ECONOMIC HISTORY:
AGRICULTURE. The
earliest evidence about husbandry at Tidenham is
provided by a survey of the manor dating from the
period between the grant to Bath Abbey in 956 and
the lease to Stigand in the mid 11th century; the
30-hide estate then included a large demesne of 9
hides which was cultivated by the services of the
tenants. (fn. 26) In 1066 no servi or teams were enumerated
on the demesne, then 10 hides, and it was presumably cultivated wholly by the villani who each had a
plough-team. (fn. 27) In the late 13th century the demesne
included c. 340 a. of arable, over 60 a. of meadow,
and various pastures. The demesne arable was then
in three divisions for the purposes of cultivation, c.
125 a. lying in a field called Homwode Cliff, c. 125 a.
in another called Mikel Hill, and 91 a. divided among
four fields, Longfurlong, Clenghorn, Richoldes
Marsh, and Hanley Hill; a three-course rotation
was followed in those divisions, each being sown in
turn with wheat in the first year, oats with smaller
proportions of barley and pulse in the second, and
lying fallow in the third. A dairy herd of c. 20 cows
was also maintained, and milk, butter, and in some
years large numbers of cheeses, were sold. A herd
of pigs was kept, and in the early 1270s a flock of
c. 150 sheep; in the 1290s, however, no sheep were
kept. The demesne also included an orchard from
which apples were sometimes sold while others were
used to make cider. The detailed accounts of stock
and produce kept by the reeve at that period included
the doves in the dovecot and falcons taken from an
eyrie in the Lancaut cliffs. Several labourers were
retained at wages and received also portions of
produce; those regularly mentioned were two or
three ploughmen, two or three drovers (fugatores),
one or two stockmen, a dairyman, and a swineherd.
The demesne was cultivated mainly, however, by
the labour-services of the tenants. About a third of
the works owed each year were usually found
redundant: in 1291–2, out of a total of 7,085 owed,
2,668 were sold, and a number of works were
employed each year on the neighbouring manor of
Aluredston. (fn. 28)
The Saxon survey specified the 21 hides of the
manor occupied by tenants as 27 yardlands at
Stroat, 14 at Milton, and 13 at Kingston, a hide
above Offa's Dyke, and part of another hide beyond
the dyke let to Welsh sailors. (fn. 29) The hide therefore
comprised under 3 yardlands, and if as later at Tidenham, the yardland was equivalent to 36 a. (fn. 30) the hide
must have been c. 100 a. From each yardland 12d.
rent and 4d. as alms were owed. The services of the
geneats on the estate included labouring on or off
the estate, riding and carrying, supplying transport
and driving herds, while the weekly works owed by
the geburs at the various seasons were ploughing ½ a.
and fetching seed to sow it from the lord's barn,
building and supplying the materials for fishingweirs, fencing and ditching, reaping 1½ a. and
mowing ½ a., or other work in the same proportion.
The gebur also owed various dues including 6d. and
half a sester of honey at Easter and six sesters of
malt at Lammas, and he had to give three swine out
of the first seven he had and the tenth after that and
pay for the mast eaten by the swine; he also had to
plough and sow with his own seed 1 a. for churchscot (cyrcscette). (fn. 31) In 1066 the tenantry of the manor
were 38 villani each with a plough, and 10 bordars; 3
villani and their lands were alienated from the
manor before 1071 but by 1086 there were an
additional 12 bordars. (fn. 32)
By 1306 large numbers of free tenancies had been
created, c. 140 in all, but most were of only a few
acres and over a third were held by tenants who also
had customary holdings. The relatively few large
ones, which included one of 1½ yardland and 25 a.,
others of 2 yardlands, and 1 yardland and 28 a., and
six of ½ yardland some with a few additional acres,
were presumably enfranchised customary holdings,
while most of the small ones were probably parcels
taken in from the waste of the manor. Two of the
freeholds owed a pair of gilt spurs and another four
barbed arrows, (fn. 33) although the cash value was
apparently usually taken instead by the late 13th
century. (fn. 34)
The fragmentation of holdings had produced four
main classes of customary tenants by the late 13th
century: in 1289 there were 4 tenants holding ½
yardlands, 56 holding 9 a. (i.e. ¼ yardlands), 9
holding 6 a., and 14 cottars; there were also 3
cottars described as free and customary, and 3
customary tenants of Lancaut. During the year the
half-yardlander owed 6 days' work every other week
exclusive of the festival weeks of Christmas, Easter,
and Pentecost, the quarter-yardlander owed 6 days
every fourth week, and the holders of 6 a. owed one
day each week; during the period from the beginning
of October to the end of July one of the days owed
in a week by the first two groups was a plough-work,
estimated as in the Saxon survey at ½ a. A distinction
was made between plough-works done before
Christmas which were valued at 2½d. and those done
after which were worth 2d., and the other works
were worth ½d. between the beginning of October
and late June, 1d. during the period of the hayharvest from late June to the end of July, and 1½d.
