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Pitstone 1800 - 1850 Report

This report is intended both as a summary of some of the work done during a WEA course-project on local history in Pitstone, 1971-72, and as a rough framework for further research. It is thus very much an interim working document and comment and interpretation have accordingly been kept to a minimum. It should be noted that much of the work done by the class, especially that on family reconstitution from parish register data, has not yet advanced sufficiently for any results to be included here. We have been fortunate in the amount of documentary material available which should enable us in time to obtain a reasonably rounded picture of the village community and of village life during the period. In order to place this picture in its proper perspective, however, we will also have to explore more fully the character and history of the district as a whole.

Local History Class

H.A. Hanley, Tutor
W.F. Comben
Mrs. J. Davis
Miss M.T.Ellaway
A.R. Gomm
D. Goseltine
G. Hawkins
Mrs. M. Humphreys
B.C. Ives
D. Levy
M. Sear

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

General
Pitstone is one of the group of "Icknield Way parishes" lying along the edge of the Chiltern escarpment and distinguished by their long straggling shape. She ancient parish which included a long narrow "tail" (containing the hamlets of Nettleden and Friesden)- since transferred to the adjoining county of Hertfordshire was 7 miles in length and one mile in breadth. The total area was 2459 acres. Already by 1800, however, Nettleden (or Pitstone Upper), though technically a chapelry, was in practice virtually a separate parish with a separate incumbent and its own poor rate. It has been excluded from this study. Geology and Soils
For a succinct account of the geology of the region, see the article by Professor Mead in "Acta Geographica" 17 no. 1 (1962) written in reference to an earlier description by the Finnish traveller Peter Kahm who visited the district in 1753. The Chiltern Hills which occupy about half the area of the modern parish are the most prominent feature. Agriculturally the most important distinction is between the light chalk soils of the hills and the heavier clays in the vale to the north.

Settlement
The 1809 map shows the principal settlement at Pitstone Green situated in the low ground near the northwest border of the parish. The majority of the farms and cottages were ranged in a long shallow semi-circle which followed the line of a small stream from Coles Green southeast to a point south of Pitstone Green Farm. To the west stretched the great expanse of the common green while on the east a thin envelope of closes or crofts separated the houses from the open arable fields of the village. A quarter of a mile or so to the southeast on slightly higher ground stood the church and near it the moated Church farm. At Brook End, a similar distance to the northeast was a water corn mill worked by another small stream an inn, and a few cottages. Of outlying farms there were, in addition, to Church Farm, Yardley Farm slightly to the north of Pitstone Green and Barley End and Buncombe farms in the hills a full two miles away to the south east. At least six farms or farmyards can be distinguished on the 1809 map at Pitstone Green itself but not all were in separate occupation.

Communications

(a) Roads: It was not until the inclosure of the open fields in 1853 that the existing road system came into being. In 1800 the most important road was the Icknield Way leading northeast to Dunstable in Bedfordshire and southwest to Tring 3 miles away in Hertfordshire where it crossed the turnpike leading to Aylesbury, a further 6 miles or so to the West. Other local roads connected with the nearby villages of Marsworth on the south west, Cheddington, north west and Ivinghoe a mere half mile away on the north east and a much larger village than Pitstone. Road transport services in 1830 consisted of weekly carriers wagons to Aylesbury and London. By 1842 there was an additional carrier service direct from Pitstone to London but the service to Aylesbury had ceased.

(b) The Grand Junction Canal: The main line of the Canal, which skirted the northwest edge of the parish, was completed about 1805. A little later branches were constructed from Marsworth to Wendover and Aylesbury.

(c) The Railway: The London and Birmingham railway was opened in September 1838 and the branch line from Cheddington to Aylesbury in 1839. There were stations at Cheddington and Tring.

Water Supply
In addition to the streams already mentioned, the 1st edition of the 6" O.S.map (c.1870) shows numerous wells.

LAND USE

The following totals are taken from the 1841 tithe apportionment summary which, however, also includes Nettleden (804 acres). The latter consisted almost entirely of woodland and enclosed park while Pitstone had only about 10 acres of wood, so a fairly clear picture can be gained.

DEMOGRAPHY (POPULATION)

General

Nationally it was a period of rapidly increasing population. In Pitstone, after a sharp rise (55%) between 1801 and 1831 a plateau was reached with only a very gradual decline later in the century. This contrasts with most other rural Bucks parishes, where the peak seems to have come later. Some comparative figures are given below. It is hoped that further work on parish register data may throw light on local migration as well as on such matters as age at marriage and size of families.

Population Size(Density figures in acres per head given in brackets).

Sex Ratio

Age Structure

An analysis has been made of the 1851 census data. It shows that 77.75% of the population of Pitstone was under the age of 40 (the national figure was 76%) and 49.88% under 20. It also reveals, incidentally, that the preponderance of males over females in 1851 was greatest in the age groups 0-4 (35M. 18F.) and 20-24 (24M. 14F.)

Migration

(a) Birthplaces, 1851 An analysis of the census shows that 70% of the population of Pitstone were born in the parish; 8% were born in Ivinghoe. About 90% were born within a five mile radius.

(b) Family Names

Of the 44 (36 omitting servants) different surnames listed in the posse comitatus of 1798, 19 are found in the 1851 census (56 surnames).

THE DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY

General
The most useful sources of information on property distribution are the map terriers of 1809 and a later one dated 1829 (refers to the same map), a valuation of "Lower Pitstone", 1840, and the 1848 rate assessment. A difficulty is that while the two latter relate to an area which is (allowing for commons) probably not far short of the modern parish (l373 acres in 1848) the others omit some 400 acres in the region of Pitstone common. This should be borne in mind in interpreting the figures given below. The effects of the 1853 enclosure have not so far been examined. The total area of commons and roads is given as 208 acres in 1809.

Ownership of Land

a) The Ashridge estate.

The period was one of considerable expansion for the estate as a whole. In Pitstone, the inclosure "claims book." of 1853 lists purchases totalling 438 acres between 1806 and 1850. The 1809 map terrier gives a total of 680 acres of which 140 acres are indicated as recent acquisitions. The total in the 1848 rate book is 1080 acres

Holders of the estate were:
Francis, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater, d. 1803
John William, 7th Earl d. 1823
Francis Henry, 8th Earl d. 1829
The Countess of Bridgewater d. 1849 (For details of the succession see Sheahan P. 730 ff.)

(b) Other Owners

1809

337 acres. divided among 15 owners.
Owner-occupiers apparently resident in Pitstone
Hen. Williamson 64acres
J. Burt (miller) 3 acres

Owner-occupiers not resident
Wm. Hayton Esq. 56 acres
Geo. Griffin 33 acres

(Ivinghoe)
W. Watts (Ivinghoe) 11 acres

Pitstone Town Land 9 acres
9 other non-resident owners of 3a. to 45a.  l6l acres

1848

300 acres divided among 14 owners :

Owner-occupiers, resident (F.Beesley, miller, E.Philbey, publican) 5 acres

Others: J.A,Gordon Esq., of Stocks, (inc. 32 acres in own occupier.)152 acres
H. Williamson, Pitstone 71 acres
Pitstone Town 11 acres
9 other non-resident owners of 1 acres to 25 acres 6l acres

Ownership of Houses & Cottages 1809

Houses

Total of 11 "homesteads" and 3 houses;
Owner-occupiers (H.Williamson, Jonas Simons) 1 home, 1 house
Ashridge estate (4 tenants) 5 homes,1 house
5 other owners (non-resident)5 homes,1 house

Cottages

Total of 29 - 37 cottages (number not always specified):
Owner-occupiers (G. Griffin, W. Stevens, W. Clever)3.
Ashridge estate10-14
Town Houses 7?
H. Williamson 4-6
3 other owners 4

Public Houses   3
Non-resident. G. Treacher(Chequers), - Burr (Ship).  
not stated    (Bell)

Mill
Owner-occupier James Burt

1848

Houses

Total of 8 farms:
Ashridge estate 4
J.A. Gordon of Stocks    2
H. Williamson (Pitstone) 1
W. Daniels (Northants.)  1 (+ beerhouse)

Cottages
Total of 63 cottages (no owner-occupiers)
Ashridge estate 35 (+ 1 shop)
Pitstone town   7
H. Williamson   7
H. Cook (Cheddington)    8
3 others (J. Somes, E. Philbey, J. Meacher) 6

Public Houses 4
Owner-occupiers:W. Jellis (Ship), E. Philbey (Nags Head)
Non-residents C. Meacher (Bell, Chequers)

Mills 2
F. Beesley (occupier) and J. Meacher (non-resident)

Occupation of _Land

Sizes of Holdings in acres (omitting occupiers not resident in Pitstone)

Present Occupiers of 1 acre to 20 acres in 1809 & 1848

1809

Henry Eustace14a.
William London (? Collar maker)    9a.
James Burt (miller)   8a.
Richard Read (blacksmith) 7a.

1848

Humphrey Tompkins (carrier)   7a.
John Williamson   5a.
John Short (straw factor) 4a.
Francis Beesly (miller)   3a.
William London (collar maker) 3a.
Edmund Philby (publican)  2a.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE, OCCUPATIONAL AND STATUS GROUPS

General
The most striking feature of village society in the period is its overwhelmingly proletarian character. From 1800 onwards the bulk of the population  consisted of landless cottagers and there was a-complete absence of landed gentry  or the professions.

Farmers  
The small group of larger farmers (7 in 1851) represented the aristocracy of  the parish. In the country at large the social status of this class was tending  to rise with increased wealth and there was a conscious striving after gentility.  In Pitstone, the design of Pitstone Green Farm, rebuilt c.1830, with its carefully  planned separation of kitchen and servants  room from the family quarters, may be  significant in this connection. On the other hand, the persistance of the living- in system (see below) suggests a certain paternalism. More information is needed  about the style of life of the farmers and the education and marriages of their  children.

Shopkeepers,  Dealers, etc.  
In 1851 these comprised a grocer, general dealer, miller and baker, 3 publicans, an apothecary, corn salesman and 2 straw, factors. The total number of adult males employed was 17 including the heads of households. The largest single establishment was that of Francis Beesley, miller and baker, who had 5 employees. In  the 1798 list this group is represented by a miller only.

Rural Craftsmen
In 1851 there was only a blacksmith, two shoemakers and a wheelwright, in all,  6 adults, 5 of whom were heads of households. Occupations listed in the Posse comitatus of 1798 were, tailor, smith, (horse) collarmaker, cordwainer (i.e. shoe-maker) and wheelwright; 10 people in all. A carpenter is listed in 1841 and again in 1861,  when there was also a harness maker. The 34 male straw plaiters in the 1851 census are not included here on the assumption that it was an essentially casual or seasonal occupation for males. It is interesting that in 1809 Richard Read, the blacksmith and. William London, later described as a wheelwright, both appear as smallholders occupying respectively 9a. and 7a.

Labourers
The situation of the labourers in the southern counties was very depressed and according to Hobsbaum and others were actually declining for much of the period. Low wages, high prices, unemployment and general economic dependence were among the causes. In Pitstone, there were, however, several favourable factors (a) the existence of supplementary or alternative employment in straw plaiting (b) the presence of extensive commons (c) all cottages had gardens. No clear examples of labourers rising in the social scale have so far been noted.

In 1851 there were 59 agricultural labourers and one canal labourer. If the 34 male straw plaiters are added, the total represents over 75% of the working male population over 15. In 1798 the number of labourers (including servants) was 42 out of a total population of 275. Even allowing for men over 60 and those enrolled in the militia this would appear to be a substantially smaller proportion than in 1851. The absence of non-agricultural labourers in 1851 is interesting. A printed parish census abstract of 1831 gives the total number of labourers over 20, as 69 of whom 28 were "non-agricultural". Probably most were employed on "road works" which we know from the vestry book-were in progress in that year.

Living-in Employees and Servants
There were 17 living-in employees in 1851 of whom 3 were employees of the miller and baker, one was a general dealer's servant and the remaining 13 (including 2 under' 15) were agricultural labourers and have been included in the section above. Six of them were born in Pitstone. The 1798 return lists 18 "servants" of whom all, or most, can safely is assumed to be servants in husbandry. In the 1841 census there were 18 but by 1861 the number had-dropped to one.
Female servants living-in numbered 6 in 1851, of whom 5 belonged to farmers. All appeared to have been imported (birthplaces included Cheddington, Aston Abbots, Great Kimble and Quainton). There were no out-servants unless a laundress is so considered. In the 1831 abstract the number of female servants is given as 5

AGRICULTURE

General
In Pitstone, as elsewhere, there was a trend towards fewer, larger farms. (See section on property distribution). On the other hand, the old open field system of agriculture persisted there until 1856, much later than in some other neighbouring parishes.  Farming conditions in the period remained generally relatively depressed following the ending of high wartime prices for grain after 1815. The Pitstone Green Farm accounts contain much information on local conditions from c. 1839.

