Hi Folks, Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in 1850 - I need a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why some fields are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? Pam Clarke in Howfen

Hi Pam, I stand to be corrected on this, but I remember learning at school that farmers worked on a 3 field system, i.e. arable (land that is being used for food), pasture that is used for grazing, and meadow land which is left fallow/unused for a year, in order to let it recover. The fields would be used in rotation. Valerie On 24/04/2008, Pam Clarke <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Folks, > > Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in 1850 - I > need > a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why some fields > are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? > > Pam Clarke in Howfen > > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. > Other people can learn from them! > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

A reference book of mine shows a tithe map and says it says that the "recital" gives the total acreages of arable land, pasture, meadows, woodlands and commons. Not sure if the difference is crop rotation. If you put "tithe arable meadow pasture" into GOOGLE BOOKS there are a number of 19th Century books on tithe law. http://tinyurl.com/5ypdgk I think meadow is for growing hay OED 1. a. A piece of land permanently covered with grass to be mown for use as hay; (gen.) a grassy field or other area of grassland, esp. one used for pasture. Also (regional): a tract of low well-watered ground, esp. near a river (cf. WATER-MEADOW n.). But pasture is for grazing OED 1. a. A piece of grassy land used for or suitable for the grazing of animals, esp. cattle or sheep; pastureland. Recorded earliest in ox pasture n. at OX n. Compounds 1a. Arable for growing crops OED Capable of being ploughed, fit for tillage; opposed to pasture- or wood-land. Martin Briscoe Fort William M&LFHS | Gwynedd FHS

Hi Valerie Isnt that the medieval three field system - each village having three large fields which in turn were split into strips? Here is an interesting article which questions the role of the turnip in agricultural improvement. http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/more-on-the-turnip/ Judy On 24 Apr 2008, at 21:58, Valerie lirakis wrote: > Hi Pam, > > I stand to be corrected on this, but I remember learning at school > that > farmers worked on a 3 field system, i.e. arable (land that is being > used for > food), pasture that is used for grazing, and meadow land which is left > fallow/unused for a year, in order to let it recover. The fields > would be > used in rotation. > > Valerie > > > On 24/04/2008, Pam Clarke <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi Folks, >> >> Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in >> 1850 - I >> need >> a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why >> some fields >> are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? >> >> Pam Clarke in Howfen >> >> >> :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: >> >> Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. >> Other people can learn from them! >> >> :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > > Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. > Other people can learn from them! > > :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: :-+-: > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-LAN- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

[email protected] writes: >Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in 1850 - I >need >a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why some >fields >are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? Arable - used for growing crops (able to be ploughed - OED) Pasture - for grazing animals (cattle, sheep) Meadow - Grassland which is (annually) mown for hay HTH Michael

In message <[email protected]>, Pam Clarke <[email protected]> writes >Hi Folks, > >Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in 1850 - I need >a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why some fields >are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? Arable is land that can be ploughed and cropped. Meadow and pasture are both grass but meadow is for mowing i.e. used to make hay (although it would probably be grazed afterwards - the aftermath). I assume meadow land would be more valuable than pasture. Arable would usually be the most valuable, although a good water meadow would probably beat it. Arable land can of course be sown down to grass - as part of the regular rotation or because the corn price is very poor compared with meat and milk - but I would assume it would still be labelled as arable in that case. The only tithe map I've got a copy of lumps all grassland together; it just gives one total for "Meadow or Pasture" and all the individual non-arable fields are labelled "pasture", even though some would certainly have been mown regularly. -- David Hartley

Cheshire Tithe Maps are online and can be seen on their Archive website if anyone wants to look at some examples of them. http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/Default.aspx Martin Briscoe Fort William M&LFHS | Gwynedd FHS > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > David Hartley > Sent: 24 April 2008 22:30 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [ENG-LAN-BOLTON] TITHE MAPS > > The only tithe map I've got a copy of lumps all grassland > together; it just gives one total for "Meadow or Pasture" and > all the individual non-arable fields are labelled "pasture", > even though some would certainly have been mown regularly.

In message <[email protected]>, David Hartley <[email protected]> writes >In message <[email protected]>, Pam Clarke ><[email protected]> writes >>Hi Folks, >> >>Feeling very humble and ignorant - looking at the Tithe map in 1850 - I need >>a crash course in Agriculture - please can someone explain why some fields >>are marked as A=Arable; M=Meadow; and P=Pasture? > >Arable is land that can be ploughed and cropped. Meadow and pasture are >both grass but meadow is for mowing i.e. used to make hay PS Is it the Westhoughton tithe map you're looking at? The list of landowners and occupiers from the Tythe Awards on your excellent OPC site includes a farm called Duggans with owner Nicholas Hartley, occupant R. Hartley. The 1851 census has Nicholas Hartley (and sister) living at Duggans, the 1841 census appears to have them at the same place although it doesn't give the farm name. I.e. it looks like Nicholas was the occupant rather than, or as well as, the owner. If you've got the map to hand, could you please check. Nicholas is also shown as the occupant of a farm called Hodsons, owned by Mr Starkie, do you know where that was? Thank you David Hartley -- David Hartley