ECONOMIC HISTORY:
Agriculture.
In 1086
Tetbury was a large agricultural estate. Including
the separately assessed Upton estate, there were 10
demesne teams and 27 servi, and the tenants, who
worked 17 teams, were 2 radknights, 37 villani, and
5 bordars. (fn. 44) Tetbury was assessed as 32 plough-lands
in 1220, (fn. 45) but the estate was dismembered at that
period by the creation of Charlton and Upton
manors which took the bulk of the customary land,
leaving Tetbury manor with the borough and
demesne lands lying round about it. In 1296 it had
only 2 customary yardland tenements, whose occupants owed 20 reaping works in the harvest months
and 5 days' work each week in the remainder of the
year. In demesne there were then 412 a. of arable,
56 a. of meadow, and a number of pastures. (fn. 46) By
1312 the demesne arable had been reduced to 300 a. (fn. 47)
It is not known how long demesne farming continued, but the lord apparently still maintained a
flock of sheep in 1401. (fn. 48) In 1594 there were c. 300 a.
of demesne lands, which were leased among several
tenants although John Savage held the bulk of
them. (fn. 49) Several tenements in the outlying tithings
belonged to the manor; two of 180 a. and 82 a. in
Upton were held on lease by the Long family, and
there were some smaller holdings in Charlton, one a
copyhold. (fn. 50) At the sale of the manor in 1633 Lord
Berkeley sold off the leasehold lands to the tenants, (fn. 51)
and the feoffees' manor estate later included only the
commons and the chief rents from the burgages in
the town.
The manor of Upton, as extended in the grant to
Walter Beauchamp in 1221, comprised 20 customary
tenements of a yardland, 12 half-yardlands, and a
number of smaller holdings; also included were the
rents and service of 4 free tenants, including Robert
of Charlton for his ½ hide in Charlton and Walter of
Upton for 1½ yardland. (fn. 52) The yardland at Tetbury
was presumably then, as in the 16th century, c. 40 a. (fn. 53)
Sir George Huntley sold off most of the land of the
manor between 1612 and 1616, (fn. 54) and on Doughton
manor Nicholas Damory enfranchised the tenants'
holdings at the same period. (fn. 55) At Charlton the land
was held mainly by copy in the 1580s when the
tenants' rights were challenged by the lord of the
manor, John Seed. (fn. 56) There, alone of the estates of
Tetbury parish, the manorial system survived the
early 17th century in more than name.
Kingswood Abbey's grange, which comprised 3
plough-lands in 1291, (fn. 57) was worked in the 1250s by a
number of farm-servants including 2 ploughmen
and drivers, a carter, a groom, and a cowherd. (fn. 58) The
absence of a shepherd suggests that sheep were not
yet kept to any extent, although in the later medieval
period Tetbury was probably used with the abbey's
other granges primarily for raising sheep. (fn. 59)
In the Middle Ages most of the land of the parish
lay in open fields with two-field systems for each
tithing. For the town tithing there were a north and
south field north-east of the town, extending along
the Cirencester road; (fn. 60) Upton had large north
and south fields (fn. 61) lying on each side of the
Tetbury-Minchinhampton road; (fn. 62) and Charlton
and Doughton also had north and south fields. (fn. 63) The
Elmestree fields are not specifically recorded, but an
inclosed 180-a. field called West field in the 18th
century presumably represented one. (fn. 64) The open
fields were inclosed piecemeal, mainly it seems after
the early 17th century when the process was stimulated by the break-up of the various manor estates.
