Kidlington: Economic history

Economic history

Kidlington and Thrupp shared a single set of open fields until inclosure in 1818. Gosford, of whose open-field agriculture there is no record and which seems to have been inclosed during the Middle Ages, may earlier have shared the same fields, (fn. 31) as presumably did the small settlement of Cote. An early 13th-century estate of 12 a. was divided between two arable fields north of Kidlington village, one near Campsfield, the other at Hardwick. (fn. 32) About 1270 another estate, of 1 a., lay in a field north of Kidlington called Thorndone and in le Heching, presumably a hitch field. (fn. 33) In 1337 a three-course rotation of crops was in use, but in 1349 it was stated that only half the demesne was cultivated each year. (fn. 34) A large arable field called Statfield (later Stratfield) in the south had been brought into cultivation by the later 13th century; its medieval form 'stodfold' (stud fold) suggests that it was once pasture. (fn. 35)

By the mid 17th century the arable was usually divided into nine fields of uneven size, grouped together and farmed on a three-course rotation: Statfield in the south, Bury field (former demesne) and Low field east of the Banbury road between Kidlington and Thrupp, Chore field and Fernhill field between the Banbury and Woodstock roads south of Langford Lane, Hardwick field or Old Hardwick west of the Woodstock road, Copton field and Clay field between the Banbury and Woodstock roads north of Langford Lane, and Wheatington field in the extreme north. (fn. 36) In 1571, however, a 2-acre estate was divided between Wheatington field and an otherwise unknown Hoggs Hill field; (fn. 37) Low field seems to have been called Home field in 1634, and a High field, apparently in the north, was recorded in 1681 and 1708. (fn. 38) There were in addition several smaller pieces of arable around Kidlington village: Alsecroft or Aylscroft north-west of Gosford bridge, Lynge croft in the angle between the Banbury road and the Moors, and some arable in Caneham meadow south of Gosford bridge. (fn. 39)

By the early 19th century a four-course rotation of crops was in use, (fn. 40) but less than a fifth of the arable seems to have been left fallow each year. The rotation was (1) fallow (2) wheat (3) beans, peas, oats (4) barley, and 16th- and 17th- century probate inventories suggest that such a rotation was already in use then, though oats were recorded rarely. In 1769 Fernhill field (c. 303 a.) was fallow, and the following year Lincroft, Oathill and Wheatington field (c. 325 a.). (fn. 41) One large, unidentified, field was excluded from the rotation, and there 'every man sows just what he pleases, which occasions such a confusion of headlands and abutments in tillage, etc. as can hardly be conceived.' (fn. 42)

In 1086 the meadow land in Kidlington was 2 furlongs by 3 furlongs, and in Thrupp 30 a. (fn. 43) Most of it lay along the Cherwell, but some Kidlington meadow lay along the Rowel brook. In the 1220s Oseney abbey consolidated and increased its demesne meadow in Horsepool, by the Cherwell, and in 'Rawenhurfle' by giving the tenants of 23 yardlands their hay tithe in exchange for their land in those meadows. (fn. 44) About the same date a freeholder had 3 halfacres of meadow in 'Ruwenhame', probably the later Roundham by the Rowel brook. (fn. 45) Horsepool, Caneham, and Bury mead along the Cherwell were all lot meadow in the 17th century. (fn. 46)

In 1086 the permanent pasture in Kidlington was reported as 4 furlongs long by 3 furlongs wide, and that in Thrupp as c. 30 a. (fn. 47) The Kidlington pasture was presumably the later Kidlington green (c. 280 a.), described in the 13th century as the common pasture of Kidlington, (fn. 48) which with the adjoining Small marsh and Crow marsh covered much of the area south of the village. The Thrupp pasture was probably at Campsfield (c. 425 a.) in the north, although part of the later pasture there may have been arable in the early Middle Ages. (fn. 49) By the 17th century there were also smaller areas of pasture in Bury moor, the former Kidlington demesne, and probably in Thrupp moors. Woodland in the extraparochial Osney Hill belonged to Kidlington manor until c. 1200. (fn. 50)

In 1553 the stint for a yardland in Thrupp was 8 beasts or horses and 60 sheep; that for Kidlington in 1613 was slightly greater, 12 beasts and horses on Kidlington green and 60 sheep on the green from 30 November to 25 April, then on Campsfield and the fallow field, and from 1 November on Low field. (fn. 51) The stint was steadily reduced during the 18th century; about the middle of the century it was 4 cow commons on the green, 2 opentide commons, and 20 sheep commons to the yardland, but the 28 yardlands which had been copyhold of the chief manor also had rights of common on Bury moor. (fn. 52) By c. 1800 the cow commons on the green had been reduced to 3 per yardland. In 1794 the green carried 200 cows which were looked after by a cowkeeper, (fn. 53) but in the early 19th century 'a very large common', presumably the green, was reported to feed 300 cows from 16 May to Michaelmas, stinted at 3 cows for a yardland. Campsfield was a sheep common with agistment shepherds; most men leased their common rights there. Both sheep and cows were put into the meadows and on the arable after harvest. The vicar supplied a boar for the parish. (fn. 54)

There were 53 or more newly made closes in Kidlington in 1445, only one of which, Bladon's close, can be identified; it lay on the eastern edge of the village near Ham meadow, and contained c. 4 a. in the 16th century. (fn. 55) Rutter's close, near Bayley manor house, was recorded in 1546, Phelps's closes in the same area in 1616, and Pepper close east of the village in 1605. (fn. 56) Most of the land between Lyne Road and Bayley manor house was inclosed by 1726, and part of the 'common', presumably the green, was inclosed by agreement before 1728. (fn. 57) In 1752 Joseph Smith of Bayley manor was accused of inclosing land from Kidlington green but that may have been to enlarge his garden. (fn. 58) Nevertheless, in 1810 there were only c. 296 a. of old inclosure in Kidlington and Thrupp, compared with c. 2,500 a. of open field land. Gosford (260 a.) was presumably inclosed during the Middle Ages; it had certainly been inclosed by 1699 (fn. 59) and the absence of any reference to the township during the anti-inclosure disturbances of 1596 suggests that it had been inclosed well before then.

