ECONOMIC HISTORY.
In the late 11th century cultivation was probably concentrated in the
north-west and north-east of the parish where
the Boxted Hall and Rivers Hall demesnes later
lay. (fn. 97) Boxted Hall's woodland for 300 swine in
1086 was probably further south next to Cestrewald. Boxted's large and increasing number of
bordarii, as well as its 38 goats, may suggest that
woodland clearance was in progress by 1086. (fn. 98)
Hugh of Boxted gave Wix priory 6 a. of assarted
land and 1 a. of meadow near Cestrewald
c. 1210-20, and in 1234 Rivers Hall manor had
woodland beside Kingswood. (fn. 99) In 1235 Boxted
Hall had foresters in charge of its woods, and
before 1258 the crown had rights to the oaks
there. (fn. 1) The woodland had apparently been
converted to heath by the removal of timber
by 1325. (fn. 2)
The Boxted Hall demesne had 2 ploughs, 8 a.
of meadow, 13 beasts, 35 swine, 140 sheep, and
25 goats in 1086; the 5 villani and 18 bordarii
shared 6 ploughs. (fn. 3) In 1265 the demesne comprised 120 a. of arable, 20 a. of pasture, 7 a. of
meadow, and 5 a. of woodland; rents of assize
were worth 6 marks and tenants owed 204 customary works. (fn. 4) Between 1303 and 1325 the
arable had increased to 250½ a., although flooding restricted sowing to 192 a. and ruined the
7 a. of meadow. There was also 60¼ a. of pasture
including waste, 51 a. of woodland, and heathland. The customary tenants owed 10 marks in
assized rents, as well as 34 chickens, 17 geese,
20 customary weeding works, and 122 autumn
works. (fn. 5) By 1430 the demesne farm comprised
360 a. of arable, 44 a. of pasture, 24 a. of
meadow, and 80 a. of wood. (fn. 6) In 1661 it grew
rye and wheat, and livestock included 2 bulls,
11 dairy cows, 58 fattening cattle, and over
100 sheep. (fn. 7)
A one-hide estate had a plough, 4 cattle, 64
sheep, 13 swine, 13 goats, and a hive of bees in
1086. One villanus and 9 bordarii had a single
plough. (fn. 8) If that estate can be identified with the
part of Rivers Hall later held from Roger Tany,
it had expanded little by 1311 when it comprised
49 a. of arable, 10 a. of wood, 30s. 2d. rents of
assize, and customary works. The second and
main part of the Rivers Hall demesne in 1311,
held from William Horkesley, consisted of 80 a.
of arable, 42 a. of meadow, 2 a. of pasture, 13 a.
of wood, 16½ a. of alder-wood, with 52s. ¼d.
rents of assize, and customary works. The two
estates were perhaps merged by 1347 when the
Rivers Hall demesne had 160 a. of arable, partly
sown with oats and rye, 40 a. of meadow, 30 a.
of pasture, and 40 a. of wood, as well as £4 of
rents, and labour services and customary dues
worth £1. (fn. 9) By 1503 the proportion of meadow
and other pastoral resources had expanded
further, the combined demesnes forming an
estate with 200 a. of arable, 140 a. of meadow,
100 a. of pasture, 100 a. of wood, and 300 a. of
heath. (fn. 10) In 1586 the demesne had c. 363 a. of
arable and pasture, c. 103 a. of meadow, and
c. 55 a. of woodland; there was also a warren of
c. 10 a. (fn. 11)
In 1523-4 John Maidstone was the second
highest taxpayer in the parish with assessed
goods worth £13 6s. 8d., (fn. 12) his descendant Robert
Maidstone leasing Boxted Hall demesne in
1593. (fn. 13) In 1598 John Maidstone held Pondhouse
with 41 a. 3r. of customary land, (fn. 14) and in
1615 Robert Maidstone bred rabbits there. (fn. 15)
Pondhouse was amalgamated with the demesne
by 1722. (fn. 16)
In 1586 the c. 470 a. of land on Rivers Hall
manor was divided between 55 holdings held by
36 freehold and customary tenants. Sir Thomas
Lucas's freehold estate, of Packwoods, High Fen
and Messings, comprised c. 96 a. (fn. 17) On Boxted
Hall manor in 1598 about 35 freehold and cus-
tomary tenants held c. 564 a. of land, much of
it undertenanted. (fn. 18) The inheritance custom of
Borough English recorded from the mid 18th
century until 1907 was probably of earlier
origin. There was no widow's free bench. (fn. 19)
Sixteenth-century tenants grew rye and some
oats. (fn. 20) Cattle dairying or grazing is suggested by
the theft of 22 heifers in 1592. (fn. 21) Tenants' farms
typically had more pasture than arable. (fn. 22) There
was 14 a. of land in 'Shepcotefeld' in the earlier
16th century, and some of the sheep recorded in
the 16th and 17th centuries were grazed on the
heath. (fn. 23) In 1593 and 1598 a tenants' meadow on
Boxted Hall manor was divided into doles of
½ a. or 1 a. (fn. 24) Six doles survived in 1838, the
vicar holding an adjacent strip called Tithe Acre.