Fifty acres were taken out of Upton's north field
before 1612 (fn. 65) and 36 a. inclosed out of its south field
were mentioned in 1672; (fn. 66) the north field was probably inclosed completely by 1683. (fn. 67) Some land had
been taken out of Tetbury's south field by 1677. (fn. 69)
Inclosures were made in Charlton's south field
c. 1710 (fn. 69) but a considerable amount of land in the
tithing remained open until the late 18th century, for
it was still being stinted in 1792. (fn. 70) In 1799 the vicar's
61 a. of glebe in Charlton were inclosed by exchange
with Lord Ducie, a transaction which probably
marked the end of the tithing's open fields. (fn. 71) The
whole parish was inclosed by 1838. (fn. 72)
The two chief commons for the inhabitants of the
town were the North Hayes (or Warren), occupying
the north-east corner of the parish, (fn. 73) and the South
Hayes, south of the town by the road to Shipton. (fn. 74)
The burgesses' right to pasture in North Hayes was
recognized by William de Breuse in 1291, (fn. 75) and in
1401 the lord of the manor confirmed their right in
the summer months, while reserving part of the
common as a sleight, or sheep-walk, for his own
flock. (fn. 76) The right of the lord's flock was the subject
of actions brought by the Estcourt family, as prominent freeholders in the parish, against the farmer of
the demesne, John Savage, between 1586 and 1608,
and it was finally established that a demesne flock of
400 had the right to pasture in the sleight and also in
the open fields in winter regardless of stint. For the
tenants the open fields were stinted at 3 sheep to the
acre and all holders of burgages had the right to put
cattle in the stubble in the fortnight following the
harvest. (fn. 77) The North Hayes acquired its alternative
name of the Warren from the stock of coneys which
the lords of the manor kept on part of it, (fn. 78) presumably from before 1262 when the warrener of Tetbury
was mentioned. (fn. 79) The South Hayes was reserved as
a common pasture for the cattle of the townsfolk. (fn. 80)
About 1300 Peter de Breuse confirmed Kingswood
Abbey's right to pasture 12 oxen there, following
disputes with the abbey. (fn. 81)
When they bought the manor in 1633 the townsfolk also bought in the current leases of the sleight
and the coney warren and extinguished the demesne
rights there, and both the Warren and the Hill (or
Herd), a strip of waste extending along the Avon
north-east of the town, were assigned as commons
for the occupiers of burgages. The common rights in
the South Hayes were released (fn. 82) and it was apparently sold. A town herdsman was later employed to
administer the Warren, (fn. 83) but in the 18th century the
winter pasture there was usually leased. (fn. 84) In 1814
the town feoffees, prompted by the decline in their
other sources of revenue, obtained an Act for the
inclosure of the Warren and the Hill, (fn. 85) which were
afterwards leased in individual allotments, (fn. 86) which
included potato grounds for small tenants. Part of
the Hill was divided into ¼-a. allotments in 1857. (fn. 87)
The Warren was sold by the feoffees in 1929. (fn. 88)
The outlying tithings had their sheep-downs,
which were probably all once open to common
rights. Upton Down lay in the north-west corner of
the parish, and Doughton Down in the south-west
corner. (fn. 89) The latter covered 112 a. in 1659 when it
was apparently regarded as several to the lord of the
manor, (fn. 90) but in 1760 inhabitants of Doughton were
disputing the lord's right to waste ground on the
manor, presumably in the down. (fn. 91) Charlton Down,
north of Doughton Down, was open to some common rights until the inclosure in Charlton in 1799. (fn. 92)
The Elmestree manor estate included a down of 84 a.
in 1737. (fn. 93) The downs and commons of the parish
appear to have been used principally as sheeppastures, supplying some of the wool which was for
many years the staple commodity of Tetbury market.
Walter Herne, a prominent burgess who died in
1485, employed a shepherd, and another inhabitant
left 130 sheep in legacies in 1526. (fn. 94) A building called
the shepherd's house in Doughton was mentioned in
1659, (fn. 95) and part of Doughton Down was called the
Ewe Down. (fn. 96) Three graziers were recorded in the
parish in 1792. (fn. 97) Grassland came to predominate
over arable after the inclosure of the open fields, the
proportions being 3,609 a. to 1,445 a. in 1838. (fn. 98)
After inclosure the land was farmed mainly in
large units, particularly in the southern tithings. In
1838 the Elmestree manor estate comprised a single
farm of 518 a., Doughton manor farm had 408 a.,
and the Charlton manor estate was organized as two
farms of c. 450 a. and c. 350 a. In Upton and Tetbury
tithings, which had a rather more fragmented
pattern of landholding, the three main farms, each
with c. 200 a., were Upton Grove, Lowfield, and
Colly farms, and Grange farm was the only other
with over 100 a. (fn. 99) There was a total of 17 farms in
1856; only 9 were recorded in 1906 and 5 in 1939,
although the lists appear to be incomplete. (fn. 1) In 1974
the farms were large ones, usually at least 300 a., and
were engaged chiefly in raising beef cattle and
sheep.
