ECONOMIC HISTORY.
AGRICULTURE. Unlike
most places in the area, Frampton was said in 1086
to be worth as much as it had been in 1066. In 1086
six of the nine plough-teams there were shared
among 10 villani and 8 bordars, while the other
three belonged to the demesne, which was worked
by 9 servi. (fn. 13) The demesne may be assumed to have
had a high proportion of the 8 plough-teams in
Frampton recorded in 1220, (fn. 14) for in 1315 it
amounted to 420 a. of arable, 50 a. of meadow, and
30 a. of several pasture. (fn. 15) By 1433 the demesne had
been reduced to a total of 283 a., of which over half,
160 a., was pasture, with 80 a. of arable and 43 a. of
meadow. (fn. 16) The tenants of the manor, by 1302, were
predominantly free tenants who were able to make
terms with the lord of the manor about commoning
rights, (fn. 17) and in 1315 there were 16 free tenants of the
manor owing rents which totalled £8, compared with
10 servile tenants owing £6 in rent for a total of 6
yardlands. (fn. 18) In 1322 a yardland leased for three lives
was specified as containing 32 acres, 19 butts, 1
headland, and 4 selions. (fn. 19)
Land lying scattered in the open fields of Frampton was mentioned in a grant of c. 1230, but except
for South field the ten field-names recorded were
apparently of furlongs rather than whole open
fields. (fn. 20) In 1302 South field was mentioned by
implication and there were other fields called
Netherhills, Lillands, and Egrove; it is possible that
they were the smaller of the open fields, taken into
cultivation comparatively late. (fn. 21) The principal open
fields in the 17th century and later were Oat field,
recorded in 1322, (fn. 22) Park field, which from its
position was evidently the same as South field,
Egrove, Nast field, and Upper and Lower Town
fields. (fn. 23) The agreement of 1302 about commoning
shows that the normal rotation was two crops and a
fallow. By the agreement the free tenants gave up
their rights of common in certain pastures so that
the lord of the manor could inclose them (presumably the 30 a. of several pasture recorded in 1315),
in return for which they secured a statement of their
commoning rights over certain arable, meadow, and
pasture land; the lands specified were to be fenced
when they were not commonable, and it was agreed
that any cattle breaking in were not to be impounded
and were not to be charged with damage. (fn. 24) The
meadow land was evidently extensive; 10 a. were
recorded in 1086, (fn. 25) and the demesne had 50 a. in
1315. (fn. 26)
The agreement of 1302 indicates the importance
of common of pasture in the husbandry of the
parish. Frampton inhabitants also claimed common
in Slimbridge Warth, the marshland that separated
the southern part of Frampton parish from the
Severn. In 1596 a decree in Chancery restricted the
common in 200 a. of waste called the Warth to the
inhabitants of Slimbridge and Frampton, (fn. 27) but the
rights of the Frampton inhabitants remained open
to question. The rights were made more difficult to
determine by the division of Slimbridge Warth into
the old warth, the new warth, and the new gained
grounds, the boundaries of which were disputed.