The Open Fields
The total area of open field land is given in the 1809 map terrier as 885 acres. but its precise distribution has not yet been calculated.  The principal division is between land "above hill" (i.e. on the higher ground) and the rest, the latter being allocated into 3 fields - Moor Field (incorporating West Field), Red Field (with Malm Field) and White Field. A memo in a document dated 1808 gives the rotations the "field above Icknield Way" is "every years land" and the other three are "Two crops and a fallow".  The Vestry book contains, besides references to the regulation of common grazing, the record of one meeting on the open field arrangements held in August 1833.

Farmers and Farms
In 1851 the farms were as follows;

Several of the farms included some land outside the parish but only in the case of Duncombe Farm does it appear to have been a large proportion of the total. In 1798 the farmers had been; William Ashby, John Collons, Thomas Eustace, William Jellis, William Poulton, James Stevens, Joseph Simmons, John Tompkins, William Tompkins and John Williamson.  Full details of changes in tenancies etc. have yet to be worked out.  It is also hoped to examine the physical distribution of at least one of the farms in the 1809 map.  Much can doubtless be learned also from surviving farm buildings etc.

Crops

The 1801 Crop Returns at the Public Record Office in London (copy supplied by M.E. Turner) give the following crops and acreage for Pitstone.

Wheat 232 a.   Peas  32 a.
 Barley 140 a.  Beans 96 a.
Oats  143 a.   Turnips 118 a.

The Pitstone Green farm accounts give details of cropping in 1839

Wheat  45 a.  Beans   8 a.
Barley 25 a.   Peas and Beans 9 a.
Oats   24 a.   Spring Tares  10 a.
Peas   10 a.

Particulars given of grain "cleaned" in the same year suggest yields of 30 bushels per acre for wheat and 25 bushels for barley (34 bushels in 1843).  According to J. Caird, English Agriculture in 1850-51, '28 bushels of wheat and 32 of barley were reckoned "fair average crops" in this part of Bucks.  Another crop mentioned in the accounts in the 1850's is plums for which a produce of 303 baskets is recorded in 1854, yielding a profit of £92.

Stock
An examination of the Pitstone Green farm accounts for 1839-40 shows that cows, pigs and fowl were kept, but not in large numbers.  The total number of sheep is given in May 1839 as 336 and in May 1854 as 438.

Labour
The total number employed on all the farms was 73 according to the 1851 census, which is 14 more than the numbers of agricultural labourers resident in the parish. The overall ratio works out at approximately one man per 20 acres.  In the case of Pitstone Green Farm it was one man per 2 1/2 acres.

Methods and Equipment
In 1798 a total of 50 horses, 5 wagons and 28 carts was recorded for the parish.  The largest farmer, James Stevens (410acres. in 1809) had 15 horses, 2 wagons and 5 carts.  There is no information about the use of farm machinery in the period. One Pitstone farmer, James Proctor, is recorded as using oxen for draught purposes in the 1860's (Eland, In Bucks, P.)

Markets and Prices
The Pitstone Green Farm accounts show that the price of 35/6 to 36/6 was obtained for wheat in 1839 but the mode of sale is not clear.  Plums were being sent direct to London by rail in 1854.

Outgoings and Receipts
The half yearly rent for Pitstone Green Farm c. 1840 was £111-5-8.  Labour costs not worked out but probably under £400.  Total receipts have been calculated for 1839-40 as just over £1,500 of which almost £700 derived from the sale of grain,

INDUSTRY: STRAW PLAITING

General
A very helpful survey of the industry as a whole is given in A History of the Straw Hat Industry by J.G. Dony (1942). The following notes should be read in the light of Dony's general findings. Pitstone was on the fringe of the main straw plaiting area which was orientated towards the hat making centres of Luton and Dunstable. The industry was carried on mainly by women and children, and although adult male straw plaiters are found, it seems to have been most usually on a casual basis.

Numbers engaged
Analysis of the 1851 census returns for Pitstone gives a total of 161 straw plaiters comprising 95 adults (34m. 51f) and 66 children under 15 (27m. 39f.).
Thus about half of the adult working population (including 10 male heads of households and over half of all children over 3 were plaiters. In the 1841 census, only 14 plaiters, all females are listed, but no occupations are given for married women or children under 15. In 1861 a rough count gives a total of 69 straw plaiters of whom 53, all females were adults. The large proportion of   male plaiters in 1851 must be treated with some reserve; it may be explained by   seasonal slackness in agriculture.

Dealers

1841   John Mark   (plait dealer)    1851  John Short  plait dealer)

John Short  (straw factor) Humphrey Short   (  ""  )

Rebecca Edwards  (plait dealer)Henry Bovingdon   straw cutter)

1861  none

Materials and Costs

Straw for plaiting was obtained from local farmers and was a useful source of extra income for them.  There are numerous references (not yet examined in detail) to sales of 'straws' in the Hawkins farm accounts. In 1840, 7/6d. seems to have been a usual price for 100 lb. straw.  The straw needed some preparation before use and according to Dony (p.62) the cost to the plaiter (presumably if purchased of a straw dealer) was reckoned to be 20% of the selling price of the finished article.

  1 lb. of split straw would produce 80-100 yards of plait, sufficient for 2 bonnets (Dony p.162)

Market and Prices

  Plait was sold in 21 ft lengths called 'scores'. Market prices fluctuated   both seasonally, prices in spring and summer might be double those in autumn and winter (Dony p.47) and according to distance from principal markets. The   nearest market to Pitstone was that at Ivinghoe held weekly on Saturdays. The   pattern of market trends during the period is obscure as no formal record of   prices appear to have been kept. The war years prior to 1816 saw high prices up to 2/6d.a score.(Dony p62) caused by exclusion of foreign competition. In

1837 a price of 1s score for "common plait" is quoted (Dony p.69). The same   price has been noted in a reference to Drayton Beauchamp in 1854,

Earnings

(No information for Pitstone.) Earnings fluctuated with prices and also according to area. It was frequently alleged, however, that wife and children could earn as much as the husband by this means. In 1843 when trade was said to   be depressed it was stated that Bucks plaiters had to work 12 - 14 hours a day   to earn 3s. - 4s. a week. Average children's earnings were estimated in 1837 at

9d. at age 8 rising to 3/6d. at 16 and over.(Sony p.78).

