Wivenhoe: Economic history

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

Between 1066 and 1086 the number of bordarii increased from 6 to 20 which might suggest incipient urban or port development, but between 1086 and 1327 Wivenhoe apparently remained comparatively small and insignificant. In 1327 its assessment for subsidy was one of the lowest of the parishes in Lexden hundred; the lord of the manor was the only large taxpayer. (fn. 1) By 1524, however, the number of persons assessed for subsidy was the third highest in Lexden hundred, (fn. 2) reflecting Wivenhoe's growth as a port whose develop- ment was linked with the expanding economy of Colchester. (fn. 3) Between 1381 and 1560 from 20 to 29 Wivenhoe men became Colchester bur- gesses. (fn. 4) By the 17th century shipbuilding, alongside the traditional fishing, was an estab- lished industry in Wivenhoe; both industries survived until the mid 20th century.

Most of the parish was part of Wivenhoe manor, which extended into Elmstead, with most of the south of Wivenhoe being the lord's demesne except for a considerable amount of copyhold land near Wivenhoe Cross and some on the east side of High Street just south of Wivenhoe Hall. The freeholds, of which two 20-a. ones were recorded in 1086, (fn. 5) lay mainly in the north. The manor included a deer park, recorded in 1427, which seems to have been in the south-east of the parish extending into Cockaynes in Elmstead. (fn. 6) St. John's abbey, Colchester, owned 120 a. called Withemorhad and Nordhei, on the south side of the road to Tendring (presumably via Elmstead), given to them by Richard Battle's brother, Geoffrey, in the mid 13th century. (fn. 7)

In the Middle Ages sheep rearing was import- ant, but by 1800 it had been superseded by arable farming. Sheep were presumably kept originally for dairying as well as wool, as in other Essex marshland parishes where grazing in salt meadows gave livestock some protection from disease. In 1086 there was pasture for 60 sheep, and the number of sheep on the demesne of Wivenhoe manor had increased to 87 from 60 in 1066. (fn. 8) In 1327 there were 236 sheep on Wivenhoe manor and 166 fleeces of wool were sold, but the flock seems to have been shared with Battleswick in West Donyland (Col- chester). (fn. 9) The lord's common at Wivenhoe heath was overloaded with 100 sheep in 1407. (fn. 10) In 1425–6 Wivenhoe manor supplied 176 sheep and lambs to Colchester butchers. (fn. 11) Besides sheep, stock included small numbers of horses, cattle, pigs, and poultry. There were 30 goats in 1066, 20 in 1086. In 1324 Wivenhoe manor was apparently providing dairy produce and animals for John Sutton's Navestock manor, (fn. 12) and in 1508, and probably earlier, corn and oats were taken to Stratford and Stapleford Abbots, other manors held by the lords of Wivenhoe. (fn. 13)

The number of ploughs fell from 5 to 4 between 1066 and 1086, two remaining on the demesne whilst the men's ploughs fell from 3 to 2; one freeman continued to hold half a plough team. In the early 14th century oats, rye, wheat, and barley, and a few peas and beans were grown. Oats seemed to predominate, much of the yield being used for animal fodder. Broom was sold. (fn. 14) A vineyard was recorded as late as 1431, probably on the site of Vine farm. Field names in 1838 indicate that hops were formerly grown east of Wivenhoe Cross. (fn. 15)

The parish contained woodland for 100 swine in 1086. Frithy wood lay in the east of the parish south of the Alresford road, and Wivenhoe wood in the south-west beside the Colne. Field names suggest there was once woodland north of the Elmstead road, (fn. 16) and the site of the 18th-century Blossoms farm was former woodland. (fn. 17) Seven acres of assarted land was granted by Eudes the sewer (d. 1120) to St. John's abbey. (fn. 18) In 1395 nineteen men paid avesage for pannage for from 1 to 7 pigs each; after pasturing in the woods some of the pigs were slaughtered for home consumption, a larder rent being paid for their storage, and others sold. (fn. 19) In 1581 managed woodland was leased in Wivenhoe park, and 9 a. in Tamplyns grove north of the Alresford road; Sayers grove just south of the Elmstead road consisted of 40 a. of wood in 1585. (fn. 20)