Although Kidlington was said to contain land for 12 ploughteams in 1086, only 7 were recorded, 3 on the demesne worked by 2 servi, and 4 on the land held by the 32 villeins and 8 bordars; in Thrupp there was land for 6 ploughteams, but only 2 were recorded, both worked by 1 servus on the demesne. (fn. 60) In 1279, (fn. 61) there were 29 ½ yardlands or c. 7 ½ ploughlands in Thrupp. The description of Kidlington in 1279 records only 2 ploughlands of demesne and 27 ½ villein yardlands, to which should be added 11 ½ free yardlands recorded on the de Plessis manor in 1301, 2 yardlands of glebe, another yardland belonging to Oseney abbey, and 2 ploughlands in Gosford, (fn. 62) making a total of 58 yardlands or 14 ½ ploughlands. The number of ploughlands in Kidlington and Thrupp, compared with those implied by the Domesday survey, may reflect an increase in the area under cultivation. The total of c. 87 yardlands in Kidlington, Thrupp, and Gosford is slightly greater than the total of 82 ½ yardlands (60 in Kidlington, 15 in Thrupp and 7 ½ in Gosford), on which 17th-century taxes were assessed. (fn. 63) Amounts actually received from levies on the yardland in the late 17th century indicate that there were in fact 70 yardlands in Kidlington and Thrupp, excluding the 3 yardlands of glebe, and at inclosure in 1818 there seems to have been a total of c. 74 yardlands, including the glebe. (fn. 64)

Measurements of the demesne in 1337 and 1349 suggest a small yardland of c. 18 a., (fn. 65) similar to the 17 ½-a. yardland of vicarial glebe in 1634. (fn. 66) Eighteenth-century yardlands ranged from c. 17 a. to c. 28 a., the larger yardlands apparently being those in which the meadow had been exchanged for arable and leys. (fn. 67)

The d'Oillys and their successors kept a large demesne. In 1279 Hugh de Plessis had 2 ploughlands, and in 1301 the demesne comprised 116a. of arable, 21 a. of meadow, and 12 a. of pasture. (fn. 68) In 1337 the 2 ploughlands contained 146 a. of arable, scattered in the common fields, pasture called 'le Revegore', and 24 a. of meadow. (fn. 69) A demesne of comparable size was recorded in 1349 and 1379; in 1437 demesne land comprising 191 a. of arable, 60 a. of pasture, and 40 a. of meadow was reported. (fn. 70) In Thrupp in 1279 each of the three lords among whom the manor was divided held 3 yardlands in demesne. (fn. 71) In 1450 William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, who had acquired almost the whole of the original manor, held 18 yard-lands, 40 a. of meadow, and 100 a. of pasture in Thrupp, (fn. 72) but that probably included the tenants' land. No demesne was recorded in 1553 when there were 30 ½ copyhold yardlands, but in 1606 Philip Babington held 180 a., presumably in demesne, in Thrupp and Kidlington. (fn. 73)

In 1279 the 41 villeins on Hugh de Plessis's manor paid money rents of 5s. a yardland and worked, were tallaged, and redeemed their sons at the lord's will. The 23 villeins in Thrupp held on similar terms, though at slightly higher money rents. (fn. 74) In 1301 the villeins on the de Plessis manor weeded for 2 days, mowed for 3 days, spread and made hay for 4 days, carried with their own carts for 2 days, reaped for 2 days with 2 men, cut down stubble for ½ day with one man, and ploughed for 3 days; they also carried wood at Christmas, and most of them owed 2 salt works at Martinmas. (fn. 75) The villeins owed similar hoeing, ploughing, mowing, haymaking, and carrying services in 1337; in addition they gave 100s. 'gyldegyft' at Michaelmas, and 8 cocks and 102 hens at Christmas. (fn. 76) No works were recorded in 1349, when the villeins paid 14s. for all services. (fn. 77) Services were being exacted from Oseney abbey's tenants as late as 1357 when a man was amerced for defaulting on his mowing, haymaking, and reaping services, (fn. 78) but much of the work on the abbey's land was done by paid labourers. In 1290-1 the abbey paid 3 ploughmen, a carter, a driver, a dairyman, a swineherd, 5 forkers (harvest workers), a boy to drive the plough when the ploughmen did their autumn works, and extra reapers and hoers. Customary work carried out by the tenants included building a dovecot. (fn. 79)

In 1290-1 the sales from Oseney's Kidlington bailiwick, two-thirds of which lay in Hensington, included small quantities of wheat, beans, and corn as well as flax, hemp, and nettles from the garden. That year the chief crops sown were barley and dredge (160 qr.), hard corn (107 qr.), wheat (92 qr.), and peas and beans (69 qr.); a small quantity of maslin was also sown. The livestock included 54 pigs which produced 36 piglets, and the keeper of the manor sent to the abbey 140 doves as well as geese and hens and 800 eggs. Oseney received 34 tithe lambs from Kidlington that year, suggesting a large flock of breeding ewes in the township. (fn. 80) The possessions of Elizabeth Elmbridge on Kidlington manor in 1379 included 16 oxen and a bull; a press called an 'appelquarne' was presumably used on the produce of the orchard. (fn. 81)