Plait Schools

For details of this phenomenon see Dony p.93 ft. The existence of a plait school at Pitstone is attested by a County Directory of 1847 but no details have   so far been found. In the 1861 census Ann Norwood aged 67 is described as "a   plait school keeper". The Hawkins farm accounts of 1840-43 record' almost daily sales of straw to Francis Norwood and William Corkett, both of whom were employed on the farm. These accounts have not been examined in detail but the amounts are so large (100 lb. of straw a week and over to each man) that the supply of one or more plait schools is a likely explanation.

Social Effects

See Dony p.67 ft. Plaiting was said to be the cause of women neglecting the home. Men were supposed to have become indifferent to regular work and dependent on the woman; unmarried women to spend most of their earnings on clothes, to be resentful of control and loose in morals.

LIVING STANDARDS  General   

The subject of living standards in this period and especially the question of whether living standards of labourers were rising or falling has excited considerable debate among historians. Information about local prices c.1840 has been  extracted from the account books of George Groom, a grocer living at Ivinghoe, and  more can doubtless be learned from them about the consumption of individual  families. Another interesting set of accounts which offer some clues to living standards in the area in the early years of the century are those of a watchmaker at Tring which record, repairs done for customers in the district. They include an appreciable number of persons identified as labourers. This can probably be taken as an index of relative prosperity which may be explained by the flourishing state of the straw plaiting industry in the war period.

Examples of Prices 1841-42

For comparison retail prices in Manchester in 1841 taken from "Plenty and Want" by J, Bumett (Pelican) are given in brackets.

Rent, cottage property 1s.    (4s.)
Bread, large loaf 8d.
  small loaf 3 3/4d. (Not given)
Butter,   1/1d per lb. (l/- to 1/1d.perlb.)
Flour, 2d. per lb.  (2/4d. to 2/7d. per 12 lb.)
Tea, 1/6d. per qr. (5s. per lb.)
Cheese,  7d. per lb.
Sugar,   7d. to 8d. per lb. (8d. to 9d. per lb.)
Coffee  1/10 per lb.  (2/- per lb.)
Beef & Pork  7d. per lb.   (8d. to 8 1/2d per lb.)
Candles  6 1/2d. per lb.    (6 1/2d. per lb.)
Coal £1.1.0 ton in Jan 1840 (7d. per cwt.)

Incomes (Labourers)
The average wage for labourers in Bucks, is given as 8/6d in 1851.  For Pitstone no detailed information has yet been found for the period of study but a wage book for Pitstone Green Farm covering the years 1861-66 has been partly analysed.  It shows that in 1864 wages of 11/s. to 13/s. were being paid to adult workers over 21 in regular employment.  Harvest earnings took the annual average up to 14/s. from 11/4 (or from £29 - 9s to £36 - 6s per annum).
Earnings of wives and children from straw plaiting, etc. must also be considered and were obviously of critical importance.  (See section on Straw Plaiting Industry).  In 1851 over 55% of children over 3 years contributed to the family income

Other Sources of Income or Subsistance
Gardens:  all cottages had gardens.
Domestic animals:  the 'Vestry Book records 13 applications from cottagers    for permission to run pigs on the common in 1833.
Gleanings: no details but traditionally an important source of grain for poor families. the right to gather furze on the common for fuel was arecognised custom.

Working Hours
A six day week was universal. Hours laid down for road workers in November 1831 were 6 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (Vestry Book). Straw plaiters are known to have worked up to 14 hours a day.

Housing
Gross overcrowding was common in rural areas at this time. Figures for sizes of household in Pitstone in 1851 are given below. It is hoped to obtain some information about size, etc. of surviving cottages for comparison.

Household size (No. of persons) 1 2 3 4   5   6   78   9   10   11   12
No. of households  -   6  16  10  12 12    6   9    3    2    21

PARISH GOVERNMENT: THE VESTRY

General
For an outline of parish insinuations, see Tate, The Parish Chest. Our principal source for Pitstone in this period is the vestry minute book commencing in 1815. Though a valuable record, it varies greatly in the amount of information given. Only 6 vestries are recorded before 1827 and none at all between 1815 and 1821. From 1829 the record is fuller and more formal with occasional references to proposals and voting. From 1837 the chairman is named. There is a reference to the appointment of a "select vestry" in April 1826, which was to meet fort-nightly for the purpose of investigating the parish finances, but it is not mentioned again.

Meetings and Attendance
Meetings averaged from 1 to 3 per year but as many as 10 are recorded in 1832. Average attendance was about 5-6 including parish officers and was drawn almost entirely from the farmers. The labourers, who formed the bulk of the population, took no part. Among the more regular attenders were Samuel Hawkins (1815 - 1838, a Non-Conformist), Peter Parrot (1832 - 1848), Moses Blinco (from .1833) and William Bigg (from 1833). The Ashridge estate agent Charles Cooley attended only twice in ten years and then for particular reasons, but G. Potts representing the landowner J.A. Gordon of Stocks was active between 1831 and 1835. The incumbent was usually present and, when present, acted as chairman.

Parish Officers
(For Church Wardens, see section on Religion).

Overseers  Surveyors  Constables
Samuel Hawkins Samuel Hawkins  
Joseph (Barley End) Joseph Simmons
Benjamin Anstee Thomas Woodman
Francis Tompkins (Miller)?  Benjamin Anstee
William Bigg (Dunscombe)  William Bigg 
John Hawkins   Moses Blinco 
Francis Beesley (Miller)    John Hawkins

Principal Business

(a) Upkeep of the church. Between 1827 and 1829 the vestry was much occupied with the execution of repairs to the parish church. (See section on Religion).

(b) The Poor. (See also section on Social Welfare). Until 1835 the relief of the poor was the vestry's most important responsibility. Under the 1834 Poor Law Act the parish ceased to be the unit of relief and Pitstone was incorporated  in the Berkhamsted Union. In so far as any consistent policy can be discerned from the references in the vestry book. It is that of providing work rather than allowances for the able-bodied poor. Some requests for assistance addressed to the vestry were refused, but insufficient information is given for an assessment of the decisions. The overseer seems to have been left to act on his own discretion much of the time. There are only three examples of vestry action in relation to the laws of settlement. In November 1824 an agreement was made "concerning the hiring of servants at or near St. Michael" which imposed a fine on anyone who enabled a servant to gain a settlement in the parish. The amount is left blank and there are no signatures. Agreements of the sort were not uncommon at the time. The other two instances occur in 1832 and 1833 and concern individuals who were to be examined as to their settlements. In neither case is the outcome given.

