Standlake: Economic history

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

AGRICULTURE. In the early Middle Ages Standlake and Brighthampton may have had separate fields. Standlake's East field was mentioned in 1318, (fn. 1) and in 1354 a holding was divided between the Down in Standlake's fields and South field in Brighthampton. (fn. 2) There was presumably a single system by 1480, when Standlake manor's demesne arable lay in the Down and in South, North, Standlake, and Little fields, (fn. 3) and Standlake and Brighthampton had shared fields thereafter. In the 17th century the principal fields were South and North fields, west of Brighthampton village, Church or Little field immediately north of Standlake village, and Rickland (earlier Richland) field north of Church field. Some holdings included small acreages in West field, south-west of Breach Farm, and Underdown, a subdivision of Church field, was sometimes counted as a separate field. (fn. 4) Hardwick, in Ducklington parish, had its own fields to the north, but some holdings in Hardwick, Standlake, and Brighthampton fields were so intermixed that for inclosure in the 19th century it was found convenient to treat all the fields as a unit. (fn. 5)

Extensive meadows, estimated in 1086 at 106 a. on Wadard's and the Greys' estates, bordered the rivers Thames and Windrush and the Shifford boundary brook. (fn. 6) Farm, Underdown, and Up meadows, the last of which included Ealong furlong, Middle Dole, and Sydenham, lay by the Windrush; in the 15th century and the mid 18th they were apparently distributed by lot, (fn. 7) and in the 19th they were Lammas meadows. (fn. 8) Some intermixed parcels of meadow, chiefly in the north-east near Hardwick common, belonged to Hardwick. (fn. 9) Larger several meadows by the Thames were recorded from the early Middle Ages, when they formed part of Standlake manor's demesne. Langhurst (later Langleys), granted to Eynsham abbey with nearby Chaddocks or Chattoksham in the late 12th century, comprised 29 a. of meadow and pasture c. 1360, and in the later Middle Ages both meadows were usually farmed to local tenants. (fn. 10) Hasses (24 a.), probably an adjacent meadow bordering Langley's weir, was granted to Cold Norton priory before 1246 but was recovered c. 1260, and remained part of the Corbets' demesne. (fn. 11) In the 15th century and later demesne parcels of up to 8 a. were recorded in Oxlease by the Windrush, in Standlake 'perrockes', perhaps the later Paddocks east of Rack End, and in Oatlands in the south-west, though the demesnes also included lot meadow. (fn. 12) A meadow near Gaunt Mill was said in 1804 to lie on rich, deep soil, though some meadows flooded frequently. (fn. 13)

Pasture 10 furlongs by 4 recorded on Anketil de Grey's estate in 1086 (fn. 14) presumably included the later Standlake common, c. 458 a. occupying much of the parish's southern part. (fn. 15) Sixteenthand 17th-century references to Cowleaze and to the moor, presumably adjoining Northmoor, suggest that it was internally divided. (fn. 16) Additional pasture was available in the fields after harvest, and in most of the meadows, including those held in severalty, after Lammas. (fn. 17) In 1361 a demesne ploughland (4 yardlands) carried common rights for 10 cattle and 160 sheep; (fn. 18) in the 16th century the stint for each yardland on Standlake manor was usually 6-8 cattle, 3-4 horses, and 40-50 sheep, and landless cottagers were allowed 2 cow commons. The miller was allowed an extra horse common in 1552. (fn. 19) Sheep were excluded from the moor in 1536 from 3 May to 1 August, and in 1541 from Cowleaze before Michaelmas, and in 1562 pigs were forbidden from Pentecost until the end of the harvest. (fn. 20) The stint remained similar on both manors in the 18th century and early 19th, when in addition most tenants of Hardwick and Brighthampton manor held up to 5 a. in the Marsh, a Lammas ground near the Shifford boundary. (fn. 21) In the mid 19th century Standlake common was open usually from 21 May to Lady Day or, latterly, to Candlemas. (fn. 22)

In the 14th century the townships of Standlake, Brighthampton, Hardwick, and Shifford intercommoned from Lammas to Martinmas. (fn. 23) In 1447-8 Hardwick's rights in Addehurst meadow in Standlake were challenged by the lord and tenants of Shifford, to which manor it belonged; (fn. 24) in the 16th century commons in Standlake Down and in a meadow called Volnhurst were disputed between Hardwick and Standlake, (fn. 25) and in 1558 Northmoor's inhabitants challenged Standlake's rights in a common in Northmoor. (fn. 26) An apportionment of intermixed meadow among the townships of Standlake, Ducklington, Stanton Harcourt, and South Leigh was proposed in 1620, (fn. 27) and in the 19th century Standlake commoners retained feeding rights after 1 August in Achim or Eacham mead (30 a.) by the Thames, and in part of Upper Sydenham (8 a.) by the Windrush, included in Northmoor and South Leigh parishes respectively. (fn. 28) Standlake and Brighthampton inhabitants were by the 19th century excluded from Hardwick's common pastures, though Brighthampton tenants of Hardwick and Brighthampton manor shared rights in Standlake common, prompting disputes between the respective lords in 1852 over rights in the waste. (fn. 29)