In 1339 the unfree tenants on Wivenhoe manor owed regular agricultural services, which varied on different holdings, although some had already been commuted by 1315. The lord sometimes provided refreshment which in- cluded rye bread, herrings, milk or cheese, and pottage. Customary payments of pannage for pigs, wardship, tallage, merchet, and wardpenny were also due to the lord from tenants, as well as hens and eggs, and 'resschelver', perhaps a payment for rushes. Twenty-one men had half- year common rights for their cattle in Saltmede, the lord's salt meadow of 8 a., after they had mown his hay and carted it into his barn. Land held included portions of heath. After the Rising of 1381 a total of 72 new grants for services was made. (fn. 21) The Borough English system of inherit- ance (ultimogeniture) prevailed. (fn. 22)

Sheep remained significant in the manorial economy in the 16th and 17th centuries, supply- ing wool for the cloth trade of Colchester and other towns, but arable farming was increasing. In 1584 as many as 180 sheep were pastured on the common salt marshes at Broadmarsh, also known as Old Heath common. (fn. 23)

In the 1630s the manors of Wivenhoe and Great Bentley (about four miles away to the east) were being farmed together. In 1633 a total of 242 sheep was sold; a Colchester merchant bought 51 stones of wool from Wivenhoe and Bentley sheep and 142 stones which remained from the previous year. Rye, oats, buckwheat, barley, and a small quantity of peas were grown at Wivenhoe park and New Years farm next to Broadmarsh. Grass and rushes were mown on the marshes and in the park, some of the rushes for topping haystacks. Fifty loads of broom were sold in 1633–4. Timber was regularly sold, for example, in 1637 from 53 a. in Frithy wood, 7 a. in Tawtling (probably Tamplyns) grove, and 6 a. in Lye wood, and in 1638–9 the tops of trees were sold from New Years, the park, and the farm of Edward Dauber, who in 1646 held the site of the manor and other lands. (fn. 24) Thirty loads of oaken planks were supplied to the navy in 1666 during the Dutch wars. (fn. 25) There is evidence of marsh drainage in 1639–40 and 1646–7, and the sea walls were mended in 1652–3. (fn. 26)

There were close links with Norfolk where the Townshend family had their seat at Raynham. Scotch cattle were driven from market in Norfolk to Wivenhoe for fattening, and sheep were brought from Norfolk in 1633. Oranges and lemons were taken to Raynham in 1632, probably for Christmas, presumably unloaded from ships at Wivenhoe port, and four ploughs were brought from Norfolk in 1632–3. In 1633 wool 'which came into Norfolk' was packed and taken to a boat, presumably at Wivenhoe quay. (fn. 27) There is little evidence of the processing of wool in Wivenhoe. A weaver was mentioned in 1524. (fn. 28) The woman bailiff from 1631 to 1638 asked for an allowance for weaving, fulling, and 'oding' of cloth. (fn. 29) Some domestic weaving was carried on in the parish but it ceased by 1785. (fn. 30) Some spin- ning was done in the workhouse in the later 18th century. (fn. 31)

Of manorial land which can be identified as lying in Wivenhoe parish c. 1650, the demesne lands included 104 a. of arable, 24 a. of feeding or mowing marsh, 15 a. of meadow, and 12 a. of wood, while New Years farm had 104 a. of arable, 56 a. of pasture, 10 a. of mowing marsh, and 3 a. of wood. At that time Frithy wood com- prised 73 a. (fn. 32) Much of Mellish marsh was con- verted to arable in the 17th century and by 1698 it was called Wivenhoe marsh and annexed to Newars (New Years). Five acres of Whitmore heath were inclosed c. 1716, but c. 184 a. of heathland remained in the parish in 1734. (fn. 33)

