Stringston: Economic history

ECONOMIC HISTORY.

The holdings in the parish in 1086 amounted together to 7 ploughlands, 13 a. of meadow, 86 a. of pasture, and 35 a. of wood. Stock was recorded on only the 1 hide at Stringston: 8 beasts, 15 pigs, and 193 sheep. There were three demesne farms: 3 virgates with 4 servi and 2 ploughteams at Stringston held by Ranulph, 1½ hide with 1 servus and 1 ploughteam at Alfoxton and Dyche, and ½ ploughland at Stringston held by William. Of the 11 recorded tenants 6 were at Alfoxton and Dyche. (fn. 1) By the later 12th century one of the tenant farms comprised 18 a. of arable at Dyche, 6 a. of land 'on the hills', and 2 a. of meadow. (fn. 2) That and another farm of 12 a. were held in fee. (fn. 3) Other farms were smaller and equally scattered: the Bolimer family in 1317 had 4 a. at Stringston, 3 a. at Dyche, and 1½ a. 'on the hill towards Kilton'. (fn. 4) Two larger holdings were the virgate given to Taunton priory in the 12th century (fn. 5) and the farm of 54 a. held by John Nichol until his outlawry in 1369, perhaps in succession to Robert Nich in 1327. (fn. 6) The capital messuage of Stringston manor was let with 17 a. in 1434. (fn. 7)

Two fields called Ryecroft had been inclosed from Stringston Heathfield by 1519; (fn. 8) by 1620 other parts of the common were under plough, and rye was grown on the Quantocks at Dowsborough. (fn. 9) Inclosure of Alfoxton common had begun by 1629 when Granfield's tenement was formed, the tenant then having common for 50 sheep, 1 horse, 1 colt, and 6 bullocks. (fn. 10) Another Alfoxton tenant had grazing for 6 sheep on Longstone (then Alfoxton) Hill, with the right to cut ferns and furze. (fn. 11) Tithes were payable in the 17th century on cows, calves, sheep, lambs, pigs, gardens, honey, wax, apples, pears, and hops. (fn. 12) Thomas Paddon (d. 1716) left 2 horses, 2 oxen, 2 cows, 6 ewes and lambs, 1 pig, some poultry, and corn both growing and in store, and among his goods were harrows and a putt. (fn. 13)

By 1582 Stringston manor comprised the capital messuage with a substantial farm let for £4 a year and seven holdings ranging between 1 a. and 36 a. let for rents between 3s. and 23s. (fn. 14) The manor, and also the parish, was by that time dominated by one family of tenant farmers, the Govetts, who from the late 15th century held land there. (fn. 15) Margaret Govett, widow, occupied the capital messuage of Stringston from 1546 and was followed in 1578 by her grandson William. (fn. 16) Richard Govett had a lease of scattered fields from the Alfoxton estate by 1636 which his descendants still held in 1718. (fn. 17) George Govett succeeded his parents in the tenancy of Stringston farm in 1749, and Richard Govett, and later his widow Joan, farmed other lands at Dyche and elsewhere in the 1740s. (fn. 18) Three members of the family held seven leaseholds in 1765 including Stringston farm, (fn. 19) and from 1807 John Govett combined several tenancies with an enlarged Stringston farm, then measuring 280 a. (fn. 20) In 1839 Robert Govett occupied nearly 366 a. (fn. 21) William Govett of Stringston farm employed 12 labourers on his 300 a. in 1851, (fn. 22) and by 1861 Edwin Govett occupied the same farm. (fn. 23) The Govetts continued to farm in the parish until c. 1870. (fn. 24)

Rack renting was introduced on the Strode estate in 1731 and by 1766 half was held on lease and divided between five farms. (fn. 25) By 1839 the estate totalled just over 470 a. The Alfoxton estate was then just over 416 a. including nearly 150 a. of woodland and park around Alfoxton House, and Sir Peregrine Acland owned seven separate holdings totalling just over 80 a. (fn. 26) Sir Alexander Acland-Hood bought 424 a. with Stringston manor in 1867 and thus became the largest landowner in the parish. (fn. 27)

In 1705 a 21-year lease of a farm at Dyche limited the tenant to two corn crops in succession and specified adequate lime and dung. (fn. 28) An 8-year lease of Stringston farm in 1807 required the removal of mole and ant hills and the destruction of ferns, thistles, and rushes, all necessary measures to improve the recently inclosed parts of the common. (fn. 29) In 1839 arable (466 a.) and grassland (453 a.) were almost equal in area, (fn. 30) but in 1905 grass was slightly more extensive than arable in the Stringston part of the parish. (fn. 31)

Small fields near Alfoxton were let to craftsmen from neighbouring parishes in the 17th century: a pasture in 1645 to a Kilve clothier, and Granfield's tenement to Hugh Granfield, a Holford dyer, in 1681. George Poole, a Stringston clothier, became a tenant at Alfoxton in 1681. (fn. 32) There is a field called Rackmead south of Stringston village. (fn. 33) Tanhouse Tenement at Dyche was recorded in 1765 and was the site of a tanyard in 1839. (fn. 34) By 1802 a butcher and a cordwainer lived in the parish, (fn. 35) and there was a shop at Dyche in 1839. (fn. 36) By 1851 there were a blacksmith, two cordwainers, and a thatcher, (fn. 37) and by 1861 a smith and a mason. (fn. 38) The shop continued into the 1870s, (fn. 39) and in 1906 and until the 1930s a road contractor operated from the parish. In 1923 there was a wheelwright at Dyche. (fn. 40) Farming was the sole occupation in the parish in 1986.

Alfoxton mill, driven by a race off the stream south-east of Putsham in Kilve, was built by 1676. (fn. 41) It was still in operation in 1839 (fn. 42) but was no longer used by 1886. (fn. 43)