdings as one
unit of 461 a., some of which was in Tidenham
parish. (fn. 55) By 1842 the High Woolaston land had been
detached and Madgett divided into two holdings by
the building of a dwelling at Sheepcot. (fn. 56) The area
of both farms was enlarged in the 1860s by attaching
273 a. of neighbouring woods, (fn. 57) but the farm-land of
Madgett in 1842 was 134 a. and in 1921 was 157 a.
and at both dates Sheepcot was 91 a. (fn. 58)
Plusterwine farm was reduced in size from 344 a.
in 1813 to c. 250 a. in 1842 and 1921, perhaps by
the exchange or sale of lands with Plusterwine
House farm which was twice as large in 1842 as in
the late 18th century. (fn. 59) Most of the land was pasture
for dairying in both 1873 and 1921, poorly drained
and unsuitable for sheep. (fn. 60) The other bigger farms
of the Beaufort estate, Ashwell Grange, Keynsham,
Brockweir and Townsend (held together), and
Edge farm at High Woolaston, changed little in
character and size throughout the 19th century,
each being between c. 100 a. and 150 a. There was
more change among the farms of c. 50 a. Gumstalls
was reduced to 30 a. by 1842, and later ceased to be a
separate farm. Under the Marling family new holdings
were created at Slade farm, Cross farm, Hill farm,
and Common farm, where earlier there had been
only cottages. (fn. 61) Whitewalls farm, standing on part
of Monk Redding, consisted of 96 a. in 1769. (fn. 62)
By 1864 the farm had grown to 182 a. excluding 35
a. of woodland, but the Marling family had the land
replanted with trees so that in 1921 there were only
a gamekeeper's house, a pheasantry, and 38 a. of
land; (fn. 63) in 1969 it was owned by the Forestry
Commission. (fn. 64)
During the 19th century much land was converted
from arable to pasture, (fn. 65) and c. 1933 the only farms
with any appreciable proportion of arable were
Woolaston Grange and Madgett. (fn. 66) By 1969 Madgett
and Sheepcot farms had both become dairy farms.
The emphasis on dairying is also shown in the
presence of cheese rooms at Ashwell Grange and
Edge Farm in 1864. (fn. 67) Cider-apple-growing remained important and throughout the century all
the farms had cider-mills; (fn. 68) a good orchard was a
valuable part of a cottage holding. (fn. 69) Many such small
orchards survived in 1969, but the only cider-mill
in use after c. 1939 was a portable one at Luggs
Cross. (fn. 70)
The Beaufort estate possessed 96 a. of woodland
in the north part of the parish in 1769 and a further
66 a. attached to Ashwell and Madgett farms. (fn. 71)
Arrears of wood-sales in 1771-2 amounted to c.
£220, but no timber or bark was sold that year. (fn. 72)
The figure of 500 a. of woodland c. 1800 (fn. 73) is almost
certainly an exaggeration, for there were only 227 a.
c. 1840, of which 207 a. belonged to the Duke of
Beaufort. (fn. 74) In 1841 there were 14 men dependent
on wood-working trades. (fn. 75) In the late 19th century
the woods of the Marling estate were managed
for profit, (fn. 76) and they comprised 156 a. in 1920,
when, despite the presence of charcoal-burners,
they appear to have been chiefly valued as game
preserves. (fn. 77)
MILLS.
There was a mill at Woolaston in 1086, (fn. 78)
and a mill at Aluredston was recorded from 1274,
when an agreement was made for its tithes to be paid
to the Vicar of Woolaston. (fn. 79) The Aluredston watermill was leased between 1279 and 1293, and a new
mill made in 1289-90. (fn. 80) Two millers were recorded
in 1608, (fn. 81) and in 1777 there was one water-mill a
short distance north-west of Woolaston Grange
and another on the Cone brook at Netherend. (fn. 82) The
former was called Clap Mill by 1488. (fn. 83) In 1813 it
was held with Woolaston Grange and was a gristmill containing a breast wheel with two pairs of
stones; the wheel also drove a threshing machine,
and the building was apparently new, as the old mill
had been converted into a dwelling. (fn. 84) Usually
called Grange Mill in the later 19th century, the
mill contained similar machinery in 1921, (fn. 85) and
was worked up to 1950 when it was converted to
electricity. (fn. 86)
A mill and land in Woolaston, Hewelsfield, and St.