The field name Lin or Lynge croft, recorded in 1554, (fn. 82) suggests that flax was grown in some quantity. Enough vetch was being grown in 1589 for it to be the subject of a tithe dispute, and a quartern of vetch was bequeathed in 1594. (fn. 83) Two men, in 1608 and 1640, left hemp, some of it growing, some of it spun into yarn, and there were hemp grounds on the Hampden manor estate in 1627. (fn. 84) The same manor also contained hop yards, as did a smaller estate in 1593, and in 1616 another farm had an outhouse in which to store hop poles. (fn. 85) Many houses had orchards, and apples, usually in small quantities, were recorded in 1640, 1642, and 1684. (fn. 86) Elaborate arrangements were made in 1615 and 1633 for the division of orchards and their produce. (fn. 87)

Although most men in the 16th and 17th centuries kept some sheep and cattle, few large flocks or herds were recorded, and much of the pasture was probably leased to graziers and butchers from outside the parish. The proximity to Oxford may have been influential: in the 1550s a dispute arose over 30 mares and their colts being grazed, apparently in Kidlington, by two Welshmen; (fn. 88) from 1600 to 1610 Richard Kenner, an Oxford butcher, leased meadow and pasture in Gosford from William Frere, and another Oxford butcher leased 12 a. of inclosed arable in Kidlington in 1787. (fn. 89) A 20-a. close in Gosford was leased to one Oxford butcher in the later 17th century and sold to another in 1699. (fn. 90)

One Kidlington man was alleged to have sold 160 sheep c. 1565; Thomas Standard, lessee of the rectory, left 164 sheep in 1687 and another man left 101 sheep and lambs and 17 cattle in 1723. (fn. 91) The largest flock of sheep was probably that left by Ethelbert Dodd in 1669 which was valued at £60 and perhaps numbered c. 400; Dodd also left 16 cattle. (fn. 92) Most of the horses kept by local men were presumably working horses, but the prosperous Vincent Shurle, whose 5 mares, 2 geldings, and a colt were carefully distinguished from his working horses in 1608, and Christopher Dodd (d. 1628), who had a total of 6 horses, 10 mares and 3 year-lings, (fn. 93) seem to have been breeding them or raising them for sale. Almost all the villagers kept poultry; one man in 1608 left turkeys, (fn. 94) and several men kept bees. In the late 18th century there were c. 1,100 sheep in Kidlington and Thrupp. (fn. 95) The tenant of part of Gosford in 1728 was a dairy farmer. In 1748 the farm there owned by Joseph Smith of Bayley manor included some arable and an apple orchard as well as pasture for cattle. (fn. 96) In 1812 Exeter College claimed in Gosford tithe of rye, barley, oats, peas and beans, hay, rye-grass, clover, sainfoin, lucerne, tares, turnips, potatoes, apples, pears, plums, and cherries, as well as of sheep, cattle, and poultry. (fn. 97) In the early 19th century apricots were grown commercially in Kidlington, 'thousands of dozens' being sold in 1838 to dealers who sent them to Covent Garden. (fn. 98)

In 1306 the abbot of Oseney was assessed for subsidy in Kidlington at 11s. and another man at 6s.; the remaining 41 people were assessed at between 1s. 10d. and 6d. In 1316 the 29 assessments in Kidlington and 18 in Thrupp ranged fairly steadily from 14s. for Hugh de Plessis, (who had not been assessed in 1306) down to 1s. The 44 people in Kidlington and 22 in Thrupp liable to subsidy in 1327 were assessed at from 9s. 6d. down to 9d., with Hugh de Plessis assessed at 7s. and John of Croxford at 6s. 8d. In Gosford 9 people were assessed for subsidy in 1316 at between 8s. 4d. and 10d., only 7 in 1327 at between 8s. and 4s. 2d. (fn. 99) For the subsidy in 1523-4 only Austin Gainsford of Bayley manor in Kidlington was assessed on lands. In Kidlington a total of 40 people in 1523 and 42 in 1524 were assessed on goods worth between £16 and £2, but only 23 were assessed in both years. In 1523 as many as 38 men were assessed on wages, in 1524 only 11. Only 6 or 7 men were assessed in Thrupp and 5 in Gosford. (fn. 1)

In 1543-4 the highest assesments in Kidlington township were those of John Andrews and Richard Saunders. (fn. 2) Andrews was a member of a family recorded in the parish in 1445; a William Andrew was lessee of the rectory in 1510, and John Andrews himself held 2 yardlands copyhold of John Blundell's Kidlington manor in 1550. (fn. 3) Other members of the family were buried in the parish in 1607 and christened in 1624 (fn. 4) but there is no further record of them. Richard Saunders's son Ambrose and Ambrose's son Samuel bought from Gresham Hogan in 1617 the freehold of 2 yardlands, part of which Samuel's son Christopher sold to Woodhull Street in 1648. (fn. 5) Robert Saunders (d. 1557) was assessed for subsidy in Kidlington in 1523-4, leased the rectory from Oseney abbey and later from Exeter College, and also held other property in the parish. (fn. 6) His son Nicholas was farmer of the vicarage in 1517. (fn. 7) The family, who occasionally described themselves as gentry, remained in the parish until 1781. (fn. 8)

