ECONOMIC HISTORY:
AGRICULTURE. The evidence about agriculture in Fretherne and Saul
before the 16th century is extremely sparse. In 1086
the demesne of Fretherne, with 1 servus, had 1
plough-team, and there were 2 plough-teams shared
between 3 villani and 3 bordars. The value of the
estate had fallen from 60s. before the Conquest to
30s. (fn. 18) Saul was not separately mentioned in Domesday. An agreement of 1269 about the commoning
rights of the tenants of Gloucester Abbey's manor of
Saul over arable, pasture, and meadow within
Fretherne manor shows that the fields of the two
manors were not distinct, and also that the demesne
of Fretherne was still in the lord's hand. The agreement mentions a field called the Lower Wheatcroft, (fn. 19) and a further agreement of 1310, specifying
that the field was in Fretherne lordship, clarified
the common rights there of the Saul tenants and
stated that the field was left unsown every third
year. (fn. 20)
Wheatcroft field was one of six open fields
regularly mentioned at later dates in Fretherne and
Saul; the others were Marsh, Lower, Sand, Pool,
and Hill fields. Marsh field, also known as the
Marsh, (fn. 21) appears to have been much the largest.
Wheatcroft was quite small. (fn. 22) Hill field was alternatively known as High field. (fn. 23) West field may have
been the same as either Marsh or Lower field. (fn. 24) Also
recorded were Pulse field, perhaps the same as Pool
field, (fn. 25) and Twinpool, which was evidently distinct
from Pool field (fn. 26) and may have been the same as
Sand field. Although it would be possible to argue
from the disposition of the fields (fn. 27) that the three on
the west, Marsh field, Wheatcroft, and Lower field
were the original fields of Fretherne, and the three
on the east those of Saul, it seems more likely that
the three divisions that may be inferred from the
agreement of 1310 (fn. 28) were represented by Hill field,
Pool field, and Wheatcroft with Lower field, while
Sand field was originally part of Pool field, and
Marsh field was brought into cultivation comparatively late. In 1843 Saul parish included land in all
except Wheatcroft, and Fretherne parish in all except
Sand and Pool fields, (fn. 29) and that had evidently been so
from the late 16th century. (fn. 30) No evidence has been
found of the division of the fields into furlongs. The
ridges were small, usually c. ¼ a., and sometimes less
than 1/6 a. (fn. 31)
The common meadow of both parishes lay in the
east, by the bank of the River Frome. Most of it
lay in Saul's mead, which included land belonging
to Fretherne parish. (fn. 32) For permanent pasture
Fretherne and Saul relied mainly on the warths
along the Severn on the south-west, lands either
reclaimed from the Severn or left high and dry by a
change in the river's course. The warths were
stated to be the equivalent of salt marshes; (fn. 33) a
salting was mentioned in the agreement about
commoning of 1269. (fn. 34) The warths had evidently
long been regarded as commons in the early 17th
century (fn. 35) when a change in the river's course
increased their area in Fretherne and Saul by over
80 a. A part of the new ground called Fretherne
Warth, amounting to 12 a. near Fretherne Lodge,
was appropriated by Richard Clifford, as were 30 a.
in Frampton parish by Isaac Bromwich. On the 70 a.
of Saul and Fretherne Warth, adjoining Saul and
Fretherne Old Warth and not divided from it, the
inhabitants of Saul and Fretherne successfully
maintained their supposed commoning rights
against the claim of Erasmus Finch, crossbow maker
to Charles I, to possession of all the new ground
under a Crown lease of 1631. (fn. 36) By 1801 the whole of
Saul Warth, as the commonable area came to be
known, amounted to c. 100 a. and was commoned
in two ways: from the Saturday before Whitsun
until 12 August the owners of lathes, lots, or beastpastures turned their cattle out on the warth to the
number of lathes that they owned, and had the
exclusive right to do so, but from 12 August until
5 April all the parishioners of Fretherne and Saul
could turn out their cattle, apparently without
number. The exclusive commoning had apparently
been practised before the 17th-century enlargement
of the warths, but the commoning by all the
parishioners may have been introduced only after
that enlargement. (fn. 37) In the earlier 19th century tithes
were payable on 137 beast pastures in Saul Warth. (fn. 38)
The demesne of Fretherne manor appears to have
been usually kept in hand by the lords of the manor
until 1726 or slightly later. It amounted to over
100 a. (fn. 39) By the mid 16th century there was no
demesne land in Saul manor, if indeed there had
ever been. Gloucester Abbey's manor of Standish
in 1541 included customary rents from Saul totalling
£9, (fn. 40) and in 1547 the manor had 8 customary tenants
in Saul. (fn. 41) In 1599 Saul manor, as it was then called,
had 8 tenants, (fn. 42) presumably copyholders. A lease in
reversion of 1625, charged with rent in eggs or cash
and with heriots in cash or kind, may indicate a
general change in Saul from copyhold to leasehold
tenure. (fn. 43) The number of agricultural tenants is
likely to have been smaller in Fretherne than in
Saul, for in 1608 only 4 husbandmen were named
in Fretherne compared with II in Saul. (fn. 44) In Fretherne in 1640 only 5 inhabitants out of 18 assessed
for a poor rate were listed as holding more than
20 a., (fn. 45) and in 1732 only 6 out of 26 assessed for
land tax had assessments of over 6s. (fn. 46) In 1831 there
were 8 agricultural occupiers in Fretherne, of whom
all but one employed labour, and 5, all employing
labour, in Saul. (fn. 47) In 1841 and 1842 there were 5
farms of over 70 a. in Fretherne and Saul, of which
the largest were Saul farm (199 a.) and Fretherne
Lodge farm (144 a.), (fn. 48) the chief farms of the two
manorial estates.
