CHAPTER XI.

LAND, AGRICULTURE, AND FARMERS.

SUFFOLK takes a high rank as an Agricultural county, and it will naturally be expected that we should enter with some degree of minuteness into that which is the characteristic of the county. We commence, therefore, with

THE LAND AND ITS OWNERS.

The varieties of soil which in particular districts give to the cultivation certain definite and peculiar features have been already mentioned: we allude to the sand in a substratum of chalk in the northwestern district, the mixture of shells and marine deposits with sand in the eastern district, and the strong loam on a substratum of clay marl in the centre and south-west parts of the county. The tract of sandy land along the eastern coast is extremely light, and in many parts its value is about 5s. an acre. From this tract coprolites have been extensively obtained. Mr. Caird states that, in 1850, the average rent of land in Suffolk was 24s. per acre; in Norfolk it was 25s. 6d., in Essex 26s., and in Lincoln 30s. an acre. In the Risbridge Hundred of Suffolk land varies from 15s. to 30s. an acre, average about 21s. ; in the Thingoe Hundred, 20s. ; Hoxne Hundred, 26s. to 32s.; Stow Hundred, 28s.; Bosmere Hundred, 21s. to 28s. ; Samford Hundred, 25s. to 30s. ;

Blything Hundred, 21s.; and Plomesgate Hundred, 10s. to 25s.

The increased value of land may be inferred from comparison of the rents in Arthur Young's time with those of the present day. In the neighbourhood of Woodbridge, he says, rents rise from 6s. to 17s.; on the average, are 14s. At Eyke, Wantisden, Bromeswell, Sutton, Ramsholt, and Bawdsey, the sheep-walk sands are 4s. or 5s., but the better kinds of land from 14s. to 20s.; in general, about 16s. From Woodbridge to Ipswich it lets from 10s. to 16s. an acre. In the neighbourhood of Bramford it averaged 12s. 6d. per acre, and from thence to Hadleigh about 13s. About Hadleigh some woodcock land let for 15s. an acre, from hence to Lavenham at 12s. an acre, to Stowmarket 10s. 6d., and to Colchester 14s. an acre. From Lavenham to Halstead the land lets from 9s. to 20s. an acre, average about 14s. 6d. Taking Suffolk generally, cultivated land let for 13s. 6d. an acre in 1770, and 24s. an acre in 1850. In 1841, the net rental or annual value of landed property in Suffolk was estimated at £912,062.

In 1851, there were 421 males who returned themselves as land proprietors; also 2 females.

Feeling assured that great misconception prevails among the mercantile classes respecting the situation and circumstances of the owners of land, we have taken considerable pains to ascertain particulars as to what proportion the opulent proprietors bear to those of the middle class and to persons of slender income, and also the extent of each person's ownership. The result is, that the land is proved to be held in much smaller divisions than is generally supposed, and many of the owners are among the most industrious and economic of the community.

It is true that there are a number of instances where the entire parish, or very nearly so, belongs to an

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individual, and we give here many cases known to us. Ampton belongs to Lord Calthorpe; Badley to the Earl of Ashburnham; Helmingham to John Tollemache, Esq.; Woolverstone to John Berners, Esq.; Great Barton to Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart.; Great Livermore to Sir W. F. F. Middleton, Bart.; Rougham to Philip Bennett, Esq.; Rushbroke to Major Rushbroke; Rendlesham and Capel St. Andrew to Lord Rendlesham; Great Thornham to Lord Henniker; Stanningfield, Hengrave, and Flempton to Sir Thomas Rokewood Gage, Bart.; Great Ashfield to Lord Thurlow; Cavenham to H. S. Waddington, Esq.; Dalham to Sir Robert Affleck, Bart. Little Saxham and Ickworth to the Marquis of Bristol; Great Fakenham, Euston, and Barnham to the Duke of Grafton; Great Saxham to William Mills, Esq.; Elvedon to William Newton, Esq.; Wangford, Henham, and Bruisyard to the Earl of Stradbroke; Thorington to Colonel Bence; Benacre to Sir Edward S. Gooch, Bart. ; Shelland and Gipping to Charles Tyrrell, Esq.; Euston to the Duke of Ĥamilton; Burgate and Rickinghall to George St. Vincent Wilson, Esq.; Iken, Orford, and Sudbourne to the Marquis of Hertford; Little Glemham to the Hon. Mrs. North; West Stow, Wordwell, Culford, Ingham, and Timworth to the Rev. E. R. Benyon; and Sir Robert Adair, Bart., has estates in Flixton, Metfield, Southolt, Stradbroke, Tannington, Wilby, Weybread, Wingfield, Worlingworth, Redlingfield, Monewden, Battisford, Offton, the Southelmhams, the Ilketshalls, and in many other parishes, and appeared to us to be the largest landed proprietor in the county.

