ECONOMIC HISTORY.
There were 13 servi
working seven teams on the demesne at Sapperton
and Frampton in 1086. (fn. 99) No record has been found
for demesne farming at Frampton during the Middle
Ages after the separation of Sapperton and
Frampton. (fn. 1) The demesne at Sapperton included
three ploughlands c. 1262 when customary tenants
holding one yardland had to plough three acres of
the lord's demesne each year and also work on the
demesne every weekday except Saturday in August
and September. Works were also due from those
tenants during the remainder of the year but could
be commuted to a money payment at the lord's will.
All customary tenants owed bedrips to the lord at
harvest time. (fn. 2) During the 14th century the Hussey
moiety of the manor had 80 a. of arable in demesne, (fn. 3)
and a ploughland of poor, hilly ground was recorded
on the Lisle moiety. (fn. 4)
The tenants at Sapperton and Frampton in 1086
included 17 villani and 9 bordars who shared ten
ploughs. (fn. 5) Twenty-four customary tenants were
recorded at Sapperton c. 1262; fifteen were yardlanders who provided the services mentioned above
as well as giving the lord a 12d. aid at Michaelmas.
The lesser tenants, three cottagers and six tenants
holding ⅓ yardland each, owed money rents to the
lord, and all customary tenants were required to
provide a hen at Christmas and five eggs at Easter. (fn. 6)
The four customary tenants on the Hussey moiety
paid 26s. 8d. yearly in lieu of works and services in
1332. (fn. 7) In the late 16th century copyholds were
granted for three lives. Tenants had rights of
housebote and heybote on their own lands and, if
this was not sufficient, they could request the
necessary wood from the lord's lands. Heriots were
owed from each messuage held by a tenant and
widows enjoyed freebench. No tenant was allowed
to take an under-tenant for more than one year on
pain of forfeiture. (fn. 8) There was still some copyhold
land at Sapperton in the early 18th century. (fn. 9)
In 1581 nine copyholders were recorded on the
manor of Frampton Mansell; three had holdings of
3 yardlands or more, two had between 2 and 3 yardlands, two held 2 messuages each, and there were
two cottagers. Leasehold tenure was more common
than copyhold in 1668 (fn. 10) and most of the tenements
on the manor became freehold by purchase in the
late 17th century when the estate was fragmented. (fn. 11)
Three freeholders were recorded on Sapperton
manor in the mid 13th century when their respective
yearly rentals were 8d., 1 lb. of wax, and 1/6 lb. of
cummin. (fn. 12) Freeholders were recorded there in
1385 (fn. 13) when their number probably included the
owner of Hailey. During the 16th century two lesser
freeholders were recorded at Frampton Mansell, (fn. 14)
and two others were recorded in 1668. (fn. 15) The freehold tenants of Sapperton manor paid a sum equal
to two years' rent to the lord of the manor when their
lands changed hands. (fn. 16)
There were six open fields in the parish, two
fields in each tithing. In 1730 Sapperton East field,
comprising 546 a., was situated between Sapperton
park and Cranhill, south-east of Emmerson Lane;
West field lay in the area surrounding Ash hill and
Middleton hill and comprised 357 a. The open fields
at Hailey were probably contiguous to Sapperton
East field: Hailey East field, comprising 95 a., was
situated by Hailey, or Ellington, hill and Hailey
West field, comprising 258 a., was situated at
Hargrove in the southern part of the parish. (fn. 17) The
two fields at Frampton Mansell in 1778 were
extensive areas of land on each side of the road
linking Frampton village and Emmerson Lane:
Down, or West, field covered most of the area west
of the road, and Beacon, or East, field stretched across
the plateau to the boundary with Sapperton
tithing. (fn. 18) The strips at Frampton were ½ a.–1 a.
in the mid 13th century. (fn. 19) Evidence of piecemeal
inclosure occurs in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 20) In
1730 there were strips of less than ¼ a. in Sapperton
and Hailey fields where three-fifths of the holdings
were still of 1 a. or less. Nevertheless consolidation
of strips had occurred by that time and approximately a third of the land in the fields was in holdings
of more than 5 a. (fn. 21)
Sheep pasture was recorded at Frampton
Mansell in the mid 13th century (fn. 22) and also
at Sapperton, (fn. 23) but the two commons in the parish,
Frampton, or Whitelands, (fn. 24) common and Sapperton
common, covering c. 120 a. on the steep, wooded
slope of the Golden Valley, would not have provided
extensive pasture. Frampton common was perhaps
that called Bicknell, which was the main pasture for
the Frampton tenants in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Animals were also turned out in Westley wood and
were allowed to graze the stubble of the open fields.
