You don't say what period is of interest to you, but I think you are forgetting the very important intermediate class of yeomen, who would have been the tenant farmers of the big landowners, sometimes holding leases which ran for 500 or even a 1,000 years. And don't forget that the church owned lots of land and many people held leases from the bishops - in the case of these two villages it would be the Bishop of Worcester. I went through boxes of his leases last year, though not for Fenny Compton. They are particularly interesting because they were often signed for the lifespan of a family and frequently give the names and ages. I see that the living (appointment of the rector) at Fenny Compton was in the gift of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, so they too may have held other land in the village. MAR in France. MAR in France. > Message du 15/10/07 23:34 > De : Cynvogel@aol.com > A : WARWICK-L@rootsweb.com > Copie à : > Objet : [WAR] ESTATES IN FENNY COMPTON-FARNBOROUGH > > I am trying to figure out social structure in the Fenny Compton-Farnborough > area (southeast Warwickshire) by identifying large land holding estates. To > date I have tripped across the HOLBECH and WYLLYS (Willis) families who > appear to have had large land holdings (appears Wyllys the oldest with the > Holbechs buying them out by 1780+). Would anyone know of any other big land holders > in that area of Warwickshire? > I assume that the remainder of the folk living in that area would be ag > labs, artisans (carpenters, etc.). Thanks, Cynthia in California > > > > ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com > >--- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to WARWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >