Agricultural labourer wages

This document is not specific to Market Lavington but refers to the whole of Wiltshire and other counties. The Wiltshire wage is compared with the highest and lowest wages paid elsewhere at various times in the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century.

Agricultural labourer wages – Wiltshire compared with other counties

We can see that the Wiltshire farm labourer was amongst the lowest paid getting something akin to just two thirds of the best paid and sometimes little more than half.

Let’s take that 1892 figure of 10 shillings per week (which is equal to 50p in decimal money). Changes in value are difficult to calculate but goods that cost ten shillings in 1892 would cost about £50 now. In fact a present day farm worker probably earns £300 a week and would still be classed as low paid. It gives an idea of how impoverished our Victorian labourers actually were.

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Malthouses

There was a time when Market Lavington was full of malthouses. In the 18^th century there were 27 of these ‘factories’ where barley was sprouted to produce malt.

Very little remains today, to remind us of these old buildings. They have all been swept into oblivion.

One of the last Malthouse survivors was in the Market Place – and that went some 60 years ago but it can be seen in photos.

A rather careworn photo shows a malthouse in Market Lavington Market Place

This photo has suffered damage, but the malthouse is clear, close by the old coach.

We do have a few relics in the museum and amongst them is this tile.

A ventilation tile from a Market Lavington malthouse

This was made locally at the Lavington brick works and measures some 25 cm square. It was part of the ventilation in a maltings kiln.

With a local brick industry we have many examples of different styles of local brick and tile in the museum, but this one, which links to another long gone industry, is rather special.

Carved stone – but where from?

When Mike was preparing ground for the Centenary Seat on the village green, his fork hit something hard. After a tussle, Mike came up with a piece of rather nicely carved sandstone.

And here it is.

Carved stone dug up just outside Market Lavington churchyard, near the Community Hall

The question now arises as to where this came from originally.  We believe the land it was found on was originally a part of Grove Farm but it lies only just outside the churchyard. This leads some people to believe it is a part of an old gravestone – possibly 18^th century. There appears to be some kind of urn carved on the right with the leafy plant clearer on the left. Both symbols can be found on gravestones but the very even flat base of the stone might suggest this is not what this was.  But there again, the urn only appears to be half there.

As a gut feeling, we reckon this stone carving could date from the 18^th century.

Maybe somebody out there could tell us more.

 

A former chapel

At the Easterton end of High Street in Market Lavington there stands a rather odd looking building – this one.

This building, near the Easterton end of Market Lavington, was built as a Meeting House for Quakers in the early 18th century.

It is right alongside the pavement, yet has only the one window on that side. The building is oriented at right angles to the road.

The building was, originally a Quaker meeting house. The Wiltshire Community History website at http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/ has this to say about the Quakers in Market Lavington and the chapel building.

There was a strong Quaker influence in the village by the 1650s and this continued for several generations with three or four families as the mainstay of the Friends. These included the Selfe, Gye and Axford families. A meeting had been established by 1656 and the Friends were persecuted by the authorities from around 1660. Members of the Selfe family were imprisoned along with Edward Gye and John Smith. This continued into the 1670s. They continued meeting through the latter 17th century and the 24 dissenters recorded in 1676 were probably all Quakers. It was a fairly small group of families which, in c.1680, formed the Lavington Monthly Meeting, which continued until 1775. A meeting house, on the north side of the High Street and at a right angle to the road, measuring 33 feet by 22 feet, was built in 1716, but by the mid-18th century Quakerism was in decline throughout Wiltshire and Market Lavington felt the effect of this. By 1790 there were only three Quakers in the parish and by 1799 this was reduced to one. The meeting house, with its small graveyard was sold and in 1809 was taken over by the Congregationalists, who enlarged it, using it first as a chapel and later, after 1892, as a schoolroom.

In fact the Congregationalists used the building until about 1960 when they built the Powner Hall alongside their church, across the road. The old chapel was sold into private hands.

Back in 2009 a chance came to see the inside which was in use as a store for an artist. But it still retained features of a chapel.

Here we look at the entrance and above, the balcony which provided extra seating in church days is still there.

The building, along with its graveyard, is owned privately and is not normally available to the public.

David Saunders – Shepherd of Salisbury Plain

Yesterday we had a picture and information about William Saunders and we mentioned that he was a direct descendant of ‘The Pious Shepherd of Salisbury Plain’ Very recently we were given a book called ‘The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain’.

The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain

We can see that this is a rather dull looking book with no particular feature to make anyone pick it up.

It does, indeed, contain a story, no doubt versed in fact, about David Saunders, the ancestor of William.

An owner of this copy had been Thomas Chapman, a postman in Potterne who was born back in 1864 in the Littleton Panell part of West Lavington.

Once owned by Thomas K Chapman, a Potterne postman

This handwriting matches exactly that on the 1911 census written by Thomas.

It has to be said that David Saunders was more of a West Lavington man than a Market Lavington man, but as we have seen his descendants certainly lived in our parish and David’s influence spread across the parishes.

