Report on Kennerleigh Tithe map at the Village Hall on Tuesday 28th January

Kennerleigh & District Heritage Group News

Thirty people attended the talk on the 1841 Kennerleigh Tithe map at the Village Hall on Tuesday 28^th January. Judi Binks had produced an annotated version of the original map by adding all the original field names and researching the family history of people living there at the time. A future presentation will follow more closely the fate and fortunes of these residents from 175 years ago, using local newspaper notices, recollections and diaries.

Most of the village field names are descriptive, but sometimes lost to the modern world. Fascinating examples are ‘Glitter Field’ and ‘Glitter Bottom’, ‘Coney Field’ , ‘Journey’ and ‘Purry’, but  thanks to local people in the audience  light was shed on these terms: glow worms in the hedges accounting for ‘glitter’, rabbits being the derivation of coney and the pear cider perry possibly producing the name of Purry field. ‘Journey’ is so named because it took one day’s journey to collect the crops from the field.

Notable exceptions to the map were the Rectory and Manor Farm which were not built until 1842.

Judi has already embarked on a similar project with the 1841 Tithe maps for Washford Pyne and Woolfardisworthy East and is keen to for local parishioners to participate in the work.

The best part of the proceedings was the general conversation and discussion which continued well into the evening. It’s just what Judi wanted as she was able to offer up the bare bones of the map for the members of the audience to add their local wisdom and knowledge. Judi is very grateful for all the help she received from Adrian and Julia Miller and Brian and Margaret  Baker and from all the contributors on the night.

Brief notes on the Kennerleigh Tithe Map.

Most of the surveying and mapping was carried out by 1839 by local Crediton firm of Warren, Luckraft, Reaney & Warren.

The Tithe Commissioners assessed the tithe equivalent value of Kennerleigh at £95 per annum, based on a formula of the average price of Wheat Barley and Oats over a 7 year period. 

In 1839, the area of Kennerleigh parish was 627 acres: of which arable land was 384 acres; pasture was 73 acres; woodland 84 acres; moorland and furze 70 acres and 16 acres of orchards.

Sir Stafford Northcote owned all the land except for Reverend John Hole who owned both Creedy Mill and Kennerleigh, together with Kennerleigh Woods. Farm such as Upton, Langham, Staple Green, Woodbear and Leycotte were leased to tenant farmers:William Snow, William Squire,  Isaac and James Brown, John Elworthy, James Lang and William Daw. Delves Cottage now known as Virginia Cottage was a public house called the Har e and Hounds.

The population was 94 in 1801 and dropped to 80 in 1901  whereas the 1841 Census shows 118 persons and a total of 20 dwellings, some of which housed more than one household such as farm servants living in the outbuildings of a farm.

 

General Background to the Tithe Commutation Act 1836

The term usually applied to a map of a parish following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836.

Payment of one tenth of local produce to the church had been established in Anglo Saxon England before the Norman Conquest and was originally in kind - every tenth stook of corn, etc. It originally supported the local priest and the right to receive the tithe was acquired by organisations such as a monastery or college who paid a curate.

Tithes themselves were controversial, particularly among non-conformists who resented supporting the established church, payment in kind was not convenient for either the farmer or the tithe owner and in some parishes, the tithe owner came to an agreement with the tithe payers to receive cash instead of farm produce. This could be for a stated period of time or indefinitely.

During the period of parliamentary enclosure, the enclosure act frequently abolished tithes in return for an allocation of land to the tithe owner. However, in many parishes, tithes continued to be paid in kind.

Tithe Commutation Act 1836 established a process by which tithes could be converted to money payments and so required the drawing of an accurate map showing all the owners and occupiers of land together with field names in the parish frequently providing the earliest evidence for the field system in the parish. A preamble gave the name of the tithe owner. )