Though no woodland was recorded in 1086 (fn. 30) much of the northern part of the parish, including Home and Boys woods, the site of Cokethorpe House, and the area around Breach Farm, seems to have been wooded in the early Middle Ages. Presumably that was the Standlake or 'East Lea' wood of which custody was granted to Andrew de Beauchamp in 1214, and in which Eve de Grey granted pannage for 20 swine to Standlake church. (fn. 31) Following the manor's partition c. 1246 (fn. 32) the woods were divided among the four quarters, all of which included woodland into the later Middle Ages. Boys wood, c. 70 a. in 1844, (fn. 33) was let by the Corbets to the Yelford and Hastings families of Yelford and later to the Mores of Northmoor for much of the 14th and 15th centuries, prompting disputes over ownership in the later 15th century and early 16th. (fn. 34) It subsequently descended with Yelford, and was let in the early 17th century to the Medhopps of Cote in Bampton, and in the early 19th to the Stricklands of Cokethorpe House, who kept it in hand. (fn. 35) In 1949 it comprised chiefly oak. (fn. 36) Home or Cokethorpe wood, c. 68 a. in 1844, (fn. 37) was evidently the Greys wood owned by the Greys and Lovels in the 14th and 15th centuries, (fn. 38) and hedging and sale of underwood was recorded in the 1380s when it was briefly held by New College, Oxford, presumably on lease. (fn. 39) It did not pass to Magdalen College with the rest of the Lovels' manor, and by the early 17th century was attached to the later Cokethorpe estate. (fn. 40) Woods adjoining Sherald's Copse north-east of Boys wood passed chiefly with the Mauduits' quarter of Standlake manor until the 16th century, when they too were leased, and in 1538 the lord's agent remarked that there was sufficient timber to maintain the lord's houses for a hundred years. In 1555 those woods were sold with other demesne lands to Francis Fettiplace, and thus also became part of the later Cokethorpe estate. (fn. 41) Over 750 elms and ashes recorded on farms held of Standlake manor in 1768 were evidently in or around closes near the villages. (fn. 42)

In 1230 Eve de Grey was licensed to impark her wood and to have a deer leap. (fn. 43) Henry III gave 4 does and a buck in 1232, and in 1279 the park was attached to the Mauduits' quarter. (fn. 44) It was not mentioned later, and the surname Parker, recorded in the 14th century, seems by then to have been hereditary. (fn. 45) Presumably the park included only a small proportion of the total woodland: the curving northern and western boundaries of Home wood have been suggested as possible park pales, (fn. 46) but since the Mauduits' woodland lay mostly further east the park perhaps occupied the area north-west of the later Cokethorpe House, subsequently coppiced and, in the 18th century, landscaped. (fn. 47)

Woodland on all four quarters of Standlake manor was being assarted by the 14th century. Boysbreach (later the Lawns), between Boys wood and Greys wood, was mentioned with the adjoining Mauduitsbreach in 1355, and the 'breach towards Cokethorpe', probably near later Breach Farm, in 1480. (fn. 48) By the early 18th century Cokethorpe House was surrounded by small coppices and assarted closes extending into Ducklington. (fn. 49) Further demesne closes totalling c. 75 a. lay east of Standlake village around the putative moated manor houses, (fn. 50) and closes in the south-east, totalling c. 60 a. and attached to Gaunt House, Gaunt Mill, and the adjacent fulling mill by the early 17th century, were probably also medieval; (fn. 51) Church mill was held with a small adjoining close by the 15th century. (fn. 52) In 1480 it was alleged that a ham adjoining Hasses meadow would increase in value from 6d. to 5s. if inclosed. (fn. 53)

Yardlands on Standlake manor were reckoned in the Middle Ages at 30 a. of arable and c. 6 a. of meadow, (fn. 54) measured probably in customary acres. On Hardwick and Brighthampton manor some 14th-century yardlands seem to have included only 15 a. of arable, possibly also customary, (fn. 55) though in the 16th century all yardlands on the manor in Brighthampton were traditionally reckoned at 35 a. (fn. 56) In the later 18th century Standlake manor's yardlands included c. 23 statute acres of arable, and some of those on Hardwick and Brighthampton manor over 30 statute acres besides 5-11 a. of meadow. (fn. 57)

In 1086 land for 7 ploughs was reported on Anketil de Grey's estate, probably the later Standlake manor. Nine teams were recorded, 2 of them worked by 4 servi on the demesne, and 7 of them held by 15 villani and 16 bordarii. The estate's value had risen from £5 in 1066 to £6. Wadard's 1½-hide estate in Brighthampton, worth 40s. as in 1066, had i plough in demesne, and a servus, a villanus, and 5 bordarii were mentioned. Other lands and tenants were probably surveyed with Bampton. (fn. 58)

Two ploughlands were in demesne in the earlier 13th century (fn. 59) and four by 1279, one attached to each of the quarters into which the manor had been divided, and each variously reported during the 14th century to contain between 60 a. and 100 a. of arable. (fn. 60) The Corbets' demesne was farmed to the rector and others from the early 14th century, (fn. 61) and by the 1380s the Mauduits', Giffards', and probably the Greys' demesnes were also being farmed. (fn. 62) A demesne ploughland on the Greys' Hardwick and Brighthampton manor, 100 a. in 1295, (fn. 63) may have been farmed or absorbed into tenant holdings, since only 60 a. of demesne arable were mentioned in 1312, and 22 a., with 8 a. of meadow, in 1423. (fn. 64) Demesne farming was evidently mixed: hay and grain was sold from Standlake manor's demesne in 1195, and 16 oxen, 20-30 cattle, and over 100 swine were allegedly driven from probably the Giffard demesne in 1343. (fn. 65)