Saul had a considerable proportion of arable land
c. 1775, (fn. 49) and Fretherne was divided a few years
later nearly equally between grass and arable. (fn. 50) In
1806 Saul had considerably more arable than
Fretherne; (fn. 51)
c. 1840 there were 246 a. in Saul and
172 a. in Fretherne. (fn. 52) At the end of the 18th century
beans were the crop most frequently grown, with
wheat next. (fn. 53) The customary rotation was two crops
and a fallow. (fn. 54) Dairying was important in the local
economy, (fn. 55) as also was fruit growing for cider. (fn. 56)
The open fields of Fretherne and Saul were
inclosed in 1843, under an Act of 1839. (fn. 57) Although
there is some evidence of the consolidation of ridges
in the fields in the 17th century, (fn. 58) there is nothing
to indicate extensive inclosure of open fields before
the mid 19th century. The award of 1843 allotted
196 a. of open land in Fretherne and 312 a. in Saul.
It also recorded 358 a. of old inclosures in Fretherne
and 230 a. in Saul. The newly inclosed land included
Saul Warth. In the two parishes there were 71
landowners in all, of whom 42 received allotments,
ranging from less than 1 a. to 141 a.; 27 of the
allotments were under 3 a., and in addition 8 people,
at their own request, received lump sums of from
18s. to £20 instead of small allotments to replace
their rights and interests. (fn. 59)
In the later 19th century and afterwards the
number of farms fell, though the breakup of the
Fretherne Court estate after 1919 appears to have
caused an increase of the number in Fretherne. (fn. 60) In
1967 there were 8 farms of 80–200 a. By 1901 the
total extent of arable had shrunk to 135 a., (fn. 61) and
there was very little arable in 1919 (fn. 62) or 1933. (fn. 63) In
1967 some corn was being grown and sheep and pigs
were kept, but dairy cattle and beef cattle predominated. Gardens formerly belonging to Fretherne Court, with extensive glass houses, were used
commercially for nurseries from c. 1924, (fn. 64) as in 1967.
MILLS.
Winebaud de Ballon gave Framilode Mill,
with the consent of his son Roger, to Gloucester
Abbey in 1126. (fn. 65) In 1291 the abbey's mill at
Framilode was valued at 3 marks, a high figure. (fn. 66) In
1513 the abbey leased its two water mills on the
river Frome at Framilode to Thomas Bullock, his
wife Alice, and their son William, (fn. 67) and the Bullocks,
together with William's wife Agnes and their son
Thomas, received a further lease of the two mills in
1533. (fn. 68) The elder Thomas Bullock died in 1545; (fn. 69)
in 1556 William bought the reversion of the mills,
with other property, from Thomas Winston, lord of
Standish, and by then there was a fulling mill in
addition to the two grist mills. (fn. 70) That enlargement
may have been why a litigant in 1590 described
Framilode Mills as lately built, (fn. 71) but the same
litigant at about the same time said that the mills
were rebuilt c. 24 years ago by Robert Bullock, (fn. 72)
the infant son and heir of William Bullock at his
death in 1556. (fn. 73) Robert Bullock died in 1572, and
his son and heir William (fn. 74) died without issue. (fn. 75)
Framilode Mills, still comprising two corn mills
and a fulling mill, were conveyed by George Snig
and George Staples to Edward and John Archer in
1600, by John Archer to Christopher Moore in
1607, and by Christopher Moore to Richard and
Alice Andrew in 1612. (fn. 76) In 1683 Thomas Beard
conveyed three water mills at Framilode to Rice
Yate, (fn. 77) and in 1705 the Rector of Eastington received
tithes from a mill in Framilode called Beard's. (fn. 78) In
1730 Yate's son Walter complained that the proposed
Stroudwater Navigation would damage his mills
called Framilode Mills; (fn. 79) in 1760 Walter's greatgreat nephew, Robert Yate, leased water cornmills and iron slitting mills called Framilode Mills
to George Wilding (d. 1766) of Framilode, ironmaster, whose widow Elizabeth sold his interest in
1767 to William Purnell, John Purnell of Fromebridge, and Joseph Faithorne. (fn. 80) Those three, as
partners in the manufacture of iron, tinplate, and
brass, in 1778 bought from John Purnell of Dursley,