Another Tithe Acre within Rivers Hall meadow
may record the site of a second common meadow
that had earlier been consolidated. (fn. 25)
In 1507 Rivers Hall manor had 120 a. of
woodland. (fn. 26) In 1585 Edward Waldegrave sold
112 a. of wood and 3 a. of alder, (fn. 27) and coppice
timber was being grown on Boxted Hall heath. (fn. 28)
That year copyholders of Rivers Hall lost an
action in Chancery against their lord over rights
to take wood for fuel and other purposes. (fn. 29)
Timber was sold on Boxted farms in 1785 and
1787; in the latter year a carpenter and a cooper
or timber merchant bought 16 a. of woodland at
Hartshorn grove. By 1820 that land had been
cleared. (fn. 30)
About 1740 wheat or meal, barley, oats, and
malt or bran were apparently carried along the
Stour Navigation from Boxted to Manning-
tree. (fn. 31) A four course rotation was recorded in
1767, and turnips and clover in 1790. (fn. 32) Yields
of wheat and barley in the later 18th century,
when the Norfolk turnip husbandry was generally used, were relatively low compared with
neighbouring parishes. (fn. 33)
Despite illegal encroachments, such as the
cottage and cowhouse to be removed in 1642,
Boxted heath still occupied much of the south
of the parish in 1777. (fn. 34) In the early 19th century
it provided over 30 farms with sheep and cattle
pasture, furze and turf, and clay to repair
cottages. (fn. 35) About 1813 it was estimated that
inclosure and improvement would treble the
value of the 360 a. of heath. It was inclosed in
1815 and was in a high state of cultivation by
1848. (fn. 36)
The two manorial estates remained the largest
throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Boxted
Hall comprising c. 608 a. and Rivers Hall
c. 545 a. in 1838. (fn. 37) In that year Priory farm on
Boxted heath and William Fisher's combined
Boxted Lodge and Enfield's farms also com-
prised over 200 a. Of the 2,982 a. of titheable
land, 2,335 a. were arable, 573 a. meadow, and
only 74 a. woodland. (fn. 38) Wheat, peas, beans, and
clover seed were being carried from Boxted to
Mistley along the Stour Navigation by 1842, and
coal from Mistley back to Boxted. (fn. 39) Small farms
in the mid 19th century cultivated wheat, barley,
rye, clover, and trefoil, and grew turnips on the
fallow. (fn. 40) One farm in 1860 used a four course
rotation of (1) wheat (2) fallow with turnips or
mangold-wurzel (3) barley, oats, new clover or
trefoil (4) clover. (fn. 41)
In 1848 R. B. Cant, the Colchester nurseryman and seedsman, held land in the parish. (fn. 42)
W. F. Hobbs (d. 1866) of Boxted Lodge was the
first man in Essex to breed Suffolk Punch
horses; he also kept Leicester sheep, Hereford
cattle, prize winning 'improved Essex' pigs,
and hosted Royal Agricultural Society trials of
reaping machines and steam cultivators in
1856. (fn. 43) Most late 19th-century farms, including
Plumb's (24 a.), Songers (20 a.), and Kersey's
(26 a.) remained small; like Brook farm (42 a.)
they were probably dairy and cattle farms. (fn. 44)
Responses to agricultural depression may have
included greater emphasis on livestock; Hill
House farm, a c. 83-a. mainly arable farm in
1877, was a 60-a. dairy and cattle farm by 1908. (fn. 45)
There was also increased diversification; a 28-a.
fruit farm near Runkins corner existed by
1894, (fn. 46) and H. & E. Edwards were market gardeners between 1902 and 1910. (fn. 47)
In 1905 there were 50 farmers, 36 of them
holding under 50 a. of land. The c. 2,500 a. of
arable was sown with clover (789 a.), wheat (376
a.), oats (322 a.), barley (280 a.), turnips and
swedes (185 a.), and mangold-wurzel (110 a.).