in the corn-harvest months August and September.
The boon-works included those known as chirched
by which the half-yardlander ploughed ½ a. at
wheat-sowing, and reed by which he ploughed 1 a. at
the sowing of oats, and he had to reap that 1½ a. at
the harvest; the quarter-yardlander did half those
services. All of the tenants in the first three classes
owed 4 boon-works in the hay-harvest; at the cornharvest boon-reapings without food provided were
apportioned at 4 by each of the half-yardlanders, 6
by the quarter-yardlanders, 8 by the holders of 6 a.,
3 by the cottars, 2 by the three free and customary
cottars, and 8 by the customary tenants of Lancaut,
while all the tenants owed one boon-reaping with
food provided. (fn. 35) In addition a number of ploughing
and reaping works were owed by the tenants of six
smaller estates held from Tidenham manor: they
were 4 tenants of Beachley manor, one tenant of
Robert son of Pagan, 3 tenants of the Prior of
Farleigh at Wibdon, 4 tenants of Waldings manor, 5
tenants of John Blount, and 4 tenants of Hugh le
Harliter. Reaping boon-works on the Tidenham
demesne were also owed by the tenants of Aluredston. (fn. 36) The services owed by the half-yardlander in
1289 suggest that the gebur of the Saxon survey held
the full yardland: the works known as chirched
apparently represented one half of the church-scot
service of the gebur, for some reason diverted to the
lord of the manor, while the half-yardlander also
did half the weekly plough-service of the gebur.
A considerable proportion of the works done by
the customary tenants in the late 13th century were
used on other than the purely agricultural tasks such
as ploughing, threshing, haymaking, harvesting, and
fencing; they might also be required, as in Saxon
times, to collect materials for weir-building, to
repair buildings, or lay snares for wild animals on
the chase, and they were frequently employed in
carrying fuel, provisions, or building materials to
Chepstow castle. (fn. 37) In 1294–5 the tenants were
involved in preparations for the Earl of Norfolk's
campaign in Wales, collecting rods to make 'hurdles'
for boats going to Swansea, and carrying oats to the
army at Newport. (fn. 38) Other services apart from labourservices owed by the customary tenants at that
period included the gift of a hen, called wodehen, at
Christmas and 5 eggs at Easter, and toll on horses
bought or sold and for brewing, while the Saxon
dues for pannage of pigs had been commuted to 1d.