William's father, other mills at Framilode, described
as iron and tin mills, (fn. 81) that evidently shared a site
with the Yates' mills. The mills bought in 1778 had
belonged with Saul manor to George Lloyd in 1673,
when they were described as two cornmills and two
fulling mills, (fn. 82) and in 1680 Lloyd settled two cornmills in Saul on his daughter Anne who was married
to Abraham Chamberlain. William Lloyd in 1707
conveyed them to his brother John, whose daughter
and heir Elizabeth, with her husband Charles
Chauncy, sold them in 1754 to George Wilding,
mentioned above, and from Elizabeth Wilding the
mills passed, by a series of transactions in 1777 and
1778, to John Purnell of Dursley. (fn. 83)
The whole complex of mills, standing on or
beside the island site in the Frome at Upper
Framilode, was a tinplate works in 1786, (fn. 84) and it
was presumably in them that Henry Hathaway of
Framilode had carried on his tinplate manufacture
in 1775. (fn. 85) The tinplate mills of Purnell & Co. (fn. 86) were
worked with some financial success, despite a setback in 1808, (fn. 87) and were responsible for the rapid
increase in the population of Saul in the late 18th
century and early 19th, (fn. 88) for the high proportion of
inhabitants engaged in manufacture in 1821, (fn. 89) and
for much new building in Framilode hamlet. In 1824,
however, Purnell & Co. offered to let the works, for
which an annual capacity of 23,000 boxes of tinplates
was claimed. (fn. 90) Seven years later Framilode Mills
were being used as a forge, (fn. 91) and the bulk of the
working population was employed not in manufacture but as nonagricultural labourers. (fn. 92) In 1833
a Mr. Purnell was still concerned about the supply
of water to the mills, of which some was diverted
with his consent to the Gloucester and Berkeley
Canal, (fn. 93) but by 1841 the island site was empty, described as waste. (fn. 94) In 1967 the site was overgrown but
showed signs that it had been planted as an orchard.
A cornmill just east of the inn at Framilode
passage was in use by 1841; (fn. 95) it was apparently
worked then, as later, by steam, and it remained in
use until the Second World War. (fn. 96) Parts of the mill
buildings survived, near the house, in 1967.
OTHER INDUSTRY AND TRADE.
A fair was held on
St. James's day at Saul in the early 18th century, (fn. 97)
but no record of it has been found in other periods.
The cloth trade in Fretherne and Saul is represented
by clothiers there in the mid 13th century (fn. 98) and the
mid 18th, (fn. 99) and by weavers recorded between 1571 (fn. 1)
and 1715: (fn. 2) in 1608 there were 4 or more weavers
in Fretherne and 6 or more in Saul, and a fuller then
living in Fretherne may have had the fulling mill
mentioned above. There was also a glover in 1608, a
tailor in 1608 (fn. 3) and 1658, (fn. 4) a clothworker in 1657, (fn. 5)
and a tanner in 1823. (fn. 6) Two physicians lived in Saul
in the later 17th century, (fn. 7) and a surgeon in 1717. (fn. 8)
Other occupations, apart from those of blacksmith,
mason, (fn. 9) and carpenter, (fn. 10) were mostly connected
with water-borne traffic: mariners are recorded from
the 14th century (fn. 11) to the 17th, (fn. 12) and after the
building of the two canals there were shipbuilders,
ship's carpenters, and barge-owners in Fretherne
and Saul. (fn. 13) In the 1870s and 80s schooners and
barques of up to 340 tons were built in yards at
Sandfield Bridge and the canal junction. (fn. 14) Trows
and other smaller vessels continued to be built in the
early 20th century, and some boat repair work was
done at the junction in 1967. (fn. 15) Some ship building
was also done at Framilode in the 1870s and 80s. (fn. 16)
A factory was opened by Cadbury Bros. Ltd.
beside the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal in 1916,
for converting milk into chocolate crumb to be taken
by water to Bourneville (Birmingham). The original
capacity was 40,000 gallons a month; the average
monthly capacity, in addition to milk handled for
the Milk Marketing Board, was 1¼ million gallons
in 1967. By then the factory, which no longer used
water borne transport, employed 160 people. (fn. 17)