(c) Regulation of the commons. An example of the vestry taking over a function of the manor court. Between 1828 and 1833 there are numerous references to the exercise of common rights over the Green. In May 1828 there is a table listing owners of "cow commons" and amounts of "head money" payable, and in April 1832 there is a mention of the passing of the "commons account". In 1831 cottagers were expressly permitted to run their pigs on the common. The following year some disagreement arose on this point, Mr. Potts moving in May that "as the Hog commons are claimed as a right, that claim shall be resisted in order to ascertain the legality or not. A compromise was finally reached at the June vestry when it was agreed on Mr. Potts proposal "that all who wished to have the run of the Hog commons for this year be permitted to have it upon application to the Vestry". After 1833 there is no further reference to the commons until February 1848 when it was agreed to give up the commons "in the Field" by allowing Mr. Blinco and Mr. Jellis to keep a hundred dry sheep or sixty couples apiece. At a special adjourned vestry held in August 1833 detailed measures agreed to in relation to the open field were set down. They included rules about cropping, and the commoning of sheep on the arable. The signatures or marks of eleven commoners are appended to the 'minutes of the meeting.

(d) Town Lands and Town Houses.  (See section on Social Welfare).  Though in theory controlled by the trustees, the Town Land charity appears to have been in practice under the direction of the vestry during the period.  The first reference is in May 1830 when new trustees were appointed.  Later we find the vestry arranging for the re-letting of the land and for the taking of a valuation (1832 - 1833) and fixing a new rent for some of the town houses (October 1841).  In May 1848, however, a vestry called to decide on the best mode of letting the land, was told that this function was legally vested in the trustees and it was thereupon agreed to request the latter to act.  We learn, however, from the Charity's own records, which are extant from 1850, that three of the trustees - Thomas Woodman, Samuel Hawkins, and William Newman - were no longer resident in Pitstone by this date and that one of them, Thomas Woodman, disagreed with the letting policy favoured by the vestry. He wanted half of the income, which had previously all been paid to the church, expended on the poor.  How the dispute ended is not yet clear.  The Charity's income seems, from a brief examination of the account book, to have been about a £100 per annum in 1850.

(e) The Parish Roads.  A vestry was called in November 1831 "for repairing Wadborow Hill and other roads". It laid down the hours of work to be observed and added "Butterfield is to have 7/6d. per week to lodge in the parish and to be foreman over the men on the road".  There are several later references to the roads between this and March 1834 (when they cease), but few details are given.

(f) The Rates.  In addition to approving the rates for the church, the poor, and the Parish Roads, the vestry also decided who was to pay and on what basis. The problem as to who should be required to pay was complicated by the consideration that payment of rates could confer a legal settlement upon an outsider, who thus became a potential burden in his turn.  In March 1830 the vestry decided by a majority of 5 to 3 to require the "paupers" to attend the vestry "to decide whether they are to pay or not".  The outcome is not recorded but in March 1831 28 persons were exempted from payment of a "Stone rate" of 6d. in the £.  In March 1833 it was agreed to demand poor rates from six named persons (probably newcomers) "and exempt the poor belonging to Pitstone parish".  In November 1837, 37 persons - representing about half the population of the parish were exempted; the number of children under ten being taken into account in each case.  In 1837/38 a new rating valuation was carried out.  There are several examples of re-rating of individual properties, e.g. in 1844/45 the rateable value of the railway property was increased.  There are no references, however, to the imposition of rates on new cottages during the period, though we know that numbers were erected.

SOCIAL WELFARE; (l) THE POOR LAW

General
Poor relief was until 1835 based upon the parish unit and financed by rates levied on property and administered by the overseer of the poor under the general supervision of the vestry (see Tate The Parish Chest). Buckinghamshire was one of the "Speenhamland" counties where the practice of subsidising or supplementing the wages of able bodied labourers had become general, beginning in 1795.  The extent and duration of this form of relief are not know in any detail but its incidence must clearly have been linked with economic factors such as local wage rates and the availability of work.  Unfortunately, the Pitstone overseers' accounts covering the period are missing so we have to rely upon information gleaned from references in the vestry book and from the scanty official statistics available.  No attempt has yet been made to ascertain the situation regarding the records of the post 1835 poor law union.

Statistics of Relief
The following figures for Pitstone are taken from the printed parliamentary Returns of the Poor:

+ i.e. no. of persons permanently relieved outside of any workhouse, not including their children.

For comparison, the average expenditure on the poor in 1783 - 85 was £85.

Allowances
It is clear from the returns and from the vestry book that cash allowances were the most important form of relief.  As regards the recipients, the return for 1803 above gives the additional information that no less than 20 of the 33 persons "permanently" relieved were either over 60 or disabled from labour by infirmity or chronic sickness.  The remainder might well be accounted for by widows and orphan children.  We are also told that the total number of children under 14 relieved was 44 of whom 17 were under 5.  This information is supplemented by two lists of persons in receipt of weekly allowances which are entered in the vestry book.  The first, dated February 1815, contains 29 names.  No details of circumstances are given, but they comprise 9 males, 19 females (including 8 widows) and one child unspecified.  The second list is dated September 1822 and contains 27 names; viz. 9 males and 18 females; 16 of the  names (6 males, 10 females) correspond to names in the earlier list.  '

The amounts stated in the 1822 list range from 1/s.to 3/s. with three exceptions, these being the only instances where more than one person is 'specifically stated:-

Widow.Seabrook and daughter   3/9d.
William Dollimore and wife-  5/-
Widow Bedford and-family10/-

The amounts are generally lower than in the 1815 list, the total bill being under £3; doubtless, however, the scale varied according to the time of year and other factors

The numbers stated in the Returns as occasionally relieved are surprisingly low. The vestry book records some 12 individual applications for relief, almost all of them between 1830 and 1835 of which 7 refer to sickness or confinements, one to the expenses of a child's funeral, one to rent arrears, two are requests for shoes and two for housing. There are a few examples of the granting of relief to inhabitants living outside the parish. The 1815 lists mentioned above includes an allowance to Elizabeth Penn "at Sir Jonathon Milles at Hoxton" and in 1832 John Collier of Aldbury was relieved.

Provision Work 
The evidence given above does not suggest that relief payments to able-bodied men were anything other than exceptional in Pitstone.   The first direct reference to unemployment in the vestry book is in May 1832 when a vestry was called "to consider alloting the men out of work according to the rate"* In June of that year 15 men and 3 boys were alloted to 9 individual rate payers, and the surveyor of the highways (1 man). The road works undertaken about this time, to which reference is made in the vestry book were probably intended primarily as a means of unemployment relief. In November 1832 it was agreed to work a labour rate (see Tate) and in April 1834 it was decided that the labourers should be alloted according to the number of acres to each farm. There are no further references after this and the New Poor Law came into operation in the following year.