Arable farming continued to increase in the 18th century and early 19th. A weekly corn market was recorded in 1766. (fn. 34) The Rebows acquired a mixed arable and pasture farm in 1734 as the nucleus of their Wivenhoe Park estate, (fn. 35) and by 1778 they were growing rye, wheat, barley, oats, peas, and turnips. (fn. 36) In 1801 the largest of the 'very bountiful' crops in the parish was wheat with 267 a., followed by 175 a. of oats, 122½ a. of barley, and smaller quantities of turnips, peas, and beans. (fn. 37) Most of the remaining heathland in the north of the parish was inclosed before 1838 for cultivation, much of it by the Rebows. In 1838 out of the 1,469 a. of tithable land in the parish 78 per cent was arable and 19 per cent meadow, pasture, and marsh; less than 2 per cent was woodland. (fn. 38)

John Gurdon-Rebow was interested in improving farming methods, and was president of Essex Agricultural Society in 1870. At his Wivenhoe Lodge farm of 300 a., where 10 men were employed in 1851, there was a four-course rotation in 1859 of (1) wheat, (2) clover, (3) barley or oats, and (4) turnips or another suitable crop instead of a fallow year; mud from the marsh ditches was spread on adjoining land to improve it. (fn. 39) Arable farming declined in the agricultural depression of the late 19th century, and by 1902 most of the seven farms on the Wivenhoe Park estate that were completely or partly in Wivenhoe were a mixture of arable and pasture. (fn. 40) The chief crops in 1905 were wheat (225 a.), oats (222 a.), roots (138 a.), and barley (36 a.), and there was 694 a. of clover and grass, and 315 pigs, 249 sheep, 35 cows, and 35 horses; just over a third of the land was owner occupied. (fn. 41)

There was a mill in 1086. (fn. 42) A watermill, poss- ibly a tidal mill, belonging to Wivenhoe manor, was flooded and ruined in 1393. (fn. 43) Further refer- ences to a watermill, including one in 1585 in Wivenhoe park, (fn. 44) and in the 18th century to a salt mill, (fn. 45) may all relate to the same manorial watermill. It was probably the mill on the Brook, in the south-east of the parish on the Elmstead border ¼ mile from the river. That mill was apparently replaced by a windmill by 1772, when it was described as 'a large post windmill in very good repair in Elmstead parish, com- monly called Wivenhoe mill'. (fn. 46) In the 19th cent- ury an old mill house commonly called Bobbits Hole stood on the Brook. (fn. 47)

Archaeological evidence suggests there was a windmill on Wivenhoe heath; a building is shown near that site, east of Wivenhoe Park, on a map of 1734, but is not marked as a windmill. (fn. 48) In 1752 a windmill in Wivenhoe Street, for- merly called Angel tavern, was taken down. (fn. 49) A post windmill, in the corner between Belle Vue and Rectory Roads, existed in 1838 and may have been erected in 1816 when John Smith, miller, was admitted to the plot. It was sold in 1858 and burnt down in 1882, but milling con- tinued at a steam mill on the site until the Second World War. (fn. 50)

A fair where toys were sold was held annually before 1756 on 4 September and the following days. It was perhaps associated with the patronal festival of the church on 8 September. The fair was moved from High Street to Wivenhoe Cross in 1906 and survived until 1931. (fn. 51)

Field names suggest that there may have been potters on the former heathland just north of the Alresford road, and that gravel and sand were extracted in the west of the parish. (fn. 52) In 1633 there was a sandpit, apparently in Wivenhoe park. A kiln south of Lodge farm may have pro- duced bricks for the Rebows at Wivenhoe Park in the 18th century. (fn. 53) That may have been the kiln recorded in 1811. (fn. 54)

Wivenhoe was acting as a port for Colchester in the later 16th century, when the cargoes were unloaded there of large ships unable to sail further upriver. Between 1565 and 1577 four quays were recorded. (fn. 55) A warehouse with a piece of land called the old dock was recorded in 1585. (fn. 56) A large storehouse on the quay and a new small storehouse were bequeathed by William Giles in 1594, (fn. 57) and several granaries, warehouses, and wharves lay alongside the river in the 18th century. (fn. 58) In 1630 Colchester inn- keepers and vintners paid a Wivenhoe man wharfage for wine unloaded there, although the bailiffs of Colchester claimed that that preju- diced their rights to dues. (fn. 59) Customs officers were appointed from 1671 or earlier. (fn. 60)

