THE FARMS and ESTATES of OXFORDSHIRE
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UNIVERSITY OF /READING Department of Agricultural Economics THE FARMS AND ESTATES of OXFORDSHIRE By T. W. GARDNER, M.A (Corn.), Ph.D. MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES No. 5 PRICE 5/- UNIVERSITY OF READING Department of Agricultural Economics THE FARMS AND ESTATES of OXFORDSHIRE By T. W. GARDNER, M.A (Com.), Ph.D. MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES No. 5 PRICE 5/- BRADLEY dk SON, LTD., READING. CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER I •• • INTRODUCTION • •• •• • •• • ... 5 CHAPTER II •• • CLASSIFICATION OF HOLDINGS 1. General Trends ••• ••• ••• ••• . 10 2. Size Distribution in 1941 ... ••• ••• 12 3. Amalgamation of Holdings ... ••• ••• 13 4. Ring-fence and Scattered Holdings ••• 15 CHAPTER III •• • CLASSIFICATION OF OCCUPIERS 1. Economic Status ... ••• ••. ... 18 2. Length of Occupation ••• ••• ... 22 3. Owners and Tenants ••• ••• 24 4. Multiple Ownership ... ... ... 27 CHAPTER IV •• • CLASSIFICATION OF ESTATES AND LANDOWNERS 1. Definition and Number of Estates ... ... 29 2. Size of Estates ••• ••• ••• ••• 30 3. Occupation of Estates by Their Owners ... 33 4. Classification of Landowners ... ... 35 CHAPTER V •• • PRIVATE ESTATES 1. Classification of Private Landowners ••• 37 2. Farmer Landowners ... ... ••• ... 38 3. Principal Landowners ••• •. • ... 39 4. Business Group of Landowners ••. ... 40 5. Private Residents as Landowners ••. ... 41 6. Undefined Landowners ... ... ... 42 CHAPTER VI •• • PUBLIC ESTATES 1. Classification of Public Landowners ... 43 2. Oxford Colleges and University ... ••. 43 3. Other Educational Institutions ... ... 45 4. Ecclesiastical Landowners ••• ... ... 45 5. Government Landowners .•• ... ••• 46 6. Charities ... ••• ••. ••. ... 47 CHAPTER VII •• • COUNTY COUNCIL SMALLHOLDINGS ESTATE 1. Growth of the Estate ••• ••• 48 2. Geographical Distribution of the Estate ... 51 3. Applicants for County Council Smallholdings 54 4. Tenants of County Council Smallholdings... 57 5. Length of Occupation of Holdings by Tenants 59 6. Rents ... 64 CHAPTER VIII ... SALES OF AGRICULTURAL LAND 1. Land Ownership in 1873 and in 1941 67 2. Sales of Agricultural Land, 1918-1941 ..• 69 3. Influence of Land Sales upon Ownership ... 72 4. Influence of Land Sales upon the Farm ... 74 5. Three Case Studies ... ... 75 CHAPTER IX •• • CONCLUSION •• • •• • •• • 78 LIST OF TABLES. Page I Division of Oxfordshire into Six Districts showing Total Area, Number of Holdings and Population Density ... ... ... 6 II Size Classification of Oxfordshire Holdings, 1895-1939 ... ... 11 III Size Classification of 2,555 Oxfordshire Holdings, 1941 — ••• 12 IV Degree of Fragmentation on 111 Oxfordshire Holdings of 500 acres and over, 1941 ••• ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 V (a) Classification by Economic Type of the Occupiers of 2,555 Oxford- shire Holdings, 1941 — ... ••• ••• ••. ••• ••• 18 V (b) Proportion of Occupiers of each Economic Type in each District in Oxfordshire, 1941 ... ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 19 VI Relation between Size of Holding and Economic Type of Occupier, 2,555 Oxfordshire Holdings, 1941 21 VII Tenure Status of the Occupiers of 2,555 Oxfordshire Holdings, 1941 26 VIII Classification by Acreage of 2,605 Oxfordshire Estates, 1941 31 IX Classification by the Number of Holdings or Part Holdings per Estate, of 2,605 Oxfordshire Estates, 1941 ••• ••• ••• 32 X Relation between Size of Estate as measured by Acreage and by the Number of Holdings (or Part Holdings) provided,2,605 Oxford- shire Estates, 1941 ••• ••• 33 XI Proportion of 2,605 Oxfordshire Estates occupied by their Owners, 1941 ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 34 XII Distribution of 2,605 Oxfordshire Estates between Public and Private Owners, 1941 ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 35 XIII 2,368 Private Oxfordshire Estates classified by Acreage and by Number of Tenures per Estate, 1941 ... ••• ... 37 XIV Land held for Smallholdings by the Oxfordshire County Council, various dates, 1908 to 1945 50 XV Classification of Oxfordshire County Council Smallholdings Tenants by Area rented and Type of Employment, 1913 and 1941 58 XVI Length of Occupation of Holdings by 536 Oxfordshire County Council Smallholders grouped by Date of Entry and Type of Tenant 60 XVII Rents payable to the Oxfordshire County Council for Small- holdings, classified according to the Buildings provided, 1914 and 1939 ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 64 XVIII Average Rents of Oxfordshire County Council Smallholdings classified by Size Groups, 1914 and 1939 ... 66 XIX Land Ownership in Oxfordshire in 1873 and in 1941 68 XX Sales of Agricultural Land in Oxfordshire, 1918-1941 ... 70 LIST OF MAPS. 1. OXFORDSHIRE-District Boundaries, Main Towns and Railways. ... 7 2. OXFORDSHIRE-Average Agricultural Rents and Rental Values in each Parish, 1941. ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 3. OXFORDSHIRE-Proportion of Agricultural Acreage owned by Occupiers in each Parish, 1941. ... ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• 25 4. Distribution of Oxfordshire County Council Smallholdings Estate. 