Tenant holdings on Standlake manor had undergone much subdivision by 1279. (fn. 66) Twenty-eight villeins then held half yardlands, another held two half yardlands of different quarters of the manor, and one held a house and 7½ a., apparently ¼ yardland. Eight cottagers (fn. 67) had holdings of 5-8 a., one of them divided between a father and son. On Hard wick and Brighthampton manor 6 Brighthampton villeins held yardlands and 10 held half yardlands, and 2 cottagers had 5 a. each. Large numbers of freeholders perhaps reflected expansion and assarting since the 11th century: 35 were recorded on Standlake manor (fn. 68) with holdings ranging from 2 a. to a yardland or more, mostly occupied with houses.

Unfree half yardlands on Standlake manor in 1279 owed rent of 22½d. and exceptionally heavy works valued at 8s. 5d., though obligations had perhaps been reduced since 1247 when total income from 7 half-yardlanders on the Giffards' quarter exceeded that in 1279. (fn. 69) Services in 1303, allegedly 3 days' work per week from 1 August to 29 September and 2 days' work per week for the rest of the year, were valued at c. 5s. 11d., suggesting further reductions. (fn. 70) Tenants of Hardwick and Brighthampton manor, held as ancient demesne, (fn. 71) owed heavier rents but lighter services, including weeding, mowing, harvesting, and carting, and tenants in 1295 paid aid and churchscot. (fn. 72) Cottagers on Standlake manor owed varying rents and services in 1279, though in 1303 those on the Mauduits' quarter seem to have been counted as ¼-yardlanders owing proportionate rents and services; cottagers on Hardwick and Brighthampton manor in 1279 owed rent of 21d. and works valued at 9d. (fn. 73) Freeholders' rents, between 5d. and 9s. 10d. in 1279, did not consistently reflect size of holdings, and one free yardland owed light labour services. (fn. 74)

In 1322-3 a keeper of the Mauduits' quarter claimed that 100 a. lay uncultivated through lack of buyers and animals, (fn. 75) but between 1306 and 1327 the average value of movables assessed for taxation rose from c. 46s. to c. 62s. in Standlake and to c. 64s. in Brighthampton, putting both places among the more prosperous rural settlements in the area. (fn. 76) The wealthiest contributors in 1316 were the four lords of Standlake manor, together taxed on goods worth over £37; others were assessed on goods worth from 9s. 4d. to £5 12s., some large assessments being on villeins. (fn. 77)

On both manors holdings remained markedly stable in the early 14th century. (fn. 78) A few vacant tenements were recorded from the 1350s, (fn. 79) but the long-term effects of the Black Death seem to have been relatively limited: more tenants and houses were recorded on the Corbets' quarter in the late 14th century than in 1279, and of four tofts mentioned in 1385, all were let and two apparently had houses on them by 1394. Most of the 13th-century half yardlands remained identifiable, and at least one was held by the same family as in 1279. (fn. 80) By the later 14th century many labour services had been commuted, (fn. 81) and in 1385, as in the 16th century, most half-yardlanders on the Corbets' quarter owed only heriot, suit of court, and 10s. rent; light harvest services remained for a mill, a cottage, and the free yardland, by then divided into two, but had been commuted by the 1440s. (fn. 82) Entry fines in the 15th century were generally low, sometimes less than the annual rent, and in 1445 a fine was waived on account of the tenant's poverty. (fn. 83)

The four demesne farms totalled possibly 100 a. each in the 15th century including closes and meadow, (fn. 84) but there seems to have been little amalgamation of other holdings before the 16th century. No tenant held more than half a yardland of the Corbets' quarter in the 1480s, and few held a yardland in 1569, though some may have held of other lords or owned freehold. (fn. 85) On Hardwick and Brighthampton manor two Brighthampton copyholders occupied 2 and 1¾ yardlands respectively by the later 16th century, while 6 occupied yardlands and 3 occupied half yardlands. (fn. 86) Some late-medieval freeholders may have owned land elsewhere or derived income from commerce. The resident Marshalls, recorded from the 13th century, had property and commercial links in Woodstock, (fn. 87) while Thomas Stephens (fl. 1416), licensed to have an oratory in his house in Standlake, owned lands in Northmoor and probably elsewhere, (fn. 88) and two other 15th-century residents called themselves gentlemen. (fn. 89) By the early 16th century resident families such as the Yates, Gaunts, and Tyrlings had assembled notable estates within the parish. (fn. 90)

