AGRICULTURE
In 1086 there was land at Wetmore for 7 ploughteams,
but only 4 teams were actually being worked, of which
2 were on the demesne and 2 were worked by 6 villani.
There was 4 a. of meadow, and woodland measured 1
league in length and breadth. The value of the manor
had been £4 in 1066 and later £1, but was £2 10s. in
1086. (fn. 11) In the early 12th century there was enough
demesne land in Wetmore and Horninglow for three,
or two 'very strong', ploughteams, together with some
livestock. Almost a third of the tenanted land was then
held by villeins who owed fixed labour services and
two-thirds by rent-payers. The villeins included a cowherd who presumably grazed the abbey's cattle on the
riverside meadows. A reeve named Leofric probably
managed a grange there. (fn. 12)
Medieval Grange In the early 13th century a grange
(or home farm) at Wetmore was let by Abbot Nicholas
of Wallingford to his chamberlain, Ralph of Wetmore. (fn. 13) Its later history is unknown, but the farm
was held by lessees in 1534. (fn. 14)
A house evidently dating from the late 15th century
or earlier was demolished in the later 18th century,
when it was replaced by a smaller house which retained
a stone bearing the name of Abbot Thomas Feld (d.
1493). (fn. 15)
Open Fields and Common Land Wetmore field was
mentioned in 1395 and 1441, (fn. 16) and in 1498 there was
arable in 'Staniholme' field, along the west side of
Burton meadow, the island between the river Trent
and its western arm. (fn. 17) The main area of arable,
however, was at Horninglow. There was an open field
in the later 13th century north-west of Horninglow
village, probably straddling the Tutbury road and
stretching up Beam hill. (fn. 18) Another open field may
have lain to the west, where closes named after Hill
field survived in the later 18th century along the south
side of Kitling Greaves Lane. A third field, probably
called Dallow field, evidently lay to the south of the
village. (fn. 1)
What was called the 'moor of Burton' in 1298 was
almost certainly the great expanse of waste that
stretched along the entire east side of Horninglow
township, mostly between the village and the line of
Ryknild Street. It covered 130 a. in the mid 18th
century, when it was called Horninglow Great
Moor. (fn. 2)
In 1598 the tenants in Horninglow and Wetmore
also had common rights in Burton meadow, after the
corn and hay had been cut. (fn. 3)
Inclosure Piecemeal inclosure of the open fields was
taking place by the early 18th century, (fn. 4) leaving 95 a. in
Beamhill field and 6 a. in Hill field to be inclosed in
1773 under an Act of 1771. (fn. 5) Nearly all of Horninglow
Great Moor was also inclosed in 1773 under the 1771
Act, along with 17 a. of open meadow at its north end. (fn. 6)
There remained 20 a. belonging to the freeholders of
Burton borough at its southern end bounded by the
modern Casey Lane. That area was inclosed in 1823
under the Burton inclosure Act of 1812, and the land
was allotted to the trustees of the poor of Burton and
Burton Extra townships. (fn. 7)
Modern Farms Much of the open land inclosed in
1773 became attached to a small number of farms in
the 19th century, even on the former Outwoods
common much of which was at first parcelled up
among numerous smallholders. (fn. 8)
In 1918 the farmland was devoted to dairying, and
the largest farm on the marquess of Anglesey's estate
was Chestnuts (129 a.) in Horninglow village, with
three others of between 100 a. and 92 a. (fn. 9) Of the
179.4 ha. (443 a.) of farmland returned for Outwoods
civil parish in 1988, grassland covered 126 ha.