The Almonts were one of the wealthiest families in 17th-century Kidlington, and several described themselves as gentlemen. They seem to have descended from Thomas Almond, an Oxford tailor, but owed their prominence to Ursula, wife of James Almont and daughter of Roger Taylor, an Oxford grazier who had built up a large estate, including former monastic land, in Oxford, Kidlington, and Maidenhead (Berks.). (fn. 9) Roger Almont (d. 1640) of Kidlington, presumably Ursula's son, held 2 ¾ yardlands in Kidlington as well as land in Oxford. His son Edward married Anne Standard of Shipton-on-Cherwell, a member of an important local family one branch of which leased Kidlington rectory. (fn. 10) The Almonts died out in the male line in 1725 and the estate passed to the Austins, who occupied the family house in Church Street in the later 18th century but sold their land to the duke of Marlborough c. 1803. (fn. 11) Another family which seems to have benefited from the breakup of the chief manor in the 17th century was the Dodds, who first appeared in Kidlington in 1523 and continued as substantial yeomen until William Dodd sold his land to Adam Bellenger in 1775. (fn. 12) Ethelbert Dodd had goods and chattels valued at £406 at his death in 1669. (fn. 13)

In the later 18th century Joseph Smith of Bayley manor was the largest landowner in Kidlington township, (fn. 14) although his land, most of it leased in two farms, comprised less than a ninth of the township. By 1785 the duke of Marlborough and John Sydenham of Hampden manor, each with two farms, were the next largest landowners, each paying about a tenth of the land tax in the township. The largest single farm was Bouchier's farm, owned by Joseph Smith, which comprised 7 yardlands; the unrelated Richard Smith held a farm of 4 yardlands, 3 of which had been acquired from the Dodd family, and the duke of Marlborough's farms were probably also large. Thrupp was dominated by two estates formed from the original manor, the manor farm itself of 7 yardlands and John Bush's 10 yardlands, each let to a single tenant. From the late 18th century the dukes of Marlborough steadily enlarged their estate in Kidlington and Thrupp, buying, among other properties, 3 yardlands in Thrupp and 1 in Kidlington from Thomas Smith in 1788 and 4 ¾ yardlands of John Sydenham's estate in 1789. (fn. 15) At inclosure the Marlborough estate comprised 19 ¼ yardlands in Kidlington and 3 in Thrupp, nearly a third of the townships. Two local men, Adam Bellenger and William Wild, built up estates of 4 ½ yardlands each in the years before inclosure.

The process of inclosure, which started in 1810, ended in 1818 when c. 2,466 a. of former open field land, including Kidlington green, the town green, and Campsfield, and c. 19 a. of old inclosure, were divided among 42 landowners. William Bulley, by agreement with the duke of Marlborough, received c. 21 a. in compensation for loss of manorial rights in Kidlington, and Richard Bourne Charlett 7 a. for manorial rights in Thrupp. Exeter College was allotted c. 49 a. for rectorial glebe and 282 a. for rectorial tithes, and the rector of the college, as vicar, 29 ½ a. for glebe and 177 a. for tithes. The largest allotment, 681 a., was made to the duke of Marlborough; John Bush received 218 a., Anne Morrell c. 160 a., Richard Bourne Charlett 157 ½ a., and Adam Bellenger 117 a. Apart from two allotments of 95 a. and 93 a. each, all the other allotments were under 50 a., and 10 were of less than 1 a., most of them in Kidlington green or town green, adjoining their owners' cottages. (fn. 16)

Inclosure created large compact farms in the outlying parts of the parish, although the largest landowners, the duke of Marlborough and Exeter College, had three and two farms respectively. Some allotments were made for the convenience of tenants; the Queen's College allotment, of which John Bellenger was lessee, adjoined Bellenger's own allotment, and Exeter's allotment for the mill property was close to one of the miller's own allotments. Brasenose College's 40 a. lay in three separate blocks, but the College's tenants may have leased adjoining land from other landowners. The effect of inclosure in Kidlington was to increase the total number of properties by greatly increasing the number of those assessed for land tax at 5s. or less, from 10-12 between 1785 and 1805 to 26 in 1815 and 40 in 1825. The number of occupiers, which had fallen from 65 in 1785 to 50 in 1805, also rose, to 72 in 1815 and 1825. In Thrupp, however, while the number of owners remained steady at 12 between 1801 and 1824, the number of occupiers fell from 12 to 9 or 10. (fn. 17)

The new large farms made possible the improvement of the land by extensive drainage schemes and the conversion to arable of former pasture at Campsfield and on Kidlington green. In 1840 the tenant of part of the rectory was draining land at Campsfield, and further major work was undertaken there in 1860 and at the Moors in 1879. (fn. 18) Draining was recommended in 1847 for the part of the Morrell land inclosed from Kidlington green, and land in Thrupp was being drained in 1881. (fn. 19) The rectory farm at Campsfield was mainly arable by 1821 when the chief crop was barley; beans, oats, and wheat were also grown and there were c. 140 sheep and some cattle. (fn. 20) In 1847 the Morrell allotment on the green was cultivated on a rotation of (1) oats (2) wheat (3) turnips (4) barley (5) seeds (6) wheat. (fn. 21) Thrupp Manor farm, too, was mainly arable in 1886, although the farmer kept some sheep, cattle, and poultry. (fn. 22) In 1820 the chief farm in Gosford comprised 134 a. of arable and 46 a. of pasture. (fn. 23) Exeter College's tenants in Kidlington and Thrupp experienced difficulties and losses in 1821 and 1830 and again in 1886 from low prices and poor seasons. Gosford farmers, too, were in difficulties in 1821. (fn. 24)