Before 1610 the Frampton inhabitants exercised
their rights in the old warth, (fn. 28) but after suits lasting
10 years the Slimbridge inhabitants, with the help
of their lord, Lord Berkeley, (fn. 29) kept them out of the
new warth. (fn. 30) In 1653 the Berkeleys gave up their
right to take tack-money for Frampton beasts
commoned on the old warth, and the Frampton
inhabitants gave up their claim to common on the
new warth and new gained grounds. (fn. 31) In 1770 the
parishioners of Frampton and Slimbridge combined
to oppose encroachments on Slimbridge Warth and
to resist abuses of the common. (fn. 32) At the inclosure of
Slimbridge Warth in 1803 125 a. were awarded to
Frampton. (fn. 33)
A statement of 1800 mentioned Slimbridge Warth
as only one of many places where the inhabitants of
Frampton had common, (fn. 34) but it is clear that the
open fields and other commons had been greatly
reduced by a long process of piecemeal inclosure, of
which the first known stage is recorded in the agreement of 1302. (fn. 35) Unjust inclosures in the Marsh, Nast
field, and Park field, totalling 45 a., were presented
in the manor court in 1572, (fn. 36) and parts of Oat field
were inclosed during the last 15 years of the 16th
century. (fn. 37) Most of the inclosures recorded before
the inclosure award of 1815 were in the 17th century
and early 18th. Land newly inclosed from Park field
was mentioned in 1624. (fn. 38) In 1631 six adherents of
'Skimmington', the leader of a band of close-breakers
in the Forest of Dean, arrived in Frampton to throw
down new inclosures, and expected to be welcomed
by the inhabitants. (fn. 39) In 1650 a troop of horse was
sent to Slimbridge and Frampton to prevent a mob
from doing further damage by destroying fences. (fn. 40)
An inclosure out of Town field was recorded in
1684. (fn. 41) Exchanges of ridges in the fields were made
in 1656, (fn. 42) and in Park field and Town field in 1716 (fn. 43)
and 1721. (fn. 44) The ridges of land recorded in that
period averaged c. ⅓ a. in size. (fn. 45) In 1708 an attorney of
Eastington, Walter Marshall, was alleged to have
ploughed up and broken great quantities of the
common in Frampton. (fn. 46)
In 1815, immediately before parliamentary inclosure, 639 a. remained open or commonable, of
which 367 a. lay in the six open fields: Egrove had
106 a. of uninclosed land, Oat field only 13 a. (fn. 47) The
earlier inclosures may have been made partly to
facilitate sheep-rearing, and the mention of several
sheep-houses in 1632 (fn. 48) and of turnips in 1667 (fn. 49)
make it more likely. In 1795, however, a fair proportion of the inclosed land was ploughed, for the
total acreage of arable was 567. (fn. 50) In 1801, when
496 a. were sown, wheat was the chief crop, followed
by barley, turnips, and beans. (fn. 51) At that time the
normal rotation was said to be three crops and a
fallow; (fn. 52) that was apparently true of Egrove, (fn. 53) but
not of the other remaining open-field land, where
two crops and a fallow remained the rule until
parliamentary inclosure. (fn. 54) In 1667 teasels as well as
turnips were among the crops grown; (fn. 55) in the late
18th century some flax was grown at Frampton. (fn. 56)
The 21 yeomen and husbandmen recorded in
1608 (fn. 57) represented less than the total number of
agricultural tenants. In 1618 the manor had 28
tenants, the Cliffords' estate had 27, and there were
8 freehold occupiers; some people belonged to more
than one group, and the total number of occupiers
was 64, apparently including cottagers. Of the
tenants, some held by lease and some by copy. (fn. 58)
Copyholds could not be conveyed without the lord's
special licence, and heriots were paid in kind. (fn. 59) In
1632 the manor included 7 copyholders, with
holdings of from 5 a. to 35 a.; (fn. 60) the larger farms were
presumably held on leases. In 1791 the manor estate
was divided between four farms of from 104 a. to
177 a., of which the two largest were held by a single
tenant. (fn. 61) In 1800 the parish had 12 landowners or
tenants occupying more than c. 30 a. (fn. 62)
The inclosure award of 1815 allotted or re-allotted
848 a., just over one-third of the parish, of which
590 a. went to Nathaniel Clifford, 120 a. to Samuel
Peach Peach, and the rest was divided among 34
owners, of whom 23 received less than 1 a. Most of
the owners of middle-sized estates received no
allotment under the award, because they owned no
commonable land or rights of common. (fn. 63) The
period of inclosure was also one in which the number
of farms increased. In 1831 there were 19 agricultural occupiers, of whom 17 employed labour. (fn. 64) At
about the same time the Cliffords' estate, amounting
to three-quarters of the parish, contained 13 farms,
of which 5 were over 150 a. and 5 were under 50 a. (fn. 65)
The concentration of so much of the land in one
ownership made for agricultural improvement,
notably in the use of machinery and land drainage. (fn. 66)
The nature of the soil in a parish where meadow and
pasture-land had always been more extensive than
arable may have helped to shield Frampton against
the worst effects of the contraction of arable farming
in the late 19th century: in 1901 there were still
552 a. of arable, more than the amount returned in
1801, (fn. 67) though the number of farms had fallen from
13 in 1870 to 10. (fn. 68) By 1933 the extent of arable had
shrunk to little over 100 a. (fn. 69) In 1968 there were 8
farms, mostly over 200 a., and the land was used
predominantly for dairying.
