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Durham E-Theses West Cleveland land use, circa 1550 to 1850 Mitchell, Peter K. How to cite: Mitchell, Peter K. (1965) West Cleveland land use, circa 1550 to 1850, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7973/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Ph. D. Thesis. WEST CLEVELAND LAND USE, circa 1550 to 1850 ABSTRACT1 Land use patterns were dominated, circa 1550, "by open-field systems comparable with those of the Midlands, but in which grassland probably played a larger part. Diversity was introduced by demesne land, by 'several' farmholds in partially enclosed townships and by land use in depopulated areas. On such farms, grass acreages were proportion• ally greater than in 'open' areas, but arable cultivation was not unknown- Enclosure was intensified during the seventeenth century, reaching its peak between 1620 and 1670: few open-fields survived after 1700. In the earlier eighteenth century the heavy clay soils of the vale were devoted mainly to butter production for the London market and to quality stock-breeding, especially of cattle and horses. Arable agriculture was areally restricted and conservative - improve• ment came very slowly- A revival of crop-farming (stimulated by ris• ing prices) was apparent by 1790, increased in tempo during the Napoleonic Wars and, despite unfavourable economic circumstances, continued - to reach a maximum shortly before mid-century. Techniques were inadequate for the extensive arable culture of local soils: only the introduction of sown grasses, of under-draining and the growth of the markets of urban Teeside saved the area from disaster in the later nineteenth century. This sequence of changes, and the associated land use patterns, are traced from contemporary documents and illustrated by many sketch- maps. Causal factors - ecological, economic and social - are discussed at each stage in such detail as data permit. Characteristics both of change and continuity are examined, and the area's natural propensity for mixed farming established. During these three centuries, the cattle-orientated economy, which flourished circa 1720, appears to represent the optimum adjustment to the environment. Relative pros• perity was greatest during this era, to which are to be dated the principal features of the modern rural landscape. As required by the regulations for the submission of theses. '//EST CLEVELAND LAND USE, cxrca 1550 to 1850 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged FRONTISPIECE (From the original in the author's possession.) WEST CLEVELAND LAND USE, circa 1550 to 1850 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Durham Peter K. Mitchell, B.A. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author No quotation from it should be published without September 1965 his prior written consent and information demed from it should be acknowledged PREFACE The material upon which this thesis is based has been collected over a number of years from many sources. When the work was commenced, the author, then a research student, envisaged a full-scale study of the land utilization of an area whose present-day landscape he knew well; of the history of that landscape and of the forces which had fashioned it he was almost totally ignorant. However, agreement with the spirit, if not the word, of Preston James's suggestion''" that "all Geography is Historical Geography" prompted an investigation of the antecedants of the present land use patterns. For a variety of reasons, of which the paramount consideration has been one's continued residence abroad, these historical studies have come increasingly to the fore and now form the entire content of the thesis. That is not to say that one's interest in twentieth century Cleveland, its agriculture and its land use problems has disappeared, or that many hours of mapping, questioning and discussion on its farms have not proved of great value in the writing of the following chapters; on the contrary, a deep feeling of indebtedness is acknowledged. A similar indebtedness is felt with regard to those many private and public custodians of documentary material who have jiven access, and, frequently, great assistance in interpretation. The IV list is too long to be given here in full, but the more important sources are given at Appendix A, together with the abbreviations by which they are to be recognized m footnote citation. For early guidance one would also wish to thank Dr. H. C- K. Henderson of BirkbecK College and Professor M. W. Beresford. Professor W« B. Fisher, my supervisor, whose early faith and constant encouragement have permitted the work to reach this stage, merits my especial thanks. One is also grateful to many colleagues, both in Durham and Sierra Leone, who have provided advice, stimulus and criticism. In one prosaic, but essential, matter gratitude is also to be recorded. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Trustees of the Preston Grammar School Fund, the Trustees of the Skene Bursary Fund, my parents, and later, my wife helped to maintain me as a research student. The Senate of the University College of Sierra Leone awarded a sabbatical term in Michaelmas 1963> thus making possible the return to a long-neglected task. One hopes that the interest of this work may be sufficient to off-set the considerable inconvenience to others which its writing has involved- Peter K. Mitchell, Barnard Castle, July, 19&5' In a paper read to the Twentieth International G-eographical Congress, London, 1964* v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE iv LIST OF TABLES vix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi LIST OF APPENDICES xviii PART ONE - INTRODUCTORY Chapter I WEST CLEVELAND AND ITS AGRICULTURAL HISTORY 2 II THE PHYSICAL ENVIR0NM3 NT 2+4 III LOCALITIES AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE SUB-DIVISION OF THE AREA 67 IV MAJOR SOURCES OF DATA 85 V DATA UTILIZATION, PRESENTATION AND PROBLEMS 105 PART MO - WEST CLEVELAND LiiND USE, circa 1550 to 1850 VI PRE-ENCLOSURE PATTERNS OF LAND USE 138 VII LAND USE ON ENCLOSED LAND, MID-SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO MID-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 187 VIII NEW ATTITUDES AND ORGANIZATION - ENCLOSURE IN WEST CLEVELAND 210 IX COW AND PLOUGH - FARMING PATTERNS OF THE LATER SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 22+4 X A GRASSY VALE AND THE ARABLE REVIVAL --CHANGES IN THE RURAL ECONOMY, 1690 to 1770 262 XI NEIGHBOURHOOD PRACTICE AND THE IMPROVER - FARMING PATTERNS, circa 1770 289 XII "SPEED THE PLOUGH" - CHANGES IN ECONOMY AND LANDSCAPE, 1770 to 1820 529 XIII WHEAT-GROWING CLAYLANDS - CROP PATTERNS AND LAND USE IN THE NAPOLEONIC ERA 354 XIV MALADJUSTMENT - ECONOMIC CHANGES AND THE LOCAL RESPONSE, 1820 to 1850 412 XV WATERSHED - LAND USE AND CROP PATTERNS AT MID- NINETEENTH CENTURY 455 PART THREE - THESIS XVI LAND USE PATTERNS IK A NORTHERN CLAY VALE - ELEMENTS OF CHANGE AND CONTINUITY 517 APPENDICES 529 LIST OP TABLES Table Page I Percentage of area occupied by major land use categories in the average West Cleveland open- field township 24 II Proportion of surface area by altitude classes 50 III Proportion of surface area by slope categories 52 IV Some climatic elements - mean monthly values inter• polated for lowland West Cleveland 56 V Results of a test of field-name survival 113 VI Field-names as 'indicators 1 of pre-enclosure land use 114 VII Crop percentages in four localities, 1801 131 VIII Land use in open-field Newton, 1741 139 IX Distribution of John Jackson's oxgang within Newton's arable open-fields 143 X Acreage of land exchanged at enclosure for an oxgang right in various townships 14-6 XI Major components of open-field Great Broughton 159 XII Seventeenth century assessments of land value in Great Broughton 160 XIII Land use proportions m certain townships 169 XIV Relationship between altitude and pre-enclosure land use 173 XV Relationship between slope and pre-enclosure land use. 174 vii XVI Relationship between sub-soil and pre-enclosure land use 175 XVII Relationship between land use and distance from settlement I76 XVIII Percentage estimates of areas occupied by principal land use categories . 182 XIX Kildale tenements, 1623 202 XX Relative importance of the various crops grown on enclosed land, early seventeenth century 204 A&.1 Redistribution of land at enclosure - Newton, 1742-• 234 XXII Redistribution of land at enclosure - Yarm, 1658 ... 235 XXIII Consolidation of open-field estates - Faceby 236 XXrV Crop-farming or stock-farming emphasis in relation to scale of farming enterprise, l680s 1 251 XXV Relative importance of the various crops in lowland Cleveland, late seventeenth century 255 XXVI A comparison of surviving survey material with Young's sample of lowland farms, circa 1770 290 XXVII Farms at G-reat and Little Busby, circa 17b0 292 ' XXVIII Farms at Newton