Fishing, shipbuilding, and other maritime occupations connected with the port provided much employment. In 1481 sole, brill, whiting, and herrings were recorded. (fn. 61) Rights to fish in the river Colne were often disputed with Colchester borough, but in 1567–8 Colchester corporation granted Wivenhoe residents licences to fish and dredge. (fn. 62) Oyster pits were rented from the lord of the manor in 1563 and presum- ably much earlier. (fn. 63) In 1564 there were 12 ships, 12 masters and owners, and 51 mariners and fishermen, and in 1572 Wivenhoe had 3 coasting traders. (fn. 64) Some fishermen and mariners also farmed. William Miche in 1524 bequeathed cattle, sheep, and corn at East Mersea, and goods, cattle, and sheep at Wivenhoe, besides his trawler and ketch. (fn. 65) John Sotherne, mariner, in 1565 included 40 sheep and 4 beasts among his bequests. (fn. 66) Some mariners, like Edward Feedham who made his will in 1692, had part- shares in many vessels. (fn. 67)

By 1722 Wivenhoe was well-known for oys- ters and sole which were sold in London. Turbot, whitings, codling, and large flounders were also caught. (fn. 68) The 'fishhouse' was a copy- hold recorded in 1744. (fn. 69) In 1789 William and Benjamin Sandford had 21 oyster layings and 3 boats. William and Thomas Sandford were lead- ing oyster merchants of the early 19th century. They had their own layings at Tollesbury and bought brood from Colne smacks dredging off Norfolk and further north. They sailed their oysters three times a week to fishmongers and distinguished customers in London, besides sending them to other towns by land. William Sandford, like several other local merchants, was involved in more than one business. He was a warehouseman, coal merchant, and farmer, as well as an oysterman. The Sandfords were suc- ceeded by the Bartlett family who worked the oyster layings until the 1930s. (fn. 70)

In 1810 the main occupation was said to be fishing. (fn. 71) Seven of the original committee of 11 of the Colchester Mutual Marine Insurance Association, formed in 1843, were Wivenhoe shipowners. (fn. 72) There was a local Lloyd's agent in the mid 19th century. (fn. 73) Nineteen ship and smack owners were listed in 1863. (fn. 74) By 1874 twelve Wivenhoe smacks were engaged in deep- sea oyster fishing. (fn. 75) Until c. 1880, by which time many fishermen had turned to yachting, large numbers of sprats were caught by stow-boats for farm manure. The railway enabled the sprats to be transported to London instead. Fishermen trailed for plaice in the autumn and those not involved in yachting in the summer caught shrimps. (fn. 76)

In 1882 shipbuilders, shipowners, and master mariners totalled 38. (fn. 77) In 1891 at least 213 men out of a total recorded population of 2,309 were employed as mariners, including fishermen, while only 52 men were classified as agricultural labourers. (fn. 78) By 1951 very little fishing and yachting remained: of the 670 people employed in Wivenhoe (which included 170 from outside the parish) only 0.3 per cent worked in fishing compared with 7.8 per cent in agriculture and horticulture; 31.6 per cent were employed in shipbuilding, 10.4 per cent in building and con- tracting, and 10.1 per cent in distributive trades. (fn. 79)

Shipwrights are recorded from the early 16th century. (fn. 80) Robert Page built the Nonsuch in 1650 which sailed to Hudson's Bay (Canada) in 1668–9, a voyage which led to the founding of the Hudson's Bay Co. (fn. 81) He and others also built many ships for the navy, especially during the Dutch wars in the later 17th century. (fn. 82) Eighteenth-century shipbuilders included Will- iam King (fl. 1722), and Austin Stanley who was operating from a shipyard upstream of the quay in 1734. A shipyard on the salt marshes, for- merly oyster layings, which belonged to John Flack, was taken over by George Wyatt (d. 1776) in 1757. (fn. 83) Moses Game built ships for the government, but was bankrupted in 1784. (fn. 84) Philip Sainty (1754–1844), a convicted smuggler and alleged bigamist, was the chief boat- and yacht-builder in the later 18th century and the early 19th, working at a yard upstream of the quay. He built many fishing smacks and schooners, as well as the yacht Pearl in 1820 for Henry William Paget, marquis of Angelsey, and the frigate Pearl in 1828. William Hawkins (d. 1812), a Colchester timber merchant, launched some ships from the same yard in the first decade of the 19th century. (fn. 85) John Kidby was less suc- cessful, being bankrupted in 1841. (fn. 86)