During the 19th century Kidlington and Thrupp comprised between 10 and 18 farms, the number gradually declining. The chief farms were the two Campsfield farms, the Rectory farm, Stratfield farm, and Thrupp Manor farm. In 1851 farms ranged from 245 a. (probably one of the Campsfield farms) down to 13 a., and in 1881 from 496 a. for one of the Campsfield farms down to 38 a. for Hill farm. A farm of 915 a. recorded in 1871 probably included land outside the parish. (fn. 25) In the early 20th century much of Campsfield was farmed from the Blenheim estate Home farm at Bladon. (fn. 26) Throughout the century agriculture was the main employment in Kidlington and Thrupp, although the proportion of farm workers declined fairly steadily from 73 per cent of the working population in 1801 to only 29 per cent in 1881. Actual numbers employed varied less, rising from 169 in 1801 to 186 in 1851 and falling to 153 in 1881; numbers employed on farms in the townships rose from c. 61 in 1851 to 117, including 3 women, in 1881. Gosford was farmed as two farms, Gosford Hill farm (c. 200 a.) and another of 40-50 a.; 7 labourers were employed out of the 7-11 who lived in the township. (fn. 27)

In the 20th century the pattern of mainly arable farming continued, but the area available was greatly reduced by building development. Poultry were particularly important in the 1930s, and in the 1970s one farm specialized in pigs. (fn. 28) In 1983 there was still arable land north and south of the built-up area, and some meadow and pasture along the Cherwell; in the north-west was a fruit farm.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY. Occupational surnames recorded in Kidlington in the late 13th century and the early 14th included smith, carpenter, cooper, fisher, cook, and tailor; none was recorded in Thrupp, and only a shepherd in Gosford. (fn. 29) Among those compensated in 1342 for wool taken for the king's use were one man from Kidlington and a man and woman from Thrupp. (fn. 30) In 1443-4 a Kidlington man carried wool to Southampton and returned with 7 bales of woad for John Dyer of Kidlington, and two Kidlington men who ordered wine for an Oxford vintner in Southampton in 1447 may have gone to the port with wool or cloth. (fn. 31a) A weaver was recorded in 1415, an alien born in Gelderland who had permission to live in Kidlington in 1437 was perhaps a Flemish weaver, and a woolman surnamed Dyer was recorded in the village in 1482. (fn. 32a)

From the 16th century there were many references to the usual village craftsmen such as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, ploughwrights, and carpenters. There was a butchers' shambles in 1550 and a butcher's shop in 1571, and butchers were recorded in 1692 and 1828. Bakers were recorded in 1565, 1700, 1743, and 1770. (fn. 33a) Weavers were recorded in 1571, 1603, and 1637, the last a man who died possessed of a loom and other equipment; a fuller died in 1688, tailors were recorded in 1555 and 1729, (fn. 34a) another weaver in 1739, and a hemp dresser in 1763. (fn. 35a) A roper seems to have lived in Kidlington in 1700. (fn. 36a) There was a woolstapler in the parish in 1801. (fn. 37a) There were also a few traders: mercers in 1641 and 1660 and a tallow chandler in 1687. (fn. 38a) In 1795 the duke of Marlborough owned a coal wharf by the canal at Langford Lane. Cordwainers, one in Gosford, were recorded in 1705 and 1711, and masons in 1794 and 1830. (fn. 39a)

During the 19th century (fn. 40a) the numbers in non-agricultural employment steadily increased as professional men and prosperous tradesmen from Oxford settled in the village. Throughout the period 1841-81 the next largest employer after agriculture was domestic service, although there were few large households and many of the servants lived out, perhaps working in Oxford. The professional or independent people, who formed the third or fourth largest group in the village, ranged from humble annuitants to, in 1881, Bryan Stapleton, deputy lieutenant of Oxfordshire, and included teachers, physicians, and surgeons, as well as a 'professor in flower painting' in 1851, and the architect S. L. Seckham, who was living with his father, a grazier, in the parish in 1851. The canal provided employment for four or five people, most of them in Thrupp, and was presumably responsible for the presence of a coal merchant by 1841. In 1851 the railway, then being built, employed 22 men, most of them labourers from outside the parish, and there were 11 railway workers in 1871 and 1881. Apart from some boot- and shoe-making and tailoring, there was no industry in Kidlington itself; the two paper workers recorded in 1851 presumably worked in Hampton Gay or Wolvercote, the printer's assistant recorded in 1881 in Oxford. From c. 1887, however, there was a printer in Kidlington; other late 19th- and early 20th-century businesses included a saw mill, Webb and Bennett, bell-hangers, and in 1891 Henry Gilbert, ironmonger and cycle agent, refiner of the celebrated Gilbert's machine and cycle oils. (fn. 41a) There was very little gloving, despite the proximity of the centre of that industry at Woodstock. (fn. 42a) Thrupp remained almost completely agricultural, except that the canal attracted one or two boatmen or bargemen, and in 1851 a sloop-maker and a lighterman. At least 22 boats owned by Thrupp men worked on the canal between 1879 and 1920. (fn. 43a) Almost all the few people living in Gosford were agricultural workers.

Kidlington's 20th-century expansion was as a dormitory village for Oxford, and although services, including shops of all kinds, expanded to meet increasing demand, there was little local industry until after the Second World War. The building boom of the 1930s led to a great increase in the numbers engaged in building and related trades. After a fall during the war numbers rose again to a peak of seven builders and contractors in 1954. The main road attracted garages and car dealers, rising from one in 1925 to as many as seven in 1983. (fn. 44a) In 1923 a farmers' co-operative established the Oxfordshire Farmers' Bacon Factory Ltd. on a site opposite the railway station; the factory became the Kidlington Bacon Factory c. 1930 and production continued until c. 1960. (fn. 45a)

