Tithes

The tithe was an annual payment of an agreed proportion (originally one-tenth) of the yearly produce of the land, which was payable by parishioners to the parish church, to support it and its clergyman. Originally tithes were paid ‘in kind’ (wool, milk, honey, fish, barley etc) and were payable on 3 categories of produce:

All things which grew and which increased annually e.g. grain, vegetables and wood.
All things which were nourished by the ground - lambs, calves etc. - and animal produce like milk, hides, eggs and wool.
The produce of man’s labour - particularly the profits of mills and fishing

Tithes were also categorised as being great and small. Great tithes, from corn, other grains, hay and wood, commonly payable to the Rector of a Parish, were also called ‘Rectorial Tithes’. Rectors were often remote from the parishes, so a new deputy or vicar was appointed to act as the parish priest. Because the vicar was not entitled to the great tithe, it was usual to provide him with the small tithes, worth about a third of the total tithe of the parish, as a basis for a living Small tithes, from all other things which grew, like vegetables, fruit, hops, also animals and animal produce, and milling and fishing profits, commonly payable to the Vicar of a Parish, also called ‘Vicarial Tithes’. The difference in income between the Rector and the Vicar could be quite considerable, with the bulk of the tithe income often going to an absentee Rector. Some Vicars did their utmost to increase their income by making such produce as acorns or fallen apples tithable! At the dissolution of the monasteries in the early 1500s, many of the great tithes, rectorial tithes, passed into the hands of laymen, who became the new owners of the church land and its accompanying rectorial tithes.

By 1836 tithes were still payable in most of the parishes in England and Wales, but the Government had decided on the commutation of tithes, the substitution of money payments for payment ‘in kind’ all over the country, and the Tithe Commutation Act was passed in 1836. Three Tithe Commissioners were appointed and the long process of commutation began, with Assistant Commissioners stationed around the country to oversee implementation of the Act. The Act proposed a fluctuating money payment adjusted each year and based on the average price of wheat, barley, and oats.

A survey of the whole of England and Wales was therefore necessary. Enquiries were sent to every parish and township listed in the census returns, and meetings took place all over the country to find out how much commutation had already taken place. The Commissioners then established Tithe Districts to distinguish them from parishes. Most Tithe Districts corresponded with parishes, but the Commissioners could, if necessary, form separate districts. Many parish boundaries came under close scrutiny, perhaps for the first time in centuries, and maps showing these were drawn up. These were the Tithe Maps. This huge effort to survey the country in the 1840s gives us the first detailed view of the rural landscape of England and Wales.

Froyle had its own Tithe map as well as a Tithe Book which recorded all the fields, their area, name and the amount payable on them. These two documents were saved from a bonfire some years ago. The Tithe Map is too large to present here, but the accompanying Tithe Book makes a fascinating record of Froyle in 1847. The following pages have been formatted for (relatively) easy web viewing, but there is a downloadable copy of the Tithe book in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format available on the previous page.