Occupations

Until the early 20th century many of the villagers' occupations involved agriculture eg Farming, Prunes, Flour milling, Straw Plaiting.

In addition some worked in the limestone mine in Totternhoe and others worked on the Highways.

Agriculture

At the beginning of the nineteenth century Edlesborough still had the traditional open fields, unhedged and divided into strips, though some by this time had been assembled into blocks.

Many of the strips of land were rented from the Bridgewaters and on rent day each quarter the tenants marched up to Ashridge House, singing as they went, to pay their rents. Once they had paid the bailiff they were given a meal of bread, cheese and beer before starting the homeward journey.

By 1865 the open fields had given way to the system of enclosures.

Most houses were clustered round the green, on which the villagers held common rights of grazing. The roads leading to the green were gated to prevent animals from wandering. Each occupier of house or estate was entitled to graze 3 sheep, 2 cows or 1 horse on the common at one time. No geese were allowed, the cows had to have knobs on their horns and grown pigs had to have rings in their noses. Animals were forbidden to graze on the highways unless for any reason the commons were unusable.

A hayward was appointed each year to enforce these rules, and to see that a rotational use of the green and other small commons or open fields were used from harvest to spring. If rules were broken the villagers could be fined up to 10 shillings, such fines being distributed to the poor on the Sunday after Christmas.

Prunes

Prunes were grown on unenclosed land; they are peculiar to the Vale of Aylesbury. Every spare piece of ground in Edlesborough was planted with these trees and each resident was allowed to encroach on the common land 40ft in depth along the front of his property – many of the old houses that lay back from the road still have damsons in their front gardens. The prunes were of sufficient importance to the villagers to be mentioned separately from the other crops during the prayers for the harvest.

2 views of George Bates’ orchard in Cow Lane, about 1938.

The railway van collected the baskets in the evening and delivered them to Stanbridgeford station to be dispatched to various markets. After a good season the station master stated that he had dispatched 1111 tons during the season. Most of the prunes were used to dye the fabric that was used to make sailors uniforms.

The industry started to decline after the 2^nd world war.

Straw Plaiting

Straw plaiting was mainly a cottage industry in which the whole family took part when not required for farm work, and many yards of plait was eventually sewn into hats and bonnets in Dunstable and Luton factories. This industry had been in existence since before the 17th century, when Edlesborough was amongst the villages that petitioned against a Bill brought by felt makers to enforce the wearing of woollen hats.  The representatives of the plaiters were heard at the Houses of Parliament and helped bring about the failure of the Bill.

The women and children did the plaiting. The straw was tied in a small bundle and held under the arm, the straws were then drawn out and held in the mouth, the moisture making them more pliable. Many different patterns were plaited. The plaits were made into bundles of 20, which took about 6 hours to plait and earned about 1s (5p). One person could earn between 6s and 12s per week.

The children were often sent to other cottages, popularly known as plaiting schools, to learn to plait and give their mothers more time for plaiting. One village school was open from 9am to 10pm each weekday. Indeed, straw plait was so important to Edlesborough that plaiting was even allowed for 3 hours a day in the village school. Both sexes attended the schools, though boys left earlier to do farm work.

Parents paid 2d per week and supplied their children with straws, reaping the profit from the finished article. A child of 7 was expected to produce 5 yards of plait in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 5 more at night, with an extra yard at lunch time and another at tea. The children could earn between 9d and 3/6 per week (between 4 and 17.5 pence).

Mining

In 1748 a Swede named Pehr Kaln visited England, including Totternhoe He observed that Edlesborough “carls” (stone workers) worked in the stone mines at Totternhoe. There were 3 entrances to the mines at this time, one went 660 feet underground. The tunnels were walled round for about 12 feet, but thereafter consisted entirely of natural rock. The tunnels were mostly about 6 feet wide and 7 feet high and went mostly horizontally into the hill, with side tunnels off. Water trickled down everywhere during the winter, but in the summer the tunnels were dry.

For the most part the miners appeared to enjoy good health, and were not aware that they were exposed to more illnesses or cramps than others.

When first hewn the stone was very soft and could be cut with a knife, it became harder and harder as it was exposed to the open air.

Highways

In the 19^th century the Parish Surveyor of the Highways inspected the roads at regular intervals and arranged for repairs. He also collected the Highway, or Stone, Rate which was levied on the parishioners to pay for the upkeep of the roads. In 1840 it was agreed in the parish that only residents who kept or used carts would be required to pay the rate.

The residents of the parish were supposed to undertake ‘statute labour’ which meant they should contribute towards the repairs by physical labour or by providing appropriate raw materials.

In Edlesborough the road repairs were carried out by the labouring poor. The chalk for the road and house repairs came from a small quarry between Edlesborough and Dagnall.