A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



I 



was 2s. ifd. a quarter, a very low price, as the 

 average then was about 4*. At the same market 

 a sow and pigs were sold for 8s. and capons at 

 "id. each ; 5 1 \ acres of grass apparently to be 

 mown by the purchaser was worth 3*. an acre, 

 and the price of threshing a quarter of wheat had 

 risen to T,d. Mowing an acre of mixtil (prob- 

 ably a mixture of wheat and rye) cost 6d. ; a 

 thatcher received ^d. a day, 7 and his servant or 

 assistant only id. Fourteen plough-shoes, which 

 were iron shoes for fixing on the wooden plough- 

 shares, were purchased for if^. each ; horse- 

 shoes for y. io^d. a hundred, and the nails for 

 them about this time at the same place cost 

 is. 3*/. per 1,000. In the same year, 1312, 

 oxen were sold at Retford for 15*. 6d. each, and 

 at Wheatley for 15*. 3^. 



The years 1315 and 1316 were probably two 

 of the worst years in the history of English 

 agriculture, as they were marked by universal 

 famine and pestilence, and prices, according to 

 the chroniclers of the day, went up fabulously ; 

 though the market records do not confirm some 

 of their statements. The result of these bad 

 years was felt at Gringley market in 1317-18, 

 when wheat sold for gs. a quarter, though in 

 the summer the prospect of a good crop brought 

 the price down to 5*. 6d., a little under the 

 average. Mixtil also sold at 5*. 6d. and beans 

 at 2s. 6d. a quarter. Two years afterwards, 

 at this market, a pair of millstones fetched 

 7*., and they would be put up most likely by 

 the miller himself, as he and the farmer about 

 this period fashioned nearly everything at home. 

 Owing to the poor means of communication 

 the price of grain in the Middle Ages was often 

 low at one market and high at another ; at 

 Wheatley, for instance, in 1320, wheat was 

 from 6s. 8d. to ioj., though the average price 

 in England was 6s. $d., and barley was 5*. 8d. 

 against an average of 45. i%d. 



In the 1 5th century the price of grain was 

 even lower than in the century preceding, and 

 at Codynton (almost certainly Coddington) in 

 1413 wheat was only worth from 35. 4^. to 4*. 

 a quarter. Oxen sold at from 9*. 2d. to 14;. "]\d. 

 each, a much lower price than a hundred years 

 before at Retford. Calves were 2s. 4^., muttons 

 or wethers 2s. o\d., lambs is., a boar 51., a sow 

 in pig 3*. i id., and ' porculi," probably good-sized 

 porkers, 2s. 6d. Eggs had hardly advanced since 

 1296, and were only $d. the great hundred, 

 their cheapness being due to the fact that 

 poultry-rearing was universal. Hurdles cost 

 2s. 4f</. a dozen, and a pair of cart-wheels 

 were 3*. 6d., a very low price, as Js. was 

 sometimes paid for them. In 1415 a cow 

 sold at the same place for 8s., an average price, 

 and a cart-horse for i6s. 2d., rather a low price, 

 as a good cart-horse was then worth from 205. 



' At Wheatley in 1313 a thatcher earned z\J. a 

 day. 



to 25*. and a good saddle-horse double that 

 amount. Wool changed hands there at "js. 8d. 

 a tod of 28 lb., the normal rate. 



In the 1 6th century prices began to rise, and 

 at Southwell in 1535 wheat was IDJ. a quarter, 

 about the average price in England ; barley, 

 however, was low, 3*. 4^., and oats from 4;. to 

 6s. 8d. During the 1 6th century a large quantity 

 of land was inclosed and laid down to grass, and 

 grazing was the chief occupation of farmers, so 

 that the land enjoyed a well-needed rest. It 

 was well-nigh exhausted, for the common-field 

 system was wasteful, owing to superficial plough- 

 ing, and frequent cropping without sufficient 

 manure, for as the land was thrown open to all 

 tenants of the manor after harvest manuring was 

 difficult ; there was also a dearth of labourers 

 since towns were growing, and the increase of 

 commerce and manufactures forced up wages. 

 William Harrison, who wrote in the latter part 

 of the century, in his Description of Bri taint, 

 tells us that ' thesoile of Britaine is more inclined 

 to feeding and grazing than profitable for tillage 

 and bearing of corne, and such store is there of 

 cattle in everie place that the fourth part of the 

 land is scarcely manured for the provision of 

 graine.' 8 



Professor Thorold Rogers has collected a 

 valuable list of prices, from 1583 to 1596,31 

 Worksop, from which it appears that there, as 

 all over England, wheat had risen considerably, 

 and anything under 20*. a quarter was cheap. 

 It was 2is. ^d. at Worksop in 1583, and next 

 year i6s. to 2 is. ^d. ; barley lOs. to 131. 4^. ; 

 oats 5*. ifd. to 8s. ; rye us. 4^.; peas <)s. \d. 

 For threshing rye a labourer was now paid from 

 6d. to 8d. a day, but 6d. seems to have been the 

 more usual price. 9 Chickens sold for 2d. apiece 

 and ducklings for 2d. and 3^., a fat cow was 

 worth ^2 5*. n^., a yoke of oxen 5 us, 8d., 

 twenty hogg sheep sold for 3*. 6d. each, and a 

 ram at 3*. ^d. Geese were 6d., hens 4</., and 

 capons 8^., and a gelding fetched 8, a fair price 

 then. 1595 and 1596 were years of exceedingly 

 high prices all over England owing to the usual 

 cause, wet seasons, and at Worksop wheat went 

 as high as 2 2s. 8d. a quarter ; barley malt 

 was i 9*. 8d. ; oats 13*. d. ; beans i 4;.; 

 rye 1 14;. ; but by 1598 prices were coming 

 down to their normal level, and oats were 

 6s. 8d. 



From assessments made of the various counties 

 at this period it does not appear that Nottingham- 



8 Op. cit. chap. 1 8. The substitution of grass for 

 tillage began in the 1 5th century, but became much 

 more frequent in the i6th. Cunningham, Growth of 

 Engl. Ind. and Commerce (Early and Mid. Ages), 331. 



' The daily wages of an agricultural labourer varied 

 widely at this period. In 1 564 in Rutland he received 

 jd. a day in summer, in 1 593 in Yorkshire c,d. and in 

 Cheshire t^., in 1610 in Rutland -jJ. Thorold 

 Rogers, Six Cents, of Work and Wages, 389 et seq. 



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