52 THE FARMS AND ESTATES of OXFORDSHIRE CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This study is primarily devoted to an examination of the pattern of occupation and tenure of agricultural land in contemporary Oxfordshire, and to some consideration of the changes which have moulded that pattern. Down the centuries there have been a number of surveys of agricultural property in England. But not until the Return of Owners of Land, 1873, is there a complete record of landowners which can be compared with the modern position. Unfortunately, the information about ownership in the 1873 Return is unsupported by any other details concerning either agriculture or the tenantry. In the present century information about the tenure of their land was collected from farmers and published annually for each county in Agricultural Statistics up to the outbreak of war in 1914 and again for the four years from 1919 to 1922. These statistics, however, gave no information about the owners of agricultural land but merely indicated the extent of owner-occupation and of tenancy. The National Farm Survey which was carried out early in the second world war collected information about the ownership of every holding of five acres and upwards in England and Wales, in addition to a great deal of other material. The broad national picture which this information made possible has been presented in the National Farm Survey of England and Wales A Summary Report prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. But this national report used only a part of the information collected, and there is abundant material in the records of the Survey for more detailed research into the tenure of agricultural land. The present study of the farms and estates of Oxfordshire is based, in the main, on the records collected for the National Farm Survey. The study is concerned, inter alia, with the following matters: the size, lay-out and rents of the agricultural holdings in the county; the economic status of the occupiers of the holdings and the type of tenure by which the holdings are held; the number and size of agricultural estates and the different categories of landowners; the sales of agricultural land in the inter-war years. 5 Since much of the statistical part of the study is based upon an examination of the National Farm Survey records for each agricultural holding in the county it is necessary, at the start, to make clear what is meant here by an "agricultural holding." Very simply an agricultural holding has been taken to mean an area of agricultural land of five acres* or more in extent used by its occupier as a single or self-contained unit of land. It has been calculated that in 1941 there were in Oxfordshire 2,555t such agricultural holdings covering a total of 381,000 acres. These 2,555 holdings with their occupiers and their owners constitute the raw material for the study. It has been found convenient to present much of the statistical evidence separately for each of the six Districts into which the county was divided for war-time agricultural administration. The boundaries of these Districts are identical with those of the Rural Districts of Banbury, Chipping Norton, Ploughley, Witney, Bullingdon and Henley, except that the urban areas are added to the appropriate Districts. The first four Districts cover the north of the county, whilst the Bullingdon and Henley Districts cover the south. The total area, number of agricultural holdings and population of each of these six Districts is given in Table I. TABLE I. Division of Oxfordshire into six Districts showing total area, number of holdings and population density. 4 AREA. NUMBER OF POPULATION (1931). AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT. Per cent. HOLDINGS Total Per 100 Agricultural (1941). Total. Acres. acres. Land (1941). Banbury ••• 64,151 87.0 443 26,923 42.0 Chipping Norton 90,412 82.0 444 19,367 21.4 Ploughley ... 81,590 84.5 388 15,717 19.3 Witney ... ... 86,244 85-2 466 21,079 244 North ... 322,397 83.5 1,741 83,086 25.7 BullingcIon ... 102,148 76.5 550 105,070 103-3 Henley ... ... 54,679 61.0 264 21,465 39.2 South ... 156,827 71.3 814 126,535 80-8 County ... 479,224 79.5 2,555 209,621 43.7 Although most of Oxfordshire is still typically rural and agricultural, the south of the county has come increasingly under urban and industrial influences. Thus in the north 83-5 per cent. of the land is devoted to agriculture and the density of population is only 25-7 persons per 100 acres. In contrast, * Holdings of less than 5 acres were omitted from the National Farm Survey. t This number was arrived at after a careful scrutiny of all the records collected for the National Farm Survey. 6 Map 1.-OXFORDSHIRE-DISTRICT BOUNDARIES, MAIN TOWNS AND RAILWAYS. PRINCES RISBORO Railways. District Boundaries. DISTRICTS. 1. BANBURY. 4. WITNEY. 2. CHIPPING NORTON. 5. BULLINGD ON. 3. PLO UGHLEY 6. HENLEY. the south of the county has a population density of 80.8 persons per 100 acres, and agricultural land accounts for only 71.3 per Cent. of the total area. The higher concentration of population in the south is associated with the presence there of Oxford and Henley together with Thame and the outskirts of Reading. The extensive Chiltern woodlands in the Henley District account for the fact that in that District only 61 per cent. of the total area is devoted to agriculture.