Some rents were reduced before the later 15th century when a few holdings remained unlet, and on the Corbets' quarter fewer tenants were recorded than earlier. (fn. 91) Arrears on the same quarter rose from c. 23s. in 1487-8 to over £18 in 1506-7, reducing thereafter. (fn. 92) During the 16th century Standlake seems nevertheless to have been among the more prosperous rural settlements in the area: 32 inhabitants paid a total of £4 14s. 10d. to the first subsidy of 1524, and 36 payed £2 14s. 6d. in 1542, while in Brighthampton 23 inhabitants paid £1 16s. in 1524 and 41 paid £1 6s. 6½d. in 1542. (fn. 93) Among freeholders and gentry, John Yate was assessed in 1524 on goods worth £40, Richard Harcourt on £16, Edward or Edmund Yate and Alice Gaunt on over £13 each, and John Fettiplace on £10; (fn. 94) moderately prosperous yeomen included John Bennett (d. 1551) of Brighthampton, assessed in 1524 on goods worth £10, who held 1 or 2 yardlands of Hardwick and Brighthampton manor and probably one of Standlake's demesne farms, and at his death left 10 oxen and over 80 sheep. (fn. 95) Richard Stone (d. 1577), who paid the second highest assessment in 1576, held c. 3 leasehold yardlands. (fn. 96) Three quarters of the taxpayers of 1524 were nevertheless assessed on less than £4 and almost a quarter on only 20s., while three, including a servant, were assessed on wages.

During the later 16th century and the 17th both villages remained predominantly agricultural communities with some moderately prosperous farmers, over half those for whom inventories survive leaving personalty of between £10 and £59, and only a few, c. 15 per cent in Standlake and 9 per cent in Brighthampton, leaving over £100. (fn. 97) Exceptionally, Nicholas Dixon (d. 1627) of Standlake and John Tanner (d. 1647) of Brighthampton left goods worth over £300, chiefly furnishings, money owed, and agricultural items. (fn. 98) A labourer left personalty of only 35s., (fn. 99) and in the early 17th century inhabitants accused landlords of creating a 'multitude' of poor by deliberately crowding two or more families into single dwellings, alleging that as a result corn, poultry, and fuel could no longer be left unattended overnight. (fn. 100) In the 1660s most householders were taxed on between 1 and 3 hearths, the chief exceptions being Cokethorpe House (14 hearths), Gaunt House (8 hearths), and the rectory house (7 hearths); 12 inhabitants from the two settlements were exonerated through poverty in 1665. (fn. 101)

A two-course rotation was followed in 1361 when half of one demesne was sown and half lay fallow, (fn. 102) but in 1636 there was a four-course rotation of (1) wheat, maslin, or rye, (2) pulse, (3) barley, and (4) fallow, and in 1644 an 8-a. holding included 2 a. 'in every field'. (fn. 103) A valuation made about that time allowed for either a three- or a four-course rotation. (fn. 104) The chief crops were then wheat and barley, followed by pulses; rye, hops, hemp, maslin, dill, and oats were mentioned occasionally, (fn. 105) and an illegal tobacco crop of c. 26 a. was destroyed in the late 17th century. (fn. 106) Several testators left apples and other fruit, and some left malt, among them a yeoman who in 1627 left 36 qr. worth £30. (fn. 107) Most owned one or more cows and horses and a few pigs, though few had a full yoke of oxen; (fn. 108) a prosperous yeoman in 1676 was owed £40 from several inhabitants for corn, malt, money lent, and 'work done' with his team of horses, which he presumably hired out. (fn. 109) Flocks were generally small, though a Standlake farmer left 130 sheep and lambs in 1632, and another at Brighthampton left 103 in 1707. (fn. 110) Most testators seem to have had sufficient hay, one in 1690 leaving hay worth £29, his most valuable single item. (fn. 111) Several inhabitants owned poultry, (fn. 112) a few kept bees, and cheese and cheese-making equipment were mentioned frequently.

A tenant of Gaunt House farm and of former demesne held at least 200 a. c. 1650, (fn. 113) and by the later 18th century a few farmers seem to have occupied comparable estates combining freeholds, leaseholds, and copyholds, often under several owners. Six farmers in 1785, among them the tenants of Malthouse, Lincoln, and probably Breach farms, paid land tax of between £10 and over £37, (fn. 114) and by 1844 at least 7 farms exceeded 100 a., among them the Standlake Manor House estate (175 a.) and an amalgamation of 229 a. which included Lincoln farm and former demesne. Many inhabitants farmed 30 a. or less, however, and in 1849 two farms of c. 53 a. and 49 a. were combined for a tenant's benefit since alone they were 'not tenable ... to support a team'. (fn. 115) Many cottagers, some of them freeholders, had little or no land; a few were tradesmen, though most in the early 19th century were agricultural labourers, by far the largest occupational group. Others dependent on agriculture in 1841 included 4 cattle- or corn dealers, 4 gardeners, a calfman, and a castrator. (fn. 116)

Gaunt House farm was let at rack rent by the early 17th century. (fn. 117) On other college estates long leases at the old quitrents, often including heriot, persisted until inclosure, (fn. 118) and although under the Corn Rent Act of 1576 (fn. 119) a third of the rent was demanded in wheat and malt or their cash equivalents and a part sometimes in poultry, producing substantial increments by the 19th century, rents nevertheless remained well below the farms' true values. (fn. 120) Entry fines, in contrast, were sometimes heavy. (fn. 121) On the manors copyholds survived inclosure, though by then leasehold was predominant (fn. 122) and several Hardwick manor copyholders sublet their farms. (fn. 123) Short leases at rack rent became usual in the later 19th century. (fn. 124)

