ECONOMIC HISTORY.
Arable seems to have
predominated in the later 11th century, with
substantial areas of meadow on the holding of
Erchenger the priest, the estate called Candetone,
and one of the two holdings at Combwich. No
moor and only small areas of pasture land were
recorded but several flocks of sheep together
with goats, pigs, and cattle. There were unbroken mares on one of the estates called
Chilton. Bordars were recorded in greater numbers than villani on all estates save one at
Combwich, and there were servi at Chilton and
Combwich. Cannington, Williton, and Carhampton shared 11 servi between them. (fn. 62)
In 1276-7 Rodway manor produced over 60
qr. of peas; (fn. 63) twenty years later the main crops
there were wheat and oats but rye, barley, peas,
and beans were also grown. Cattle, geese and
poultry, meadow, pasture, and works were sold.
The manor was owed 1,431 days of spring work
and 441½ days at autumn; a considerable demesne employed a hayward, reeve, reaper,
carter, and two drovers. There were 7½ ploughteams in use. Money was spent on making and
repairing ploughs, mending carts, buying seed
barley for sowing and salt for the household
pottage, roofing the grange, cattle shed, and
granary, threshing, winnowing, hoeing, mowing, reaping, ditching, and maintaining sea
defences in the marsh. The following season
wheat was to be sown at 1½ bu. to the acre on
79½ a., rye on 10 a., barley on 9 a., peas and
beans on 30 a., and oats on 47 a. (fn. 64) The meadows
were common pasture after the hay was carried
and there was also pasture on Alden or Cannington Hill. In 1296-7 there were 58 a. of fallow,
and in 1301 the manor had 324 a. of arable,
½ a. of meadow, and 20½ a. of pasture. Six
customary tenants paid churchset. (fn. 65) The Chilton
Trivet demesne was largely arable in 1316. Rents
accounted for more than two thirds of manorial
income. (fn. 66) By 1473 Rodway manor demesne was
farmed and spring and autumn works were sold.
The manor continued to maintain the drainage
and in 1485 repaired the pound. (fn. 67) By the early
16th century even the pound was farmed. (fn. 68) In
1485 all rents were in cash and more than half
came from overland (fn. 69) and demesne. (fn. 70) A neif at
Rodway obtained permission to live out of the
manor in 1532, (fn. 71) and in 1541 eleven men and
their families there were manumitted. (fn. 72)
In 1539 Thomas Michell's livestock at Gurney
Street included 14 oxen, a bull, and 36 other
cattle, sheep, 8 horses, and 19 pigs. (fn. 73) The Cannington priory estate was let to farm in the
1530s, when the demesne measured 93 a., (fn. 74) and
continued to be let by its lay owners. (fn. 75) Early
17th-century farming inventories record wheat,
peas, beans, butter and cheese, pigs, cows, and
sheep. One man had a flock of 21 sheep but the
wealthiest yeoman, from a family manumitted
in 1514, had two thirds of his wealth in cash. (fn. 76)
A tenant farmer in 1664 had to work on the
rhynes and was allowed to till only half his
holding. (fn. 77) Inventories of the later 17th century
show an increase in wealth; crops such as clover
and meadow grass were recorded, and there were
greater numbers of livestock, especially sheep. (fn. 78)
One farmer in 1684 had 165 sheep, some fattening in the marsh, 8 plough oxen, cattle, horses,
pigs, crops of wheat, barley, oats, peas, and hay,
and cheese. There were two new rooms in his
house and he held several leases. (fn. 79)
On the Brymore estate in the early 18th century tenant holdings were very small but the
demesne farm measured 224 a. (fn. 80) Cannington
manor was also divided into a large number of
small holdings and the demesne lands were also
let, including the park. (fn. 81) Early 18th-century
inventories include clover, trefoil or vetch, and
flax. Most farmers made cheese. One farmer
kept ducks and geese in the marsh with young
cattle and sheep. (fn. 82)
At the end of the 18th century improvements
were made to farmhouses on the Clifford estate
and the holdings were reorganized to form larger
farms. One tenant held a piece of land for
keeping the gates and another had a decoy. (fn. 83) In
1823 farmers were said to be 'opulent' and the
parish to contain 1,100 a. of arable, 860 a. of
ancient meadow, and 120 a. of orchard. (fn. 84) Between 1825 and 1830 c. 26 new houses were built
and others were improved. (fn. 85) There were 1,670
a. under arable in 1839, 2,502 a. under grass, 86
a. of orchard, and 69 a. of gardens. Of the
grassland, 670 a. were ancient meadow. Twentyfour holdings were 20-50 a., 9 were 50-100 a.,
8 were 100-200 a., and three over 200 a., Gurney
Street (233 a.), Brymore and Withiel (323 a.),
and Higher Rodway (363 a.). (fn. 86) By 1851 there
were 7 farms of over 200 a. and 7 more over 100
a. (fn. 87) Arable had shrunk to 1,286 a. in 1905 and
there were said to be only 2,183 a. under grass. (fn. 88)
In the mid 20th century Chilton Trivet farm
produced crops of wheat, mixed oats, barley,
peas and beans called balanced dredge, linseed,
kale, mangolds, sugar beet, swedes, and turnips.
Some meadow had been reseeded and one field
of oats and barley was cut green. (fn. 89) Of 26 holdings
covering 1,769 ha. (4,371 a.) in 1982 8 were over
100 ha. (247 a.) and 5 were under 10 ha. (25 a.),
10 were worked part time, 7 were dairy farms,
4 raised sheep and cattle, two specialized in
cereals, and one in horticultural crops. The main
crop was wheat (368 ha.), followed by barley
(184 ha.), oats, potatoes, fodder roots and brassicas, and oilseed rape. There were nearly 12 ha.
of horticultural crops including vegetables,
glasshouse crops, apples, pears, and soft fruit.
