Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

mere two. The patterns shown in these returns do not necessarily explain which
settlements remained largely agrarian and which ones industrialised. Some places such
as Sambourne (which industrialised before 1720) were largely owned by one or two
owners. 53
From 1660-1699 the average inventory values for both husbandmen and yeomen
in this sub-district improved dramatically, ending the century higher than those of their
counterparts in the other zones. This is in stark contrast with the fortunes of Zone B’s
farmers discussed above, and may reflect the advantage of being the nearest zone to the
growing population in the Birmingham area. The fall in corn prices may have had a less
dramatic effect on farmers in this Northern District for two reasons: firstly,
Birmingham’s growing market needed more and more corn, and, secondly, many local
farmers compensated by producing meat, hides and dairy produce.
The inventory totals for yeomen and husbandmen in this zone ranged widely. 54
This large range in wealth fits an emerging pattern of polarisation of the haves and the
have-nots within the zone. Some gentry and rich yeomen enjoyed massive wealth
compared with others in the study area, but on the other hand there were hundreds of
poor labourers, most of whom did not even qualify for probate, and several husbandmen
and even yeomen for whom life was a struggle.
53 See Appendix 24. Sambourne had 16 proprietors, but Sir John Throckmorton owned 84.7% of the land.
54 In Period A yeomen’s inventory values ranged from WoRO, probate of Richard Brewer alias Harman,
Wadborough Hill, (Feckenham), yeoman, 1679/80, £12-1-8 to that of Henry Boult, Feckenham, yeoman,
1684, £1255-9-10, and husbandmen ranged from WoRO, probate and miscellaneous probate (ref. 797/419)
of John Rowke alias Taylor, Feckenham, husbandman, 1663, £3-10-0, to that of Richard Benton, Studley,
husbandman, 1682, £144-6-6.
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