Four-course rotation persisted probably in the mid 19th century, when the quarters were perhaps represented by an otherwise unrecorded division of the arable among North, South, and Rickland fields, and 'Brighthampton land'. (fn. 125) Inclosure, considered in the 17th century, c. 1805, and in 1836, (fn. 126) was eventually carried out in Standlake, Brighthampton, and Hardwick between 1848 and 1853, when the award was sealed. (fn. 127) Magdalen College and its tenants received c. 530 a. in Standlake, and St. John's College and its tenants c. 670 a. in Standlake and Brighthampton; the colleges received a further 22 a. and 14 a. respectively for manorial rights. Lincoln College received c. 79 a., Brasenose College 55 a., and Christ Church 15 a. for its open-field land, and awards were made to the rector for glebe (25 a.), to the poor of Standlake, Brighthampton, Hardwick, and Northmoor (c. 17 a. in all), and to the parish clerk. Another 41 freeholders received allotments ranging from 197 a. for the Standlake Manor estate to less than an acre. A further 569 a. were awarded in Hardwick, whose boundaries were redrawn, and other boundary adjustments necessitated small awards to proprietors in neighbouring parishes.

In 1861 there were 12 farmers with over 100 a., and two, at Lincoln Farm and Standlake Manor, with over 200 a. (fn. 128) Most farms were worked from earlier homesteads, though the newly built Westfield Farm had its own land perhaps by 1876. (fn. 129) During the 1860s and 1870s John Perry (d. 1895), one of a local family, accumulated several freeholds and leaseholds, among them Yew Tree farm where he eventually lived, Glebe farm, and the Standlake Manor estate, and by 1881 farmed 650 a. directly and employed 21 labourers and 6 boys. The estate was broken up after his death, (fn. 130) and though Percival Pinnock and D. C. Hosier each held c. 300 a. in the 1880s, most farms were under 200 a. (fn. 131) A few included large, consolidated blocks of land, but others were more scattered, and in 1917 the distance of Lincoln farm's lands from the village was said to undermine its efficiency. (fn. 132)

In 1877 the parish was c. 60 per cent arable and 25 per cent pasture, (fn. 133) but the balance on individual farms varied, and in the 1880s some were predominantly pastoral. (fn. 134) Livestock included sheep, dairy cattle, and pigs, and inhabitants in 1881 included several cattle- and pig dealers and at least two shepherds. (fn. 135) By then some meadows in the east of the parish had been converted to arable, (fn. 136) and free-working loams elsewhere were judged capable of producing heavy crops of corn and roots; stiffer clays in the north were well adapted for wheat and beans, drainage problems notwithstanding, though in 1917 gravelly soils on Lincoln farm were thought unlikely to produce 'more than ordinary crops in a good season'. (fn. 137) The chief markets, as earlier, were Witney and to a lesser extent Abingdon and Oxford; very little produce was then taken to Great Faringdon. (fn. 138)

Agricultural depression affected the parish during the 1870s and 1880s, allegedly halving land values and prompting conversion of some poorer land to pasture. (fn. 139) The subtenant on Brasenose College's principal farm, granted a rent reduction in 1881, surrendered his lease c. 1882, leaving the buildings in disrepair, (fn. 140) and some larger farmers, including members of the long-estabished Pinnock family, were apparently bankrupted. (fn. 141) Most larger farmers nevertheless survived into the 1890s or beyond, (fn. 142) despite wrangles over 'exorbitant' rents during the 1880s. (fn. 143) A branch of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union existed in Standlake by 1873- 4, (fn. 144) and in 1891 the Fabians Sidney Webb and William Hines addressed a meeting of farm labourers at the Black Horse. (fn. 145) In 1905 the tenant of Lincoln farm sought further rent reductions, citing 'ruinous' rain and floods in 1903 which had effectively lost him two years' crops; the college met some of his requests, (fn. 146) and he continued as tenant. (fn. 147) There was no unemployment in the parish in 1908. (fn. 148)

Flooding remained a problem despite expensive new watercourses constructed at inclosure. (fn. 149) Landowners carried out some piecemeal drainage, (fn. 150) and in 1866 a small part of Standlake adjoining the river Windrush was incorporated into the Northmoor and Stanton Harcourt drainage district, established under the Land Drainage Act of 1861. (fn. 151) Immediate works included embankments, new cuts, and cleaning of the river, which near Gaunt Mill was particularly neglected. Despite the scheme's success, however, (fn. 152) poor drainage elsewhere in the parish prompted both Magdalen and St. John's Colleges to sell their estates in the early 20th century. (fn. 153) In 1917 pasture in the former common could not be ploughed up for the war effort because it flooded in winter. (fn. 154)

By 1914 permanent pasture in the parish had increased to 49 per cent. Sheep, cattle, pigs, and horses were kept in average numbers for the area, though sheep farming was declining as elsewhere. The chief crops were wheat (26 per cent) and barley (18 per cent), followed by oats (11 per cent), swedes and turnips (10 per cent), mangolds (4 per cent), and a few potatoes (0.3 per cent). (fn. 155) Most farms remained mixed, and a few were predominantly pastoral: Old Manor farm (344 a.) in Brighthampton, a dairy and stock holding producing high-quality milk, was c. 70 per cent under grass in 1924, much of it on former arable north-west of the hamlet, and its buildings included pigstyes and a cowhouse for 68 head of cattle. (fn. 156) Poultry-raising was important, notably at Church Farm and Church Mill. (fn. 157) In 1939 there were 6 farms over 150 a. and at least 5 smaller ones; in 1978 there were 5 principal and 2 smaller farms, all mixed, besides a factory poultry farm and a pig farm. Store cattle had by then replaced sheep and dairy cattle, and it was estimated that no more than 10 per cent of pasture ploughed up during wartime had been returned to grass. (fn. 158)