MILLS. In 1086 there was a mill at Frampton
worth 10s., (fn. 70) a higher sum than most mills. Walter
de Clifford's gift of the mill c. 1180 to Godstow
Abbey was confirmed by his sons Walter and
Richard. (fn. 71) In 1228 the Abbess of Godstow defeated
a claim by the Vicar of Frampton that she should
pay tithes for the mill. (fn. 72) The abbess and convent
granted the mill in 1304 to William the carpenter of
Frampton at a rent of 30s., (fn. 73) which the abbey was
still receiving in 1535, (fn. 74) and in 1312 William granted
the mill to the lord of the manor, Robert FitzPain. (fn. 75)
The mill was called Fromebridge Mill by 1328,
when Robert's son Robert leased it to Henry de
Clifford. (fn. 76) The lessee in 1350 was Roger le Walker, (fn. 77)
whose surname suggests that the mill was to be used
or was already in use as a fulling-mill. In 1450 the
lord of the manor leased two mills under one roof
called Frome Mills and a third mill called Blade
Mill (i.e. corn-mill); the lessee, Richard Hill, was to
rebuild Blade Mill as a fulling-mill and to build a
miller's house on the site of Frome Mills. (fn. 78) By 1498,
when they were leased to Hugh Weaver, Fromebridge Mills comprised corn-and malt-mills and a
fulling-mill with two stocks; (fn. 79) in 1535 Godstow
Abbey's rent was said to be paid from two mills. (fn. 80)
In 1543 Thomas Haynes devised his lease of
Fromebridge Mills to his son John, (fn. 81) presumably
the John Haynes of Fromebridge recorded as digging
fuller's earth at Alkerton in 1556; (fn. 82) Alice Haynes,
the lord of the manor's tenant of the mill in 1618,
had been succeeded by Thomas Bowser by 1625. (fn. 83)
In 1609 the lord of the manor's estate included two
water-mills and two fulling-mills in Frampton, (fn. 84)
but when John Arundell sold the mills to Urian
Wise in 1632, the same year as he sold the manor,
there were only three corn-mills. (fn. 85) John Bowser
owned the three corn-mills in 1671, (fn. 86) and after the
death of his widow Alice they passed to his daughter
Alice, wife of Thomas Featherstone, who sold them
in 1689 to Thomas Halling. In 1713 Halling sold
them, by then four corn-mills, to Stephen Jenner,
who conveyed them in 1735 to his brother Thomas, (fn. 87)
President of Magdalen College, Oxford. The mills
were still corn-mills in 1760 when Thomas Jenner
sold them to Joseph Faithorne, a brazier, who with
his partners William and John Purnell (fn. 88) formed the
Fromebridge Co. (fn. 89)
In 1766 the Crown granted a patent to John
Purnell, one of the proprietors of the wire-mills at
Fromebridge, for his improvement in making iron
and steel wire. (fn. 90) In 1787 William Purnell took out a
patent for a new mechanical process for welding and
shingling iron which John Purnell had invented
before his death. (fn. 91) By c. 1775 the company had
built at Fromebridge one of the largest wire-works
in the country, to produce wire for use in carding
and fish-hooks; there was also a brass-works there. (fn. 92)
Joseph Faithorne released his interest in the Fromebridge Co. to William Purnell in 1791, and in 1800
Purnell entered into partnership with William Veel. (fn. 93)
The works continued to produce iron and brass
wire, (fn. 94) but after Purnell's death in 1805 Veel
became unable to pay his debts. Manufacture
appears to have ceased c. 1809, (fn. 95) and no reference has
been found to wire-making at Fromebridge Mills at
a later period. By 1856 the mill had reverted to a
corn-mill, and it so remained in 1968. It was then
driven by water-power through a turbine, and
worked by members of the White family, who had
had the mill since the 1880s. (fn. 96) Charles White bought
the mill from the Bengough estate in 1927. (fn. 97) The
mill was rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries,
mainly of brick but incorporating some blocks of
slag from iron-smelting, which are to be seen in
some other buildings in the parish.
MARKETS AND FAIRS.