In 1581 the pasture at Frampton was stinted at
15 beast- and 50 sheep-pastures for every yardland
but in 1655, when three sheep-tellers were
appointed, the stint was reduced to 40 sheep for a
yardland. (fn. 25) At Sapperton in 1685 a holding of 40 a.
in the open fields had 2 cow- and 48 sheep-pastures
attached to it. (fn. 26)
The open fields of Sapperton tithing were
apparently inclosed by private agreement during the
middle years of the 18th century; (fn. 27) exchanges,
involving c. 190 a., were made between Lord
Bathurst and other owners for the creation of
Sapperton park from part of East field in 1743. (fn. 28) The
open fields of Frampton Mansell and of Hailey were
inclosed by Act of Parliament in 1778 when
1,541 a. were re-allotted, including c. 480 a. of old
inclosures. All of the land at Hailey went to Charles
Coxe, owner of the manor, except for 66 a. awarded
to the rector for his tithes. At Frampton Mansell the
allotment of 309 a. for the rector's tithes was the
largest award to an individual. Fifteen other people
received allotments, the largest going to Thomas
Jayne who received 298 a. and John Wade who
received 152 a. Five landowners received between
40 a. and 80 a., two received between 15 a. and
30 a., and there were eight smaller allotments,
including one of 1½ a. to Earl Bathurst for his
manorial rights, and two small quarries for the
maintenance of parish roads. (fn. 29)
In 1831 there were six farms in the parish
employing 94 labourers. (fn. 30) The largest farm was
probably Sapperton, or Manor, farm which in
1857 comprised 661 a. equally divided between
arable and grassland. (fn. 31) In 1845 Lord Bathurst
retained 544 a. in hand, much of it accounted for by
Hailey wood, and in addition to Manor farm there
were five other farms of more than 280 a. in the
parish, two farms of c. 100 a., and four farms with
40–80 a. All, with the exception of Manor farm
which included Sapperton park, concentrated on
arable farming almost to the exclusion of pasture. (fn. 32)
In 1856 three farms were recorded at Sapperton and
five at Frampton Mansell (fn. 33) and the number
recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
remained close to those figures although the size
and distribution of the farms altered. (fn. 34) There were
eleven farms in the parish in 1939 but only three
remained over 150 a., Manor farm and Hailey farm
in Sapperton and Beacon farm in Frampton
Mansell; Tyning farm in Frampton had turned to
dairying. (fn. 35) The survey of 1801 recorded 973 a. of
ploughed land in the parish, a quarter of which was
planted with root crops. (fn. 36) In 1901 the arable land
occupied 1,963 a. and there were also 699 a. of
grassland and 573 a. of woods and plantations. (fn. 37)
Two mills were recorded at Sapperton and
Frampton in 1086 (fn. 38) but extents of Sapperton
manor do not record a mill in the 13th or 14th
century. (fn. 39) Sapperton Mill, known as Dorvel Mill in
the 19th century, situated on the Frome north of the
village, (fn. 40) was described as a new-erected grist-mill
in 1763 when Earl Bathurst granted it on a lease for
lives to William Fowler. (fn. 41) Shortly after Fowler's
death in 1792 his lease was acquired by an agent for
the Thames and Severn Canal Co. (fn. 42) which, acting
through the Revd. John Disney, took a further lease
for lives in 1802. (fn. 43) Disney granted a 16-year sublease to the miller Richard Hancox in 1810; (fn. 44)
Richard's son Thomas was tenant of the mill in 1837
and Thomas's brother William Walter Hancox was
working it in 1846. (fn. 45) It continued in use as a corn-mill
during the later 19th century (fn. 46) but had ceased
working by 1901. (fn. 47) In 1971 rubble foundations and
the remains of the pond survived.
