The Landed Proprietors of Great Britain 



233 



used were -white oats, barley (not bere or 

 bigg), early peas (locally called hot seed), 

 and Kentish or Cleveland wheat. Little rye 

 was grown, and no flax but for family use. 

 The whole extent of turnips in the parish 

 was then 140 acres, and there were 50 acres 

 of potatoes. Land ploughed out of lea or 

 pasture was always sown with oats, then 

 turnips or potatoes or fallow, then barley or 

 oats, and then grass. After maintaining the 

 inhabitants, it was calculated that the annual 

 exports from the parish would be about 350 

 bolls of oatmeal, at ;^i, 5s. per boll ; 300 do. 

 of barley, at i8s.; and 450 of wheat, at 

 ;^i, 2s., amounting in all to ^1202, los. per 

 annum. In 1782 a great deal of corn was 

 uncut at Martinmas, and oats yielded no 

 more than three stones of meal per boll, so 

 that great distress must have been a neces- 

 sary result when so small a margin was left 

 in ordinary years. There were four corn- 

 mills in the parish, Avhich had each a right of 

 multure, and about 1795 one thrashing- 

 machine had been newly erected, which, 

 says the writer, " does a great deal of work ; 

 but when the prime cost and interest thereon^ 

 tear and wear of every kind, the number of 

 hands, and the extraordinary waste of horses, 

 are all taken into account, it may not be of 

 great profit to the proprietor. " 



Of horses there were only 160 in the parish, 

 one-fourth of them too young for labour ; of 

 black cattle there were 540, of which about 90 

 were reared yearly, and 50 stall-fed for the 

 butcher, weighing on the average 45 to 50 

 stones of 1 6 lb. Dutch weight. About 80 swine 

 v/ere fed annually, chiefly by tradesmen. They 

 were purchased from England in October or 

 November, when three or four months old, 

 and cost los. or 12s. each, after which they 

 were fed four months on the refuse of pota- 

 toes, with a little bruised oats or barley, till 

 they attained a weight of 10 or 12 stones, 

 when they were killed for family use. Of 

 sheep there were 2300, chiefly of the white- 

 faced long-bodied kind, which attained a 

 weight of 12 lb. to 141b. a quarter. Wool 

 was iSs. a stone. The common diseases of 

 sheep were " rot, a kind of consumption 

 occasioned by overstocking the pastures, and 



by rainy seasons, especially a rainy autumn ; 

 and the sturdy, or water in the head, which 

 attacks them when about a year old, chiefly 

 in the months of April, May, and June, and 

 is of so corrosive a nature as to perforate the 

 skull into holes large enough to admit a pea 

 or a small bean." 



The number of inhabitants in 1794 was 

 860, an increase of 188 since 1755. There 

 were 217 families, and most of the inhabi- 

 tants were feuars, farmers, or cottars em- 

 ployed by the farmers, besides the tradesmen 

 who abounded then in rural districts. There 

 were fourteen joiners, three coopers, thirteen 

 tailors, eleven masons, twelve weavers, six 

 grocers, three blacksmiths, four ale-house 

 keepers. Coals were brought from Mid- 

 Lothian, 28 or 30 miles, at the rate of is. per 

 cwt. Feuars and small farmers, who had not 

 work enough for their horses, were in the 

 habit of driving coal, lime, and marl for hire; 

 and the rate was 4s. a-day for a man, a cart, 

 and two horses. The wages of a man-ser- 

 vant, boarded m the house, were ;^7 to jQ^ 

 a-year; maid-servants got ;£2, los. or ^2, 

 15s. for the summer, and £,1, 5 s. for the 

 winter half-year. A married farm-servant had 

 about ;^i4 or ^15 a-year in oats, barley, 

 peas, flax, and potatoes, with the mainten- 

 ance of a cow throughout the year. The 

 harvest usually lasted a month, during which 

 men obtained £,1, 6s., and women jQi, with 

 victuals. At other times, men had is. 2d. 

 a-day in summer, and is. in winter; women 

 had 7d. or 8d. in summer, and conuironly 

 no work in winter. Masons had is. 8d. and 

 carpenters is. 6d., without maintenance. A 

 carpenter got, with victuals, is. a-day, and 

 tailors got 8d. Within forty years previous 

 to 1794 these wages had doubled. The 

 parochial schoolmaster had not, in 1794, 

 over ;^3o a-year, including everything ; and 

 another schoolmaster at Middleham had jQt, 

 a-year, and got his victuals during the teach- 

 ing season from the difterent families, accord- 

 to the number of children they had at school, 

 which would not average more than thirty. 

 His whole income would not be more than 

 £l 01" £^ a-year. In the Bowden school 

 there were usually about seventy scholars, of 



