A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



the commons some years before this date. The peculiarity of the manor of 

 Northaw in 1556 was the number of tenants by indenture and the large 

 amount of land each of them held. The farmer of the manor, the Earl of 

 Pembroke, had common with all beasts in the wood of Northaw, and every 

 tenant of the manor had the same right. '^ The cause of the riot was 

 probably an attempt by the farmer to limit the tenants' stint. In 1579 a 

 similar case happened in the same villages. The men of Northaw and 

 Mimms destroyed the pales put by the Earl of Warwick upon the commons. 

 The rioters were sent home by Sir Christopher Hatton. Two men were 

 hanged in consequence of this affair.^* 



The inclosure of lands in the 15th century marks the beginning of the 

 change from the cultivation of the land for subsistence to commercial 

 farming. In the i6th century there was a struggle between them, and in 

 Hertfordshire the London buyer almost ousted the country consumer from 

 the country markets. London wanted grain and meat, and this sharpened 

 the tenants' desire to preserve their commons. Wool was needed locally and 

 sheep pasture plays a small part, but the real aim of the tenants was to 

 trade in corn and stock. 



The term ' capitalist farmer ' suggests men like Sir Robert Whitting- 

 ham," but they did not come from that rank alone. Most significant are the 

 Londoners who took farms in Hertfordshire. In 1551 a cloth worker of 

 London held the chantry lands of Bishop's Hatfield.'" At the same time 

 one Edward Kimpton of Westminster held a lease of the meadows, feedings 

 and pastures of Clothall, Yardley and Rushdcn. In 1552 he sold them to 

 William Kimpton, a London merchant tailor. A connexion between shccp- 

 farming and the London cloth trade is hinted at here. 



There are many other small signs that in the Tudor period much 

 London capital was invested in land in Hertfordshire. In lower grades men 

 took holdings which required some capital. In 1438 Richard Huchin, a 

 villein of Bengeo, together with Henry Bargoyn, took from the lord 

 80J acres on an eighteen years' lease at a rent of 1 3J-. 4^'." On the 

 termination of this lease in 1456 he joined with T. Birch to take the 

 warren for fifty years for 8/. a year.''' In 1453 ^^ took another small 

 tenement and another in 1465." The partnerships look as though the 

 villeins were combining their capital. These men were farmers in the 

 modern sense, usually lessees, economically superior to the small freeholder 

 or copyholder. 



The Elizabethan poor law did not lay a heavy burden on the Hertford- 

 shire ratepayers. There was apparently very little pauperism in the county. 

 The maintenance of tillage was probably giving sufficient occupation. 

 Pauperism was small until the Civil War at least. About the Restoration 

 there are signs of an increase. The overseers of Great Gaddesden complained 

 that they were very hard charged with a numerous poor." The poor began to 

 petition the justices for increased allowances." At Hertingfordbury the over- 

 seers wished to escape extra charges even by dishonest means. Nevertheless 



'* Aug. Off. Misc. Bb. cccxci, fol. 18 et seq. '^ Harris Nicolas, Cirist. Hatton, 43. 



*5 Ct. R. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 176, no. 121. ** Ld. Rev. Misc. Blcs. ccxvi, fol. l et seq. 



«i Add. MS. 27976, fol. 17 et seq. «« Ibid. « Ibid. 



^ Sejs. R. (Herts. Co. Rec), i, 174. « Ibid. 258. 



216 