A saw-mill at Daneway bridge was recorded
from the mid 19th century when it was worked by
members of the Gardiner family. (fn. 48) The saw-mill
produced barrel staves for the Birmingham market:
they were carried there by canal in the mill's own
barges which went on to Staffordshire for coal to be
brought back to the parish. (fn. 49) The mill ceased to
function in the 1920s (fn. 50) and the site was marked by
some stonework in 1971.
The pond made at Frampton Mansell by Richard
de Veim in the early 13th century may have been
connected with a water-mill, (fn. 51) but the first definite
evidence for a water-mill at Frampton is the copy
granted by the manor court in 1572 to Richard
Eckley which allowed him to build a grain-mill, the
later Puck Mill, (fn. 52) on Puckpilles land. Eckley was
subsequently presented at the court for building a
water-mill on the lord's waste. (fn. 53) The mill was later
converted as a cloth-mill, and comprised a fullingmill with dye-houses and press-houses in 1708 when
it was settled by the clothier Joseph Bliss on the
marriage of his son John. It was then held with a
house called Hattons (fn. 54) (later Little Hattons), which
may have belonged to Michael Hatton, a tucker
recorded in the parish in 1597. (fn. 55) In 1749 the mill was
conveyed by William Bliss, dyer, and others of his
family to James Bidmead of Bisley, a baker, whose
son Samuel sold it to the Thames and Severn Canal
Co. in 1791. In 1804 the company sold Puck Mill,
then a grist-mill, to James Smith, a size-maker of
Stroud. (fn. 56) Soon after that date it was being worked
by Richard Wynn (fn. 57) but in 1845 it was owned by
Thomas Baker and worked by William Curtis. (fn. 58)
William Baker (d. 1876), who lived at Hattons, (fn. 59)
later owned the mill, (fn. 60) which in 1856 was being used
by the firm of Blower & Smart for silk-throwing. (fn. 61)
The firm had moved from Puck Mill by 1860 when
John William Jones was the tenant. (fn. 62) It fell into
disuse before 1865, (fn. 63) and in 1971 the site was
marked by an 18th-century stone house.
The cloth industry provided some employment
at Frampton Mansell from the late 16th century to
the 19th. A tucker was recorded in 1597, (fn. 64) and a
broadweaver in 1662, (fn. 65) and three clothiers lived there
in the earlier 18th century (fn. 66) when other allied
tradesmen included a cloth-worker, a dyer, and a
remnant dresser. (fn. 67) In 1821 the high proportion of
families recorded at Frampton Mansell engaged
in trade or manufacture probably included a
number of workers in the cloth industry, but by
1831 only two families were employed outside of
agriculture. (fn. 68) The Thames and Severn canal
employed a watchman (fn. 69) and a mason (fn. 70) at Sapperton
in the 19th century, and the coal-merchant recorded
at Daneway in 1856 (fn. 71) presumably acquired his
supplies by canal. Two carpenters were recorded at
Sapperton in the later 19th century (fn. 72) and a blacksmith at Frampton Mansell in 1856. (fn. 73) Those crafts
were revived locally by the arrival of the Barnsleys
and Ernest Gimson but their staff dispersed soon
after the death of Gimson in 1919. (fn. 74)
A victualler was recorded in 1743 (fn. 75) and there were
shopkeepers in the parish from 1856. Three were
recorded in 1879 but by the 20th century the
number had declined and there was no shop at
Sapperton in 1971 although Frampton Mansell had a
small general store. The two publicans at Frampton
in 1885 also worked as a haulier and as a butcher
respectively. During the later 19th century a beer
retailer usually had a store in Frampton. (fn. 76) Among
the less likely trades of village life were a dealer in
pigs recorded in 1744 (fn. 77) and a road contractor recorded in 1856. (fn. 78) In 1971 a considerable proportion
of the population continued to work on the land but
the attractive situation of the parish had also
encouraged a number of professional people to live
there. (fn. 79)