for each pig of a year old, and ½d. for one of half a
year. (fn. 39)
In 1584 Tidenham manor had 31 free tenants, 40
copyholders, and 6 tenants at will. There were 7
copyholds in Stroat, 7 in Milton, 3 in Lancaut, 9 in
Bishton, and c. 13 in Sedbury; they were made up of
units described as 'tenements of land', and individual
holdings varied between half and three tenements. (fn. 40)
Some of the copyholds of the manor were enfranchised before 1650, (fn. 41) but in 1662 there were still 28
copyholds for up to 3 lives with 19 copyholds let at
rack-rent and 26 leaseholds. (fn. 42) The typical tenure on
Waldings and Beachley manors in the 17th century
was by lease for three lives, often with additional
rents of hens or capons owed and sometimes a cash
payment instead of a heriot. (fn. 43) In 1656 Waldings
manor had 16 free tenants and 11 leaseholders, while
Beachley manor had 9 free tenants, 6 leaseholders
and a single tenant at will. (fn. 44)
The fields in which the arable of the demesne lay
in the late 13th century were evidently open fields,
as the closing of the demesne land there after sowing
was recorded; (fn. 45) by 1584, however, Clenghorn
(which lay south of the junction of the Gloucester–
Chepstow road and Sedbury Lane) and Longfurlong
were merely closes of the manorial demesne, (fn. 46) and
none of the other fields was recorded later as an
open field. Of the others Hanley Hill lay on the east
of the main road between Tidenham village and
Wibdon, (fn. 47) and Mikel Hill in the same area if it was
represented by the close called the Great Hill in
1618. (fn. 48) Homwode Cliff and Richoldes Marsh are
likely to have also been in the same area, bordering
the Severn, and they perhaps included the Wharf
north of Pill House which was called the lord's
marsh in 1630; (fn. 49) in 1810 the Wharf, which had
apparently long been meadow-land, belonged wholly
to the lord of the manor but was also subject at
certain seasons to commoning rights, perhaps a
survival from a former status as an open field. (fn. 50)
The Wharf may, however, have always been a common pasture, the rights in it being allotted after
reclamation from the river. In the Middle Ages other
arable may have lain south-east of the Broad Stone
where some ridge and furrow was visible in 1969.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries a large
number of open fields was recorded in the parish.
In the Beachley peninsula were St. Treacles field at
Beachley Point, (fn. 51) Mead field, Down field, and
Ewens field, all to the west of Beachley village, (fn. 52) and
Little field lying between the road and the Severn
just south of Offa's Dyke. (fn. 53) In Sedbury were Sedbury field, (fn. 54) and Popley field near Pennsylvania. (fn. 55)
Open fields in the east of the parish included
Rudgeley (or Okenstub) field between Cross Hill and
Boughspring, Oldbury field and Hoball (or Woball)
field, lying near Wibdon to the west of the main
road, and East field also near Wibdon. (fn. 56) In the west
there were open fields at Netherhope, Wallhope,
Mopley field north of Tutshill, Little Plunton field
south-west of Woodcroft, (fn. 57) and Otall field at
Bishton. (fn. 58) An open field in Lancaut was mentioned
in 1549. (fn. 59) The main common meadows were
Tidenham Mead by the Severn south-east of
Wibdon, and Sedbury Mead, otherwise called
Broad Mead, lying by the Wye west of Buttington. (fn. 60)
In 1584 the tenants of Tidenham manor had rights of
common in Tidenham Chase and were allowed to
gather firewood there and take great timber for
repairing their houses; they complained that their
commoning rights had also extended over various
woods adjoining the chase which the lord of the
manor had recently inclosed and leased to individuals. They also claimed to intercommon with the
men of Woolaston in the Woolaston commons
adjoining their own, but they refused to admit the
reciprocal claim of the men of Woolaston to intercommon in Tidenham, and the manor court was
again seeking to exclude the men of Woolaston from
the Tidenham commons in 1701. (fn. 61) The court was
also concerned in the earlier 18th century with
outsiders cutting wood and gorse on the chase and
other commons. (fn. 62) It specified the parish commons in
1747 as Beachley Green, Tutshill Common, Woodcroft Common, Spittlemesne Common, Tidenham
Chase, Ban-y-Gor Cliff, and Lancaut Cliff. (fn. 63)
Little evidence has been found of the inclosure
by private agreement which evidently proceeded
steadily in the south of the parish during the 17th
and 18th centuries. By 1810 no uninclosed arable
remained, although there had still been some in
Penny Westone (west of Wibdon), (fn. 64) Okenstub,
Hoball, and Oldbury fields in 1741, (fn. 65) and in the five
Beachley fields in 1788; (fn. 66) the only uninclosed and
intermixed land then remaining was 64 a. of meadow
in Tidenham Mead. (fn. 67) Some of the wealthier
proprietors of the parish promoted an inclosure of
Tidenham Chase in 1775 but the scheme failed,
apparently from lack of support, (fn. 68) and inclosure of
the chase was finally completed in 1815 under an
Act of 1810, which covered Tidenham, Woolaston,
and Lancaut. The award also inclosed Tidenham
Mead, six smaller commons in Tidenham and
Lancaut, and various small parcels of roadside
waste, and extinguished the rights of common in the
Wharf; it also re-allotted some ancient inclosures.