Briavels conveyed to Thomas James by Edward
Shere and others in 1583 (fn. 87) was possibly the watermill on the Cone, for the Shere family later had other
property near-by. (fn. 88) In 1618 and 1623 the same cornmill was apparently held by Edmund and George
Maddocks. (fn. 89) Later in the 17th century it was
converted into a fulling-mill, for the tuck mill
recorded in 1690 may be most probably identified
as Cone Mill. (fn. 90) By 1774 Cone Mill was a paper-mill,
where writing and other papers were manufactured.
It was owned by Richard Barrow (d. 1777), and by
1815 had passed to John Barrow. (fn. 91) In 1793 it was
held by John Ward, who went bankrupt that year,
and in 1795 and 1801 by Samuel Jenkins. In 1820
John Reece began his long association with it. In
1841 ten paper-makers and an engineer lived in the
parish. (fn. 92) Reece was the sole owner and occupier in
1842, (fn. 93) but by 1856 the mill was worked by John
Sandford. Messrs. Reece and Sandford also had
paper-mills in Monmouthshire, and operated Cone
Mill in the 1860s, but rapid changes in ownership
followed. In 1870 it was owned by the Gloucestershire Paper Making Co. Ltd., and in 1876 by the
trustees of James Randle, (fn. 94) when news, printing,
and coloured papers were manufactured. A gasometer adjoining the mill had been built by 1880. (fn. 95)
and in 1882-3 the owner John Macpherson constructed a reservoir to improve the water supply. (fn. 96)
Larger machinery was fitted at about the same time
and in 1885 and 1890 Thomas Paterson Gillespie
was manufacturing printing, news, and writing
papers. (fn. 97) The mill was closed in 1895, and it is said
that 300 people were put out of work when the papermill and near-by corn-mill in Alvington (closed in
1914) went out of production, partly because of high
transport costs to the station. Cone Mill was then
used as a laundry until c. 1945. The factory chimneys
were dismantled in the 1940s and the paper-sorting
house demolished in 1968, but a few buildings and
traces of the pond, reservoir, and mill-race remained
in 1969. (fn. 98)
FISHERIES.
Fisheries were recorded in 1086 at
Woolaston and Aluredston, both presumably in the
River Severn. (fn. 99) The former was included in the gift
of the lordship of Woolaston to Tintern Abbey in
1131, (fn. 1) and in 1223 William, Earl Marshal, granted
Tintern Abbey the right to make fish-pools between
Aluredston and Walden Pill. (fn. 2) Although there is
nothing to suggest that it was artificial, one such
tidal pool used for taking salmon, called Gale Pool,
was disputed between the lords of Tidenham and
Woolaston manors c. 1540, and was therefore
presumably near Horse Pill. (fn. 3) The Duke of Beaufort
had 400 salmon putchers at Horse Pill in 1866 (fn. 4)
and owned the fishing rights in the river between
Beachley and Cone Pill. About 1820 the tenant
complained of losses caused by poaching which had
been prevalent for 60 years. (fn. 5) The fisheries were
conveyed to the Crown by the Duke of Beaufort in
1901, and by the Crown to the Wye Board of
Conservators in 1924, the fishing rights being vested
in the Wye River Authority in 1969. (fn. 6) The tenants
of the Horse Pill fishery since 1926 have been E. J.
