Unfortunately only 3 of the Chedworth Highway Surveyor record books have survived . They are all neatly written by the elected Highway Surveyor Theyer TOWNSEND (a local farmer) and date between 1838–1840. They give both an insight into a part of Cotswold village life that has disappeared forever (the village road gang) and can be used to supplement other information (e.g. the census) concerning the history of the wider community.
Chedworth is a large village and even today has an elaborate network of footpaths, tracks and roads. Early photographs clearly show that the primary road material was (the relatively) soft white Cotswold limestone.
The two highway rate (payment) books provide listings by quarter year (half year each) of the tenants and owners of land and property within the parish, the estimated property value and the amount that each tenant paid and the total monies collected. The accounts were approved by two JPs on 23 January, 11 March, 20 May and 7 October 1840. The 1840/41 rate was 9p in the pound (it had been 6d in the pound the year before) so Margaret BELCHER, who lived in a tiny terraced cottage owned by the churchwardens paid 4_, Charles BLACKWELL who lived in a cottage with no gardens paid 6_d and Edmund ELLIS, who lived in the more comfortable house/malthouse in Lower Chedworth and farmed a few acres of land paid 13s 1_ a quarter year. Farmer and landowner William DYER paid £11 12s 2_d.
By studying these records one can see when people moved and died – for example in January 1840 the Rev H GREEN (Congregational Chapel) was resident in the Glebe House with a garden. By March 1840 the entry reads “late Rev H.GREEN” and by October 1840 the Rev Mark CUNNINGHAM is residing in a house of the same estimated value as his predecessor.
Theyer TOWNSEND must have found it difficult to raise the relatively large sums of money from this impoverished rural community to maintain the various tracks and roads. To the year ending 25 March 1840 he had spent £292 16s 11_d and had £4 3s 11_d in cash – this is the equivalent of £14,374 in 2002.
The accounts indicate that Theyer paId himself little in the way of expenses. For example in March 1839 he charged 3 shillings for making the (highway) rate and one shilling for signing the rate and in March 1840 he claimed 2s 6d each for journeys to Northleach and Cirencester. By the standards of the time these were modest fees for the services of an educated man. It would seem likely that Theyer did not spend a great deal of time in the day-to-day management of the highways as he also ran a large farm within the parish.
Perhaps the most interesting book of the three is the Highway Expenditure Record Book detailing how the money was spent. During a typical week (31 March 1838) the following payments were made to day labourers for “Repairing the Road”:
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Henry ROWLAND
William CARPENTER
Thomas LANE
Daniel WILLIAMS
William LAWRENCE
Thomas HORTON |
6 days
6 days
5 days
6 days
6 days
6 days |
8d a day
10d a day
10d a day
10d a day
10d a day
1s 4d a day |
4s
5s
4s 2d
5s
5s
8s |
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Even by the standards of the day these were very low wages.
There is no reason given for Rowland only getting 8d a day and presumably Horton was the gang leader (during 1839 his pay was raised to 1s 6d a day).
The tempo of road repairs must of slackened off during the harvest time. For example only Benjamin SLY (1 day) and Henry ROWLAND (3 days) worked at all during the week of 8 September 1838 but the number of days worked increased again to six or seven men six days a week by the Autumn, often the usual road gang was supplemented by additional men for odd periods during the rest of the year. For example Joshua STEVENS only worked half a day but Matthew MILES worked 31 days during late 1839.
In addition to day labourers people were also paid for digging and breaking stone. During early 1838 the following payments are recorded:
Joseph SCOTT received 7s 4d for breaking 22 yards of stone
The daughter of Thomas LANE received 2s 6d for picking 5 loads of stone (the only example of child labour).
Peter SADDER received 12s 6d for digging 30 yards of stone etc.
Farmers were also paid for providing and transporting stone. For example during May 1838 Aaron RANDELL was paid 11s for 11 loads, William DYER was paid for 5s for 5 loads and John PEACHEY was paid 4s for 4 loads. If a horse team (and cart) was needed the owner was paid 12s per day.
Occasionally the services of skilled artisans was called upon, for example Robert SPENCER (a blacksmith) was paid 17s 3d for unspecified work during March 1839, William MILLER (a carpenter) was paid £1 0s 6d in October 1838, Richard ELTOME (blacksmith) was paid 5s 10d for supplying a sledge and an unnamed carpenter was paid 11s 8d to repair tools.
Chedworth road working must have reached a crescendo during late 1839/ early 1840. Not only were the usual gang of day labourers employed but also Simon Glover, Joseph Newman and John Lawrence were paid 5s a day each for work under contract at Tunway (near the pub) and Thomas Joachim and Ralph Curtis were paid 3s 8d a day to work under contract at Raybrook. This contract work added over £98 to the usual bills but not all contract work was well paid. Between August and November 1839 Joseph Scott only earned 2d a day receiving just £1 4s 6d for working 147 days “filling wagon tracks”.