The largest allotment in Tidenham Chase went to
the Duke of Beaufort who received 87 a. as lord of
the manor and c. 140 a. as a proprietor, a number of
the larger proprietors received allotments (none more
than 30 a.) for their commoning rights, while 107 a.
in the east of the chase (Poor's Allotment) were
awarded in trust for the poor; other allotments went
to the various tithe-owners, by far the largest being
104 a. (Parson's Allotment) awarded to the vicar.
About 380 a. on the west of the chase were sold to
cover the expense of the inclosure. Of Poor's Allotment 57 a. was to be used as an animal pasture and
30 a. for a potato garden by those occupying property
of a ratable value of £10 or less; (fn. 69) at the time of the
inclosure that category included 26 parishioners each
of whom was allowed to put a horse, a cow, and 6
sheep in the pasture. (fn. 70) In 1969 Poor's Allotment
was managed by a committee of the parish council
which had let 35 a. to farmers and allowed animals
to be pastured on the remainder in return for payments which were used to cover the maintenance;
the common was also then subject to rights of the
Nature Conservancy. (fn. 71) The inclosure Act confirmed
to the holders all encroachments made on the
common land before 1789, which paid no rent to the
lord of the manor, but provided that those which
paid rent were to be allotted to the lord, who was
also to receive all encroachments made after 1789
except those which belonged to other freehold
estates in the parish. (fn. 72) The Duke of Beaufort agreed
to allow the occupants of the many cottages thus
awarded to him to stay on with leases for three lives
but many of the cottagers refused those terms,
claiming that the cottages belonged to them; about
60 of 162 cottagers in Tidenham and Woolaston
were still refusing to take the leases c. 1819 when the
duke's agents threatened the chief dissidents with
ejectment. (fn. 73) There is some earlier evidence of
opposition to the inclosure of the chase; in 1813 a
building there, which belonged to the duke and other
promoters of the inclosure and was then occupied
by a soldier of the Radnor militia, was set on fire. (fn. 74)
The farm-land of the parish has been predominantly meadow and pasture from at least the late
18th century. (fn. 75) Of the five largest farms on the Duke
of Beaufort's estate in 1769 Day House (255 a.) had
no arable, while Pill House (242 a.), Sedbury farm
(225 a.), Tippets farm (122 a.), and Chapel House
farm (109 a.) each had between 1/5 and⅓ arable; the
estate included six other farms of 30–100 a. and a
number of small holdings. (fn. 76) Only 748 a. of arable were
recorded in the parish in 1801 when it was growing
mainly wheat and barley with smaller acreages of
oats, turnips, potatoes, peas, and beans. (fn. 77) Orchards
were evidently numerous in the early 19th century,
and in 1813 seven of the farms on the manor estate
had cider-mills. (fn. 78) There had been an increase in the
arable by 1843 when the 3,757 a. of tithable land
(which was roughly the same as the area under
cultivation in 1801, the tithes of the chase having
been commuted by the inclosure award) included
1,567 a. of arable. (fn. 79) In 1901 there was 1,146 a. of
arable in Tidenham and Lancaut compared with
3,257 a. of pasture. (fn. 80) In 1856 there were 26 farms in
Tidenham and Lancaut; (fn. 81) by 1939 the number had
been reduced to 18, of which 8 were over 150 a., (fn. 82)
and there were about the same number in 1969.
The parish contained very little arable in 1969 and
the land was used mainly for dairying or stockraising.
FISHERIES.