Medical Assistance
In March 1834 it was agreed in vestry to continue the parish contract with Mr. Duesbury for medicines, etc. "according to past regulation".  Mr. Duesbury's contract was renewed the following year, his duties being to attend all cases excepting midwifery at a salary of £12 per annum.  In May 1830 it was agreed that women capable of attending as nurses and who received parochial relief shall be employed whenever wanted to attend upon any pauper who may require their help.

Housing
In contrast to Ivinghoe, there was no parish workhouse or poorhouse in Pitstone. Low-cost housing for poor families was, however, available in the form of the seven "town houses" belonging to the Town Land Charity which were let at under 6d. a week. In March 1826, a request from Elizabeth Smith for a house for herself, husband and child, was granted by the vestry.  A similar request in April 1834 was refused without any reason being given.

The Parish Finances
In 1803 the total annual value of property in the parish was £1291.  In 1848, following a revaluation in 1837/38, it was £2060, of which the railway property accounted for £620.

SOCAL WELFARE: (2) FRIENDLY SOCIETIES

General
Friendly societies were a form of self-help designed to make recourse to public assistance unnecessary. We know from the printed Return of the Poor of 1803, which lists friendly societies, that there was one at Ivinghoe by that date with a membership of 40.  They do not seem to have been common in rural areas, however, until somewhat later in the century.  A list of friendly societies enrolled under the Friendly Societies Acts of 1856 shows that many new, mainly parish, societies were founded in the district in the 1830's-and 1840s.

The following affected Pitstones:-

1840, East Bucks. General Friendly Assurance Society: 1844, Ivinghoe and Pitstone  Male and Female Teetotal Benefit Society: 1846, Pitstone Friendly Society.

The records of the first of these survive and are being studied.  Some notes on its functioning are given below.

Membership
Membership was limited to persons under the age of 55, in good health, and living within 7 miles of Ivinghoe.  In 1849 membership stood at 167, a figure which increased by only 31 during the remaining 44 years of the society's existence.  Of the total of 198 members, 89 were men and 110 women.  Well over 50% joined under  the age of 20 and few new members were over 30.  Unfortunately the membership register does not give the occupations or parish of residence and only 3 of the much more informative proposal forms have survived.

Organisation
The society was run by a committee of local people. None of the members of the first committee were from Pitstone.  Paid stewards were appointed for the different parishes; those for Pitstone in 1840 were Henry Philbey and Elizabeth Collyer. Weekly visits were made to the sick who were attended by the society's apothecary. All members were obliged to attend the annual meetings and dinner held at Ivinghoe. Receipts from sickness and other contributions were £54-7s in 1849 and expenditure £29-17s.  In 1858 the total of members' sick days was 1463 (99 members).

Benefits
The amount of the monthly charges was determined by actuarial tables and the type of insurance required.  No one could insure above 4/5 of their income.  An example is a total contribution of 9d. per month from a female domestic servant aged 16 earning 7/s. per week in 1840.  This entitled her to 5/s. weekly in sick-ness or 2/6 half pay, superannuation of 2/6 and £2 death payment.  This case is the only one in which earnings are known.

EDUCATION AND LITERACY

General
Nationally, this was a period of great activity in the field of popular education by voluntary effort.  For Pitstone our earliest detailed information is gained from a printed survey made in 1846-47 by the National Society.  It shows that a total of 85 children were receiving some form of education within the parish (the total number of children between 5 and 14 in 1851 was 113).  This does not include children who may have attended the Baptist Sunday School which we know to have existed at Ivinghoe in 1853 (Musson and Craven's Directory of Bucks).
As regards duration of education, we have evidence for one individual, George Coker, and agricultural labourer born in Pitstone c. 1800.  In 1854 he stated that his education consisted of one year at Church Sunday School and one winter at night school.  The reference is presumably to the period c. 1804 - c. 1814, Coker could read and write.

Note

Sunday Schools

These aimed at teaching children to read but not necessarily to  write. Plait Schools 

A peculiarity of the straw-plaiting districts.  They were really work-shops rather than schools (See Dony p.73ff).  The "week school" mentioned in the 1846-47 Report (see below) may possibly have been a plait school but a directory of 1847 distinguishes "an infant school, a Sunday school, and a plaiting school".

References Found

April 1829  (Vestry Book)  Ann Treacher to have £2 for teaching Sunday School in the last year but her future payment to be by voluntary subscription "to be appropriated according to circumstances by the Minister and Chruchwardens".  All persons who receive relief from the Parish who do not send their children to some Sunday school are to be refused further benefit "so long as they continue thus negligent."

1846-47  (National Soc. Report) Total of 45 children (20 boys. 25 girls ) at Sunday and week schools (5 at week school only).  Evening schools 35 (20 boys, 15 girls,).  One "gratuitous" teacher.  Accommodation; 2 rooms in a cottage, very over-crowded.  "As many as 50 or 60 children are crowded in the small area of a cottage.  The funds are so small that the course of education is very limited".

1848 (Bucks. Record Soc. Series vol. 16 The Letter Books of Samuel Wilberforce   p. 142)  Plan of Lady Bridgewater to build a parsonage and school in Pitstone frustrated by non-cooperation of the incumbent.

1851  Census. 8 "scholars" (3 boys, 7 girls,).  1851 Census of Religious Worship. Average attendance of 45 children at Church Sunday School recorded.

1853  Inclosure award.  Site for a "National School" alloted.

1866  School built at expense of Earl Brownlow.  Endowment of £10 p.a.

Literacy

An analysis made of the marriage registers of Pitstone and Ivinghoe shows that the percentage of persons unable to sign their names c.1850 was;

Pitstone   Men 55% Women 80%

Ivinghoe   Men 65% Women 85%

The Registrar General's estimate for the country as a whole in 1838-39 was

Men 42%   Women 55%   

RELIGION (1) THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH

General

Pitstone from medieval times was a perpetual curacy; it was in the gift of the Egerton family of Ashridge who also owned the tithe.  There was no glebe, During the period under study the incumbents were non-resident, the living being  held in plurality with other neighbouring benefices. In 1848 the Countess of  Bridgewater expressed the desire to provide a separate, resident, incumbent for  the parish. The scheme was favoured by the bishop but eventually fell through   owing to the refusal of the incumbent to resign as promised. (See The Letter Book  of Samuel Wilberforce, Bucks Record Society, Vol. 16 p.153). In the 1853 inclosure award, 2a. was alloted for the site of a parsonage house and the 1861 census  shows a resident curate.