Mills.
A mill was recorded at Tetbury in 1086, (fn. 2)
presumably the water-mill that belonged to the
Breuses' estate in 1296; (fn. 3) Kingswood Abbey's estate
included both a water-mill and a windmill in 1291. (fn. 4)
The manor mill was returned at half its previous
value in 1312 because it was dry in summer, (fn. 5) and
lack of water presumably led to the early abandonment of the mills, for no record of water-mills has
been found after 1327 when John atte Mill and
William the millward were among the inhabitants of
Tetbury. (fn. 6) A windmill was built on the close called
the Barton south of the church c. 1718 (fn. 7) but it is not
recorded later, and the proposal to set up a hand
corn-mill at the workhouse in 1823 (fn. 8) suggests that no
wind- or water-powered mill then existed in the
parish.
Trade and Industry.
The attempt by William
de Breuse to create a market town on his manor at
the beginning of the 13th century was ensured of
some success by the major through route on which
Tetbury lay, but its situation in a rich wool-growing
region proved to be a more important element in the
town's prosperity. The first indication of trading
activity comes with a record of two wine-merchants
in 1221, (fn. 9) and Tetbury was well established as a
market for agricultural produce by the mid 13th
century. (fn. 10) The market and fairs were producing the
fairly substantial sum of £11 10s. in tolls by 1296. (fn. 11)
In 1327 the wealthier inhabitants of the town included a corn-monger, garlic-monger, baker, tailor,
skinner, cordwainer, fisherman, and two weavers, (fn. 12)
and by 1381 it had a considerable body of tradesmen,
including shoemakers, tanners, weavers, tailors,
mercers, smiths, butchers, bakers, and brewers, and
a draper, skinner, and spicer. (fn. 13) By that time it was
also established as a centre for the sale of wool from
the surrounding area. The Tetbury fair was a
recognized mart for wool by 1306, (fn. 14) and when
Edward III licensed the Peruzzi to export 500 sacks
of wool in 1338, 105 were bought at Tetbury and the
neighbouring hamlet of Culkerton. (fn. 15)
Evidence for the economic development of the
town in the later medieval period is scanty but there
is enough indirect evidence to suggest that the
prosperity it was enjoying by the early 17th century
was not a recent phenomenon. The market, dealing
mainly in wool and yarn, became the basis of the
town's economy and such industry as the town had
was closely connected with the market. The market
was described as one of the best wool- and yarnmarkets in the county c. 1545, (fn. 16) and in 1622, when it
was bringing in over £120 a year in tolls, it was said
to be inferior to none in England. (fn. 17) A long established cloth industry, represented by two weavers in
1327 and 1381, (fn. 18) by a dyer recorded in 1376, (fn. 19) and
by clothiers recorded from 1541, (fn. 20) flourished in
association with the wool-market. It employed a
large proportion of the 116 tradesmen listed in the
town in 1608; there were 9 clothiers, 34 weavers,
and a tucker. The trades allied to cloth manufacture
were also well represented by 5 mercers, a draper, a
hatter, 13 tailors, and 6 glovers, and together with 7
innkeepers, 7 butchers, 3 bakers, 2 cutlers, 2 barbers,
and the more usual craftsmen they confirm that
Tetbury was a thriving centre of the retail and
service trades. (fn. 21)
Although references to weavers are noticeably
lacking after 1608, cloth manufacture appears to
have retained its importance to the end of the 17th
century. The body called the Thirteen included 6
clothiers in 1623, (fn. 22) among them Toby Chapman
who acted as one of the four trustees for the purchase
of the manor. The town feoffees usually included
more than one clothier up to 1701. (fn. 23) Manufacture of
finished cloth was hampered, however, by the
absence of sufficient water to drive fulling-mills, and
it had declined by the early 18th century, leaving the
