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SAMFAL History of the Fields |
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Tithe Map of 1840: The map below is a copy of the 1840 Tithe Map which was annotated by Colin Miller, a former resident of Shirenewton. It was given to the Shirenewton Local History Society and is labeled Sheet 2C.
The outline of the fields owned by the Association is shown in pale blue. Note that the pattern of fields is very similar to that of today, allowing for the fact that dwellings have encroached into part of this 'Green Wedge', most notably Bleddyn Close, Tan House Court and Orchard Rise. It is very likely that this field pattern dates to medieval times. The original Tithe Map just showed the number of each taxable piece of land. It was accompanied by a separate document called the Tithe Apportionments, which listed parcels of land by owner and by tenant within owner. A transcript of the relevant page from the Tithe Apportionments is shown below. Again we must be grateful to Colin Miller for this transcription - the original document, a copy of which is also with the Local History Society, is more difficult to read. he Tithe map and Apportionments tell us a lot about the fields as they were in 1840. Click on the image for a larger view.
The owner: William Hollis was an extremely wealthy and influential man, possibly the richest person ever to reside in Shirenewton. He was born in 1797 and died in 1865. He inherited the wealth of the Hollis Dynasty, owners of paper mills on Mounton Brook. These mills were an important industry employing a lot of local people, especially in the later 1700s and perhaps attracted newcomers to the parish. He was Sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1831 and rebuilt Shirenewton Court (Now called Shirenewton Hall) around this time. It has been suggested that he also rebuilt the Rectory Manor House (Now called Cae pw-cella) - he married the Rector's daughter in 1836. He lived in the Hall until moving to Bristol in 1848. It is not surprising that William Hollis owned our fields since he owned most of the land and dwellings to the north, west and south of the village at that time, including at least 5 'pubs'. The settlement at Mynyddbach was an exception being mainly populated by squatters or their descendants. The Tenant: John Benjamin was in occupation of the whole 'Green Wedge' area including the Tan House, which had been a pub for many years already. He also rented land from Hollis on the other side of Spout Hill. Note from the Tithe Apportionments above that another Benjamin, Christopher rented two small parcels of land. Later in the century a Famous Prize Fighter (Champion of Wales) William Benjamin kept the Cross Hands (Now 'The Huntsman'). He was born in 1825. There are Benjamins living in the Parish and nearby to this day. The Road: The map clearly shows that the road that is now Tan House Court ran all the way through to a crossroads at what is now Pear Tree Cottage. Evidence of this old roadway, which is now just a footpath, can be seen in our fields today. There is a local oral tradition that this was once a Roman road. Field Names and Purpose: The Apportionments give the names and types of agriculture of each plot of land ('A' for Arable, 'M for Meadow, and 'P' for Pasture). Our two fields were called Lower Cae Wern and Tanner's Mead. Wern (or Gwern) is Welsh for 'Alder Trees' or 'Alder Marsh', or just 'Swamp' - c.f. Llanwern - so we can assume the field was just as boggy then as it is today. The other name probably relates to the likelihood that tanning was going on in the general area. Both fields are designated as Meadows as are many other fields in the 'Green Wedge'. Dr George Peterken, President of the Gwent Wildlife Trust, recently gave a talk on Hay Meadows in the Wye Valley to the Local History Society and he warned of being too prescriptive about whether a field marked 'Meadow' on a Tithe Map was actually a Hay Meadow - sometimes a field alternated between Hay Meadow and Pasture. However, he also said that Hay Meadows were typically found close to villages since the hay they yielded was an important source of food for horses, etc. So it is reasonable to conclude that our fields were Hay Meadows 170 years ago. Some of the other fields in John Benjamin's holding have interesting names. Why might a sawpit be so close to a tannery, and could there have been a wall in the field to the north of ours? Further Reading Birbeck, T.T., Sword and Ploughshare: The story of De Bohuns and Caldicot (The Chepstow Society, c.1973) Bradney, Sir J.A., A History of Monmouthshire: Vol 4, Part 1 (Facsimile edn of 1929 edn Merton Priory Press, Cardiff, 1994) Bradney, Sir J.A., A History of Monmouthshire: Vol 4, Part 2 (Facsimile edn of 1932 edn Merton Priory Press, Cardiff, 1994) Morgan, R., Place-names of Gwent (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Llanwrst, 2005) Osborne G. and Hobbs, G., The Place-name of Eastern Gwent (Old Bakehouse Publications, Abertillery, 1998) Walters, I., Mounton Valley Paper Mills (Chepstow Society, 1978) All of these publications are available in the Shirenewton Local History Society Local Resource Centre. Suggestions for Further Research Archaeology of the former road running between our two fields. Other early maps of the village. Benjamin Family Tree . Map other fields marked 'Meadow' in the Parish . Why is Coxe's Well so called? Some recent photos of the field: Members Nic and Bella Carpenter have kindly responded to our request for old photos of the fields with the following snaps.The first shows the most easterly of the green wedge fields at the time that the new houses at the bottom of School Hill were being completed. Nic tells us that the photo was taken by the firm that did the survey for the new gas pipeline, which came to the village in 1991, so the photo was probably taken in 1990. Click on the photo for a larger image.
The photo is useful for two reasons. It shows that the fields were being grazed and an almost complete absence of brambles. It also shows the tracks made by the builders as they dumped soil from the building site into our fields, thereby upsetting some of the ecology.
The second photo shows Nic's granddaughters on a walkway over the brook. Bella thinks that it was taken 10 years ago, so in 1999. The fields look like they were still being grazed (though with thistles (?) and docks (?)) but the area around the brook has been overgrown.
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