This looks like an interesting read

[ElizabethHerts]

http://www.cambridge.org/asia/catalo...1829335&ss=fro


Transforming English Rural Society
The Verneys and the Claydons, 1600–1820
Series: Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time (No. 40)
John Broad
London Metropolitan University


I have been googling East Claydon, which is the parish where Claydon House owned by the Verneys is located. A branch of my family lived there.

Transforming English Rural Society



Between 1540 and 1920 the English elite transformed the countryside and landscape by building up landed estates which were concentrated around their country houses. John Broad’s study of the Verney family of Middle Claydon in Buckinghamshire demonstrates two sides of that process. Charting the family’s rise to wealth impelled by a strong dynastic imperative, Broad shows how the Verneys sought out heiress marriages to expand wealth and income. In parallel, he shows how the family managed its estates to maximise income and transformed three local village communities, creating a pattern of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ villages familiar to nineteenth-century commentators. Based on the formidable Verney family archive with its abundant correspondence, this book also examines the world of farmers, labouring families and the poor, as well as strategies for estate expansion and social enhancement. It will appeal to anyone interested in the English countryside as a dynamic force in social and economic history.

JOHN BROAD is Principal Lecturer in History at the London Metropolitan University.

[ElizabethHerts]

If you scroll down the page you find just how detailed a study this is:

"List of tables

4.1 Middle Claydon leases 1570–1669 page 52
6.1 Changing distribution of Middle Claydon farm sizes from rentals 139
6.2 Middle Claydon farm acreage by farm-size group using constant 2,000-acre farm area 140
6.3 Estimates of Middle Claydon rental less woods and park 1642–1791 141
6.4 Knowl Hill rents 1636–1722 142
6.5 Tenant turnover at Middle Claydon 1679–1694 143
6.6 Late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century tenant turnover in Middle Claydon 143
7.1 Origins of parties to Middle Claydon marriages 1600–1800 158
7.2 Age at first marriage of Middle Claydon inhabitants by period 1601–1800 163
9.1 Farmers and cottagers on the Verney estates c. 1810 231
9.2 Wealth in the Restoration Claydons from the Hearth Tax returns c. 1662/71 250
9.3 Percentage of houses in parish by number of hearths 250
9.4 Population estimates for the Claydon parishes 1603–1811 25"

I wonder if this is available in libraries?

[ElizabethHerts]

It's £39.99 on Amazon in paperback.

13 new from £16.42!

[Phoenix]

Just my sort of book!

[ElizabethHerts]

Phoenix, I'm with you there.

I'm very tempted as I'm trying to discover more about my families who lived there.

[Olde Crone]

Your local library will get it for you through the inter library lending service - a few quid (£3?).

My sort of book too. I've been lucky enough to find several like this over the years which have added to my understanding of the villages etc where my ancestors lived.

OC

[Janet]

You can search inside on Google books, Elizabeth.
Transforming English Rural Society
It also has a preview of several pages.
It does look very interesting.

[ElizabethHerts]

Well, I have ordered it. I know I could have got it through the library or have read some on line, but it just appealed to me and I fancy it as my bedtime reading. I got the hardback version for just £19.22 including postage.

Let's just hope some of my ancestors are mentioned - I think one of them is as it was his name and the parish that brought up the book.

Sounds fascinating Liza. I must see whether I can get it here, postage being a big killer.

I treated myself after my dental visit yesterday and visited a 2nd H bookshop. I am now dipping into A Month in Yorkshire by Walter White, first published in 1858. The smatterings of poetry through it, with words not in common usage, I am skimming over to reread later. How I would love a month in Yorkshire lol Cheers.