preparation and marketing of the raw material as the
principal support of the townspeople. (fn. 24) Woolstaplers, drawn from the Overbury, Tugwell,
Wickes, and other families, (fn. 25) became something of
an élite in the town. Three of the seven feoffees
chosen in 1739 and four of those chosen in 1777
followed the trade, (fn. 26) and it was presumably to woolstaplers rather than clothiers that a visitor referred in
1769 when he wrote that 'to call a person a manufacturer in woollen and a gentleman in this seat of
business are synonymous terms'. (fn. 27) The woolstaplers qualified for the description of manufacturers by their employment of combers, sorters, and
spinners in the preliminary stages of woollen manufacture before distributing their products to the
manufacturing valleys north and west of Tetbury
and to Midland towns as far afield as Kidderminster
and Leicester. (fn. 28)
The town's wool- and yarn-market continued to
flourish in the early 18th century, (fn. 29) and in the 1730s
the quantities brought for sale strained the accommodation at the market-house, forcing the Thirteen
on one occasion to seek another meeting-place. (fn. 30) By
that period, however, the wool and yarn trade was
rivalled in the market by the trade in cheese and
bacon, the former drawn from the dairying regions
of north Wiltshire and the Vale of Gloucester. (fn. 31) The
trade in agricultural produce gave employment to a
number of townsfolk, including several prominent
cheese-factors (fn. 32) and on a humbler level the butchers
whose shamble-rents amounted to £32 a year in the
1740s. (fn. 33) One or two other trades supplied some
fairly prosperous inhabitants, such as the two
tobacconists mentioned in 1730 (fn. 34) and the Saunders
family of mercers, (fn. 35) and the professions were represented among the feoffees by an attorney in 1721 (fn. 36)
and an apothecary in 1739. (fn. 37)
The market business, although fluctuating, tended
to decline in the later 18th century: the profits from
the tolls of the wool- and yarn-market and of the
cheese and bacon market were respectively £52 and
£54 in 1741, £42 and £13 in 1757, £15 and £20 in
1770, (fn. 38) £30 and £30 in 1777, £29 and £17 in 1793,
and £21 and £10 in 1801. (fn. 39) The decline was attributed to the growing practice of going direct to the
producer for the purchase of those commodities.
The town's wool trade, at least, did not immediately
reflect the decline in market business; it was said to
give employment to about 150 people c. 1775 (fn. 40) and
15 wool-staplers were in business at Tetbury in
1792. The dairy trade was represented in 1792 by
two cheese-factors, and there was also a cornfactor, (fn. 41) who possibly represented a trade that was
more important than the surviving evidence
suggests, for 20 corn-dealers from the Sodbury and
Hawkesbury area were buying regularly at the
market in 1761. (fn. 42) Numbers of small retailers, including in 1792 a milliner, an upholsterer, a cutler, a
saddler, and a currier, also gained a livelihood in the
town, and the inns and public houses serving the
main road traffic and market traders remained an
important source of employment. The town also
offered considerable scope for professional men,
represented in the 1790s by 5 attorneys, 3 surgeons,
and an auctioneer. (fn. 43)
In the early years of the 19th century, however,
the reduction in trade became marked. The total
market tolls were reduced to c. £14 by 1811 (fn. 44) and the
wool-stapling trade was by then in decline. (fn. 45) There
were only 3 wool-staplers still in business by 1822,
although there were then also 2 clothiers, probably
employing weavers from outside the parish, and 4
worsted-spinners; (fn. 46) some sack-weaving was also
done at that period. (fn. 47) The wool and cloth trade had
disappeared altogether by the middle of the century, (fn. 48)
and the only later representative of the textile
industries was a silk factory in Charlton Road which