MARKET AND FAIR.A Friday market and an annual fair on the eve, feast, and morrow of St. Giles (31 August-2 September) were granted to Eve de Grey in 1230. (fn. 159) Of Eve's coheirs only the Mauduits were expressly said to have income from the market and fair in 1279, but late-medieval owners of the Corbets' quarter of the manor had rents from market stalls, and presumably the tolls were among the franchises shared by all four lords. (fn. 160) The fair, held on only two days by 1279, (fn. 161) may have lapsed soon after, and though Wednesday and Thursday markets at Bampton and Witney may initially have attracted trade to the area, Standlake's market seems to have suffered from local competition: (fn. 162) in 1303 the Mauduits' income from tolls was estimated at only 20d., (fn. 163) in 1317 demesne produce from nearby Chimney (in Bampton) was to be sold at Oxford, (fn. 164) and in 1370-1, when the Mauduits' tolls were leased, a 4d. rent reduction was recorded for the half year. (fn. 165) On the Corbets' manor rent of 2s. for market stalls was paid in 1394 and the 1440s, but the stalls were unlet in 1461, and some or all of them for several years in the early 1480s, when the rent may have been only 10d. a year. (fn. 166) An attempt to revive the market was made c. 1488-9 when 20d. was allowed towards repair of stalls and workshops, (fn. 167) but in 1500 a stall remained unlet at an annual rent of 20d., (fn. 168) and market income was not mentioned later.

The existence of a market and fair may account for early 14th-century surnames such as Merchant, Chapman, and Iremonger, (fn. 169) but there is no evidence for marketing of goods other than agricultural produce. A man from Sutton in Stanton Harcourt parish took geese to sell at Standlake market in 1389, (fn. 170) and in 1461 market stalls were said to be for sale of victuals. (fn. 171)

A 'place formerly called the pig market' near Standlake church was mentioned in 1839, (fn. 172) but no references to an institutionalized market in modern times have been found.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY.Woollen textile manufacture, dependent perhaps on Witney's wool and cloth trade and later on its blanket industry, was mentioned from the 13th century to the early 18th. (fn. 173) At least two fulling mills existed by the early 13th century, (fn. 174) and in the late 13th and early 14th the surnames Fuller, Weaver, and Webber, borne by villeins, cottagers, and small freeholders, were recorded frequently. (fn. 175) A chaloner was mentioned in 1348, (fn. 176) and members of the Trilling family, lessees of Gaunt Mill in the late 14th century, were fullers in the mid 15th. (fn. 177) In 1394 four tenants, of whom three were named Fuller, paid small rents for four racks on the lord's waste, presumably at Rack End, though they themselves seem not to have held local fulling mills. (fn. 178) The racks were unlet in 1461, (fn. 179) but in the 16th century and later tenants of Gaunt Mill and an adjacent fulling mill owed 4d. a year for the right of tentering on the lord's land, (fn. 180) and two clothworkers in the early 17th century left fullers' racks in the common. (fn. 181) From the 16th century the most frequently recorded textile workers were broad- and narrow weavers, (fn. 182) of whom some were moderately prosperous and, since they owned more than one loom, perhaps employed assistants. (fn. 183) Several shearmen were recorded from the mid 15th century to the mid 17th, (fn. 184) and in 1756 a dyer with an apprentice; (fn. 185) a tilt-weaver was noted in 1743 and a clothworker in 1751, (fn. 186) but by then the industry was in decline, and no textile workers were recorded in the 19th century. The remaining fulling mill had closed by 1770. (fn. 187)

William Marshall of Standlake, gentleman, who owned property fronting the market place in New Woodstock, in 1469 apprenticed his son to a leading Woodstock mercer to learn the trades of mercer, wax chandler, and cap maker, (fn. 188) and some other leading 15th-century families may have had commercial interests. (fn. 189) Cuthbert Temple (d. by 1558) of Standlake, who in the 1550s bought much of Standlake manor as an investment, was a clothier with strong Witney connexions and may have lived at Gaunt House. (fn. 190) Henry Wheeler (d. 1721), also a clothier, had a 'mansion and dwelling house' in Standlake. (fn. 191) Mercers, recorded from the 16th century to the early 18th, included Arthur Yate (d. 1633), whose personalty of nearly £190 clear was chiefly in debts and obligations, and Joseph Huckwell, lessee in 1709 of Brasenose College's fulling mill. (fn. 192)

Other medieval surnames included Smith, Baker, Taylor, and Turner, (fn. 193) and the usual rural crafts and trades were recorded later, among them blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, masons, coopers, and shoemakers. (fn. 194) A Standlake corviser in 1433 owed debts in Coventry and in Stratford-on-Avon. (fn. 195) Butchers, recorded from the 15th century, (fn. 196) included some moderately prosperous men by local standards, one in 1567 owning a house in Woodstock, and another in 1684 leaving personalty of nearly £75 including money and book debts. (fn. 197) Glaziers were recorded in 1604 and 1720, and a mason in 1756. (fn. 198) There were higglers and badgers from the 17th century to the early 19th, some of whom evidently frequented Oxford market. (fn. 199) A gunmaker lived in Standlake in the early 18th century, (fn. 200) and in the mid 18th the clockmaker John Nethercott (d. 1763). (fn. 201)