In 1254 the Crown granted
to Hugh de Clifford the right to hold a weekly market
on Saturday and a three-day fair beginning on 23
June. (fn. 98) Robert FitzPain, whose plans for making
Frampton into a borough were unfulfilled, (fn. 99) in 1311
received a new grant, evidently replacing that to
Hugh de Clifford, of a market on Thursday and a
five-day fair beginning on 14 August. (fn. 1) Neither the
market nor the fair appear to have been very important. The market was mentioned c. 1703 as being no
longer held, and the August fair was not mentioned
at all. (fn. 2) A relic of the fair may have survived as a
village feast, which was held on the Monday following the first Sunday after 15 August (fn. 3) and was
associated with a pleasure fair on the green. (fn. 4) A
February fair, held on the 7th in 1678 (fn. 5) and on the
3rd c. 1703 when it had become known as Fryingpan Fair, (fn. 6) was described c. 1708 as considerable. (fn. 7)
The day, 3 February, was the feast of St. Blase, of
whom there was an image, much venerated, in
Frampton church in 1547. (fn. 8) Frying-pan Fair continued into the mid 19th century (fn. 9) and was said in
1927 to have been held until recently, (fn. 10) but in 1968
no personal recollection of the fair was encountered.
OTHER INDUSTRY AND TRADE.
There are miscellaneous references before the 17th century to
smiths, (fn. 11) carpenters, (fn. 12) and tailors in Frampton, (fn. 13) and
in 1445 there was a horner living there. (fn. 14) There are
indications, however, that the main village industry
apart from agriculture was connected with the
manufacture of woollen cloth: fulling-mills have
already been mentioned, as has the figure in
Frampton church of St. Blase, patron saint of woolcombers; thefts of cloth in Frampton in 1562 and
the surnames Walker and Webb are suggestive; (fn. 15)
kersey was being woven in the village in 1542; (fn. 16) and
a weaver was recorded in 1572. (fn. 17) In 1608, when 44
non-agricultural trades in Frampton were listed,
there were 7 tailors, 2 mercers, 2 fullers, and 18
weavers. There were also 4 shoemakers, (fn. 18) following
a calling that survived in the village until 1935. (fn. 19)
Six mercers were recorded in the period 1667–
1767. (fn. 20) Two of them were also tallow-chandlers. (fn. 21)
Between 1646 and 1724 there were at least 4 clothiers
in Frampton, (fn. 22) and there were 6 people described
as cloth-workers between 1657 and 1768. (fn. 23) Frampton
seems to have lost its place in the local woollen
industry by the end of the 18th century: a list of
1798 gives the names of 32 men following 22
different non-agricultural trades, of whom 2 tailors
were the only ones connected with the cloth
industry. (fn. 24)
In the early 19th century a greater part of the
population was supported by trade and manufacture
(excluding those employed on the River Severn)
than by agriculture. In 1831 trade, handicrafts, and
manufacture employed 110 of the adult male
inhabitants: (fn. 25) most of them seem to have been
engaged in retail trade, building, or traditional
village crafts, but there were also, a few years later,
cabinet-makers, milliners, strawhat-makers, and a
tanner. (fn. 26) A tan-yard, recorded in 1791, (fn. 27) gave
Tanhouse Farm its name, (fn. 28) and a tannery remained
there until the late 19th century when the horse-mill
used to grind bark was removed to the tannery at
Leonard Stanley. (fn. 29) Although the village crafts mostly
disappeared in the early 20th century, Frampton
had a blacksmith until c. 1955 and a long-established
family of carpenters in 1968. (fn. 30) There were then also
several retail shops.
About 50 families were employed on the River
Severn in 1831. (fn. 31) The earliest known record of
maritime activity at Frampton was in 1377, when a
Frampton ship was trading between Bristol and
Ireland. (fn. 32) A cargo of wine was landed at Frampton
in 1414. (fn. 33) In 1634 Frampton was one of eight towns
from Gloucester to Minehead ordered to supply
and man a ship. (fn. 34) The opening of the Gloucester
and Berkeley Canal in 1827 (fn. 35) encouraged the
settlement of barge-owners and master-mariners at
Frampton. (fn. 36) A shipwright lived in Frampton in
1572, (fn. 37) and there was a boatyard on Frampton Pill
until the late 19th century. (fn. 38)