Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

In comparison with probate data the percentages in marriage licence data are slightly
closer to those in the census. Such biases are likely to be the case to a lesser or greater
extent in earlier periods too, so they have to be borne in mind during the discussion
which follows, where references are to raw data in the various sources. 29
In the text below Alcester’s changing occupational structure is discussed in
specific occupational groupings, as explained in Chapter 2. I make reference to data in
the above tables where relevant, but sometimes do not quote exact figures for certain
occupations as the size of samples and bias of sources (especially probate and marriage
licences) may cause inconsistencies in these exact figures. Where relevant, explanations
of such inconsistencies are discussed, but generally I note the general trends exhibited
and look for corroboration from various other sources in order to make observations
about whether different occupations were present or absent, and increasing or decreasing
in this zone at different periods. Where appropriate, comparisons are made with other
zones in the study area and also with studies of places elsewhere by other historians.
Agriculture
The importance of agriculture in Alcester’s parish economy is shown by Tables
4.2 and 4.4 above. The parish contains keuper marl with some alluvial deposits along the
river valleys. Saville notes that Alcester’s seventeenth century agricultural economy
(according to probate inventories) was ‘almost equally divided between the growing of
crops and the rearing of animals’. 30
The main crops were wheat and barley, but oats,
pulses, flax and hemp were also grown. Pastoral farming was also important, especially
29 As explained in Chapter 2, it was not thought meaningful to weight data from other sources by the factors
shown in the table as they may not apply in all periods or places. Bias in the whole study area is discussed
in Chapter 2.
30 G. E. Saville, ed., Alcester – a History, (Studley, Brewin Books, 1986), p. 41.
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