In 1935 Oxford city council bought 580 a. at Campsfield for a municipal airport which opened in 1938 as an airforce landing ground and in 1939 as a civil airport leased to General Aircraft Ltd. The airport was requisitioned by the Air Ministry in 1939 and 1940, and a flying school established. Civil aviation, mainly charter flying, began again in 1946. (fn. 46a) In 1957 the site was leased to Goodhew Aviation Ltd. and in 1960 to Pressed Steel Ltd. A pilot training school was established in 1960 and by 1969 the airport, leased to C.S.E. (Aviation) Ltd., housed the largest civil pilot training school in Europe as well as facilities for sales and servicing of aircraft. In 1976 the school trained as many as 400 pilots for many of the world's major airlines and employed a ground staff of 500. (fn. 47a)

Plans for a small industrial zone by the airport, first mooted in 1938, were delayed by the Second World War, (fn. 48a) although a concrete manufacturer was established there by 1940. (fn. 49a) A milk processing plant was erected in Langford Lane in 1952 (fn. 50a) and by 1956 Pressed Steel Ltd. was using part of the airport premises for storing, sorting, and packing components. Aircraft manufacturing companies were established by 1963. (fn. 51a) In 1960 a local firm, Robert Moss Ltd., makers of plastic mouldings, which had started in 1951 in a garden shed in Kidlington and moved in 1953 to a disused garage, moved to a new factory in Langford Lane. (fn. 52a) Other factories were built on the station approach, including Pressed Steel Commercial Refrigeration Ltd. and Puragene Products (liquid detergent manufacturers) by 1966 and Canada Dry (mineral waters) by 1970; all had closed by 1983. (fn. 53a) In 1968 a small industrial estate was established on the old station site; 16 small factories were built and the old bacon factory converted. (fn. 54a) The estate was occupied mainly by light engineering works and warehouses. (fn. 55a) In 1983 the largest factory was occupied by a medical engineering firm.

MILLS. There was a mill worth 30s. on Robert d'Oilly's Kidlington manor in 1086, (fn. 56a) and it descended with the manor until Henry d'Oilly granted it, with the service of Ellis the miller, to Oseney abbey between 1219 and 1223. Ellis's son Warin granted his interest in the mill to Oseney between 1236 and 1239, and c. 1240 his brother William added the associated fishery. (fn. 57a) After the Dissolution its mills passed, with the rest of Oseney's estate in the parish, to Oxford cathedral and then to Exeter College. (fn. 58a) The college leased the mills, in the 17th century to from C.S.E. (Aviation) Ltd. local yeomen and gentlemen some of whom presumably sublet them, for most of the 18th and 19th centuries to a succession of millers. (fn. 59a)

Between 1268 and 1285 Oseney built a new mill, presumably a second wheel, next to the old one, with its own sluices and mill leet. (fn. 60a) The abbey made a new weir and brought a new millstone from Henley in 1290-1. (fn. 61a) In 1544 the property comprised two water mills, a cottage, and a stable. About 1680 the mill was destroyed by lightning and rebuilt, still as a double mill, by the lessee, Martin May; (fn. 62a) part of that work survived in 1983. The mills were repaired or partially rebuilt in 1791. (fn. 63a) Exeter College made further repairs to the mill in 1826-7 and installed a new wheel in 1896. (fn. 64a) The mill ceased to be used c. 1918, was sold by Exeter College in 1922, and was converted into a private house 1978-81. (fn. 65a)

There was a mill on Wadard's son's manor in Thrupp in 1086, worth 6s. and 125 eels a year. (fn. 66a) The mill descended with the manor to John Bush in 1699, but was not sold to Sir Francis Page, descending instead to John's son Thomas Bush, to Thomas's son Jonathan, and to Jonathan's sons Thomas and John. In 1788 John sold it to the Oxford Canal Co. which demolished the mill and converted the pond into the canal basin. The mill was a double grist mill with two sets of stones under the same roof in 1692 and 1788. (fn. 67a) There was a horse mill at Gosford in the 15th century, the property of Oseney abbey. (fn. 68a)

WATER EATON. By the early 16th century the main part of Water Eaton was divided into two large arable fields north and south of the village; the detached part of the township was a separate field, Cutteslowe field, perhaps cultivated with St. Frideswide's estate in Cutteslowe, and the area south of Fries and west of the Banbury road was a separate furlong, Jordan Hill. (fn. 69a) In 1601 a tenant's land was divided between Water Eaton field and Oxford field. Fries was inclosed pasture, but Hill field close, recorded in 1674, may preserve an old field name. (fn. 70a) Nothing is known of the medieval grouping of these fields for cropping. Water Eaton was well supplied with meadow and pasture, each estimated to be 10 furlongs long by 10 furlongs wide in 1086. The meadow presumably lay along the Cherwell, the pasture in the north and east, in the later Water Eaton green and marsh. No meadow or pasture was recorded at Cutteslowe. (fn. 71a)

Water Eaton was inclosed early. There was inclosed demesne at Henslade, on the southern boundary of the township by 1424. (fn. 72a) In 1508 the abbot of Oseney was accused of inclosing 107 a. of arable, and the arrangement seems to have been confirmed in 1511 when, by agreement with its tenants, the abbey inclosed the South field and extinguished rights of common in eight of the adjoining meadows along the Cherwell, giving the tenants in exchange arable in Cutteslowe field, Jordan Hill, and Henslade Close, rights of common in South field mead and Cutteslowe marsh, pasture in the west part of Cutteslowe leys and Rowcroft close, and the hay tithe of Northam mead. The effect of the agreement seems to have been to concentrate the tenants' land in the west and north, and to enable Oseney to inclose an area between the extra-parochial part of Cutteslowe and the Cherwell. Sparsey and the rest of the demesne had been inclosed by 1570. (fn. 73a) In the 1560s, perhaps as a result of inclosures in North field, there was a dispute between John Bury and his tenants over their rights under the agreement of 1511. (fn. 74a) Two open fields, North field and the Breach, were recorded in the 1570s, but the Breach seems to have been inclosed by 1585 and c. 100 a. in Low or North field was inclosed, drained, and converted to pasture c. 1592 by William Frere. In exchange Frere divided among his tenants c. 40 a. of arable in Twisdelowe, west of Jordan Hill furlong, which he had acquired from William Lenthall of Cutteslowe. (fn. 75a) In 1601 one tenant held land in Oxford field, (fn. 76a) perhaps St. Giles's field in Oxford.