Fisheries played an important part in
the economy of the parish from the late Saxon period
when the survey of Tidenham manor listed 65
basket-weirs (cytweras) in the Severn and 36 in the
Wye, and also 4 hackle-weirs (haecweras) on the
Wye; the former have been identified with the weirs
made up of putchers on a wooden framework and the
latter with those in which wattle fences are used in
conjunction with nets or putchers to create a fishtrap. Maintenance of the weirs was a prominent
item in the services of the geburs of the manor: as
part of their weekly works they had to supply 40
large rods or a fother of small rods, and 'build 8
yokes for three ebb tides', which it has been
suggested involved the construction of wattlehedges of varying heights to match changes in the
tide-level; the geburs were also required to supply
a ball of good net-yarn at Martinmas. The lord of
the manor took every alternate fish and every rare
fish of value from all the weirs on the manor, and
when the lord was on the estate no tenant was allowed
to sell a fish without informing him. Sturgeon,
porpoises, and herrings were specified as among the
fish taken, (fn. 83) and the terms of the lease of the manor
to Archbishop Stigand suggest that the fisheries
were then prized mainly for their catch of herrings (fn. 84)
rather than, as in later centuries, for salmon. In 1066
a total of 56½ fisheries was recorded on the manor:
in the Severn there were 11 demesne fisheries and
42 held by the villani and in the Wye 1 demesne
fishery and 2½ of the villani. William FitzOsbern
alienated 2 of the Severn fisheries and 2¼ of those
in the Wye, but his son Roger created 2 new ones
in the Wye. Walter de Lacy received 2½ of the
alienated fisheries, (fn. 85) and in 1199 Lanthony Priory
held them by gift of Hugh de Lacy. (fn. 86) In 1306 only
1 demesne fishery was recorded on the manor while
60 were held by the tenants. (fn. 87) The demesne fishery,
situated below Chepstow castle, was perhaps Man
Weir for which the customary tenants were frequently called on to supply rods and timber in the
late 13th century. (fn. 88) The other fisheries were all
listed as free tenancies but most may in fact have
been held by customary or leasehold tenure, for
subsequently the bulk of the fishing rights in both
rivers was claimed by the lords of the manor and
few fisheries owned by others were recorded.
The Wye fisheries adjoining Tidenham and
Lancaut included seven weirs built at intervals
across the river. (fn. 89) In 1969 they appeared only as
rocky shallows and had apparently been long
disused but presumably they were earlier built up
higher or supplemented with wood or wattle
structures in order to create narrow races in which
fish could be trapped. The three highest up the
river, Plum Weir, Stow Weir, and Wall Weir all
existed in the earlier 12th century when they
featured in grants by the de Clares to Tintern
Abbey. Plum Weir and Stow Weir were then
annexed to an estate at Penterry (fn. 90) on the Monmouthshire side of the river and it is possible that it was
only the half of each weir adjoining that bank that
was granted and that the other halves remained in
the possession of the lords of Tidenham manor, for
the fisherman of Plum Weir received a payment in
produce from the manor in 1280; (fn. 91) only a share of
Wall Weir, belonging to Woolaston manor, was
included in the de Clare's grant. Another weir in
the Wye called Ithel's Weir, presumably Coed-Ithel
Weir adjoining St. Briavels parish, (fn. 92) was granted
away from Tidenham manor before 1289 (fn. 93) and also
belonged to Tintern Abbey in 1478. (fn. 94) In 1537 Plum
Weir, Wall Weir, and Ithel's Weir were regained by
the lords of Tidenham when they were included in a
grant of Tintern Abbey's possessions to the Earl of
Worcester, (fn. 95) and Plum Weir and Wall Weir were
marked with Stow Weir on a map of the Duke of
Beaufort's property in 1769. (fn. 96) The fishery of Ban-y-Gor Weir, which had been leased from Tidenham
manor but was in the lord's hands in 1289, (fn. 97) was
probably that below Ban-y-Gor Rocks which was
recorded as Hook Weir in 1520. (fn. 98) The name of Chit
Weir, the lowest of the seven, presumably preserves
the Saxon term for the basket-weirs; it was recorded
as belonging to Tidenham manor in 1542. (fn. 99) Walter's
Weir at Lancaut may have been the fishery which
Nicholas Walter was operating in 1517 when he was
proceeded against for withholding the tithes of
salmon. A man described as the farmer of the prior's
weir who was involved in the same tithe dispute (fn. 1)
was presumably holding the weir at Lancaut which
with a weir-house was among the former possessions
of St. Kynemark's Priory, Chepstow, in 1577; (fn. 2) it
was probably Liveoaks Troughs Weir which lies just
below a stretch of the river known as Prior's Reach.
