The Changing Face of Rural Ross
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The Changing Face of Rural Ross Rural Ross farms, farmers & life at Ross-On-Wye 1823 – colour coded in green – Hildersley farm & lands 1831 – map showing Ross and the rural area {This includes Rudhall, Hildersley and Penyard} © R Moore 2018 The Changing Face of Rural Ross Summary 11th to 15th century 16th to 19th century Landowners Tourism 19th Century Landowners Produce Railway 20th century Developments Hildersley and Model Farm App. 1 Landed Gentry – inherited Rudhall/Westfaling Nourse/Harvey Clarke/Manley-Power App. 2 Landed gentry – nouveau riche Bankers – Baring Bankers – F Hamp Adams Slave owners - Bernard App. 3 The Bonnor family App. 4 References & sources 2 Summary This review addresses the changes that have taken place in and around rural Ross from the 11th C. Ross is the hub of the area either side of the River Wye but the rural area either side of the river has always been an important part of the community. The census returns consider the rural area to the southeast of Ross as Ross Foreign. This contrasts with urban Ross, the town itself. The parishes which abut this are Brampton Abbots and Weston-under-Penyard. The more influential landowners had lands in each of the three parishes. As such, the three parishes are considered as one rural zone though the focus is on the lands in and around Ross Foreign and especially Hildersley. More recent developments such as Model farm are covered to complete the review and bring the report up-to-date. The changes through the years are captured through changes in society, class and ways of life. Newspaper extracts are included to provide insight into how the changes were reported and as such how society viewed them. Key topics are landownership, tenants, produce and communications. Further reading on any particular area or topic and further research can be undertaken using the references included in the appendix. 11th to 15th century Various records exist for the 500 years in the form of Manor Rolls, Court Rolls, and Deeds etc. as well as the ancestral lines of major families. These can be studied for detail but this paper only touches on a few. The Domesday Book of 1086 provides an insight into the various locations throughout England and the relevant Herefordshire entries throw light on Ross, Brampton and Weston. “The lands of Ross (7 hides paying tax) were held by the Canons of Hereford". In the Lordship were 18 villagers, 6 smallholders and a priest with 23 ploughs, a mill and 3 slaves. There were 16 acres of meadow and the woodland was in the King’s Enclosure. The villagers paid 18 shillings in dues. The Manor itself, along with the manors of Upton and Walford, were assessed at £14. Brampton Abbotts (3 hides) was held by St. Peter’s church of Gloucester. It consisted of 28 people of who 16 were classified as slaves. The mill added to the overall value of the manor that was assessed as £4. Durand of Pitres who was a Sheriff of Gloucester held Weston under Penyard. He also held Rochford in Herefordshire that was a similar orchard area. Weston was small with only 2 hides and 2 smallholders. Durand was a Norman and became sheriff on the death of his brother Roger. A direct descendant became the 1st Earl of Hereford. The importance of Ross as a market town was emphasized when in 1138 the Bishop of Hereford was granted crown rights by King Stephen to hold a weekly market at Ross. As examples of matters of Ross covered in the Calendar of Patent Rolls (records of proclamations of the king), a few examples are shown below. The spellings are as recorded and illustrate some of the difficulties faced when researching old documents. Many of the reasons behind the declarations are unknown but looking at historical events some ideas can be postulated. 3 On 22 March 1344 – i.e. in the reign of Edward III – Richard Talebot was charged by the king to “oyer and terminer” {investigate and determine} illegal activities in numerous parks in the See of Hereford. The king had taken these parks back from the bishopric by “reason of voidance”. Specifically, investigations were to address the taking of fish, wood and deer from the parks in Ross. This is likely to have been in and around Penyard. On 21 Dec 1369 – i.e. in the reign of Edward III – “in the king’s gift”, Walter Almaly was presented to the church in Rosse in the diocese of Hereford. On 20 Oct 1394 – i.e. in the reign of Richard the Lionheart – the king issued a general pardon to Jevan Jurkyn for not responding to a claim for a debt of 70 shillings to Robert Cok. On 16 July 1408, i.e. in the reign of Henry IV - the king granted a pardon to William Godman of Rosse who had been indicted of “having on Monday after ascension of St Mary 7 Henry IV (i.e. almost two years prior) killed Thomas Barbor of Rosse co Hereford. {With prompt executions being the norm, William was a lucky man. The reasons for the pardon are not given} On 16 April 1463 i.e. in the reign of Edward IV – a general pardon was granted to Thomas Harryes, late of Ross Co Hereford, yoman. The name reflects an ancestral line where Thomas was son of Harry. 