Oxlade Family History
"Dwellers in the Valley of the Oaks"
Yeomen Husbandmen and Agriculrural Labourers
Agricultural Labourers at Frieth, Hambleden, Bucks. 1905
A manor required roughly 350 to 800 hectares (about 900 to 2000 acres) of arable land and the same amount of other prescribed lands, such as wetlands, wood lots, and pasture.
Typically, the manor was a self-contained community. On it was the large home of the holder of the fiefa military or church vassal of rank, sometimes given the title lord,
or of his steward. A parish church was frequently included, and the manor might make up the entire parish. One or more villages might be located on the manor, and village peasants were the actual farmers.
Under the direction of an overseer, they produced the crops, raised the meat and draft animals, and paid taxes in services, either forced labour on the lord's lands and other properties or in forced military service. A large manor had a mill for grinding grain, an oven for baking bread, fishponds, orchards, perhaps a winepress or oil press, and herb and vegetable gardens. Bees were kept to produce honey. Woollen garments were produced from sheep raised on the manor. The wool was spun into yarn, woven into cloth, and then sewn into clothing. Linen textiles could also be produced from flax, which was grown for its oil and fibre.
The food served in a feudal castle or manor house varied according to the season and the lord's hunting prowess. Hunting for meat was, indeed, the major non-military work of the lord and his military retainers. The castle residents could also eat domestic ducks, pheasants, pigeons, geese, hens, and partridges; fish, pork, beef, and mutton; and cabbages, turnips, carrots, onions, beans, and peas. Bread, cheese and butter, ale and wine, and apples and pears also appeared on the table. In southern Europe olives and olive oil might be used, often instead of butter. Leather was produced from the manor's cattle.
Horses and oxen were the beasts of burden; as heavier horses were bred and a new kind of harness was developed, they became more important. A blacksmith, wheelwright, and carpenter made and maintained crude agricultural tools.
The cultivation regime was rigidly prescribed. The arable land was divided into three fields one sown in the autumn in wheat or rye; a second sown in the spring in barley, rye, oats, beans, or peas; and the third left fallow. The fields were laid out in strips distributed over the three fields, and without hedges or fences to separate one strip from another. Each male peasant head of household was allotted about 30 strips. Helped by his family and a yoke of oxen, he worked underthe direction of the lord's officials. When he worked on his own fields, if he had any, he followed village custom that was probably as rigid as the rule of an overseer.
About the 8th century a four-year cycle of rotation of fallow appeared. The annual plowing routine on 400 hectares would be 100 hectares plowed in the autumn and 100 in the spring, and 200 hectares of fallow plowed in June. These three periods of plowing, over the year, could produce two crops on 200 hectares, depending on the weather. Typically, ten or more oxen were hitched to the tongue of the plow,often little more than a forked tree trunk. The oxen were no larger than modern heifers. At harvest time, all the peasants, including women and children, were expected to work in the fields. After the harvest, the community's animals were let loose on the fields to forage.
Some manors used a strip system. Each strip, with an area of roughly 0.4 hectare (about 1 acre), measured about 200 m (about 220 yd) in length and from 1.2 to 5 m (4 to 16.5 ft) in width. The lord's strips were similar to those of the peasants distributed throughout good and bad field areas. The parish priest might have lands separate from the community fields or strips that he worked himself or that were worked by the peasants.
In all systems, the lord's fields and needs came first, but about three days a week might be left for work on the family strips and garden plots. Wood and peat for fuel were gathered from the commonly held wood lots, and animals were pastured on village meadows. When surpluses of grain, hides, and wool were produced, they were sent to market.
In about 1300 a tendency developed to enclose the common lands and to raise sheep for their wool alone. The rise of the textile industry made sheep raising more profitable in England, Flanders (now in Belgium), Champagne (France), Tuscany and Lombardy (Italy), and the Augsburg region of Germany. At the same time, regions about the medieval towns began to specialize in garden produce and dairy products.
Independent manorialism was also affected by the wars of 14th- and 15th-century Europe and by the widespread plague outbreaks of the 14th century. Villages were wiped out, and much arable land was abandoned.
The remaining peasants were discontented and attempted to improve their conditions.
With the decline in the labour force, only the best land was kept in cultivation. In southern Italy, for instance, irrigation helped increase production on the more fertile soils. The emphasis on grain was replaced by diversification, and items requiring more care were produced, such as wine, oil, cheese, butter, and vegetables.
Source:
Illustration from Village Life in the 18th Century Century by Herbert Green
..............................................................................Farmers Boy - Webdesign................Drover – Webdesign............................................................................
17thC Granary on Straddle Stones – Built Oxon, restored in Sussex and re-erected in Herefordshire Photo: David George*
Oxon Granary on Straddle Stones
Thought to date from 1680, it is constructed from oak and chestnut beams, held together with wooden pegs and the whole rests upon straddle stones. These rock mushrooms were often used to support granaries, the overhanging top stone was designed to prevent rats from getting into the building and raiding the stores.
Discovered in Oxfordshire, the barn was dismantled and moved to Sussex for restoration, before being put back together in its Herefordshire idyll. Sarah Farley *
Source* Back page, British Country Homes and Interiors , June 2004.
Widmer Farm - Home of one Oxlade line (1711-1822)
The photograph of Widmer Farm shows straddle stones being used as decorative landscape items,
Australia
In S.E. Queensland, Australia , where many people from Bucks, Berks and Oxon, settled, very similar buildings can still be seen on farms. However, they were dwellings rather than granaries and large families were somehow raised in these one or two roomed buildings.
The Government, which was promoting settlement and agricultural development, provided assistance to obtain materials which the settler and his family used to erect their home. The design was put to many uses as shown below, ie the Albert Hall opened in 1920 at Wamuran via Caboolture, Queensland, Australia and the nearby Moodlu School, moved there from Bracalba (Paddy's Pinch around 1880.
Wamuran No. 1724
The ministerial approval for the "Albert Hall" to be used as a Provisional School was given on 2nd. August 1921. The furniture was brought from the recent closed Rocksberg School by the residents of Wamuran. 7/6 (75cents) per week rent was charged by the Hall Committee.
School continued in this Hall (with teachers complaining of excessive heat. No mini skirts then), until the Twin View School building was relocated in 1925 on the ground given for this purpose by Mr. Butt, in August 1921.
School commenced here on the 30th. March 1925. (with teachers complaining of the skimpy bit of play ground and the noise from the mill).
Mr. A. Mollenhagen, Mr. H. Behrens and Mr. A. Meurant rode horses around the district contacting families re schooling, early in 1921.
The first teacher being Miss Barron, then Miss McLean in 1923..
Families who attended school in the "Albert" were Spillane, Eden, Butt, (A) Meurant, Ayere, Behrens, Bridihin, Nicholson, Stirling, Attwood, Reiss, Mole (D.T. & R), Sweedman, Mollenhagen, Green, Rodgers sic, Stern, Patava, Munro, Owens, Kelly, Davidson and Pope.
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................................School at Moodlu via Caboolture............. .......................... .................Albert Hall at Wamuran via Caboolture, Qld,Aust..............
Homestead of C.M.Nothling,Blackall Range, Qld, Australia.
Pit sawing timber for a house, Blackall Range, Qld, Aust.
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