(311 a.). The main crops were wheat and barley (47
ha.; 117 a.). Dairying was important, and there were
197 head of cattle, along with 39 sheep and lambs. Of
the six farms returned, only one was over 50 ha.; four
were between 10 and 40 ha., and one between 5 and
10 ha. (fn. 10)
RABBIT WARRENS
A rabbit warren called Hunter's warren in 1580 was
probably at the southern edge of Outwood, where there
was an enclosure called Hunter's copy in the early 18th
century. (fn. 11) In the early 17th century and again in 1636
the manor let a rabbit warren at Outwood, possibly in
the same area, together with a lodge. (fn. 12) A new house for
the warrener was built c. 1700. (fn. 13)
WOODLAND
What in 1324 was called the 'forensic wood', meaning
that outside Burton, and in 1372 called the Outwood,
covered the western part of Horninglow township. A
warden named William in 1324 was styled a woodward
in 1333, and he was possibly also responsible for Sinai
park, in Branston. (fn. 14) In the earlier 1540s the warden was
paid £1 a year by the manor, a fee still being paid in
1585. (fn. 15)
According to a verdict of 1407, whose text was seen
by a jury in 1598, the inhabitants of Burton township
had right of free pasture in Outwood except between
Michaelmas (29 September) and Martinmas (11
November), when pannage had to be paid for grazing
pigs. (fn. 16) By the mid 1540s the inhabitants of Horninglow
paid 2s. a year to pasture their animals, possibly during
pannage time. The fee was known as woodsilver in
1585, when Outwood was also common to the people
of Rolleston, Anslow, and Stretton. (fn. 17) The men of
Horninglow were still paying the 2s. fee in 1597,
when those of Anslow paid 3s. 4d. (fn. 18)
When Sir William Paget acquired Burton manor in
1546, the timber in Outwood, along with that in
Henhurst on its south-western edge, and also that
in Rough hay, in Branston, was thinly-spread and of
poor quality. In 1550 Paget ordered its improvement:
no timber was to be felled without licence, and then
only in designated coppices and only between 2
March and 30 November; and firewood was to be
sold only to his tenants, who each year at the
Michaelmas great court were to negotiate the quantity
of wood needed and the payment for it. (fn. 19) In 1585 the
400-a. Outwood was described as being well-wooded
with oak. (fn. 20)
In 1587, after Thomas, Lord Paget, had been
attainted and lost his estates, the queen let what was
then called Horninglow Outwoods for 31 years to Sir
Fulke Greville. In 1589 Greville also acquired a lease of
woodland in Cannock Chase, which he despoiled in
order to fuel iron furnaces and forges included in that
lease. (fn. 1) Greville also despoiled Outwood: it was estimated in 1595 that nearly 4,800 trees had been felled,
and the area of woodland was given as only 80 a. in
1598. (fn. 2) When William Paget regained the manor in
1597, he too felled timber for building work at his
house in Burton, and by 1619 the timber was so
meagre that no value could be set. (fn. 3)
In the late 17th century and early 18th century Lord
Paget tried to improve the woodland, by inclosing
Henhurst and by trying to restrict the common pasture
rights of people in Rolleston and Anslow. (fn. 4) Outwood
common, which covered 574 a. in the late 1750s, was
inclosed in 1773 under an Act of 1771. Of the 555 a.
inclosed, Lord Paget was awarded 30 a. as lord of the
manor and 42 a. in lieu of tithes; a further 57 a. was
awarded to him in respect of his freehold land. Twenty-three Horninglow leaseholders each received 2 or 3 a.,
and the rest of the land was allotted in small parcels to
over 100 others, many of them Rolleston people. (fn. 5)
The Henhurst part of Outwood was recorded as a
separate area of woodland in 1327. (fn. 6) It covered 50 a. in
1585, when it was described as well-wooded with oaks
of between 80 and 100 years old. (fn. 7) It was evidently
included in the 1587 lease of Horninglow Outwoods to
Sir Fulke Greville, and was despoiled: the area of
woodland was given as only 12 a. in 1598. (fn. 8) About
1670 Lord Paget inclosed Henhurst in order to protect
the timber. After nine years he allowed his tenants in
Horninglow and Branston, but not people from Rolleston, to resume their common rights; with their
consent, however, Henhurst was inclosed again a few
years later. A hedge was constructed in 1699, and the
