ECONOMIC HISTORY.
The high proportion
of bordarii to villani (8:2) on Little Horkesley
Hall manor in 1086 probably indicates that the
parish was once well wooded. Clearance was well
advanced by 1086 when both the demesne farm
and the tenants had 2 ploughs. In 1266 the
demesne comprised 222 a. of arable, 10 a. of
meadow, 17 a. of pasture, and 20 a. of common
wood. Tenants paid rents of assize worth 49s.
5d., 12 lb. of pepper, 12 chickens and 100 eggs,
and performed labour services worth 40s. (fn. 99) By
1295 the demesne arable had expanded to 293
a., and the meadow to 13 a., while woodland,
underwood, and pasture had fallen to 30 a. Rents
of assize had decreased to 36s. 9½d., suggesting
that arable expansion may have been at the
expense of tenant holdings. The value of the
labour services had risen over the same period
to 55s. 9½d. (fn. 1)
In 1451 the manor was leased for £21 3s. 6d.,
and the meadow land separately for £4 10s. Sales
of wood brought in £9 15s. 10d. and labour services only 11s. 6d. The prior of Horkesley rented
Perryfield for 26s. 8d. and the dairy there for 8s.
Another important tenancy was Vinesse farm,
leased for 40s. (fn. 2) The number of tenancies had
hardly changed by 1553 when there were 9 free holds and c. 20 customary holdings, 7 of which
were held by one man. (fn. 3) One small farm in 1556
comprised 6 a. of arable, 2 a. of meadow, 4 a. of
pasture, 1 a. of wood, and 3 a. of alder. (fn. 4)
In the earlier 14th century the priory's demesne farm produced 16 qr. of wheat, 2 qr. of
rye, ½ qr. of barley, 1 qr. of beans, 2 qr. of rye
and peas, and 4 qr. of oats. Livestock included
4 horses, 1 cow, 2 calves, 8 lambs, 8 geese, and
13 pigs. (fn. 5) About 1525 most of the priory's small
demesne farm, comprising c. 60 a. of arable or
pasture and 6 a. of meadow, lay north east of
the priory. The priory's copyholders then held
c. 80 a. of arable with 3½ r. of meadow in
Tunman meadow.
The prior's leasehold of Holts comprised
c. III a. plus 4 a. in Tunman meadow. By 1565
it had increased to 100 a. of arable, 15 a. of
meadow, 60 a. of pasture, 6 a. of wood, and 12 a.
of alder in Little Horkesley and Wormingford.
In 1845 it comprised 164 a., mainly on the
boundary with Wormingford. (fn. 6)
Fields in the parish were farmed in severalty,
although the larger ones such as Broadfield and
Perryfield may have been divided among several
owners in the 13th and 14th centuries. (fn. 7) About
1525 all lands on the priory estate were
described as closes or pightles. (fn. 8)
Both its name ('the meadow of the men of the
vill'), and its division between Great and Little
Horkesley, suggest the antiquity of Tunman
(later Churn) meadow. In 1387-8 tenants holding strips there included men from Westwood
green. (fn. 9) In 1755 a total of 18 people paid £1 12s.