Inclosure was accompanied by extension of the demesne, which in 1585 had comprised little more than the area inclosed by Oseney abbey in 1511. By 1659 it included the Holt, Low field, New Lease, and the Breach in the north, as well as parts of Cutteslowe field and Rough close in the south, and was estimated to contain 928 a. out of a total of 1,252 a. in the manor. Of the remaining 183 a., c. 12 a. held by 8 tenants were inclosed or consolidated in Cutteslowe field and c. 52 a. were scattered in Jordan Hill field. Half of the green had been inclosed, drained, and divided among the tenants by 1590, and more of it was being inclosed in 1622, but in 1659 Little green (c. 11 a.), Great green (96 a.), and the marsh (33 a.) were still common pasture. Although some land was still in the open fields in 1675, all the tenants' land seems to have been inclosed by 1684. (fn. 77a)

No demesne ploughteams were recorded in Water Eaton in 1086, but the 26 villeins and 7 bordars had 9 teams, and as the manor was said to have land for only 5 teams, presumably some were used on the 3 1/2 hides of inland. Roger d'Ivri's Cutteslowe manor had land for 3 teams; there were 2 teams on the demesne, but no details were given of the tenants' land. (fn. 78a) There are no later medieval surveys of Oseney's Water Eaton manor, but c. 1590, after the inclosure of the South field, there were 17 1/2 tenant yardlands on Frere's manor. (fn. 79a) In 1675 Water Eaton was assessed for taxation at 25 yardlands and Fries at a further 5 yardlands, making a total of 30 yardlands in the township. (fn. 80a) 16th- and 17th-century yardlands in Water Eaton were smaller than those in Kidlington, only c. 18 a. of arable in 1590 and between 14 a. and 16 a. in 1670, but the small size was claimed to be the result of inclosure. (fn. 81a)

Water Eaton was throughout the Middle Ages the administrative centre for one of Oseney abbey's bailiwicks, which included land in Cassington, Worton, Wood Eaton, and Hanborough. Until the mid 14th century or later most of the estate was kept in demesne and used to supply the abbey. Only one free tenant was recorded in 1280. The produce sent to Oseney that year from the bailiwick included 173 qr. of wheat, 74 qr. of hard corn, 220 qr. of summer corn, 58 qr. of oats, 511 fleeces and 66 wool fells, as well as 7 oxen, 9 cows, 2 bullocks, 10 calves, and numbers of geese, capons, hens, doves, eggs, cheese, and butter. (fn. 82a) Water Eaton manor was still producing corn for the abbey in 1344-5. (fn. 83a) Works from Cutteslowe were commuted in 1280, but the abbey was still exacting labour services from some of its tenants in 1321 when two men were amerced for default on two days' carrying service and one day's labour and in 1357 when one man was amerced for delaying his mowing, haymaking, and reaping services. (fn. 84a) In 1424 a man was ordered to bring his two sons back into the liberty. (fn. 85a)

Water Eaton appears to have been prosperous in the early 14th century, with a fairly even distribution of wealth, although in 1306 the abbot of Oseney's assessment for subsidy, 11s., was much the highest in the township. The abbot was exempt in 1316 when of the 18 people taxed 9 were assessed at 5s. or 6s. and only 1 at less than 2s.; in 1327 of the 22 people taxed, 6 were assessed at between 5s. and 7s., the rest at between 4s. and 1s. Although Water Eaton's assessment in 1316 and 1327 was nearly three quarters that of Kidlington, in 1334 the township was assessed at £2 11s. 6d., only a third of Kidlington's assessment. (fn. 86a) Some of the wealthier men may have been wool producers: two Water Eaton men had 1 and 2 stone of wool taken from them for the king's use in 1342. (fn. 87a) By 1523, when 32 men were assessed for subsidy, there were two comparatively wealthy men, Richard Andrews, probably lessee of the manor, assessed at £3 6s. 8d., and John Dennet, probably lessee of Cuttleslowe pasture, assessed at £1 3s.; 17 men were assessed at the labourers' rate of 4d. Only 25 men were assessed in 1524, 15 of them on wages. Most were presumably customary tenants of the manor; no freeholders were recorded in 1535. (fn. 88a)

The field names Bean acre, recorded in the mid 12th century, and Bean hill, Rye croft, and Hemp croft recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries, indicate medieval crops, and Wyniyard, Wineyard, or Wymyard was presumably once a vineyard. (fn. 89a) Hemp and flax were recorded in 1588, (fn. 90a) and 17th-century probate inventories show that the chief crops were wheat, barley, pulse, and vetches; oats were also grown. (fn. 91a) In 1290-1 Oseney abbey received 39 tithe lambs from Water Eaton, suggesting that there were at least 400 breeding ewes in the township. (fn. 92a) Some tenants' flocks trespassing in Oseney's corn and meadows in 1359 and 1360 numbered as many as 60, 80, or 100 sheep, and several tenants had 1 or 2 cows, some as many as 4; in 1360 one man was amerced for a trespass with 31 cattle. (fn. 93a) In 1511 it was agreed that Oseney should have common for 300 sheep in Cutteslowe field and Jordan Hill, and the tenants agreed to wash and shear 400 of the abbey's sheep each year. (fn. 94a) Bequests of sheep and cattle were common in the 16th century and several people were amerced for putting too many sheep on the commons. One man in 1607 left 152 sheep and 12 cattle, and another in 1696 a total of 289 sheep and 48 cattle, all in inclosed grounds. In the later 17th century the township was known for its good pasture. (fn. 95a) In the 17th century the stint for a yardland was 8 cattle and 5 horses, and only 20 sheep, but inclosure destroyed the relationship between commons and yardlands, and in 1659 the total commons enjoyed by the tenants were for 73 cattle, 31 horses, and 190 sheep. (fn. 96a)

