47-555: Clearwell (anciently "Clower-Wall" etc.) is a village and former ancient manor in the Forest of Dean , West Gloucestershire , England. A recent survey indicated that the population of Clearwell is approximately 350. There are mines locally that date back over 7,000 years to the mining of ochre and are known as Clearwell Caves . Later, the Romans mined iron at Clearwell Meend. Iron production expanded in medieval times and peaked in
94-525: A chantry in nearby Newland Church called the "Chantry of Robert Greyndour" and left many charitable bequests in her will. She was buried with her first husband in the chantry chapel she had founded in Newland Church. Elizabeth had earlier married Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr (d.1450/1),Leaving a daughter Mary West. She married secondly, as his first wife, John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester , KG, (d.1470), whom she predeceased giving birth to
141-475: A common good cannot be applied, because there are also others than the main user who have rights over these goods. We distinguish in the land lordship two sets the reserves which is the set of goods of which the lord reserves the direct exploitation and tenant-in-chief , property whose exploitation is entrusted to a tenant against payment of a royalty, most often called cens and services such as Corvée . The distribution between reserve and tenure varies depending on
188-476: A fourth hamlet, Wainlete, to the north-west of Clearwell. Clearwell and Platwell had dwellings by around 1300. In 1462 fourteen houses were mentioned at Clearwell and Wainlete, thirteen at Platwell, and sixteen at Peak. Most of the houses that formed Clearwell village were replaced by stone cottages in the late 18th century and the 19th, although several older buildings survive, including the Wyndham Arms which
235-443: A reason why smaller manors tended to rely less on villein tenure . Dependent holdings were held nominally by arrangement of lord and tenant, but tenure became in practice almost universally hereditary, with a payment made to the lord on each succession of another member of the family. Villein land could not be abandoned, at least until demographic and economic circumstances made flight a viable proposition; nor could they be passed to
282-627: A son, who did not survive one day. The manor thereupon passed to the descendants of Robert Greyndour's sister Johanna, who had married as her first husband William Walwyn. Their son was William Walwyn, whose daughter and sole heiress was Alice Walwyn (d. 1518), the second wife of Thomas Baynham (d. 1500), Constable of St Briavel's Castle . Alice survived her first husband, by whom she had a son Sir Christopher Baynham (d.1557), and married secondly, as his fourth wife, Sir Walter Denys (d.1505) of Alveston , Glos., Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1481 and 1492, who apparently came to live at Clearwell as his will
329-460: A third party without the lord's permission, and the customary payment. Although not free, villeins were by no means in the same position as slaves: they enjoyed legal rights, subject to local custom, and had recourse to the law subject to court charges, which were an additional source of manorial income. Sub-letting of villein holdings was common, and labour on the demesne might be commuted into an additional money payment, as happened increasingly from
376-574: Is a substantial 17th-century house. In 1830 a chapel was built for Clearwell village at the east end, on the road leading to the Forest. It was replaced in 1866 by a new church built by the countess of Dunraven, owner of the Clearwell estate. The countess also built a village school in 1859 and opened a cottage hospital in 1869. There were several iron ore mines at Clearwell Meend in the 19th century. These included Old Sling, New Dun, and Old Ham. From
423-512: Is most dominant. The civil parish contains Tortworth Court . It was formerly the home of the Earls of Ducie , but is now run as a hotel. Tortworth Rectory, was part of Oriel College . It was renowned for its library collection, which was eventually purchased by the Earls of Ducie. There is a national prison nearby, HM Prison Leyhill , which was converted into a prison from an army hospital in
470-892: The Seigniorial Dues Abolition Act of 1935. Tortworth Tortworth is a small village and civil parish, near Thornbury in Gloucestershire , England. It has a population of 147 as of 2011. It lies on the B4509 road , which crosses the M5 motorway to the west of Tortworth. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the manor is recorded as held by Turstin FitzRolf . Tortworth is noted for its ancient chestnut tree in St. Leonard's churchyard, which became known as
517-635: The Commonwealth during the Civil War and had served as a commissioner for raising the assessment under Thomas Fairfax , in 1644. Sir John's eldest surviving son had married Catherine Hopton, one of the daughters of Robert Hopton of Witham, and the sister of the wife of Sir Baynham Throckmorton, 2nd Baronet . George married after 1631 Ann, the widow of James Underwood (d.1631) of Uffords Manor (alias Egmers), Cromer , Norfolk, from whom he inherited Uffords. He married secondly Frances Davy. His son by Anne