Five other weirs on the Wye belonged to the Tutshill Farm estate from 1655 but in the mid 18th
century Francis Davis's right to use them was
challenged by the tenant of the Duke of Beaufort's
Wye fisheries. (fn. 3) No fixed fisheries were included in
the duke's Wye fisheries adjudged privileged engines
in 1866, but only 23 boats using stop-nets between
Chepstow Bridge and the mouth of the river. (fn. 4)
A fishery in the Severn at Lyde Rock to the north
of the Beachley passage was bought by John Philpot
in 1573, (fn. 5) and other Severn fisheries belonged to the
estate which William Batherne sold to Alexander
James in 1620, (fn. 6) to the Madocke family's estate in
1599, (fn. 7) and to Waldings manor in 1696. (fn. 8) In 1820,
however, the Duke of Beaufort was apparently
claiming all the fishing rights in the whole stretch
of the river adjoining Tidenham. The tenant of the
duke's fishery then complained that there was so
much poaching that he was unable to make any profit
from it as the poachers undersold him in the
markets. (fn. 9) At that period the chief part of the fishery
was in Beachley Bay where there were both putcherweirs and boats using stop-nets. (fn. 10) In 1837 the tenants
of the fishery had erected in Beachley Bay 14 hedges
of stakes, containing over 1,700 putchers, and were
proceeded against by the conservator of the duke's
fisheries for hindering the progress of the salmon
upstream to their spawning-grounds. (fn. 11) In 1866 the
duke's fishery on the Severn at Tidenham included
754 putchers just south of Slimeroad Pill and 375 at
Lyde Rock, as well as 9 boats using stop-nets in
Beachley Bay and 4 boats operating near Pill
House. (fn. 12) The inhabitants of Beachley included a
number of full-time fishermen throughout the 19th
century. (fn. 13) During the later 19th century the Duke
of Beaufort's Severn and Wye fisheries were leased
by Miller Bros. of Chepstow who exported salmon
to London, Bristol, and elsewhere. (fn. 14) In 1969 the
putcher-weir on the Severn near Slimeroad Pill was
still in operation, and stop-net-fishing continued in
the Wye.
INDUSTRY AND TRADE. Although considerable
numbers of the inhabitants of Tidenham formerly
found employment in the fisheries, river trade, shipbuilding, quarries, and other non-agricultural occupations, farming predominated. In 1608 46 men
employed in agriculture were listed and 26 employed
in trades, (fn. 15) and in 1831 121 families were supported
by agriculture and 44 by trade. (fn. 16) In 1969 a majority
of the working population found employment in
Chepstow.
The water-borne traffic of the Severn and Wye
employed a section of the inhabitants of Tidenham
from 1608 when six sailors were living in the
parish. (fn. 17) In the 1830s five mariners and three pilots
were recorded at Beachley, (fn. 18) and pilots lived in the
village until the early 20th century. (fn. 19) A mariner of
Stroat owned sloops in 1808. (fn. 20) In the early 19th
century boatmen, some of them presumably employed on the passage boats at Beachley, formed one
of the largest groups of non-agricultural workers in
the parish. (fn. 21) There was probably much small
trading by water to the pills along the Severn; in
1663 the Tidenham manor court threatened with
fines anyone taking carts to meet boats on the
Severn at any place but the common pills, (fn. 22) and in
the early 19th century manure and coal were among
merchandise landed at the pills. (fn. 23) The Wye was
much used as a waterway in the 19th century for the
export of stone, timber, and bricks from the parish. (fn. 24)
As a participant in the trade of the rivers Tidenham
was naturally dominated by the neighbouring port of
Chepstow and inhabitants of the parish recorded as
owning shares in ships in the late 18th and early
19th centuries were mostly in partnership with
Chepstow merchants. (fn. 25) Ship-building was recorded
at Tidenham from 1591 when a shipwright of Stroat
was mentioned, (fn. 26) and there was a shipwright living
at Beachley in 1602. (fn. 27) In 1841 there were two shipwrights at Beachley and two ship-carpenters at