Fries presumably contained some arable in the early Middle Ages, but in the late 15th century its chief value seems to have been as woodland which produced several hundred faggots a year for Oseney abbey. By the early 16th century it was almost entirely pasture. (fn. 97a)

In 1501 Broadgates Hall, Oxford, bought dairy produce from Agnes Warren of Water Eaton, probably farmer or lessee of the demesne. (fn. 98a) In 1509 John Warren was lessee of the demesne, but Oseney had retained Cutteslowe pasture for its own cattle. (fn. 99a) The abbey's immediate successors presumably continued to lease the demesne, but from the late 16th century William and Edward Frere kept much of the demesne in hand. In 1631, however, almost the whole demesne was leased to Anthony Findall of Oxford and Richard Winch, and in 1641 and 1652 Lord Lovelace kept only the manor house and gardens and a small amount of meadow and pasture in hand. (fn. 1a) In the late 17th century the Lovelaces and Sir Henry Johnson seem to have managed Water Eaton through agents, keeping some land in hand. In 1694 the agents were reported to be ploughing the oat ground and selling oats; in 1697 Johnson's agent supplied poultry, including turkeys and geese, and a basket of pears from the estate, and early in 1698 was buying oats and barley and preparing to plough some land. (fn. 2a) Much of the pasture in the township was leased out, some of it to Oxford butchers, but most of it in 1691 to a grazier. (fn. 3a)

In the 17th century most of the tenants of the manor were tenants for life, although the demesne was usually leased for years in two or more parcels. In 1631 there were 21 tenants for life, in 1641 and 1659 only 19, in 1670 only 18. (fn. 4a) Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries Water Eaton was predominantly pasture, and was let out in three or four farms. (fn. 5a) In the early 19th century one farmer, Mr. Rowland, had two teams of oxen for ploughing, and dairy herds of short horned Yorkshires and long horned Herefords. Mr. Wyatt had 60-70 cattle, both long and short horns, and bred bulls for sale. He also bred Leicester sheep 'with attention and success', but Rowland bought sheep to fatten. On his arable Rowland used a rotation of (1) turnips (2) barley (3) clover (4) wheat (5) beans (6) wheat; he also grew swedes to feed sheep. He had grown flax for animal feed, but had found it less good than oil cake. Mr. Knapp, tenant of the manor house, grew apples commercially. (fn. 6a)

In 1730 and 1783 Fries farm comprised the Mead (10 a.), two coppices (1 1/2 a.), and 6 grounds and 2 closes (c. 186 a.), at least one of which, Wheat close (11 a.), may have been arable. (fn. 7a) By 1863 the farm had been reduced to 160 a., of which c. 120 were arable, c. 37 a. grass or meadow, and 1 1/2 a. wood. (fn. 8a)

There were five farms in the township in 1841, 1871, and 1881, but in 1851, perhaps in error, only four were reported. Acreages varied; in 1851 William Rowland at the manor house farmed 380 a., as did the tenant of Poverty Hall, and the other farms reported were 190 a. and 160 a. In 1871 the two largest farms were unchanged, a third was 370 a., and the two others were c. 150 a.; in 1881 the largest farm had been increased to 410 a. at the expense of the third farm which had been reduced to 340 a. Nearly half the working population of the township were agricultural labourers in 1841, and just over a quarter were servants in farmhouses; in 1851 there were 19 agricultural and 9 general labourers, 9 servants, and 6 men employed on the railway. In 1871 two thirds of the working population were agricultural labourers, and in 1881 just over half. Most of the remainder were domestic and farm servants; the railway provided employment for two or three men. The brickmaker recorded in 1881 presumably worked at the brickworks at Peartree Hill which were in production from 1876 or earlier until the early 20th century. (fn. 9a) Water Eaton, unlike Kidlington, remained completely agricultural; the number of farms remained at five: Northfield, Middle, Manor, Southfield, and Fries; (fn. 10a) from the late 1960s Northfield and Manor farms were farmed together. The land was almost entirely pasture until the mid 20th century when much of it was converted to arable. Northfield farm was sold in the 1960s, but Middle, Manor, and Southfield (c. 750 a.) remained part of the Sawyer estate in 1983. The detached part of the township was cultivated as a market garden until its sale to the city of Oxford in 1925. (fn. 11a) A grain silo, built near the railway by the Ministry of Food in 1940, was still in use in 1983. (fn. 12a)

There was a mill on the manor worth 15s. in 1086. (fn. 13a) In the mid 12th century the younger Robert d'Oilly granted it to St. Frideswide's priory. About 1220, after a dispute over suit to the mill and over tithe, the priory quitclaimed to Oseney abbey the suit of the abbey's men to the mill, as long as Oseney's servants milled there. (fn. 14a) The mill, called Hulk's mill after its tenant Walter Hulk, was confirmed to St. Frideswide's in 1227 and was in the priory's hands in 1388. (fn. 15a) It descended with the manor as part of the demesne, and was held of Lord Lovelace in 1631. It had certainly gone by 1659, although the associated fishery survived into the 17th century. (fn. 16a)