16th to 19th century The 1600s was a momentous period for Ross. The English Civil Wars followed the plague of 1637 that had killed over 300 people in Ross. The Royalists were based at Ross and nearby Goodrich castle but the castle was placed under siege and, at the Battle of Wilton Bridge in 1644, the bridge was partially destroyed by the Parliamentarians. The rural area from 1800 onwards is well documented and some highlights follow in the next chronological section. Landowners The Rudhall family held a large estate that spread over the three adjacent parishes. Rudhall House was a 14th century timbered building that was successively remodeled. William Rudhall served as Attorney General for Prince Arthur Tudor and Katherine of Aragon and his eldest daughter and co-heir to the estate (Frances Rudhall) married into the equally prestigious Westfaling family. From the early 1600s through until the death of Mrs. Mary Westfaling in 1830, the Rudhall estate was in the same family. This is covered in more detail in the next chronological section. The Westfaling ancestors on Mary included several MPs for the periods from 1630s through to the 1760s and an Elizabethan Bishop of Hereford Herbert Westfaling (1532-1602). Marriage between equals was common and the Rudhall / Westfaling one was no exception. OverRoss part of the Weston-under-Penyard estate was another large estate that had long standing local families at its heart. The Nourse family of Weston traces back to 1600 at Weston. The inheritance through primogeniture saw a succession of John Nourse take charge until 1808. At this time, the Nourse and Harvey families merged to form a new Nourse-Harvey dynasty. More information is in App. 1. In the absence of census, voter registers and the like, it is only possible to identify a few of the tenants per estate and this is a much larger future piece of work. It is clear that large estates in a rural agricultural area engaged a number of locals, often with cottages being a part of the arrangement. The naming of the various sub-divisions of the estates on later maps indicated that cherry and apple and pear orchards were the norm while Herefordshire sheep and cattle have a long history in the area. The livestock would have occupied other meadows with the arable land providing hay for the animals. 4 A final piece in this section covers Hill Court. Only four families occupied the estate during the years between 1700 and 1980 with inheritance through cousins and nephews providing the continuity. These families themselves were notable and more details are readily available. For the period pre-1800 the Clarke family owned the Hill Court estate. The heads of the family were traders who invested their wealth in the house and estate. The direct line died out in 1806 when Jane Clarke died and passed the estate to her second cousin Kingsmill Evans. He, his family and the later family owners are covered in the next chronological section. Tourism From around 1745 to 1800, the use of the River Wye as a tourist attraction gained popularity. Dr. John Egerton started the river cruise journeys from the rectory in 1745. The popularity continued through into the mid 1800s with trips moving downstream to Tintern Abbey. The river and roads were sufficiently useful that the canal network was not developed locally. One of the Ross coaching inns – The King’s Head – remains at the hub of the local community, with rooms for the traveller in the 20th century as in the past. Travellers from London or Gloucester going to Hereford would have found Ross a good resting point. 19th Century 1801 – 1850 Ross was largely a rural economy with artisans living in the town centre. There was also an active hide tanning industry that is demonstrated in the 1851 census returns. Brookend Tannery (SMR 19904) is recorded as a house with tan yard and workhouse. It was used from late 17th century until the mid 19th century when it was mostly converted into an inn. The site plans of the early 19th century show tanning pits, drying lofts and a bank mill. Given the importance of cattle farming and a growing glove making industry it is not a great surprise that this industry developed near Ross.