Thomas Harvey acquired the upstream ship- yard on Sainty's bankruptcy in 1834, and he, and later his son John (1830–91), became well- known for their racing yachts. At first they built fast schooners for bringing fruit and other perishable food from Spain and the eastern Mediterranean in exchange for herrings, and bulkier brigs for general trade. (fn. 87) Wivenhoe reached the peak of its fame for yacht- and ship- building in the 1870s, before the use of wood gave way to metal and it was overtaken by towns in the north. John Harvey's business never fully recovered from a disastrous fire in 1872. Between 1881 and 1888 the yard was occupied and worked by E. J. Wilkins, and subsequently taken over by Forrestt and Sons Ltd. from Limehouse on the Thames who used steel. (fn. 88)

Joseph Cole and his son Daniel built smacks between 1800 and the 1820s at a yard which was probably downstream of the quay. James Husk and his successors occupied a downstream site from the late 1840s, building smacks and yachts, until 1937, and Cox & King operated from a neighbouring yard in the early 20th century. Other local men also built small ships. (fn. 89)

In the mid 19th century Wivenhoe people owned c. 50 vessels, but by the 1880s compe- tition from the railways made investment in cargo boats, many of them colliers, less attract- ive. (fn. 90) Many Wivenhoe men involved in pro- fessional yachting in the summer turned to salvaging, as well as fishing, in the winter, especially in the heyday of salvaging c. 1840– 1880. Wivenhoe was authorized c. 1825 as a receiving centre for salvage. Sainty, and later Harvey, built salvaging smacks. (fn. 91) Yachting attracted many visitors to the town, stimulating not only the yachtbuilding industry but also local businesses providing related supplies and services. (fn. 92)

G. Rennie & Co. of Greenwich joined with Forrestt at the upstream yard in 1912, labour costs at Wivenhoe being lower than in London, to become Rennie Forrestt Shipbuilding, Engineering and Dry Dock Co. Ltd. New machinery and plant was introduced and the company enjoyed a decade of expansion, making many ships for British and foreign governments, before the firm was bankrupted in 1922, making c. 150 men unemployed. The shipyard had been the biggest employer in the town, providing work for more than 300 men at its peak. Other shipbuilding firms who took the site were also unsuccessful during the depression between the World Wars. (fn. 93) At least one local shipyard worker went as far as Barrow-in-Furness (Lancs.) in 1928 in search of work. (fn. 94) Unemployment be- came so serious that in the winters of 1932 and 1933 house collections were made to support the families affected. Under an unemployment scheme C. E. Gooch at Wivenhoe Park allowed men to remove dead timber from his estate. (fn. 95)

A Wivenhoe branch of the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Iron and Steel Ship- builders was formed in 1890, and a branch of the Ship Constructors' and Shipwrights' Associ- ation had 106 members in 1920–1 and survived in 1970. Many of the shipyard workers came from outside the town, unlike the fishermen who were all local men. (fn. 96)

During the Second World War the upstream shipyard produced wooden minesweepers. Vosper Ltd. came from Portsmouth to occupy a downstream site where it built motor torpedo boats. On another upstream site Dorman Long built a substantial part of the Mulberry harbour used for the 1944 invasion of France. (fn. 97) James W. Cook & Co. Ltd. took over the Vosper site in 1947, and manufactured coastal, river, and fishing vessels, and harbour craft, until it went into voluntary liquidation in 1986. (fn. 98) The up- stream site was occupied between 1966 and 1981 by J. Gliksten & Co., a timber company, for storing hard and softwoods from Scandinavia and central Europe before taking them to con- sumers in the Midlands and East Anglia. The site was afterwards used by Wivenhoe Port Ltd. for grain storage. In 1988 it was acquired by Property Associates Ltd. for housing develop- ment. (fn. 99)