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#1732787185734564-543: The French Revolution . In parts of eastern Germany, the Rittergut manors of Junkers remained until World War II . The term is most often used with reference to medieval Western Europe. Antecedents of the system can be traced to the rural economy of the later Roman Empire ( Dominate ). Labour was the key factor of production . Successive administrations tried to stabilise the imperial economy by freezing
611-622: The Mediterranean Sea was disrupted. The word derives from traditional inherited divisions of the countryside, reassigned as local jurisdictions known as manors or seigneuries ; each manor being subject to a lord (French seigneur ), usually holding his position in return for undertakings offered to a higher lord (see Feudalism ). The lord held a manorial court , governed by public law and local custom. Not all territorial seigneurs were secular; bishops and abbots also held lands that entailed similar obligations. By extension,
658-515: The Middle Ages . Its defining features included a large, sometimes fortified manor house in which the lord of the manor and his dependants lived and administered a rural estate, and a population of labourers or serfs who worked the surrounding land to support themselves and the lord. These labourers fulfilled their obligations with labour time or in-kind produce at first, and later by cash payment as commercial activity increased. Manorialism
705-507: The "Great Chestnut of Tortworth" as early as 1150. This tree measured 51 feet in circumference at 6 feet from the ground in 1720. The tree is one of fifty Great British Trees , selected in 2002 by The Tree Council to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The Tortworth inlier is the most complete section of "Silurian" rocks in the Bristol and South Gloucestershire area. Old red sandstone
752-470: The 13th century. Land which was neither let to tenants nor formed part of demesne lands was known as "manorial waste"; typically, this included hedges , verges , etc. Common land where all members of the community had right of passage was known as "lord's waste". Part of the demesne land of the manor which being uncultivated was termed the Lord's Waste and served for public roads and for common pasture to
799-428: The 16th and 17th centuries, leaving a legacy of fine stone built buildings. Clearwell Castle , a 'mock' castle of Gothic architecture built in 1728, is located in Clearwell. The village of Clearwell began as a group of hamlets which coalesced to form the village. It formed around three roads which run down shallow valleys to a central junction. The hamlets on the three roads were Clearwell, Peak, and Platwell, with
846-406: The arable area, and villein holdings rather more; but some manors consisted solely of demesne, others solely of peasant holdings. The proportion of unfree and free tenures could likewise vary greatly, with more or less reliance on wage labour for agricultural work on the demesne. The proportion of the cultivated area in demesne tended to be greater in smaller manors, while the share of villein land
893-471: The daughters of Robert Hopton of Witham and sister of Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton , possibly through which connection the manor was purchased by a member of the Wyndham family. In 1684 the manor was purchased by Francis Wyndham (d.1716) of Uffords Manor, Norfolk. Francis's grandfather Sir George Wyndham (6th son of Sir John Wyndham (d.1645) of Orchard Wyndham , Williton , Somerset) was an adherent to
940-446: The failure of his Zaragoza expedition of 778. He solved this problem by allotting "desert" tracts of uncultivated land belonging to the royal fisc under direct control of the emperor. These holdings aprisio entailed specific conditions. The earliest specific aprisio grant that has been identified was at Fontjoncouse , near Narbonne (see Lewis, links). In former Roman settlements, a system of villas , dating from Late Antiquity,
987-439: The house was renamed Clearwell Castle. In 1911, it was sold to Charles Vereker (d.1947) (later Colonel), under whose ownership it suffered a major fire in 1929 but was restored. Following Col. Vereker's death in 1947, the property was purchased by Gloucestershire County Council which sold it on to a demolition contractor who removed the lead roof, floors and fittings. The Castle was destined for demolition when in about 1952 it
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#17327871857341034-466: The imperial boundaries, remaining subject to their own traditional law. As the Germanic kingdoms succeeded Roman authority in the west in the fifth century, Roman landlords were often simply replaced by Germanic ones, with little change to the underlying situation or displacement of populations. The process of rural self-sufficiency was given an abrupt boost in the eighth century, when normal trade in
1081-534: The interior of the Court was refurbished by Caroline, Countess of Dunraven (d. 1870), wife of Windham Quin, 2nd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl (d. 1850) and daughter of another Thomas Wyndham, who held Clearwell from 1814 to her death in 1870, to the designs of John Middleton. The terracing of the gardens was probably also carried out at this time. In 1893 Clearwell was sold to Henry Collins, whose mortgagees sold it in 1907 to its then tenant Col. Alan Gardner. In 1908