6d. an acre for grass from c. 27 a. of meadow,
probably the common meadow in the north west corner of the parish. In 1762 the first crop
of hay on meadows belonging to Lower Dairy
farm was shared by the landowner (9 a.) and
three tenants (2½ a.). (fn. 10) In 1845 c. 60 a. of
meadow, about half held communally and divided into doles, abutted the Stour. (fn. 11)
In 1651 Little Horkesley Hall demesne c. 462
a.) occupied about 60 per cent of the parish and
was divided into three leasehold farms. The Hall
farm had 106 a. of arable, 35 a. of meadow, and
51 a. of wood, with 3 a. of wood recently converted to arable. Another leasehold farm, possibly Upper Dairy farm, had 113 a. of arable,
8½ a. of pasture, but no meadow or wood. The
third farm, probably Lower Dairy farm, had 135
a., about equally divided between arable and
pasture, the forecrop of 4 a. of meadow, but no
wood. Its field names of Nether, Middle, and
Upper Stubbs indicate woodland clearance, perhaps in the earlier 17th century. (fn. 12) Between 1631
and c. 1670 there were 8 free and 18 customary
tenancies, a few of which lay either partially or
wholly outside the parish in Wormingford,
Fordham, and Great Horkesley. (fn. 13) Two Wormingford men poached the manorial fishery in
the common meadow in 1685. (fn. 14) The Little
Horkesley Hall farm was usually leased in the
later 17th and the earlier 18th century. (fn. 15)
Peas were being grown in 1659. (fn. 16) About 1685,
six farmers, including the owner of Holts farm,
cultivated about 60 per cent of their land as
arable with wheat, oats, barley, and peas; one of
them grew rye. They also kept cattle, sheep,
pigs, and poultry. All grew apples, sometimes
in considerable quantity, and some of them
cherries. (fn. 17) In the earlier 19th century the gardens of Little Horkesley Hall produced fruit for
the Colchester market. (fn. 18) Some farms grew hops
in the 18th century or before: Hop Ground field
lay beside Vinesse Farm in 1765 and Hop Yard
next to Upper Dairy Farm in 1790. (fn. 19)
In 1801 about 40 per cent of the land in the
parish was arable, with 158 a. of wheat, 86 a. of
barley, 83 a. of oats, 15½ a. of peas, 3 a. of
potatoes, 6½ a. of beans, and 52½ a. of turnips
or rape. Wheat and barley had produced above
average yields in the later 18th century and all
crops were described as abundant in 1801. (fn. 20)
The arable had considerably expanded by
1845 when it comprised 856 a. compared to
130 a. of pasture and meadow. The largest estate
was Little Horkesley Hall, with a home farm of
283 a. and three tenanted farms of 100 a., 126
a., and 72 a. respectively. The only other estates
over 50 a. were Holts (163 a.), and the Priory
(68 a.). (fn. 21) Holts farm and Little Horkesley Hall
were targets for incendiarists in 1842 and 1843
respectively. (fn. 22) In 1848 one farmer was also a
maltster, and presumably occupied Maltings
farm. (fn. 23) The chief crops in 1874 were wheat,
barley, beans, and turnips. (fn. 24)
Most 19th century inhabitants were engaged
in agriculture either as farmers or farm labourers, or in typical rural trades or by employments. (fn. 25) A declining population in the later 19th
century may indicate a drift away from the land
during agricultural depression. Certainly, arable
cultivation had contracted by 1905 when wheat,
barley, oats, turnips, swedes, mangle wurzel,
and clover were the main crops on c 510 a. of
arable. There was also 92 a. of permanent grass,
but livestock numbers were low compared to
neighbouring parishes. (fn. 26) Holts farm grew oats,
wheat, barley, roots, and clover c. 1910, and was
an important corngrowing farm of 186 a. in
1922. (fn. 27) In the 1920s and 1930s nurseryman and
fruit grower L. Pettitt ran Little Horkesley
Nurseries and there was a poulterer at the
Priory. (fn. 28) One small tenant farmer who gave up
dairying in 1937 only had 5 cows of different
breeds and 30 hens, but another farmer had a
Jersey cattle heard producing high milk yields
from 80 a. of pasture c. 1938-54. (fn. 29) The main
farming interest in 1997 was an insurance company, Sentry Farming. (fn. 30)
Evidence for a cloth industry is slight compared to that for neighbouring parishes,
although Thomas le Dyer held land in the 13th
century. (fn. 31) A saymaker was recorded in 1634. (fn. 32)
In 1641 John Sadler, cardboardmaker, had an
apprentice 'larthriver', who possibly split
laths. (fn. 33) In 1623 a Little Horkesley man was pardoned for coining. (fn. 34) In 1846 J. C. Blair Warren
and Frederick Ransome, an engineer from
Suffolk, took out a patent for improvements in
the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and pipes, but
there is no evidence that they began production
locally. (fn. 35)