wood remained in severalty. (fn. 9) It covered 68 a. in the late
1750s. (fn. 10) Some felling took place in 1772, 1823, and
1837, but there was still 77 a. of wood in Henhurst in
1918. (fn. 11) Only 1.2 ha. (3 a.) of woodland, however, was
returned for Outwoods civil parish in 1988. (fn. 12)
INDUSTRY
Alabaster from a gypsum deposit in Horninglow was
supplied in 1546 for a chimney-piece to be installed in
Sir William Paget's house, probably at Burton. (fn. 13) It was
still being dug north of Horninglow village in the late
18th century. (fn. 14)
A steam mill evidently built in 1805 beside the Trent
and Mersey canal was later run, probably as a saw mill,
by Michael Bass and William Carter, who by 1818 had
a timber yard there. (fn. 15) In 1857 the yard, which lay on
the north side of the main road, was managed by a
partnership named Bass and Smith, probably the
William Bass and Henry Smith recorded as partners
in 1869. The yard was closed in the mid 1890s. (fn. 16)
A brewery in Horninglow run by a partnership headed
by E. Coats was sold in 1806, following a bankruptcy. (fn. 17) It
may have been the brewery which by 1839 was run by
John Marston, probably at the east end of Dover Road,
its site in 1851. (fn. 18) Marston died in 1846, and the brewery
was continued by his sons, who employed 70 men in
1861. (fn. 19) By 1879 a new brewery had been erected at the
corner of Horninglow Road North and Rolleston
Road. (fn. 20) In 1898 the firm of John Marston and Sons
Ltd. merged with the Burton brewing firm of John
Thompson and Sons Ltd., and the combined firm
moved to Albion brewery in Shobnall Road, in
Burton. (fn. 21) By 1903 the Horninglow Road building was
used by William Wardle & Co. to manufacture cattle
food from spent hops acquired from local breweries. Still
there in 1906, the manufactory had been moved to Cross
Street, in Burton, by 1908, possibly because of complaints from residents. (fn. 22) The Horninglow Road building
was still in commercial use in 1999.
An iron and steel works was opened in the mid
1870s by B. F. Peacock & Co. on the north side of
Dallow Lane (later Belvedere Road) near the canal.
Production seems to have stopped by 1877, when the
works was offered for sale. (fn. 23) In the early 20th century
the site was occupied by the brewing firm of Truman,
Hanbury and Buxton of Derby Street, in Burton. (fn. 1)
Figure 62:
John Marston and Sons Ltd. brewery from the east in the late 1880s
Two rubber factories were opened in Horninglow in
1916: (fn. 2) one, a branch of Messrs. Werneth, stood on the
east side of Derby Road, (fn. 3) and the other, a branch of the
India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Co.
of Silvertown, in West Ham (Essex), on the north side
of Horninglow Road North. (fn. 4) Production at the Horninglow Road site ceased in 1931, but it was restarted
in 1933 by the British Goodrich Rubber Co., by then
the owners of the Derby Road factory. The Horninglow
Road works concentrated on the manufacture of car
and cycle tyres and the Derby Road works on footwear.
In 1957 the parent company (by then the British Tyre
and Rubber Co.) ceased making tyres and concentrated
on other rubber-to-metal products under the name of
BTR Industries Ltd. The company managing the
Horninglow Road and Derby Road works became
BTR Silvertown Ltd. in 1965, after the closure of the
Silvertown factory, and production at Horninglow
Road was extended to include the application of
chemically-resistant plastics to metal fittings. The
manufacture of moulded rubber products at the Horninglow Road factory was further increased after the
closure of the Derby Road works in 1972 and the
closure in the 1980s of factories elsewhere in the
country by the parent company. When BTR plc
decided in 1996 to concentrate on its engineering
interests, the rubber and plastics division was bought
by a consortium of managers, and the Horninglow
works was renamed Silvertown UK Ltd.
By 1916 Burton Constructional Engineering Co. Ltd.
had built a factory for the manufacture of steel building
frames on the east side of the railway line off Wetmore
Road. (fn. 5)
Plasplugs Ltd. opened a factory in the angle of Derby
Road and Wetmore Road in 1986. Established originally in 1970 with a small factory in Shobnall Road in
Burton, the company makes a wide range of tools and
fixings mainly for amateur home decorators. (fn. 6)