Livestock comprised 4,492 sheep, 2,272 cattle,
979 pigs, and 266 poultry. (fn. 90) At Rodway are the
large grain stores of Cannington Grain Ltd., a
co-operative storing and marketing grain from
south-west England.
Combwich pill had attracted trade by the mid
14th century when both local and foreign vessels
were shipping corn from there to Ireland and
elsewhere. (fn. 91) It was part of the port of Bridgwater. In 1543 Combwich had 13 mariners, (fn. 92)
and by 1601 its seamen were impressed for the
navy. (fn. 93) Ships called there regularly in the 16th
and early 17th centuries with coal, wine, iron,
millstones, beans, woad, and oil, (fn. 94) and salt was
a prominent commodity which was stored and
weighed there before being transshipped to
Bridgwater. (fn. 95) Irish boats were at Combwich in
1543 (fn. 96) and a trader from Cannington was taking
goods to London in 1609. (fn. 97) Combwich traded
by river with Langport and with Ham Mills on
the Tone, despite plague, in 1625. (fn. 98) In 1678 a
ropemaker worked at Combwich. (fn. 99) A ship was
built there in the 1690s. (fn. 1)
In the later 18th century tile, coal, and culm
were unloaded at the wharf in the pill, (fn. 2) and
among the leading merchants of the period was
William Emmet (d. c. 1758). (fn. 3) Henry Leigh, the
largest shipowner in the 19th century, built up
trade and added harbour facilities, (fn. 4) but vessels
were owned or part-owned by a wide range of
landowners, farmers, merchants, and even a
labourer. (fn. 5) The vessels themselves ranged from
small cutters to ships of over 400 tons which
were unloaded at moorings in Combwich Reach
and the cargoes lightered upstream, often as far
as Langport. (fn. 6) By 1832 bricks were being exported from the yard of Henry Leigh the
younger on the south side of the pill, and brick
and tile became Combwich's main export. (fn. 7) In
the 1860s Leigh's fleet sailed to Cardiff, Newport, Saundersfoot (Pemb.), Bristol, and Lydney
(Glos.). Coastal trade extended as far as Sharpness (Glos.) and Bideford in the 1890s. (fn. 8) Coal was
brought from Wales until the early 20th century
and other goods were imported by the Combwich and District Farmers Association. (fn. 9) In the
later 1950s the wharf was acquired by the Central Electricity Generating Board to bring in
materials for Hinkley Point power station. By
that date the brickyards of Colthurst, Symons,
& Co., formerly Leigh's, had been closed for 20
years and clay extraction ceased in 1963. (fn. 10)
A Cannington shoemaker and farmer had
leather worth £10 in 1640 and over £65 due on
his shop book. (fn. 11) A fuller was recorded in 1649 (fn. 12)
and a fellmonger in 1662. (fn. 13) There were several
clothworkers in the parish in the later 17th and
the early 18th century, (fn. 14) a blacksmith in 1725,
and a sievemaker in 1777. (fn. 15) Occupations included bookbinding and watchmaking in 1871. (fn. 16)
A brush factory in Combwich, operated by
Morgan Brushes Ltd. in the later 20th century,
closed in the 1980s. (fn. 17)
Mills.
In 1086 there was a mill on John the
usher's estate and a half mill at Chilton, perhaps
Chilton Trivet. (fn. 18) In 1370 John Horsey sold a
watermill in Cannington. (fn. 19) The mill of Bosecroft, recorded in 1225, may have been the later
Gurney's mill, recorded in 1482. (fn. 20) Gurney
Street mills and Southbrook water mill were
recorded in 1740, (fn. 21) probably south of Gurney
Street Farm on the two branches of Cannington
brook. Gurney Street mill was rebuilt in 1872. (fn. 22)
A watermill at Blackmoor was recorded in
1370. (fn. 23) There was also a tucking mill at Blackmoor, probably adjoining the grist mill, between
1579 and 1647. (fn. 24) In 1775 the miller sold meal in
Bridgwater and was said to have 'grown from a
beggar to a gentleman'. (fn. 25) The mill went out of
use in the later 19th century, (fn. 26) was demolished,
and the site levelled.
The Cannington priory mill, recorded in
1536, (fn. 27) was later known as Coles's or Town
mill. (fn. 28) Milling ceased in 1913 but the following
year the mill was used to pulverize spar from
Cannington quarry for use in munitions. It was
operated by gas and then from a water-powered
dynamo and both oil and steam engines. The
mill employed c. 10 people and the ground spar
was hauled to Bridgwater station by a steam
traction engine. After 1918 the mill became
derelict and in 1930 it was rebuilt as a
dwelling and the pond filled in. (fn. 29)
Chilton mill, later Cook's mill, was recorded
in 1494 and was attached to Chilton Trivet
manor. (fn. 30) It may have been a fulling mill in
1599. (fn. 31) Like Town mill it was taken over for
spar-crushing during the First World War but
was later converted to a cheese factory powered
by electricity from a turbine. The mill formerly
had an overshot wheel. (fn. 32)
There was a mill at Combwich in the early 16th
century, (fn. 33) probably on the north bank of the pill
where Mill orchard was recorded in the 19th
century. (fn. 34) The mill was last recorded in 1682. (fn. 35)