Land, Tenure, and Population in the Royal Manor of Havering, Essex, 1251–13521′3

Abstract

T HE king's manor of Havering, i 2 miles east of London, was surveyed by the crown twice during the central medieval period, in I 25i and again a century later. These two Extents, particularly the unusually full record from I352/3, enable us to describe the tenure of land within the manor, to examine the nature of the subtenants and subtenancies, and to calculate how much land each person had in his actual occupancy. A tentative history of land clearing, population, and tenure in Havering during the years between I25i and I 352/3 may be compiled from a variety of other records. The rather precocious development of Havering's economy into a later medieval pattern, and the manor's position on the periphery of the London market, lend general interest to this material. Wavering's physical setting and legal/administrative background were of primary importance to its economic life. The manor was large in size, i6,ooo acres, stretching northward from the Thames for nine miles. After a section of marsh along the river the land in the southern half of the area is easily worked, gravelly soil, of rather low fertility; it was in this region that the original fields and the community of Hornchurch lay. The market town of Romford, on the main London-Chelmsford road, was the institutional centre of the manor, north of which lay heavy London clay, still densely wooded in i 200. With the exception of the enclosed royal park, the woodlands were gradually being taken over by the tenants throughout the medieval and Tudor periods. In io86 the tenant and demesne lands constituted about 5,ooo acres. By I25I this had grown to 8,500 acres, and in the following century another i,000 acres were added. Between I350 and i650 the arrented land grew from 9,500 to i2,000 acres. Havering was a royal manor of the ancient demesne.2 Rents and services had been fixed before I 251, and with few exceptions the crown made no attempt to supervise or control what went on within the manor as long as the traditional issues were forthcoming. No restriction was placed upon the transfer or division of land, upon marriage, or upon personal mobility. There was thus an open land market among a population of functionally free peasants. Havering's economy was diverse and flexible. Most land was held in separate fields, ranging normally from 3 to 2o acres. During the thirteenth and fourteenth