THE CORN-RIGS OF BEAMSLEV FELL 



105 



dation, and the uplands \vercpreferred for raising corn, 

 1 have noticed in old maps of Yorkshire towns that 

 fl.it meadows near rivers were often occupied by 

 tenter-hooks for stretching cloth upon. Probably 

 they were too wet for crops. But the higher ground, 

 up to 600 ft. or more above sea-level, often bore crops. 

 Wheat would not thrive at the greater elevations, but 

 oats and especially rye would do well enough. Rye 

 can be harvested late, in cold and wet weather, and 

 this was no doubt the chief reason why it was so 

 largely grown in the north of England down to the 

 early part of the eighteenth century. 



There are few published records which give in- 

 formation respecting the history of agriculture in 

 Wharfedale. Craven was long a wild and backward 

 district. In Edward III.'s time 1 the labourers of 

 Craven with the inhabitants of other desolate regions, 

 were made exempt from the prohibition to wander in 

 search of work in summer time. In Henry VI I. 's 

 reign there was a notable increase of population in 

 Yorkshire, as the many parish churches of that age 

 testify, and this increase would encourage the tillage 

 of lands previously waste. This was also a time when 

 much arable land was laid down in grass, as we learn 

 from the statute-book and from the complaints of 

 Hugh Latimer and Sir Thomas More. Whether the 

 acreage of tilled land positively declined in the six- 

 teenth century it would be hard to say. But there is 

 no doubt that during the next three hundred years 

 there was a vast increase in the ploughed land of all 

 parts of England, an increase which went on steadily 

 1 25 Edward III, Stat. 2, Cap. 2, 



