Page 8 - Moreton Village Only Book

8 Moreton Village Only

The Enclosure Acts were communicated to the public by the simple expedient of
nailing a notice to the church door although how they were communicated in Moreton,
where there was no church and therefore no door to nail them to, is not recorded! These
notices were often torn down by enraged freeholders who saw them as infringing their
very ancient land rights, until Commissioners were appointed to allocate land. This took
a very long time (it was not completed until 1832) and for one entire season (a significant
period in a small, totally agriculture-dependent community) no crops were sown and
people had to draw on their meagre savings to support their families.

Eventually the allocations were com-
pleted, plots were fenced or hedged and crops
planted. Many plots were lost altogether and
when corn prices dropped (the Corn Laws
were not repealed until 12 years later in 1846)
the villagers planted turnips and other root
vegetables as animal feed instead. Corn prices
then increased – the rich with their vast
estates became richer and the poor with their
small tracts of land became poorer.

For Moreton the important outcomes
of the Enclosure Acts were the awards of 532
acres to Miss Wykeham of Thame Park as
Jessmere and adjoining cottages – circa 1930’s.
Lord of the Manor, of which 3.5 acres were
for the churchwardens (although there was no church in Moreton) and 2.5 acres for “the
poor” and the enclosure of the village green – then at the western end of Moreton where the
road forks. Moreton took on much of the shape that we still see today.

The early part of the 19th century also saw an increase in building in Moreton, in what
appears to be the first “property building boom” since the late 1500’s/early 1600’s when
Willow Cottage (originally a barn and then converted into three cottages), Jessmere, Vine
Cottage, Elm Tree Farmhouse, Folly Cottage, Prospect Cottage, Moreton House, Field
Farm, The Old Bakery, Brook Cottage, Moreton Thatch and parts of Rose Cottage had all
been built. All of these properties are believed to have been at least two or three cottages at
one time – certainly Folly Cottage was two “one up-one down” cottages and The Old
Bakery was at least three cottages. Jessmere was (as our photograph shows) four cottages
before being completely reconstructed in 1934.

Most of Spencer Cottage is believed to date from the early 1800’s and The Old Bell
dates from about the same time. Both stand where the main road out of Thame to Tetsworth
ran through Moreton to meet the Oxford to London road before the “new road” following
the old Rycote Road (a medieval causeway) was constructed in the late 1700’s to link Aylesbury
and Wallingford by running through Haddenham and Thame.

Unofficial Census Form of 1839.