Capital in the Countryside: Social Change in West Wiltshire, 1530-1680
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Deposit Guide Contact: email 1 Capital in the Countryside: Social Change in West Wiltshire, 1530-1680 John Gaisford School of History, Classics and Archaeology Birkbeck, University of London Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2015 The work presented in this thesis is my own. ©John Gaisford 2015 2 Abstract West Wiltshire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was among the leading producers of woollen cloth, England’s most important export commodity by far, but the region’s importance is often understated by modern historians. The cloth towns of Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and Westbury were thriving when John Leland visited in 1540; but GD Ramsay thought they had passed their golden age by 1550 and declined during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Joan Thirsk – following the precedent of John Aubrey, who wrote a survey of north Wiltshire in the 1660s – characterised the region as ‘cheese country’. Based on new archival research, this thesis argues that, far from declining, cloth manufacture in west Wiltshire grew throughout the Tudor era and remained strong under the early Stuarts; that production of this crucial trade commodity gave the region national significance; and that profits from the woollen trade were the main drivers of change in west Wiltshire over the period 1530-1680. Supporting evidence is presented from four complementary sectors of society: London merchants, country clothiers, west Wiltshire gentry, and the villagers of Bulkington, Keevil and Seend, southwest of Devizes – an area with which John Aubrey was briefly but intensely involved. The thesis demonstrates that the manufactory was dominated by a small group of entrepreneurs who protected their position through successive generations. As prominent landowners in their own right, as buyers of wool from the gentry estates, and as employers of large numbers of spinners, weavers and other cloth-workers, they exerted a pervasive influence over the local economy. The thesis identifies these leading entrepreneurs and for the first time examines their impact on social, economic and cultural development. It challenges the established narrative of decline, and argues that John Aubrey’s account was deeply affected by his own personal circumstances and experience. 3 Contents Tables, pedigrees and maps 5 Abbreviations 6 Acknowledgements 8 Preface 10 Chapter One Review 14 1 Testimonies of change 15 2 Magnates, gentry, merchants and clothiers 19 3 West Wiltshire and the Bulkington vale 26 4 Historiography of Wiltshire, the rural economy and the cloth trade 30 5 Research questions, sources, methodology and thesis structure 39 Chapter Two Reformation, 1530-53 51 1 Magnates and monasteries 52 2 Clothiers and merchants 63 3 Lords and tenants of Bulkington vale 77 4 Social and economic change, 1530-1553 82 Chapter Three Recovery, 1553-1603 88 1 Magnates, merchants and Treasury officials 93 2 West Wiltshire clothiers and resident gentry 102 3 Lords and tenants of Bulkington vale 119 4 Social and economic change, 1553-1603 125 Chapter Four Revolution, 1603-49 132 1 Magnates and politicians 135 2 Magnates, merchants and lawyers 141 3 West Wiltshire clothiers and gentry 148 4 Lords and tenants of Bulkington vale 163 5 Social and economic change, 1603-49 178 4 Chapter Five Renewal, 1649-70 185 1 Magnates and politicians in London 186 2 West Wiltshire merchants and financiers in London 192 3 Gentry and clothiers in west Wiltshire 197 4 Lords and tenants of Bulkington vale 206 5 Social and economic change, 1649-70 214 Chapter Six Reprise, 1530-1680 219 1 Aubrey and the historians of Wiltshire 219 2 The social impact of the cloth trade 224 3 Clothier families 228 4 Gentry families 235 5 Lords and tenants of Bulkington vale 241 6 Cottagers and the landless poor 245 7 Material and intellectual capital 249 8 Summary 252 Conclusion Social Change in West Wiltshire, 1530-1680 254 Appendices 1 Cloth exports and wool production, 1530-1680 261 2 Prominent west Wiltshire clothiers, 1530-1680 263 2 The profitability of Elizabethan cloth-making, 1576 266 3 Manors and population of Keevil parish, 1530-1680 267 Bibliography 1 Manuscript sources 270 2 Printed primary sources 272 2a Herald’s Visitations 275 3 Printed secondary sources and theses 277 4 Online sources 292 5 Tables, pedigrees and maps Tables Table 1 Cloth exports from London by era, 1518-1669 261 Table 2 Consumption of raw wool in England, 1550-1650 262 Table 3 Thomas Webb’s profit margin, c1578 266 Table 4 Descent of the manors of Bulkington, 1530-1680 267 Table 5 Burials at Keevil, 1587-1670: years of high mortality 269 Pedigrees 293 Pedigree 1 Ashe of Westcombe, Freshford, Fyfield, Heywood and Teffont Evias 294 Pedigree 2 Aubrey of Easton Piercy and