1128-486: The king, and a greater proportion (rather more than a quarter) were held by bishoprics and monasteries . Ecclesiastical manors tended to be larger, with a significantly greater villein area than neighbouring lay manors. The effect of circumstances on manorial economy is complex and at times contradictory: upland conditions tended to preserve peasant freedoms (livestock husbandry in particular being less labour-intensive and therefore less demanding of villein services); on
1175-485: The landscape, the open field system . It outlasted serfdom in the sense that it continued with freehold labourers. As an economic system, it outlasted feudalism, according to Andrew Jones, because "it could maintain a warrior, but it could equally well maintain a capitalist landlord. It could be self-sufficient, yield produce for the market, or it could yield a money rent." The last feudal dues in France were abolished at
1222-686: The late 1960s Old Ham ore mine was developed, under the name Clearwell Caves , as a mining museum. The first manor house at Clearwell was probably built by Robert Greyndour (d.1443), and probably consisted of a great hall , chapel and 12 chambers. Robert died without male issue and his daughter Elizabeth Greyndour (d.1452) became his heiress. His widow and Elizabeth's mother Johanna Rigge (d.1485) (or Rugge), daughter of Thomas Rigge of Charlcombe , Somerset by Katherine de Bitton, daughter and heiress of Sir John de Bitton of Bitton , Glos., under customary usage, retained until her death 1/3 of his lands as her dower , and married secondly Sir John Barre. She founded
1269-430: The latter containing also parts of at least one other manor. This situation sometimes led to replacement by cash payments or their equivalents in kind of the demesne labour obligations of those peasants living furthest from the lord's estate. As with peasant plots, the demesne was not a single territorial unit, but consisted rather of a central house with neighbouring land and estate buildings, plus strips dispersed through
1316-403: The legal and organisational framework of feudal society, manorial structures were not uniform or coordinated. In the later Middle Ages, areas of incomplete or non-existent manorialisation persisted while the manorial economy underwent substantial development with changing economic conditions. Not all manors contained all three classes of land. Typically, demesne accounted for roughly a third of
1363-539: The lord and his tenants. In many settlements during the early modern period, illegal building was carried out on lord's waste land by squatters who would then plead their case to remain with local support. An example of a lord's waste settlement, where the main centres grew up in this way, is the village of Bredfield in Suffolk . Lord's waste continues to be a source of rights and responsibilities issues in places such as Henley-in-Arden , Warwickshire . In examining
1410-478: The manor alongside free and villein ones: in addition, the lord might lease free tenements belonging to neighbouring manors, as well as holding other manors some distance away to provide a greater range of produce. Nor were manors held necessarily by lay lords rendering military service (or again, cash in lieu) to their superior: a substantial share (estimated by value at 17% in England in 1086 ) belonged directly to
1457-467: The most important of which was the bailiff . The sovereign can also be a lord; the seigneuries he owns form the royal domain. The title of lord is also granted, especially in modern times, to individuals holding noble fiefdoms which are not for all that seigneuries. These "lords" are sometimes called sieurs, equivalent terms in medieval times. The lord is the direct or prominent owner of the land assets of his lordship. The notion of absolute ownership over
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1504-625: The origins of the monastic cloister , Walter Horn found that "as a manorial entity the Carolingian monastery ... differed little from the fabric of a feudal estate, save that the corporate community of men for whose sustenance this organisation was maintained consisted of monks who served God in chant and spent much of their time in reading and writing." Tenants owned land on the manor under one of several legal agreements: freehold , copyhold , customary freehold and leasehold . Like feudalism which, together with manorialism, formed
1551-491: The other hand, some upland areas of Europe showed some of the most oppressive manorial conditions, while lowland eastern England is credited with an exceptionally large free peasantry, in part a legacy of Scandinavian settlement. Similarly, the spread of money economy stimulated the replacement of labour services by money payments, but the growth of the money supply and resulting inflation after 1170 initially led nobles to take back leased estates and to re-impose labour dues as
1598-416: The period and region. Manors each consisted of up to three classes of land: Additional sources of income for the lord included charges for use of his mill, bakery or wine-press, or for the right to hunt or to let pigs feed in his woodland, as well as court revenues and single payments on each change of tenant. On the other side of the account, manorial administration involved significant expenses, perhaps
1645-408: The site of the existing manor house at the edge of its village was abandoned for a new one, isolated in its park, with the village out of view. In an agrarian society, the conditions of land tenure underlie all social or economic factors. There were two legal systems of pre-manorial landholding. One, the most common, was the system of holding land " allodially " in full outright ownership. The other