BEVIR
BLOXSOM
BRIDGES
BRIDGES
BRUNSDON
CARPENTER
CRUMP
CURTIS
DAVIS
DAY
DURHAM
DYER
ELLIS
ELTOME
GLOVER
GLOVER
GREENWOOD
GREENWOOD
GREENWOOD
HARDING
HORTON
JOACHIM
JOACHIM
JOACHIM
JOACHIM
LANE
LANE
LANE
LAWRENCE
LAWRENCE
LAWRENCE
MILES
MILES
MILLER
NEWMAN
PEACHEY
PEACHEY
PEACHEY
POWELL
RANDELL
ROWLAND
SADLER
SCOTFORD
SCOTFORD
SCOTFORD
SCOTT
SCOTT
SCOTT
SHERRARD
SLY
SMITH
SMITH
SMITH
SMITH
SMITH
SPENCER
STEVENS
SUTTON
TAYLOR
TOWNSEND
TROTMAN
TROTMAN
WIGGINS
WIGGINS
WILLIAMS |
Mr.
Mr.
EMANUEL
RICHARD
SAMUEL
WILLIAM
JOHN
RALPH
WILLIAM
JOHN
JOHN
WILLIAM
WILLIAM
RICHARD
JOHN
SIMON
ISAAC
JOHN
SOLOMON
WILLIAM
THOMAS
CHARLES
GILES
JAMES
THOMAS
ANN
THOMAS
daughter of
JOHN
JOSEPH
WILLIAM
GEORGE
MATTHEW
WILLIAM
JOSEPH
JOHN
PHILIP
WILLIAM
Mr.
AARON
HENRY
PETER
JOHN
THOMAS
WILLIAM
FRANCES
JOSEPH
WILLIAM
SAMUEL
BENJAMIN
CHARLES
IBSAN
ROBERT
THOMAS
JOSEPH
ROBERT
JOSHUA
ROBERT
BENJAMIN
THEYER
JOHN
WILLIAM
JOHN
WILLIAM
DANIEL |
Paid £30 9s 8d for law expenses 23 Mar 1840
Paid 2s 25 May 1839
Stone digger January 1839
Stone digger
Occasionally supplied stone.
Regular member of day labour gang
Supplied stone
Occ day labourer, stone digger & contractor
His house under pinned by Joseph Smith
Paid for doing some walling work April 1838
Occasional stone digger/breaker & day labourer
Frequently supplied stone & team
Supplied stone
(Blacksmith) paid 5s 10d for a sledge Nov 1839
Hewed stone at hand and post Feb 1840
Worked as a contractor
Worked in day labour gang 3 days (Mar 1839)
Fairly regular stone digger
Worked in day labour gang 3 days (Mar 1839)
Occasional stone breaker
Regular member of day labour gang
Member of day labour gang on 1 day Oct 1839
Occasionally supplied stone.
Occasional stone breaker & day labourer.
Occasional stone breaker & contractor.
Supplied stone
Regular member of day labour gang
Paid for picking stone once
Worked as a contractor
Occasional stone digger
Reg member of day labour gang & stone digger
Occ member of day labour gang & stone breaker
Occ member of day labour gang & stone breaker
Tradesman (Blacksmith in census)
Worked as a contractor and supplied stone
Supplied stone
Occasionally supplied stone.
Occasionally supplied stone.
Paid 6s on 27 April 1839 for cleansing brook.
Occasionally supplied stone.
Regular member of day labour gang
Occasional stone digger
Stone digger March 1839
Occasional stone breaker
Worked 1 day as a labourer & supplied stone
Worked 5 days in labour gang Oct/Nov 1839.
Regular stone digger/breaker and contractor
Occasional stone breaker
Occasional stone digger
Reg member of day labour gang & stone breaker
Occasional stone digger
Contractor and occasional day labourer.
Supplied stone.
Supplied stone and hauled stone.
Tradesman - jobs inc trough at Gallows Lane
Tradesman paid 17s 3d 23 March 1839
Worked _ day as a day labourer Nov 1839
Occasionally supplied stone & team
Occasionally supplied stone & team
Occasionally supplied stone and team
Occasional stone digger and day labourer.
Regular member of day labour gang.
Supplied stone.
Supplied stone
Reg member of day labour gang & stone breaker
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Theyer Townsend (Yeoman of Chedworth) was elected Parish Highway Surveyor by fellow ratepayers on 24 March 1839 and 24 March 1840.
Accounts at end 1838/1839 were £119 16s 9_d with £8 5s 9_d cash
Accounts at end 1839/1840 were £297 0s 10_d with £4 3s 11_d cash.
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