There were also 65 a. of peas, 61 a. of potatoes,
51 a. of beans, and lesser areas of rye, cabbages,
kohl rabi, vetches or tares, and lucerne, some
of them perhaps grown for the Colchester or
London markets. The large acreage of clover,
together with over 400 a. of grassland and
meadow, supported 373 cattle (including 151
cows), 810 sheep, and 287 pigs. There were also
79 a. of coppice and 14 a. of orchard. (fn. 48)
In 1906 the Salvation Army bought Priory
farm and 400 a. of land, much of it former heath-
land, for a land settlement or colony. By 1910
about 30 of the 67 smallholdings of 4½-7 a. were
occupied, many leased by tenants from the East
End of London. Each was provided with a new
cottage and outbuildings, seed, manure, and
fruit trees and bushes. Produce was marketed
through the Boxted Smallholding Co-operative
Society. By 1911 the settlement was in difficulty
and 20 out of 38 houses were unoccupied in
1912. Essex County Council, who bought the
estate in 1916, had by 1922 settled ex-servicemen on the holdings, but they also found it
difficult to make a living. Later the small holdings were leased to farmworkers and in the 1950s
many were sold to sitting tenants. (fn. 49)
In 1926 Boxted Hall farm bred dairy shorthorn cattle, Suffolk sheep, Suffolk Punch horses,
and large black pigs. At Barritts and Plains farms
A. Sexton and Sons, market gardeners, supplied
Stratford market from Colchester North railway
station. Three market gardeners, a fruit grower,
and two poultrymen were recorded in 1927; ten
market gardeners or fruit growers, three poultrymen, and a rose grower in 1933. (fn. 50) In 1968
there were poultry houses at Noakes farm and
an egg packing station at Priory farm, and there
was a poultry business on Straight Road in
1998. (fn. 51) Hill House farm specialized in fruit in
the 1920s and 1930s. Up to the 1970s there
were extensive orchards scattered across the
parish, but production then declined under the
influence of the Common Agricultural Policy. (fn. 52)
In 1998 several farms grew sugar beet in
addition to grain crops, especially barley. One
large Great Horkesley farming business leased
Boxted land to grow vegetables for a major
retailer. (fn. 53)
A tanner had groves of wood in Boxted in
1571, presumably for bark supplies. Other tanners were recorded in 1592, 1622, and 1634, an
inspector and sealer of hides in 1641, and a tanhouse in 1665 and 1734. (fn. 54)
An Act of Parliament of 1585 allowed Boxted
and Langham men to weave cloth if they had
been trading, or apprenticed to the trade, for
seven years, as they made good cloth and
employed many poor people. (fn. 55) Thirteen weavers
were recorded between 1551 and 1670, 13 clothiers between 1583 and 1686, broadclothweavers
in 1688 and 1692, a sayworker in 1665, a shearman in 1573 and two in 1616, and a comber in
1650. (fn. 56) Overseers of cloth production were
appointed in 1602; (fn. 57) in 1607 Anthony and
Benjamin Clere, probably members of the
family of Colchester clothiers, refused to let
them view an illegally constructed tenter-frame
and its azure broadcloth. (fn. 58) Another azure broad-
cloth was stolen from a clothier in 1606. (fn. 59) More
cloth was stolen c. 1727, (fn. 60) but the trade probably
declined in line with that of Dedham and
Colchester. (fn. 61)
The mill on Boxted Hall manor in 1066 was
not recorded in 1086, (fn. 62) but in 1235 two mills,
perhaps a double mill, were leased for 18s. a
year. (fn. 63) A mill on Boxted Hall manor was leased
for 6s. 8d. a year in 1303, but had no millstone
in 1325 and was not recorded thereafter. (fn. 64) In
1261, 1311, 1334, and 1347 there was a mill on
Rivers Hall manor, apparently on the site of
Boxted mill. (fn. 65) In 1586 it comprised a corn mill
and two fulling mills and was leased with the
mill house and land for £45 a year. (fn. 66) In 1838 it
was a corn mill; it apparently ceased working
between 1898 and 1902 and was demolished. (fn. 67)
The 19th-century gault brick mill house of two
storeys with attics survives.
There may have been a medieval windmill
near Boxted Cross, (fn. 68) and another at Great
Windmill Hill was recorded in 1586. (fn. 69) A windmill had been built on Boxted heath by 1817,
but its millers were bankrupted in 1845 and 1863
and milling had ceased by 1866. The mill was
demolished in the later 19th century. (fn. 70)
Agricultural labourers and those working in
associated trades formed the largest group of
workers in 1841 and 1851. Local farms apparently employed less than half of the resident
labourers in 1851; (fn. 71) some worked outside the
parish like two Boxted men in a gang of labourers who destroyed a threshing machine at Mile
End in 1830. Later economic and social protest
is reflected by the brief existence of branches
of the Labour League c. 1876 and the Eastern
Counties Labour Federation in 1892. (fn. 72)
Five tailoresses and 4 dressmakers recorded
in 1851 were probably outworkers for Colchester clothing firms. By 1861 the clothing
industry employed 16 tailoresses, 4 dressmakers,
and 3 needleworkers, and 20 years later up to 47
women worked in the trade and one man was a
sewing machinist. (fn. 73)
There were 3 grocers' shops in 1754 and
1778, (fn. 74) and 2 butchers' shops in 1780. (fn. 75) Grocers,
pork butchers, poulterers or poultry dealers,
bakers, and other tradesmen operated from
shops scattered around the parish by the later
19th century. (fn. 76) The parish remained purely agricultural for most of the 20th century, but since
1975 small business units at Hill farm have
accommodated coldstores, workshops, and light
industry. (fn. 77) Other small businesses open in 1998
included a saddlery, a fencing panel manufacturer, a paper shredding firm, nurseries, garden
centres, and farm and 'pick your own' shops,
many of them based on the land of former
Salvation Army smallholdings.