1692-411: The social structure into place: sons were to succeed their fathers in their trade, councillors were forbidden to resign, and coloni , the cultivators of land, were not to move from the land they were attached to. The workers of the land were on their way to becoming serfs. Several factors conspired to merge the status of former slaves and former free farmers into a dependent class of such coloni : it
1739-532: The value of fixed cash payments declined in real terms. The last feudal dues in France were abolished at the French Revolution . The last patroonship was abolished in New York in the 1840s as a result of the Anti-Rent War . In parts of eastern Germany, the Rittergut manors of Junkers remained until World War II . In Quebec, the last feudal rents were paid in 1970 under the modified provisions of
1786-403: The village grew up around the forecourt of the manor, formerly walled, while the manor lands stretched away outside, as still may be seen at Petworth House . As concerns for privacy increased in the 18th century, manor houses were often located a farther distance from the village. For example, when a grand new house was required by the new owner of Harlaxton Manor , Lincolnshire, in the 1830s,
1833-474: The word manor is sometimes used in England as a slang term for any home area or territory in which authority is held, often in a police or criminal context. In the generic plan of a medieval manor from Shepherd's Historical Atlas , the strips of individually worked land in the open field system are immediately apparent. In this plan, the manor house is set slightly apart from the village, but equally often
1880-407: Was Francis Wyndham, whose son by his wife Frances Davell was Francis Wyndham (d.1716). Clearwell passed to Francis's eldest son John (d.1725), then to John's brother Thomas Wyndham (d.1752). Thomas Wyndham demolished the house depicted in 1712 by Johannes Kip and built in its place the present neo-Gothic mock-castle, Clearwell Castle , designed by Roger Morris (d.1749). In the mid-19th century,
1927-688: Was a use of precaria or benefices , in which land was held conditionally (the root of the English word "precarious"). To these two systems, the Carolingian monarchs added a third, the aprisio , which linked manorialism with feudalism . The aprisio made its first appearance in Charlemagne 's province of Septimania in the south of France , when Charlemagne had to settle the Visigothic refugees who had fled with his retreating forces after
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1974-440: Was bought by Frank Yeates, the son of a former gardener on the estate, who restored it. The Castle was again sold in the early 1980s and was turned into a hotel. From about 2000 it has returned to private ownership. Manorialism Manorialism , also known as seigneurialism , the manor system or manorial system , was the method of land ownership (or " tenure ") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during
2021-689: Was dated at Newland. Christopher's son was Sir George Baynham (d.1546), who married as his second wife Cecilia Gage, daughter of Sir John Gage. Sir George dated his will at Clearwell, 9 June 1546, and was buried at Newland. Clearwell was held by the Baynham family until the death of Thomas Baynham in 1611. His daughter Cicely, by his wife Mary Winter, daughter of Sir William Winter of Lydney , had married Sir William Throckmorton, 1st Baronet , (d.1628), of Tortworth , Gloucestershire, and Clearwell descended to their son Sir Baynham Throckmorton, 2nd Baronet (1606–1664), who married Margaret Hopton (d.1635), one of
2068-409: Was greater in large manors, providing the lord of the latter with a larger supply of obligatory labour for demesne work. The proportion of free tenements was generally less variable, but tended to be somewhat greater on the smaller manors. Manors varied similarly in their geographical arrangement: most did not coincide with a single village, but rather consisted of parts of two or more villages, most of
2115-479: Was inherited by the medieval world. The possessor of a seigneurie bears the title of " Lord ". He can be an individual, in the vast majority of cases a national of the nobility or of the Bourgeoisie , but also a judicial person most often an ecclesiastical institution such as an abbey , a cathedral or canonical chapter or a military order. The power of the lord was exercised through various intermediaries,
2162-560: Was part of the feudal system . Manorialism originated in the Roman villa system of the Late Roman Empire , and was widely practised in medieval western Europe and parts of central Europe. An essential element of feudal society, manorialism was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market economy and new forms of agrarian contract. Manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with its most vivid feature in
2209-510: Was possible to be described as servus et colonus , "both slave and colonus ". The Laws of Constantine I around 325 both reinforced the semi-servile status of the coloni and limited their rights to sue in the courts; the Codex Theodosianus promulgated under Theodosius II extended these restrictions. The legal status of adscripti , "bound to the soil", contrasted with barbarian foederati , who were permitted to settle within
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