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Hampshire
was one of the earliest points of entry for the Black Death in the summer of
1348. It was at its most virulent during the first six months of 1349, after
which plague mortality abated. Nationally it is thought that the Black Death
killed between 40% and 70% of the population, and some communities were
wiped out altogether. In so far as it is possible to ascertain, Black Death
mortality in Boarhunt may have been relatively low, at 25%. The population
of Boarhunt seems to have recovered fairly quickly so that by the end of the
14th century it was almost the same as it had been before the Black Death.
The century and a half after 1350 was a difficult time for landlords. Faced
with a shortage of tenants, increased tenant mobility and agricultural
depression, they were forced to try to make customary tenancies more
attractive, by ‘improving’ holdings (for example, by adding more land),
lowering entry fines and reducing or removing labour services.
This period
witnessed the gradual decline and ultimate disappearance of villeinage both
as a form of unfree tenure and as unfree personal status.
In Boarhunt
by the end of the 14th century traditional villein labour
services had been commuted to cash rents and by the early 15th century the
majority of tenants were personally free, although some land was still held
by villein tenure. The standard peasant holdings of the pre-Black Death
period disappeared as peasants took advantage of the reduced population to
acquire vacant holdings.
The ready
availability of land meant that tenants abandoned less desirable holdings
and allowed the buildings that were surplus to their requirements to fall
into ruin. The new mobility of the population is reflected in the fact that
much of the population increase in Boarhunt in the late 14th
century was the result of inward migration.
All of these
changes presented Southwick Priory with ongoing problems, as they sought to
enforce traditional custom through the manorial court.
To
illustrate some of these problems, we can look at the activities of John and
Simon Roche, a father and son, as they are recorded in successive court
rolls from 1413 to 1420. John Roche or his father may have been a
post-plague migrant to Boarhunt. Roche’s opportunism meant that he was able
to acquire a mixture of customary and free land in different parts of the
manor. In 1396 he is described as holding three (customary) cottages, for
which he paid 2s 3d every quarter year. At the time of his death he was
holding a messuage (a house) and three acres of villein (or customary) land
from the Priory in joint tenancy with his son, Simon, and a tenement (a
complete peasant holding, with house, land and any outbuildings) in free
tenure from Richard Russell, which may have been where he lived.
In 1413 he
was fined in the manorial court for allowing his ‘tenement’ to fall into
ruin and ordered to repair it before the next court. In this and subsequent
entries it is likely that the ‘tenement’ that is being referred to is the
messuage with its three acres. The fact that he was failing to maintain it
suggests that it was the land attached to the holding he was interested in,
and not the house itself, which he did not need. In 1414 he was fined 3d for
allowing the ditch (in front of his tenement) to overflow onto the highway
and was again ordered to repair his tenement before the next court. In 1416
John Roche died and the court roll recorded a fine of 6d against him because
his tenement (i.e. his messuage) was in ruins. In 1418 Simon
Roche was
fined 3d for failing to repair his tenement, and ordered to repair it before
the next court on pain of a 20s fine. The same court roll records that he
surrendered a cottage with five acres of customary land lying uncultivated
into the lord’s hands. In 1420 and 1421 Simon Roche was again fined for
failing to repair his tenement. After this the court roll series ends so he
disappears from view.
Across the
country the combination of falling grain prices and rising labour costs
meant that many manorial landlords abandoned direct cultivation of the
demesne in the late 14th century.
Southwick
Priory kept the manorial demesne and its mill in hand for as long as
possible but it was unable to resist the economic pressures of the post
plague years and by c.1450 both were being leased to farmers.
Mills were vital in early communities for
producing flour for breadmaking.
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