To obtain returns of the ownership of land from every parish in Suffolk, although greatly to be desired, is too much for an individual to hope. Many gentlemen in various parts of the county obliged us with the facts required, but we soon found it hopeless to expect a friend in each of the 500 parishes prepared to copy from the Rate Book such particulars as we desired.

OWNERS OF LAND.

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We therefore directed our attention to obtaining an accurate return from every parish in one Poor Law Union, as that would convey a fair idea of the ownership of the various holdings in the county; and we selected the Bosmere Union for that purpose. The facts thus obtained we shall now proceed to detail.

The Bosmere Union comprises 39 parishes, in an inland but fertile and picturesque district, containing 57,899 acres. It has generally a clayed soil, well adapted to the growth of corn; and has only 1,781 acres of wood and plantation, and 93 acres of parish commons. It is intersected with good turnpike roads, and the Eastern Union Railway, as well as the navigable river “Gipping," runs through a considerable portion of the district. Commercial improvement has with giant strides gone to the doors of the granary and made a highway where but recently there were only the furrows of the plough, thus giving to the Bosmere district nearly all the advantages that an agricultural district can fairly possess.

Deducting 3,559 acres for houses, gardens, and roads, 93 acres for commons, and 946 for holdings under two acres, there remain 53,301 acres to be accounted for as farms, woods, plantations, etc.; and these 53,301 acres we find are owned by no less than 339 proprietors, giving an average of 157 acres to each owner. An analysis, however, which we shall shortly give, will show the folly of estimating by averages.

Putting aside 435 acres belonging to the Corporation of Ipswich, 246 to the Ipswich Charities, 227 to Feoffees of Charities, 206 to Bishop Andrews' Charity, 147 to Stonham Parish, 23 to Bedingfield Parish, 5 to Stonham Feoffees, 1806 in the hands of Executors, and 312 vested in "Trustees," besides 357 belonging to Thelluson's Trustees," we come to the great body of individual proprietors, and are prepared to say who they

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are, and what number of broad acres they own in the Bosmere Union.

There are 4,665 acres of this district which belong to 42 clergymen, ranging from the Rev. H. White's 5 acres to the 102 of the Rev. Mr. Oakes, the 267 of the Rev. George Sandby, the 451 of the Rev. Mr. Theobald, and the 532 acres of the Rev. E. B. Sparke. In addition, there are 17 acres belonging to the Rectory of St. Peter's, Norwich, 234 to Eton College, 207 to the Dean of Ely, 266 to the Dean of Canterbury, and 482 to King's College, making a total of 5,871 acres, or more than 10 per cent. of the land of the entire Union in the hands of the ecclesiastics and ministers of the Church of England.

It is said that law, custom, and hereditary prejudices conduce to the aggregation of landed property in England, a considerable portion of the land being in the hands of a few persons. Bosmere" forms no exception to this rule, as the following account of the number of acres belonging to several gentlemen will testify. Sir W. F. F. Middleton, Bart., owns 7,045 acres; John Tollemache, Esq., 5,375; Earl of Ashburnham, 2,867; Lord Henniker, 1,605; Sir Philip Broke, Bart., 1,557; Sir Robert Adair, Bart., 1,190. Exclusive of roads and wastes, considerably more than a third of the land of the Bosmere Union is in the hands of these six gentlemen. Other known landed proprietors have but small extents in this district. Thus-Charles Austin, Esq., 490; Sir Joshua Rowley, 155; Lord Rendlesham, 81; George Tomline, Esq., 246; Sir Thomas Cullum, 309; Thomas Milner Gibson, Esq., 135; Lady Nightingale, 30; H. I. Oakes, Esq., 11; R. D. Alexander, Esq., 45; S. A. Maw, Esq., 113; Rev. F. Steward, 197; George Thomas, Esq., 191; Sir H. Pierpoint, 17; J. G. Hart, Esq., 99.

There are 2,365 acres in the ownership of females, mostly in small quantities, there being only two cases