ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Between 1066 and
1086, although ploughs and stock decreased, the
value of Mount Bures manor increased from £7
to £11. (fn. 36) The parish was one of the poorest in
Lexden hundred; in 1327 its assessment for subsidy was only 21st out of the 24 places, Andrew
Sackville and John Hide being the highest
assessed out of the 13 taxpayers. (fn. 37) Mount Bures
occupied a similar position in 1524. (fn. 38) Between
1381 and 1560 from 10 to 19 men from Mount
Bures became Colchester burgesses. (fn. 39) In 1662
only two houses had more than three hearths:
George Osborne at Nortons had four, and
George Marsh, presumably the tenant farmer at
The Hall, had five. (fn. 40) Most of the north and
centre of the parish was part of the land of
Mount Bures manor, part of the east belonged
to Wormingford Hall manor, much of the south
was part of Crepping Hall manor, and a small
amount of land in the west belonged to Loveney
Hall in Wakes Colne. (fn. 41)
In 1086 there was woodland for 330 swine,
and field names in the south-east and north-west
of the parish suggest areas of earlier woodland. (fn. 42)
The cultivation of willows and alders was recorded in 1318, (fn. 43) and there were alder groves at
Cowfen and Cobbesfen in 1504 and 1555 and at
Loveney Hall Fen in 1636. (fn. 44) In 1765, on a farm
which included 3 a. of woodland, trees were to
be coppiced. (fn. 45)
Little evidence of medieval farming survives.
Between 1066 and 1086 the total number of
ploughs fell from 10 to 7½ and of animals from
150 to 67, namely, decreases in sheep from 80
to 54, swine from 28 to 6, cattle from 14 to 7,
horses from 2 to none, and goats from 26 to
none. There were 12 a. of meadow in 1086, (fn. 46)
and strips in the common meadow beside the
river Stour, mentioned in 1625, survived in
1838. A common field south-east of Josselyns
survived as a field name in 1838. (fn. 47)
In the 16th century there were many small
crofts with a house and a few acres, like Cross
Croft with 3 a. in 1555, and only five farms of
more than 30 a., Hammonds, Old Saunders, Old
Peartree, Well House, and Nortons. (fn. 48) In 1557
Mount Bures manor contained 120 a. of arable
and 30 a. of pasture in Mount Bures, Fordham,
and Wormingford. (fn. 49) Fruit trees were cultivated
in 1617. (fn. 50)
From 1691 the Kingsbury family of Wormingford built up an estate, partly in Mount
Bures. (fn. 51) About 1790 Abraham Newman bought
12 copy- and freeholds, straightened the field
boundaries, enlarged Elms, Withers, and Nortons farms, and leased them with a few smaller
holdings like Josselyns. (fn. 52) In the 18th century,
besides the absentee lords of the manor, some
small farms also had absentee owners, like members of the Lorkin family, described as gentlemen and merchants of Lavenham (Suff.),
London, and Ipswich. In 1765 the tenant of one
farm of 24 a. of arable and 3 a. of woodland had
to manure the soil and practise a crop rotation,
not taking more than two grain crops successively without a summer of fallow or a crop of
peas or beans. The arable probably increased.
About 1786 two closes of pasture called the
Upper Grounds, in Mount Bures and Worming
ford, were combined and converted to arable. (fn. 53)
In 1813 parish yields of wheat and barley were
average for Essex. (fn. 54) In 1838, when 84 per cent
of the parish (1,197 a.) was arable, the largest
landowner was James Bourchier of Mount Bures
manor who owned about a third of the parish.