Tutshill. (fn. 28) The 20th-century shipyard at Beachley is
mentioned above. (fn. 29)
Among the natural resources of the parish clay,
limestone, wood, and coal found on Tidenham
Chase (fn. 30) have all been exploited. Two potters who
were presented for digging earth in the GloucesterChepstow road in 1596, (fn. 31) and two others recorded
in 1608, (fn. 32) may have worked the pottery-kiln
discovered during road-widening by Stroat House
in 1957. (fn. 33) By 1793 there was a brickyard at Tallard's
Marsh in Sedbury where tiles were also being made
in 1838. (fn. 34) Another brickyard, also sited on the Wye
for easy distribution of its products by boat, was in
operation on the promontory west of Chepstow
Bridge by 1815. (fn. 35) Both yards continued production
until the late 19th century. (fn. 36) In 1584 the tenants of
Tidenham manor reported that there were no stonequarries in the manor, (fn. 37) but in later centuries stone
was extensively quarried. In 1750 an order was made
for a quarry at Tutshill to be filled in because of the
danger to travellers, (fn. 38) and the widespread use of
stone for building suggests that by the late 18th
century there were a number of quarries in the
parish. Five quarries were allotted for road-mending
in 1815, (fn. 39) and by the late 19th century there were
many small quarries, notably in the chase area, much
of the stone having evidently been used in the
numerous limekilns of the parish. (fn. 40) In the later 19th
and early 20th centuries the Wye cliffs near Lancaut
and Tutshill were extensively quarried and the
stone exported from the parish by trows or barges. (fn. 41)
Two large quarries sited to make use of the railway,
on the Wye below Dennelhill Wood and in Coombesbury Wood near Tidenham church, were being
worked in 1969. Timber from the woods along the
Wye has also been exported. A timber-merchant of
Stroat owning shares in sloops and a trow in the
1820s was probably connected with that trade, (fn. 42) and
another timber-merchant of the parish died in
1825. (fn. 43)
A small group of metal-workers in the parish in
1608 included two smiths, two nailers, a cutler, and
a wire-drawer. (fn. 44) A firm of nailers at Stroat ceased
business in 1765. (fn. 45) There were three or four smiths
in the parish during the 19th century and there were
still two working in the 1930s. (fn. 46) Other craftsmen
listed in 1608 were three tailors, a sieve-maker, a
weaver, a carpenter, a thatcher, and a shoemaker. (fn. 47)
Carpenters were later fairly numerous: six carpenters, four sawyers, and a cabinet-maker were
recorded between 1813 and 1822 (fn. 48) and in 1879 there
were five carpenters, one also a wheelwright, (fn. 49) at
Tidenham; a carpenter was still at work there in
1939. (fn. 50) Shoemakers were recorded until 1906. (fn. 51)
Members of the Tyler family followed the trade of
mason between 1787 and 1914. (fn. 52)
A mill built on Tidenham manor between 1066
and 1086 (fn. 53) was perhaps that called South Mill
which Walter Marshal granted, with suit of multure
of all the tenants of the manor, to Tintern Abbey in
the 1240s. (fn. 54) A mill on the demesne of Beachley
manor was mentioned in 1312 (fn. 55) and presumably
stood in Mill field near Badams Court. (fn. 56) Neither
mill has been found recorded later, and in 1584 the
tenants of Tidenham manor said that they could
remember there being only one mill in the lordship,
a windmill. (fn. 57) They were presumably referring to
the windmill which stood overlooking the Wye above
Chapelhouse Wood. It had perhaps ceased working
by 1769 when it was called the old windmill. (fn. 58) By
1815 the mill had perhaps been adapted as a folly,
for a small house standing near-by was then called
Folly House, (fn. 59) and a local tradition that the ruined
mill had been a look-out tower later evolved. (fn. 60) The
base of the mill, a circular tower of thick rubble
masonry, ruined and ivy-covered, remained in 1969.
In 1294 the Earl of Norfolk granted John ap Adam
the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair
on his manor of Beachley, (fn. 61) but no later reference to
either market or fair has been found.