Small-scale gloving and light leather working was recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries. (fn. 202) Several members of the Hewes or Calcott family, chiefly farmers and millers and some of them prosperous, called themselves glovers, (fn. 203) and fellmongers were mentioned in 1686 and 1719. (fn. 204) Collarmakers were noted in 1622 and 1694 and a currier in 1701. (fn. 205)

A few maltsters included Joseph Huckwell (d. 1682) of Standlake, whose personalty of £97 included large debts owed him in Oxford, (fn. 206) and George Grafton (d. 1770), lessee of the Chequers, who malted for farmers in Cote and possibly Shifford from the 1740s to 1760s. (fn. 207) In 1773 either his or another malthouse in Standlake was able to produce up to 30 qr. a week. (fn. 208) There was a malthouse at Malthouse Farm, Brighthampton, by 1740 when George Brown (d. 1761) obtained the copyhold, and both he and his son Thomas (d. 1799) called themselves maltsters as well as being substantial farmers. (fn. 209) Before 1855 a later Thomas Brown allowed part of the malthouse to fall down, and the building was demolished soon after. (fn. 210)

In 1811 only 41 families out of 146 were employed in trade, craft, or manufacture, (fn. 211) and many trades remained agriculturally based. In 1841 there were 3 smiths, 2 wheelwrights, 2 millwrights, and a saddler, besides several carpenters, shoemakers, and tailors, a grocer, 2 butchers, 2 bakers, 3 shopkeepers, and a cooper. At least 30 women were employed as domestic servants, and throughout the century a few worked as laundresses, dressmakers, or seamstresses. (fn. 212) In the late 19th century and early 20th several of the Cantwell family were stonemasons and builders. (fn. 213)

There was a cycle maker in 1907 and a wireless repairer in 1924, and a motor repair garage was opened on Abingdon road in 1927. Traditional crafts and trades surviving in 1939 included those of blacksmith, wheelwright, thatcher, baker and butcher. (fn. 214) Most had gone by the 1970s, when many inhabitants were newcomers employed in Witney, Oxford, or elsewhere. (fn. 215) In 1993 there was a general store and post office, besides two antiques shops, the motor garage, an engineering and electrical company, and a computer software firm. A brick factory on Witney road, opened in 1949, continued possibly into the 1960s, (fn. 216) and in 1994 there was a large industrial estate on the site which accommodated several businesses.

MILLS AND FISHERIES.In 1086 a mill rendering 11s. a year was recorded on Anketil de Grey's estate, probably the later Standlake manor. (fn. 217) Three water mills were attached to the manor in the early 13th century, of which one, a fulling mill at Rack End on the westernmost channel of the river Windrush, was granted to Cold Norton priory by Eve de Grey between 1228 and 1246. (fn. 218) The priory was seized by the Crown in 1496, and the mill passed with its possessions in 1507 to the free chapel of St. Stephen in Westminster Palace, c. 1512 to William Smith, bishop of Lincoln, and in 1513 to Brasenose College, Oxford, (fn. 219) which from the late 17th century to the 19th leased it to Christ Church, Oxford, owner of nearby Gaunt House. (fn. 220) In 1405 there was an inner and an outer mill held by different tenants, (fn. 221) but by the 16th century there was one mill only. (fn. 222) Early tenants included probably John the fuller in the mid 13th century, and in 1651 a Witney clothier. (fn. 223) In 1685 the lessee agreed to carry out repairs, (fn. 224) and the fulling mill was still so described in 1709 and 1764; by 1770, however, it had apparently ceased to function. (fn. 225) By 1849 it had 'long been in ruins', (fn. 226) and it was demolished soon after. (fn. 227)

The two other 13th-century mills were divided among the quarters of Standlake manor at its partition c. 1246, but were each held by single tenants presumably by agreement. Gaunt Mill was called the new mills in the earlier 13th century, when it was a double corn and fulling mill. (fn. 228) Payments by the lessee for the right of tentering were recorded in the 16th century and the 17th, (fn. 229) and two mills, presumably meaning wheels or stones, were mentioned in the 18th, (fn. 230) but from the early 17th century the mill was consistently described as a corn or grist mill. (fn. 231) In 1279 it was said to be freely held with 10 a. for 16s. 9½d. to the lords of each quarter, but in the 15th and 16th centuries it was a copyhold owing heriot and suit of court, (fn. 232) It became leasehold before 1617. (fn. 233) The rent to each lord, 12s. 6d. in 1394 and 13s. 4d. in 1445, was by 1480 only 10s., (fn. 234) and in the earlier 1480s the mill lay vacant and unrepaired for two years. (fn. 235) Magdalen College, Oxford, acquired two quarters with parts of the manor in 1483 and 1538, and in 1617 bought the rest from Thomas Radborne, miller; (fn. 236) the college leased the mill from 1743 until the 19th century to tenants of nearby Gaunt House, who sublet it, (fn. 237) Following a fire in 1770 William Marchant of Gaunt House rebuilt both the mill and mill house, (fn. 238) and a separate house was built to the south in the early 19th century. (fn. 239) In the 1860s weeds were impeding the mill's operation, (fn. 240) and in 1883 it was in poor repair; (fn. 241) in 1920 the college sold it to the tenant, on whose death in 1928 it ceased to function except for occasional production of cattle feed and to generate electricity. It was converted for domestic use in stages during the 1940s and early 1950s. (fn. 242)