Harris and his son Mr. J. Harris of Luggs Cross. (fn. 7)
One fisherman was recorded in the parish in 1841
and 1856, (fn. 8) and many cottagers at Brookend were
employed in the trade part-time c. 1955. (fn. 9) Although
salmon fishing has been more important, shrimp
fishing has been carried out since at least 1707 when
inhabitants were presented at the manor court for
throwing shrimps' heads in the highway. (fn. 10) The
fishery at Aluredston in 1086 may have been that
called 'Aluredeswere' in the fee of Woolaston,
granted in 1131 by Walter de Clare to Tintern
Abbey but by 1148 exchanged for other Woolaston
fisheries. (fn. 11) No record of the Aluredston fishery after
1290 (fn. 12) has been found. There was a fishery at the
Guscar Rocks, with which it may be identified, in
the late 19th century, but it has not been fished since
c. 1875. (fn. 13)
In the River Wye were other fisheries, of which
strictly speaking only the moiety that could be
fished from the east bank of the river belonged to
Woolaston. In 1086 four fisheries in the Wye were
attached to the Madgett estates. Two belonged to
the king, one to Roger de Lacy, and one to Malmesbury Abbey; all four were of some value, rendering
£4 together, and were claimed by William of Eu. (fn. 14)
His claim was apparently allowed, at least in part for
three fisheries may be identified with those shares of
Wall Weir, Half Weir, and Baddings Weir granted
by his successors. Walter de Clare and Gilbert,
Earl of Pembroke, to Tintern Abbey by 1148. (fn. 15)
The fourth was probably Ash Weir, a moiety of
which was given to the abbey by William, Earl
Marshal, in 1223. William also gave land at Kiddenham with a pool called Waihisers between Londemere and Lyn Weir. (fn. 16) The other moiety of Ash
Weir belonged to Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in
1398, (fn. 17) but the whole fishery had passed to Tintern
Abbey before the Dissolution and was named
with Wall Weir in the grant of the abbey's lands to
Henry, Earl of Worcester, in 1537. (fn. 18) The fisheries of
Brockweir (which lay just outside Woolaston)
and Lyn Weir both belonged to Joan de Clare (d.
1307) and her son Gilbert de Clare (d. 1314). (fn. 19)
There was a complaint that the Woolaston moiety
of Lyn Weir had been raised c. 1670 and was
obstructing barges. (fn. 20)
OTHER INDUSTRY AND TRADE.
The River Severn
provided the parish with other maritime activities.
The Roman villa at Chesters is believed to have
had a small lighthouse to guide vessels past Guscar
Rocks to a landing-place, which was apparently
used for the shipment of iron ore in the Middle
Ages. (fn. 21) At the mouth of the Cone brook there was a
ferry rendering 4d. to Aluredston manor in 1279, (fn. 22)
with a landing-place from which deer-poachers in
the Forest of Dean were conveyed to Bristol c.
1282. (fn. 23) Naval frigates are said to have been built
at Cone Pill up to 1646, (fn. 24) and the right of loading
and landing with access 'to transport our goods to
Bristoll or any other places' was asserted in 1708
by the tenants of the manor, who declared it to be a
full market pill in 1719 and 1742. (fn. 25) Silting of both
Cone Pill and the landing-place near Chesters may
have begun about that time, (fn. 26) but in 1772 two sloops
sailed regularly to Bristol with market goods, and a
50-ton sloop, the 'Forester', was built at Woolaston,
presumably at Cone Pill, c. 1794. (fn. 27) Meadows
adjoining Cone Pill were called the Old Wharf and
the Wharf in 1842, (fn. 28) and flour and paper were sent
by ship from the pill in the late 19th century. (fn. 29) Two
sailors, a boatman, a waterman, and a ship-carpenter
or boat-builder were recorded in 1608, (fn. 30) a family
of sail-makers in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries, (fn. 31) two mariners and a sail-maker in 1841, (fn. 32)
and a master mariner in 1923. (fn. 33) Local merchantships were a form of investment; John Berrow of
Woolaston (later of Tidenham) had shares in Chepstow-registered vessels in 1785 and 1787, James
Hammond in 1787, and Thomas Wade in 1828. (fn. 34)
Using the Wye, ships carrying between 40 and
138 tons of stone sailed frequently between Tintern
Quarry and Avonmouth from 1872 to 1876, (fn. 35) and a
little farther up the Wye a timber-merchant made
a quay and warehouse in 1851. (fn. 36) It was in use until
1930, and quays south of the Moravian church at
Brockweir were used until the building of the roadbridge in 1906. (fn. 37)
Two tanners and a glover were recorded in 1608, (fn. 38)
a bark house stood at Grange Pill in the late 18th
century, and there were occasional references to
tanners between those dates. (fn. 39) Tan House Orchard
at High Woolaston in 1769 was perhaps associated
with James Hammond (d. 1819), tanner of that
hamlet. (fn. 40) At Brookend a house known as Tan House
in 1771 (fn. 41) was bought from the Hammond family
by John Barrow in 1806 and converted between
1808 and 1833 by William Packer into a house with
leather-room and drying loft. It was sold in 1849 to
Francis Clark, a Chepstow currier, (fn. 42) whose business
there was recorded up to 1876. (fn. 43) The tannery closed
c. 1925 but some of the buildings remain.