Broad Chalke 295 Pedigree 3 Baylie of Keevil, Stowford and Southwick 296 Pedigree 4 Bayntun of Bromham and Spye 297 Pedigree 5 Brouncker of Erlestoke, Melksham, Oxford and London 298 Pedigree 6 Danvers of Dauntsey, Chelsea, West Lavington and Baynton 299 Pedigree 7 Gaysford of Bulkington 300 Pedigree 8 Horton of Westwood, Iford, Bradford-on-Avon and Broughton Gifford 301 Pedigree 9 Hungerford of Heytesbury, Farleigh Castle and Corsham Court 302 Pedigree 10 Lambert of Boyton and Keevil 303 Pedigree 11 Long of Semington, Trowbridge, Whaddon et al 304 Pedigree 12 Long of Wraxall and Draycot 305 Pedigree 13 Seymour of Great Bedwyn and Marlborough 306 Pedigree 14 Sumner of Seend, Littleton and Sutton Benger 307 Pedigree 15 Thynne of Longleat and Longbridge Deverill 308 Pedigree 16 Webb of Wotton-under-the-Edge, Kingswood and Beckington 309 Pedigree 17 Worthe of Dauntsey and Bulkington 310 Pedigree 18 Yerbury of Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Atworth and Frome 311 Maps Map 1 West Wiltshire 13 Map 2 Bulkington vale 27 Map 3 Southern England: extract from The Plain Man’s Map, 1654 312 Map 4 West Wiltshire: extract from Blaeu, J & W Nieuwe Atlas, 1648 313 Index to Map 4 West Wiltshire 314 6 Abbreviations app appendix b baptised, born Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica online (www.britannica.com) AHR Agricultural History Review APC Acts of the Privy Council BHO British History Online (www.british-history.ac.uk) BRO Bristol Record Office CCED Clergy of the Church of England Database (www.theclergydatabase.org.uk) CSPD Calendar of State Papers, Domestic series DDNB Canadian Dictionary of National Biography (www.biographi.ca) c chapter (of statute) CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls CUL Cambridge University Library d died ed editor, edited by edn edition EcHR Economic History Review et al and others et seq and following f/ff folio/s fn footnote GL Guildhall Library HE Historic England HJ Historical Journal HMC Historical Manuscripts Commission HoP History of Parliament (www.historyofparliamentonline.org) HSVS Harleian Society Visitations Series HoP draft History of Parliament Trust, London, unpublished article. JBS Journal of British Studies JEH Journal of Economic History JMH Journal of Modern History 7 KRO Kent Record Office L&P HEN VIII Letters and Papers of Henry VIII LJ London Journal LRS London Record Society m membrane NRS Northampton Record Society ns new series ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OED Oxford English Dictionary os old series P&P Past and Present PR Parish Register PWDRO Plymouth and West Devon Record Office r recto rev revised, revised by rp reprint, reprinted SAL Society of Antiquaries, London SANHS Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society SP State Papers SRS Somerset Record Society tab table v verso, versus VCH Victoria County History Vis Visitation TBGAS Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society TWAS Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society WAM Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society Magazine WNQ Wiltshire Notes and Queries WRO Wiltshire Record Office, now the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre WRS Wiltshire Record Society WSRO West Sussex Record Office 8 Acknowledgements My thanks must go first to my supervisor at Birkbeck, Professor Vanessa Harding, for accepting me as a research student on the slimmest of credentials, for teaching me the essentials of academic research, for guiding me through the forest of early modern historiography, for providing reassurance at moments of self-doubt, and for the opportunity to present a paper to the seminar on Medieval and Tudor London. I am grateful too for advice from Matthew Davies, the Director of the Centre for Metropolitan History, for the assistance of the librarians there and at Senate House, and for the insights of the convenors, speakers and attendees of the seminars on Tudor and Stuart History and the Economic and Social History of Pre-Modern World. Elsewhere in London I have also been helped by the archivists at the Mercers’, Grocers’ and Drapers’ Companies, at Lincoln’s Inn, the Guildhall and the London Metropolitan Archive, and most of all by the staff of the manuscripts room at The National Archive. The History of Parliament Trust, London, generously gave me access to draft articles by Andrew Barclay on John, Edward and James Ashe MPs, for the forthcoming volumes on the 1640-60 parliaments. Outside London, my thanks are due to Martin Ingram for early encouragement and advice; and to the British Agricultural History Society and its secretary Nicola Verdon for bursaries to conferences, and to the speakers and attendees, notably John Broad, Christopher Dyer, Henry French, Richard Hoyle and Mark Overton, as well as James Bowen, John Hare and Diane Tankard, each of whom gave me assistance or advice.