Church Mill, formerly Collins mill after a late 14th-century tenant, (fn. 243) was in 1279 a customary cottage tenement, held with 10 a. for total rent of 20s. and works valued at 15d. (fn. 244) The rent was unaltered in the 16th century, though in the 15th the amount for which works were commuted varied greatly. (fn. 245) The mill may always have been a corn mill, and in the late 18th century and the 19th there was a bakehouse. (fn. 246) Two quarters passed with parts of the manor to Magdalen College, which retained them in 1636; (fn. 247) the other quarters were acquired c. 1555 by the Hewes or Calcott family, copyhold tenants of the mill under Magdalen College into the 17th century. (fn. 248) They seem to have conveyed their freehold c. 1598 to Andrew Yate, (fn. 249) and Edmund Hodgkins, miller, acquired the entire freehold before 1723, (fn. 250) Later resident owners included Edward Harris (d. 1791), Thomas Witley (1791-3), and Edward's relict Margaret (d. 1853), whose family through her second husband William Hemming (d. 1806) continued as millers and corn merchants until 1908; (fn. 251) James Hemming was running 'a first rate little business' in 1897, though major repairs were needed to the mill roof. (fn. 252) The mill was disused by 1911, (fn. 253) but the wheel and machinery were repaired in the 1920s and used to generate electricity until 1968; in the Second World War some corn milling was carried out. (fn. 254) The mill was restored to working order in the early 1980s. The surviving mill and attached mill house were built in 1726 by the Hodgkinses, (fn. 255) and in the early 19th century an additional domestic block with a symmetrical north front was built at the rear. A detached bakehouse survives on the west.

Underdown Mill, formerly Beard or Berry Mill, belonged until the 16th century to Hardwick and Brighthampton manor, and in 1279 was a customary tenement occupied with a house and 5 a. for 40s. rent and works valued at 12d, (fn. 256) It remained copyhold in the 16th century, owing suit, heriot, and rent of 30s. (fn. 257) A fulling mill on the manor in the 13th and 14th centuries may have been in Hardwick, (fn. 258) and though Underdown Mill was briefly owned by a Witney clothier in the later 16th century (fn. 259) it was a corn mill in 1660 and later. (fn. 260) Three mills, presumably pairs of stones rather than wheels, were mentioned in 1728, along with a boulting or sieving mill. (fn. 261) In 1569 John Herle, then lord, sold the mill to Peter Ranckell of Witney, whose son Henry sold it in 1604 to Joseph Mayne, lord of Shifford; (fn. 262) Mayne's son Edward sold it to Thomas Weale (d. 1658), the first of several owner-occupiers and millers who included Henry Hewes (c. 1657-60), members of the Harris family (1660-c. 1766), Samuel Clack (1810-20), and the Swingburn family (1829- 1911). (fn. 263) From 1766 to 1810 it was owned and let by the Wrights of Hailey in Witney, (fn. 264) and from c. 1850 the Swingburns sometimes let it to their relatives the Mountains. (fn. 265) Like Church Mill it was heavily mortgaged during the 18th century and early 19th, and several sales were prompted apparently by mounting debt. (fn. 266) From Mary Swingburn (d. 1911) the mill passed to Mary Cook and to her son B. D. Costar. It continued to operate, primarily as a grist mill, until c. 1933, and later the wooden wheels and machinery were removed. (fn. 267)

The surviving house, which replaced one of 7 bays burnt in 1727, (fn. 268) incorporated a small attached mill at its eastern end. After the mill ceased working a part was demolished, and c. 1990 the remains were taken into the house.

Fishing rights were attached to all four mills by the 17th century. (fn. 269) The name Fisher was recorded in the late 13th century, (fn. 270) and fishermen were mentioned occasionally from the 16th; (fn. 271) four were noted in Standlake in 1861. (fn. 272) Free fisheries in the Thames were recorded on both manors in 1279, (fn. 273) though that on Hardwick and Brighthampton manor, reportedly worth 6s. a year, was not mentioned later. The other, worth 7s. 8d. to each of the four lords of Standlake, (fn. 274) was presumably that near Haul Ham in the south-west, held by copy with adjacent meadows from the 14th century to the 19th for 6s. 8d. to each lord. (fn. 275) Two weirs held with it in 1558 (fn. 276) were presumably on the site of later Langley's weir, recorded under various names from the late 18th century and held with the fishery in the 19th. Earlier 19th-century subtenants included local fishermen, but there seems to have been no house or resident keeper, and the weir, by then evidently much neglected, was removed c. 1872. (fn. 277)

In the 15th century and early 16th common fishing rights in the river Windrush were defended by lords of Standlake against encroachments from Northmoor. (fn. 278) In 1536 the manor court ordered that the waters should be fished only once a week, and in 1602 that no-one should fish at night. (fn. 279) From the 17th century manorial fishing and fowling rights in the Wind-rush and elsewhere, excepting those held by copy, were let en bloc to local landowners, (fn. 280) and in the early 20th century Magdalen College let all its fishing to non-resident sportsmen. (fn. 281)