FARMS and FARMING
INCLOSURE - The move by landowners to Inclose their land - which had operated informally for centuries on the basis of large open fields being tended by farmers or tenant farmers cultivating individual scattered strips of land - became ever more popular and Acts of Parliament for individual land Inclosures gained momentum by the mid 18th Century. This may have led to increased agricultural productivity and was certainly of benefit to the landowners - by maximising the rental - and to tenant farmers - wishing to improve their farms. But to achieve these inclosed areas, open fields were consolidated by incorporating the strips, and Common land was hedged or fenced off, so the agricultural labourers lost their Common Rights to open land (to graze animals, gather food or fuel) which were abolished and redistributed to individual ownership, with no compensation. [The Ashwellthorpe and Fundenhall Inclosure Act of 1814 - ref. Sca 2/126, and the Statement of Claims - ref: Box 42/26, 685x5, and PD 53/58 can be seen at the Norfolk Record Office]. An anonymous folk poem written at the time of many Inclosures 'The Goose and the Common' has the words:
"The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.
The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back".
TITHE COMMUTATION - Tithes were originally paid as a tax, in the form of one-tenth of agricultural produce, to support clergy and the churches, later going to other owners of the land after the Reformation. This practice became increasingly unpopular especially by the 19th Century with its agricultural depression and the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act was passed with its requirement that tithes in kind would be converted to monetary payments - the tithe rentcharge. The Tithe Survey was carried out to determine which areas were subject to tithes, land ownership, and amounts of money to be paid and to whom. The Tithe Apportionment for Ashwellthorpe was dated 20 October 1841 [Norfolk Record Office Ref: ]
NATIONAL FARM SURVEY - At the start of the Second World War, County War Agricultural Executive Committees were set up to oversee increased food production (supplies of imported foodstuffs or fertilisers could not be relied on), as it was vital to bring as much land as possible back into cultivation. These Committees had the power to direct types of cultivation, take possession of land, termination of tenancies, inspection of property and organisation of mobile groups of farm workers. Initially, the grassland areas were to be ploughed and cultivated but then it became necessary to assess the ability of each farm to help towards a nationaal food production plan. A National Farm Survey from Spring 1941 to end 1943 was undertaken with all farms of 5 acres or more, market gardeners, horticulturalists and poultry-keepers, being surveyed. Ownership, land acreage, agricultural use, animal numbers, types of crop, condition of land and buildings, power, motive power and more had to be detailed - Ashwellthorpe's survey was completed on 4 June 1941 [Public Record Office Ref: MAF 32/706/211].
All but three of the farms in Ashwellthorpe were part of the Ashwellthorpe Estate, owned by and home of the Berners Barony family of Ashwellthorpe Hall. The Ashwellthorpe Estate of about 1,127 Acres divided into 32 Lots, including 170 Acres of woodland, was auctioned by Knight, Frank & Rutley at The Royal Hotel in Norwich on Saturday 28 September 1918.
The Estate Farms which will be covered in future articles are:
Hall Farm
Peel Farm
Wood Farm
[Black Hall Farm in Fundenhall with land mostly in Fundenhall, some in Wymondham at that time, and a very small amount in Ashwellthorpe, was also part of the Ashwellthorpe Estate]
Four other Ashwellthorpe farms which will also be covered in future articles are:
Canal House
Rose Farm
Walk Farm
Yew Tree Farm