Feudal Chestfield
After the Norman invasion Chestfield continued to be part of the Church's estates. How far this changed the life chances of local people is hard to judge, but as the Church provided the most important opportunity for social mobility, for some Chestfield people it was a better place to grow up than elsewhere.
The Church lands had passed to St Augustine's Abbey in Anglo-Saxon times and were taken over by William the Conqueror's half Brother Bisho Odo after 1066. They were part of the growing wealth of a man whose ambitions stretched as far as becoming Pope, and who was enventually brought down by rebelling against the Conqueror's son, King Wiliam II.
There is more work to be done on the history of the 11th to 13th centuries, but Chestfield was probably a very early example of the decline of feudal England. It was purchased as half a Knight's Service in the 1340s as the old arrangements that ensured a king could call up knights to strengthen his army gave way to the fragmentation of ancient knightly duties as money became the preferred method of buying military support. This must have been an important method by which prosperous newly prosperous people entered the world of local elites.
We see from the record opposite how in the 20th year of the reign of Edward III Chestfield Manor became the inheritance of an unnamed "proprietor" who took his name from it, becoming James de Cheftvill.
The 1340s was the time of the Black Death, and Chestfield was almost certainly decimated. But the consequence of the Black Death was to break up old ties and obligations as the surviving peasants found the labour market worked in their favour. The new ownes probabl move faster than their old fashioned neighbours, and Chestfield grew in importance, establishing a second and then a third Tythe Barn, clear evidence that business was prospering. The buildings we now see of two of them are not the originals but replacements built in the 16th century. One is the Barn Public House, the other the houses in The Drive called after the Barn and its adjacent Paddock. The third Barn was destroyed in the early 20th century redevelopment but was between the ones remaining. Its location is marked by the ancient right of way opposite the south end of Meadow Drive.
Notes for completion
The way people lived - see Flavia Taylor page 64 and 128 forward
The Church lands had passed to St Augustine's Abbey in Anglo-Saxon times and were taken over by William the Conqueror's half Brother Bisho Odo after 1066. They were part of the growing wealth of a man whose ambitions stretched as far as becoming Pope, and who was enventually brought down by rebelling against the Conqueror's son, King Wiliam II.
There is more work to be done on the history of the 11th to 13th centuries, but Chestfield was probably a very early example of the decline of feudal England. It was purchased as half a Knight's Service in the 1340s as the old arrangements that ensured a king could call up knights to strengthen his army gave way to the fragmentation of ancient knightly duties as money became the preferred method of buying military support. This must have been an important method by which prosperous newly prosperous people entered the world of local elites.
We see from the record opposite how in the 20th year of the reign of Edward III Chestfield Manor became the inheritance of an unnamed "proprietor" who took his name from it, becoming James de Cheftvill.
The 1340s was the time of the Black Death, and Chestfield was almost certainly decimated. But the consequence of the Black Death was to break up old ties and obligations as the surviving peasants found the labour market worked in their favour. The new ownes probabl move faster than their old fashioned neighbours, and Chestfield grew in importance, establishing a second and then a third Tythe Barn, clear evidence that business was prospering. The buildings we now see of two of them are not the originals but replacements built in the 16th century. One is the Barn Public House, the other the houses in The Drive called after the Barn and its adjacent Paddock. The third Barn was destroyed in the early 20th century redevelopment but was between the ones remaining. Its location is marked by the ancient right of way opposite the south end of Meadow Drive.
Notes for completion
The way people lived - see Flavia Taylor page 64 and 128 forward