Evidence of the iron industry is afforded by the
discovery of medieval iron ore nodules on the shore
near Woolaston Grange, from where metal is said
to have been shipped, and by references to the export
of iron ore in the late 17th century from Brockweir
and Cone Pill; (fn. 44) the field-name Cinder Mead
near the Cone brook was recorded from 1714. (fn. 45)
James Woodroffe, declared bankrupt in 1804, was
an iron-manufacturer and dealer. (fn. 46) A blacksmith
occurs in 1661, there was a blacksmith's shop at
High Woolaston in 1769, (fn. 47) and another at Brookend
in 1842. (fn. 48) There were eight smiths and a farrier in
1841, and two between 1856 and 1880 at Brookend and
Luggs Cross; one remained in 1923. (fn. 49)
Tiles were made at Plusterwine in 1292-3 (fn. 50)
and 1661, (fn. 51) and tiles and paving sold in 1682
probably came from Woolaston Woodside. (fn. 52) Tintern
Quarry at Passage Farm was worked for a few years
in the 1870s. It was leased to W. F. Laurence, of
Clifton, in 1870 and extended by him in 1873.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of stone were
extracted each year, most being conveyed by ship
to Bristol where Laurence was a contractor for the
Avonmouth docks and railway. The lease expired in
1876 and the quarry went out of use. (fn. 53) Other disused
quarries in 1880 were situated at Madgett, Woolaston
Woodside, and near Cone Mill. A former coal-pit
a short distance south of Whitewalls farm was then
visible, and a lime-kiln at Woolaston Slade. (fn. 54)
Another lime-kiln stood in Ashwell Grove in 1842, (fn. 55)
and former limestone-quarries and kilns were
recorded at Woolaston and Park Hill c. 1955. (fn. 56)
In 1526 a parishioner excusing his absence from
church pleaded that he had no domicile because
he was a player. (fn. 57) The parish contained a wheelwright, two weavers, a tailor, and baker in 1608, (fn. 58)
a shoemaker in 1620, (fn. 59) and a butcher in 1813. (fn. 60)
In 1841 there were 9 shoemakers, 4 masons, 3
tailors, 2 butchers, 2 hawkers, a shopkeeper, a
miller, and a saddler, as well as specialist tradesmen
already mentioned, but most men were employed in
agriculture. (fn. 61) In the later 19th century retail tradesmen included two shoemakers and five shopkeepers
in 1856, a threshing machine contractor, a haulier,
a coal merchant, and a corn-dealer in 1876, and a
mason in 1885. Unusual occupations were those of
well-sinker in 1897 and photographer and motor
engineer in 1939. A police station, post office, and
grocery at Brookend existed by 1856. Two grocers
and a butcher had shops at Netherend c. 1955, but
the village's shopping needs were also served by
mobile shops. (fn. 62) A surgeon was licensed in 1731, (fn. 63)
and William Somerset, rector from 1859 to 1902,
practised as a doctor in the mid 19th century, (fn. 64)
as did William Gould, (fn. 65) the rector in 1969.