Other larger owners were members of the
Josselyn and Brett families, John Rolt, and
Green Wilkinson. (fn. 55) In 1867 Little Jennyes farm
of 59 a. in Mount Bures and Bures Hamlet was
a well maintained arable farm. (fn. 56) Mount Bures
manor farm consisted of 256 a. in 1864, mostly
arable with a little meadow and pasture. (fn. 57) The
chief crops in 1870 were wheat, oats, and barley,
and between 1878 and 1937 were wheat, beans,
and barley. (fn. 58) In 1874 Mount Bures was
described as a first class agricultural neighbourhood, and in 1885 Janks Barn and Janks Green
farms were sold as good arable land. (fn. 59)
In the 1830s there was much poverty among
labouring families. (fn. 60) In the mid 19th century
there were the usual village wheelwrights and
blacksmiths, and also in 1857, near the railway
crossing, a beer shop and general store. (fn. 61)
Between 1851 and 1881 there were c. 60 agricultural labourers in the parish, but agricultural
depression reduced the number to 50 by 1891; (fn. 62)
the Mount Bures branch of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union met at the Thatchers
Arms. (fn. 63) A few women were employed in domestic service, and there were one or two tailoresses or dressmakers. (fn. 64) In 1897 Mount Bures
was described as a very poor agricultural parish
with no gentry. (fn. 65)
In 1905 one farm was of more than 300 a., six
were between 50 and 300 a., and five were less
than 50 a. About a third of the land was owner
occupied and two thirds rented. The main crops
were wheat (260 a.), barley (172 a.), turnips and
swedes (87 a.), and oats (72 a.); small quantities
of rye, vegetables, mangold, and vetch or tare
were also grown. About a quarter of the parish
was grass or clover, and there were 508 sheep,
200 pigs, 130 cows, and 60 horses. (fn. 66) In 1920
there were 5 farms of between 50 a. and 100 a.,
and 15 quite small holdings; 8 farms had
recently changed owners, and 9 had absentee
owners. (fn. 67) Mixed farming predominated. In 1929
one farmer had more than 150 a., and by 1937
there were two. (fn. 68) In 1937 Hammonds farm, alias
Heathhouse, had 37 cows, 96 sheep, and 45
chickens; in the 1940s it was a model pig farm. (fn. 69)
W. McMaster from Scotland bought the Hall
farm in 1930 and reared cattle, sheep, pigs, and
chickens, and grew wheat, oats, barley, rye, peas,
beans, turnips, and cabbages. (fn. 70) By 1954, when
the dairy herd was sold, there were 100 cows
and 10,000 poultry and 124 a. arable and 100 a.
of pasture. In 1953 most of the 75 a. of Rowneys
in Mount Bures was arable with good crops of
cereals, sugar beet, fodder beet, potatoes, and
cabbages; pigs and battery hens were reared. (fn. 71)
At Brook House farm, in a former part of Bures
Hamlet in the north-east part of Mount Bures,
cereals and other crops were grown, and cattle,
pigs, and poultry kept in the 1950s. (fn. 72) Agricultural labourers were increasingly replaced by
farm machinery. Before the Second World War
some people moved away in search of employment and others took a succession of low paid
jobs locally. Some young women still went into
domestic service in the area and as far away as
London. (fn. 73)
There is little evidence of industry. A fuller
was murdered by a Fleming in 1393. (fn. 74) Teyn-
torfeld, recorded in 1507, at Staunch farm near
the Stour, was presumably a tenterfield connected with the cloth industry. Six fullers were
recorded in 1522 in Mount Bures, Bures
Hamlet, and Bures St. Mary. (fn. 75) One tailor was
mentioned in 1589, one in 1602, and one in 1613.
One weaver was recorded in 1623 and another in
1624. (fn. 76) David McMaster employed c. 100 people
at The Hall manufacturing pig and poultry build-
ings before the business closed c. 1962.
There was a mill in 1066, probably just north-
west of the church at Cambridge brook where
there are remains of a possible Anglo-Saxon
watermill dam. (fn. 77) That mill was probably the
one from which St. John's abbey, Colchester,
received 13s. 4d. a year by gift of Jordan de
Sackville (d. 1275). (fn. 78) Curdmill, a watermill near
Staunch farm, existed before 1200. Millfield,
included with Akermans lands, later Takeleys,
may have been the site of a small fulling mill. (fn. 79)
Doe's mill, just north of Wellhouse farm at
Piotts green, was a postmill recorded from 1811
which survived until 1953; (fn. 80) it was using steam
in 1886, and oil by 1914. (fn. 81) Newman's mill near
Abrams farm was built c. 1819 and demolished
in 1917. (fn. 82)
In 1991 perhaps as few as 14 people still
worked on the land; most employed people com-
muted to nearby towns. (fn. 83) In 1996 Staunch and
Wellhouse farms amounting to 180 a., mostly
arable, comprised the largest holding. Valley
Green farm of 164 a. was being converted from
dairy to arable farming, Elms farm of 138 a. was
mainly arable, Abrams farm, 36 a. of which was
in Mount Bures, was meadow and arable, and
Fen Barn farm (60 a.) was a deer farm established in 1986 on former Hall farm land. The
112 a. remaining at the Hall farm was arable
except for 10 a. of meadow; there were three
smallholdings each of less than 10 a. From
1989 at New Withers, a pig farm of 50 a., feed
cake was manufactured from various kinds of
offal. (fn. 84)