Other maritime industries included two roperies by 1734, one near the quay and one near Wivenhoe Cross. (fn. 100) A ropery business, appar- ently belonging to William Browne, moved from Nacton (Suff.) to Wivenhoe in 1770, presumably to the one at the quay. William Popps worked the ropery at the Cross until his death in 1789, when it was bought by William Browne and con- tinued in his family. Steam power was adopted early, but a boiler burst in 1855, causing much damage and killing three youths. The business closed c. 1900. (fn. 101)

A sailmaker was recorded in 1699 and in 1755, and a blockmaker in 1755. (fn. 102) In the early 19th century sails were made by Samuel Goodwin and by the Durrells, and later by the Madders family. (fn. 103) In 1851 seven men were employed as ropemakers, 5 as twinespinners, and 6 as sail- makers. A coalyard was recorded in 1722, and there were 2 coal merchants in 1851. (fn. 104) In the 18th century and the early 19th coal from north- east England was transferred to lighters at Wivenhoe for transport to Colchester. The col- liers, c. 12 of which in the mid 19th century had Wivenhoe owners, were reloaded with ballast of sand or shingle. (fn. 105) Mastmaking, cooperage, and provisioning ships were other occupations associated with the port in the 19th century. (fn. 106) North Sea Canners (Great Britain) Ltd. opened on The Quay in 1932 and Eastern Frozen Foods were based there in the later 20th century. Messrs. Whitehead Engineering and Skilton ∧ West Ltd. traded as marine engineers in the later 20th century. (fn. 107)

Not all occupations in Wivenhoe were mari- time. Potash manufacture was mentioned in 1764 at Spendalls. (fn. 108) In the 18th century a wheel- wright, a blacksmith, a cordwainer, and a barber and wigmaker were recorded, besides the evi- dence of spinning in the workhouse; there was a limekiln which remained in 1859, and a tannery. (fn. 109)

There was a brewhouse in 1585, and a malt- ster and a brewer were trading in 1734. Some local inns had brewhouses attached. A malting sold in 1859 stood near the site of the proposed railway line. (fn. 110) G. O. Green ran a brewery in Paget Road south of the railway from 1867, using steam power from 1868; it apparently closed in 1874. (fn. 111) In 1758 there were 3 bakers, 3 butchers, and 6 shopkeepers, and in 1863 three bakers, 3 butchers, and 8 shopkeepers. (fn. 112) From the 19th century a few hotels and restaurants provided further employment. (fn. 113) There was a sub branch of Barclay & Co. bankers by 1902. (fn. 114)

In 1891 there were 103 domestic servants, including housekeepers, out of a recorded popu- lation of 2,309. Twenty-eight people were employed in dressmaking and 65 in tailoring, many of them women doing outwork for Col- chester clothing firms. Outworking continued in the early 20th century. (fn. 115) Colchester Manu- facturing Co. Ltd. employed c. 25 women making clothing from 1935 until c. 1946 at its factory in Alma Street. (fn. 116) In 1951 the clothing industry employed 5.2 per cent of the 670 people working in Wivenhoe. At that time 12.1 per cent of employment within the urban district was in agriculture, fishing, and mining, 49.6 per cent in manufacturing, and 38.3 per cent in services, but about half the resident population worked outside the district, mainly in Col- chester. (fn. 117)

Wivenhoe Sand, Stone & Gravel Co., later Redland Aggregates Ltd., was established in 1920 in Alresford Road just outside the parish on the east, but most of the employees came from Wivenhoe. Alresford Sand & Ballast Co. Ltd. operated at the Villa Pit in Alresford Road in 1994. (fn. 118) Wivenhoe Business Centre was set up in Brook Street in 1984 with 27 units for small businesses. (fn. 119) By 1995 many people worked at Essex University, or commuted to neighbouring towns or to London.