Incumbents

   -  1819 Rev. Isaiah Blythe

 c.  1822  -  1837 Rev. William Shepherd

 c.  1840  -  Rev. J.C. Roberton

 c.  1846  -  1853Rev. John Weighell

Rector of Cheddington, 1846 - 1853. Previously Vicar of Marsworth.  Described in Bishop Wilberforce's notes as "Very active man - very earnest good man rather Evangelical School - not very extreme".  (Letter Books p. 142).

Churchwardens

Vicars     Parish

1802   James Stephens 1802  John Tompkins

1814  William Newman  1830  Moses Williamson

1829 Thomas Woodman   1832  Thomas Jellis

1833   Peter Parrot   1843  Humphrey Tompkins

1848   John Proctor   1850  Moses Blinco

Attendance

The average congregation during 1851 was given as 40 mornings and 140 evenings.  Sunday scholars 45.  (1851 Census ,of Religious Worship).

The Church Fabric

In 1827-29 extensive repairs were carried out to the church.  The expense was  met by a loan of £330 repayable in 10 years which the churchwardens were empowered  by the vestry to raise on security of the church rates.

The following affected Pitstones:-

1840, East Bucks. General Friendly Assurance Society: 1844, Ivinghoe and Pitstone  Male and Female Teetotal Benefit Society: 1846, Pitstone Friendly Society.

The records of the first of these survive and are being studied.  Some notes on its functioning are given below.

Membership
Membership was limited to persons under the age of 55, in good health, and living within 7 miles of Ivinghoe.  In 1849 membership stood at 167, a figure which increased by only 31 during the remaining 44 years of the society's existence.  Of the total of 198 members, 89 were men and 110 women.  Well over 50% joined under  the age of 20 and few new members were over 30.  Unfortunately the membership register does not give the occupations or parish of residence and only 3 of the much more informative proposal forms have survived.

Organisation
The society was run by a committee of local people. None of the members of the first committee were from Pitstone.  Paid stewards were appointed for the different parishes; those for Pitstone in 1840 were Henry Philbey and Elizabeth Collyer. Weekly visits were made to the sick who were attended by the society's apothecary. All members were obliged to attend the annual meetings and dinner held at Ivinghoe. Receipts from sickness and other contributions were £54-7s in 1849 and expenditure £29-17s.  In 1858 the total of members' sick days was 1463 (99 members).

Benefits
The amount of the monthly charges was determined by actuarial tables and the type of insurance required.  No one could insure above 4/5 of their income.  An example is a total contribution of 9d. per month from a female domestic servant aged 16 earning 7/s. per week in 1840.  This entitled her to 5/s. weekly in sick-ness or 2/6 half pay, superannuation of 2/6 and £2 death payment.  This case is the only one in which earnings are known.

EDUCATION AND LITERACY

General
Nationally, this was a period of great activity in the field of popular education by voluntary effort.  For Pitstone our earliest detailed information is gained from a printed survey made in 1846-47 by the National Society.  It shows that a total of 85 children were receiving some form of education within the parish (the total number of children between 5 and 14 in 1851 was 113).  This does not include children who may have attended the Baptist Sunday School which we know to have existed at Ivinghoe in 1853 (Musson and Craven's Directory of Bucks).

As regards duration of education, we have evidence for one individual, George Coker, and agricultural labourer born in Pitstone c. 1800.  In 1854 he stated that his education consisted of one year at Church Sunday School and one winter at night school.  The reference is presumably to the period c. 1804 - c. 1814, Coker could read and write.

Note

Sunday School  These aimed at teaching children to read but not necessarily to  write.

Plait School A peculiarity of the straw-plaiting districts.  They were really work-shops rather than schools (See Dony p.73ff).  The "week school" mentioned in the 1846-47 Report (see below) may possibly have been a plait school but a directory of 1847 distinguishes "an infant school, a Sunday school, and a plaiting school".

References Found

April 1829  (Vestry Book)  Ann Treacher to have £2 for teaching Sunday School in the last year but her future payment to be by voluntary subscription "to be appropriated according to circumstances by the Minister and Chruchwardens".  All persons who receive relief from the Parish who do not send their children to some Sunday school are to be refused further benefit "so long as they continue thus negligent."

1846-47  (National Soc. Report) Total of 45 children (20 boys. 25 girls ) at Sunday and week schools (5 at week school only).  Evening schools 35 (20 boys, 15 girls,).  One "gratuitous" teacher.  Accommodation; 2 rooms in a cottage, very over-crowded.  "As many as 50 or 60 children are crowded in the small area of a cottage.  The funds are so small that the course of education is very limited".

1848(Bucks. Record Soc. Series vol. 16 The Letter Books of Samuel Wilberforce   p. 142)  Plan of Lady Bridgewater to build a parsonage and school in Pitstone frustrated by non-cooperation of the incumbent.

1852 Census. 8 "scholars" (3 boys, 7 girls,).  1851 Census of Religious Worship. Average attendance of 45 children at Church Sunday School recorded.

1853 Inclosure award.  Site for a "National School" alloted.

1867 School built at expense of Earl Brownlow.  Endowment of £10 p.a.

Literacy

An analysis made of the marriage registers of Pitstone and Ivinghoe shows that the percentage of persons unable to sign their names c.1850 was;

Pitstone   Men 55%Women 80%

Ivinghoe   Men 65%Women 85%

The Registrar General's estimate for the country as a whole in 1838-39 was

Men 42%   Women 55%

RELIGION (1) THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH

General

Pitstone from medieval times was a perpetual curacy; it was in the gift of the Egerton family of Ashridge who also owned the tithe.  There was no glebe, During the period under study the incumbents were non-resident, the living being  held in plurality with other neighbouring benefices. In 1848 the Countess of  Bridgewater expressed the desire to provide a separate, resident, incumbent for  the parish. The scheme was favoured by the bishop but eventually fell through   owing to the refusal of the incumbent to resign as promised. (See The Letter Book  of Samuel Wilberforce, Bucks Record Society, Vol. 16 p.153). In the 1853 inclosure award, 2a. was alloted for the site of a parsonage house and the 1861 census  shows a resident curate.

Incumbents

Rector of Cheddington, 1846 - 1853. Previously Vicar of Marsworth.  Described in Bishop Wilberforce's notes as "Very active man - very earnest good man rather Evangelical School - not very extreme".  (Letter Books p. 142).

