Heytesbury House

April 17 1826

My dear William

Have had a long conversation with Chandler about his farm & have endeavoured to collect his ideas on the subject.  He complains & justly, of the fields laying so wide apart from each other; & the consequent necessity of having so many homesteads, which are exposed to constant pillage & require so much straw & labor to keep in proper repair.  He has also more water meadows than the land requires which leaves only to .... his need without giving him a suitable return.  Since the introduction of Swedish turnips, water meadow has declined in value; or rather less of it is necessary than heretofore.  He complains further of  the springy nature of the land near the field Barn, where he is, for the benefit of the farm, obliged to lamb; & he suggests that if about 15 acres running along the Bourn  were enclosed (there is already a hedge existing by the Bourn side) & divided into two paddocks of grassland, it might readily be drained; & enable the tenant in the event of giving up water meadow, to keep more stock to the north of the farm, where the manure is most wasted & moreover keep the rest of the low land (by means of the ditches necessary to the new enclosures) sound & healthy.  He futher complains of the road to the field barn, which is common to the two cousin's House & himself.  Nobody therefore will repair it & the parties interested are unwilling to join in the undertaking.

These, as far as I remember are the whole of his grievances; & I propose to remedy them in the following manner. 

Nos 75
       76  }   Give to Nolls farm.         Nolls is willing & anxious for the arrangement                                   £ 29-17-11
       77
       93

      90 }  Cede to Slaiter - already by private agreement held by the tenant                                                 £24-12-11
     300

      292     Cede to Sir Wm.                                                                                                                                                        £22-8-0

      345     Cede to Marsh, who is willing to occupy it & live of 348; which give to                                      £27-5-0
                 Nolls to be enclosed & put to pasture with the Tytherington farm wants
                 exceedingly and Nolls will give the full value for 348

      152}   Cede to Sir Wm.        The smaller barn is never used;  is much out of repair                                 £2-5-6
                  and being useless it would be folly to keep it up.
      153

                                                                                                                                                             £105-9-4

I further proposed that all Pothicary's buildings 152. 153.154  should be given up; and the produce of Cottley hill be carried to the Field Barns; but to this Chandler strongly objected, stating that the Pothicary homestead (except the smaller barn) was of immense value for the advantageous running of the land and could not be given up.  To all the other propositions he agreed most fully; & acknowledged that without injuring the Parsonage farm, we should be reducing it's size and benefitting most essentially the Tytherington and Slaiters farms.

 As to the road  I told him that a few hours extra hauling and willing hands would soon put that to rights; & tho' the trouble might fall upon him he must not mind the Cousin's profitting by the work as well as himself.  The proposed new enclosures I told him I thought might possibly not be objected to, as in fact one long hedge only would be required to complete them but that this must be an after consideration.

I then proposed that he present sums of
                                                                                                                                                             £942-0-0
(for the 28£ for the house is a separate concern to be considered hereafter - the originial rent was 950£,
 but the land required for turning the road and corners taken from it  leave only 942£)

To reduce as by the other side                                                                                                                £105-0-0
                                                                                                                                                       to  £837-0-0

He would then give up about 42 acres and lower his rent 100 Guineas.  He then told me I approve highly of all the proposed alterations but differ entirely as to price.  On my first lease I paid but 705£ for the whole farm - agricultural produce was then higher than at present & more than that I cannot offer now.  I then told him that if that was really his determination, with regret must at once look out for another tenant.  He seemed ...; but added whether I go or stay I shall always remember past kindnesses & under any circumstances we shall part with mutual good will.   

This is all that has passed between us and I now only wait for Edwards arrival to decide positively as to our line of conduct.  I shall be exceedingly sorry to lose so respectable a tenant, but I flatter myself that we may find another as respectable.  Chandler told me he never proposed to my father to lay out 3000£ on the farm.  That he once asked for sheds that could not have cost 200£ & on that sum he should not then have minded 7 1/2 years rent, but that no specific offer was ever made on either side.

I do not ... know what .... to make of your plantations.  They disappoint one exceedingly, but every body tells me they are looking to the full as well as could possibly be expected .  The trees are visable certainly, but that is all; but this year they are to surprise us.  The fact is  that Fairbain put in such   ....   that every thing now alive & flourishing has been planted by ourselves and every year we keep renewing.  Some parts look to the full as well as the part over the turnpike when you left England.  The other parts the trees tho' alive look standard.  Upon the whole however I really believe we have no great cause for complaint.

The wall was commenced this day.  My paper will not ....  of more.