was in production from 1875 (fn. 49) until c. 1887. (fn. 50)
In the later 19th century brewing was the only
industry established in the town on any scale; it
developed from the 18th-century malting industry in
which 4 maltsters were engaged in 1792. (fn. 51) In the
early years of the 19th century John Cook started a
brewery in the former wool warehouses at the
entrance to Hampton Street built by Matthew
Bamford, (fn. 52) and two malt-houses in the town, run by
John Warn and Thomas Witchell in 1820, (fn. 53) later
extended their operations to brewing. The three
families carried on their separate breweries into the
20th century, (fn. 54) but the Cooks' business was absorbed
by the Stroud Brewery Co. in 1913 (fn. 55) and at about
the same period the Warns' brewery took over the
Witchells', which occupied an adjoining site in
Church Street. The breweries apparently closed
down in the 1930s. (fn. 56)
Otherwise the decline of its market trade and
traditional industry left Tetbury largely dependent
on its role as a supplier of service and retail trades to
the surrounding agricultural region. Eight grocers,
3 linen-drapers, 2 haberdashers, 2 milliners, 2
druggists, and 2 booksellers were among the considerable body of small tradesmen recorded in 1823, (fn. 57)
and in the middle of the century over 130 shopkeepers, tradesmen, and craftsmen were working in
the town. The late arrival of the railway probably
preserved the number and diversity of such trades,
although hindering the introduction of new industries or a revival in the market business. The trades
recorded in 1856 extended to less usual ones such as
rope-maker, gunsmith, toy dealer, basket- and sievemaker, umbrella-maker, and piano-tuner. Road
transport remained a source of employment for 5
carriers, 2 coach-builders, and an omnibus proprietor, and there was no marked reduction in the
number of inns. The appearance of 2 cattle-dealers,
2 pig-dealers, a corn- and seed-factor, a seedsman,
a mealman, and a threshing-machine proprietor, (fn. 58)
reflects the town's relationship with the surrounding
farming area and the continuing although much
reduced role of the market, of which the corn trade
was apparently then the chief support. (fn. 59)
The town although it did not decay in any obvious
way settled into a limited economic role, becoming
essentially a community of small shopkeepers, who
were apparently largely dependent on the custom of
the prosperous gentry who settled in the surrounding
countryside. A speaker at the court leet dinner of
1912 remarked that without the good hunting for
which the locality was famed Tetbury would be poor
and insignificant. (fn. 60) In the mid 20th century, however, the building trade became of some importance
in the town. Holborow & Sons Ltd., which had
originated as a firm of plumbers in 1815, expanded to
build housing estates and in the late 1940s were
employing 450-500 men. At the same period the
Cotswold Dale Stone Co., which worked a quarry by
the railway, produced fittings such as balustrading
and fireplaces. (fn. 61) Industry came to Tetbury on a
larger scale c. 1970 with the establishment of an
industrial estate on the north-east side of the town.
In 1974 eight firms were sited there, (fn. 62) including
manufacturers of earth-moving equipment, plastics,
electrical circuits, and automatic vending machinery,
a small joinery works, and a firm of construction
engineers; Tetbury Mills Ltd., on an adjoining site,
made cattle- and poultry-feed. Nevertheless many of
the people living on the new housing estates of the
town still went outside to work, particularly to the
Stroud area. (fn. 63) In the town itself the antiques trade
had become prominent by 1974 occupying about 12
shops; a business specializing in period clocks, in
two houses on the east side of the market-place, was
established by Brig. Meyrick Neilson in 1966. (fn. 64)
Otherwise the shops of the town were still largely
old-established family businesses.
Markets and Fairs.