Churchwardens

Attendance
The average congregation during 1851 was given as 40 mornings and 140 evenings.  Sunday scholars 45.  (1851 Census ,of Religious Worship).

The Church Fabric
In 1827-29 extensive repairs were carried out to the church.  The expense was  met by a loan of £330 repayable in 10 years which the churchwardens were empowered  by the vestry to raise on security of the church rates.

 RELIGION (2) NON-CONFORMITY

General
The tradition of non-conformity in the area goes back at least as far as the 17th century. The 18th century, however, was a period of decline in non-conformity generally. Between 1750 and 1800 no houses were registered for Protestant worship in Pitstone. In Ivinghoe the house of Reuben Gurney was registered in 1773 and that of George Griffin in 1792.
The Evangelical movement associated with the rise of Methodism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries brought about renewal in all the non-conformist churches. In Pitstone and Ivinghoe the period after 1800 saw the growth and consolidation of Baptist and Methodist congregations centred on Ivinghoe.

The Baptists
The building of the Grand Junction Canal which commenced in the late 1790's was the occasion of change. Among the "navigators" employed on the enterprise was George Clark of Braunstone, Northants, a former weaver who had been licensed as a Baptist preacher in 1797. Clark arrived in Tring in search of employment about the year 1799 being then aged 37. A chance stop at Ivinghoe on his journey led to his being called to preach there by the few Baptists of the place who were then attached to the New Mill meeting. In 1804 a congregation was formed with Clark as pastor, and in 1813 a meeting house was erected on property purchased from William Watts, the cost of £300 being met by voluntary subscription, dark died in 1831 and was succeeded as pastor by W. Collier.
In Pitstone meeting places which can be identified as Baptist registered prior to the erection of the Ivinghoe chapel weres

1804 Room in house of Robert Kerr
1808 House of John Butterfield
1811 House of Jonas Simmons

Numbers
Between 1806 and 1837 (when civil registration began) 32 different couples resident in Pitstone recorded the birth of their children in the Ivinghoe Baptist register.  Not all of these necessarily became, or remained, members.  A return made by the incumbent of Pitstone parish in 1829 to a government circular estimates the number of Baptists in the parish at 14.

Social Composition
The majority of members were agricultural labourers but membership included other classes also.  George Clark was befriended by Mr. Meacher, a brewer, of Ivinghoe, who encouraged him to preach in the surrounding area and apparently arranged for licensing of houses.  Robert Kerr and Jonas Simmons, mentioned above, were farmers while John Butterfield was a wheelwright.  Samuel Hawkins, who succeeded Kerr as tenant of Pitstone Green Farm about the year 1808 was a Baptist also, though he later became a Methodist.

The Methodists
Methodism appears to have established itself in the area in the early 1820's, the source being Leighton Buzzard.  In 1822 the house of Joseph Wells in Ivinghoe was registered and the name of J. Williams, "Wesleyan Minister, Leighton Buzzard" given as witness.  In 1837 a "New Building or chapel" at Ivinghoe was registered. No reference to registration of houses for Methodist worship at Pitstone, but the 1829 return mentioned above refers to "a private assembly of Wesleyan Methodists".

Numbers
The 1829 return gives the number in Pitstone as 10.

Social Composition
No details.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE (2) FAMILY, KINSHIP AND COMMUNITY

General
It is hoped by means of family reconstruction to gain some insight into how the family functioned as a unit and its response to crises such as marriage, birth, old age and death.  It is also intended to explore the nature of the various kinship networks in relation to religion, social status, geographical location etc.

Family and Kinship
Of the families who remained in the village throughout the period, the two most prolific were the families of Jellis and Gollyer (otherwise Collier). In 1851 -there were 5 Jellis households and 6 of Collyer (Collier) Intermarriage with other village families seems to have been extensive.
A straight comparison of the entries for a single family name in two successive censuses can enable interesting inferences to be made about the role of the extended family. In the case of the Peppiatts, for instance, it becomes clear that Philip Peppiatt, shown in 1857 as an agricultural labourer aged 35, had died by 1861 and we find his widow and one child living with one of Philip's brothers, Shadrach and his four other children living with another brother David who also has their aged father John Peppiatt and three of Shadrachs children living with him in addition to two children of his own.

The Village Community
How much sense of group identity was there in the village as a whole? Common traditions and festivals and common enemies are usual expressions of this kind of solidarity. We learn from Mr. Hawkins senior that there was a tradition of hostility towards inhabitants of Ivinghoe.

FESTIVALS, RECREATIONS, FOLKLORE 

General
The few scattered pieces of information so far collected are given below. It might be possible to add much more from oral tradition.

Festivals
The "Fig Fair".  A document dated 1712 in the Browne Willis MSS at the Bodlian Library, Oxford, refers to the custom of the Fig Fair held annually under Beacon Hill on Palm Sunday when the youth of Ivinghoe and neighbouring parishes met to eat  figs and drink ale.  It would be interesting to know whether the custom survived  into the following century.
The "Wake".  We learn from the same source that Pitstone parish wake or feast day was held on the Sunday before Michaelmas.
Ivinghoe Fairs.  These were held annually on 6th May and 17th October.
Ivinghoe Music Festival, 1837.  An account of receipts and expenditure for a music festival held at Ivinghoe to mark the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 has recently come to light. The number of tickets sold was 410, receipts being  £30.15.0d  The bill for the" orchestra" was £2.2.0.
Harvest Homes, weddings, etc. No information.

Recreations
We know that cricket was played in the village at least as early as 1831. A record exists of a game played between Pitstone and Ivinghoe in that year which gives the names of the players and the "notches of the bat" for each. Two other similar sheets survive, one dated 1834 and the other undated. As regards the social status of the players, a comparison of the names with the 1841 census returns shows that the 1831 team included a tailor, (George Hill), a straw dealer, (John Short), a victualler (Thomas Jellis) and at least two agricultural labourers (Wm. Kempster and John Collins).

Folk Lore
A recent article by H. Parrat in Chiltern Life shows that belief in witches survived at nearby Tring as late as the 1750's.

PRINCIPAL MSS. SOURCES

(Asterisk indicates not yet examined).
Buckinghamshire Record Office
Ashridge Estate Collection
Plan of Pitstone "west of the Barley End inclosures" and reference book, 1909
Terrier (refers to 1809 map) 1829
Valuation of Pitstone, 1840* Deeds of estate properties

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