Tetbury evidently acquired a
market and fair at the creation of the borough c. 1200,
although no specific mention of them has been found
before 1287. (fn. 65) In 1350 Thomas de Breuse was
allowed to extend a fair held at St. Mary Magdalene
to seven days. (fn. 66) In the mid 16th century, presumably
by ancient usage, the market was being held on
Wednesdays and fairs at St. Mary Magdalene and
Ash Wednesday. (fn. 67) The fortunes of the market and
its role in the town's economy have been outlined
above. Although wool, yarn, cheese, and bacon were
the principal commodities bought and sold in the
17th and 18th centuries, there was also some trade in
leather, butter, and livestock. (fn. 68) In 1810 a toll-free
great market for cattle was established on every
second Wednesday in the month. (fn. 69) The fairs dealt in
cattle, sheep, and horses in the mid 18th century. (fn. 70)
In 1834 an additional livestock fair was instituted in
November in response to pressure from local
farmers. (fn. 71) By 1775 an October hiring fair, or mop,
was being held, (fn. 72) and another mop, on the Wednesday before 5 April, was held from 1802. (fn. 73) By the late
19th century cheap post and newspaper advertizing
had much reduced the role of the mops, and in 1878
it was said that the better class of employer no longer
hired at them; by 1904 they were largely pleasure
fairs. Neither the market nor the fairs did any significant trade by then and their abolition was considered, (fn. 74) but there was apparently some revival in
market business in the 1920s. (fn. 75) The corn and
produce market apparently lapsed at the Second
World War and only a small weekly cattle-market
was held in 1974. The fairs were then represented by
pleasure fairs held on the old mop days. (fn. 76)
After being acquired by the townsfolk in the early
17th century, (fn. 77) the markets and fairs were administered by the feoffees, while the manor court, through
the market officers and the presentments of the town
jury, attempted to regulate the quality and weight of
goods and check forestalling. (fn. 78) Wool-weighers and
toll-collectors were employed by the feoffees in the
earlier 18th century but later the tolls were usually
leased. (fn. 79) From the beginning of the 20th century
until 1936 the U.D.C. leased the tolls from the
feoffees, (fn. 80) who remained owners of them in 1974.
The market was originally held in the Chipping
but by the late 16th century the market activities
were focused on the junction of streets at the centre
of the town. (fn. 81) The fairs continued to be held at the
Chipping. (fn. 82) The building called the tolsey in 1623 (fn. 83)
was probably on the site where a new market-house,
with an open colonnaded ground floor and an upper
storey which served as the town hall and meetingplace of the manor court, was built in 1655. In the
following year the court ordered that all wool
formerly sold in the streets should be henceforth
sold in the market-house, (fn. 84) and it was subsequently
reserved for the weighing and sale of wool and yarn. (fn. 85)
In 1740 the market-house was reroofed and extended
to the south-west to provide a new court-room and
additional storage space for wool. (fn. 86) It was extensively
remodelled in 1817 when gables were removed from
the roof. (fn. 87) Cheese was being sold in 1656 in a penthouse adjoining the Talbot inn, (fn. 88) but by 1667
another market-house, usually distinguished as the
little market-house, had been built at the top of
Cirencester Street for the sale of cheese and bacon. (fn. 89)
It fell into disrepair in the late 18th century, (fn. 90) and
was apparently demolished in 1816. (fn. 91)
The corn-market was held at the White Hart in
the earlier 19th century, and in 1856, when a system
of pitched samples and other improvements had
been introduced, it was said to be one of the best in
the country. (fn. 92) In 1884 it was moved to the town hall
but it had lapsed by 1900 when there was said to be
no chance of reviving it. (fn. 93) It was revived, however,
on a reduced scale before the Second World War on
its former site at the White Hart. (fn. 94) The main group
of stalls in the market-place was the butchers'
shambles adjoining the market-house. (fn. 95) The livestock market spread along the surrounding streets.
Sheep were penned in Church Street in the 1660s, (fn. 96)
but the sheep and pig market was being held at the
Green in the early 19th century and was moved to
Cirencester Street in 1834. (fn. 97) A new cattle-market
was opened by the railway in 1888 (fn. 98) and remained in
use in 1974.