The title page

The story, as told by Mrs Hannah Moore explains now a passing rich man came upon the uncomplaining shepherd and was so impressed with him that, when the time came, he was able to get him installed in a better cottage where he could be superintendent of the Sunday School as well as carrying on his employment as shepherd.

We believe the book was published in about 1795 and it is still available.

Our copy has one illustration.

Illustration – the Shepherd in his cottage

Grave inscription at West Lavington

At the end of the story in our copy is information about the grave of the shepherd which is at West Lavington.

 

The book is an interesting addition to our collection at Market Lavington Museum

The Philpott Family

On our opening day of the season we had a visitor tracing the history of the Philpott family. We probably don’t know as much as we might about this once leading family in the village.

Let’s start with some dates. In 1773 Henry Philpott was at The Green Dragon. We are not sure in what capacity. There are plenty of Philpott baptisms in the parish.

Year	Month	Day	Surname	Forename	s/d	parents
1673	AUG	2	PHILPOT	BRIDGET	D	HENRY
1680	JUL	9	PHILPOTT	ANNE	D	HENRY
1684	DEC	26	PHILPOT	WILLIAM	S	HENRY
1686	SEP	21	PHILPOT	MARY	D	HENRY
1688	DEC	28	PHILPOT	STEPHEN	S	HENRY
1689/0	MAR	2	PHILPOT	JUDITH	D	HENRY
1696	SEP	3	PHILPOT	HENRY	S	HENRY
1702	APR	1	PHILPOT	MARY	D	HENRY    CARPENTER
1703	SEP	17	PHILPOT	JOHN	S	HENRY    CARPENTER
1708	OCT	27	PHILPOT	SHADRACK	S	HENRY
1708	SEP	12	PHILPOT	STEVAN	BBS	ANNE
1709/0	FEB	2	PHILPOT	RICHARD	S	HENRY
1742/3	JAN	27	PHILPOT	ANNAH	D	HENRY
1746	JUN	2	PHILPOT	JAMES	S	HENRY
1747/8	JAN	31	PHILPOTT	ELIZABETH	D	THOMAS
1748	NOV	18	PHILPOT	JOHN	S	HENRY
1752	APR	24	PHILPOT	THOMAS	S	THOMAS
1771	SEP	13	PHILPOTT	HENRY	S	JAMES
1773	MAR	7	PHILPOTT	JANE	D	JAMES
1774	NOV	28	PHILPOTT	BRIDGET	D	JAMES & ELEANOR
1775	AUG	20	PHILPOTT	BRIDGET	D	JAMES & ELEANOR
1776	NOV	8	PHILPOTT	MARY	D	JAMES & ELEANOR
1778	OCT	30	PHILPOTT	ANN	D	JAMES & ELEANOR
1781	MAY	12	PHILPOT	HENRY	S	JAMES & ELINOR [BT PHILLPOT]
1782	MAR	22	PHILLPOT	HARRY	S	JOHN & SUSANNA [BT HENRY]
1783	AUG	17	PHILLPOT	ELINOR	D	JAMES & EINOR
1783	JAN	31	PHILLPOT	JAMES	S	JOHN & SUSANNAH
1785	AUG	21	PHILPOT	JAMES	S	JAMES & ELEANOR
1785	JUL	15	PHILPOT	JAMES	S	JOHN & SUSANNAH
1787	AUG	21	PHILLPOT	JOHN	S	JAMES & ELEANOR
1788	APR	11	PHILLPOT	ELIZABETH	D	JOHN & SUSANNAH
1790	AUG	24	PHILLPOT	HENRY JAMES	S	JAMES & ELEANOR  3 MONTHS 1 WEEK
1790	MAY	14	PHILLPOT	JOHN	S	JOHN & SUSANNAH  4 DAYS
1790	MAY	14	PHILLPOT	SUSANNAH	D	JOHN & SUSANNAH. 4 DAYS
1793	JAN	25	PHILLPOT	BRIDGET	D	JAMES & ELEANOR  1 MONTH
1797	AUG	22	PHILLPOT	RICHARD	S	JAMES & ELINOR  8 WEEKS
1801	JUL	13	PHILPOTT	JOHN	S	HENRY & FRANCES  18 WEEKS
1802	DEC	23	PHILLPOTT	ELIZABETH	D	HENRY & FRANCES  8 WEEKS
1805	JAN	25	PHILLPOTT	HENRY	S	HENRY & FRANCIS  5 WEEKS
1809	JUN	9	PHILPOTT	CAROLINE	D	HENRY & FRANCES  2 YEARS
1810	AUG	24	PHILPOTT	WILLIAM	S	HENRY & FRANCIS  6 WEEKS
1811	AUG	31	PHILPOTT	ELIZA	D	JOHN & SARAH  1 WEEK
1812	SEP	4	PHILPOTT	CATHERINE	D	JOHN & SARAH  2 WEEKS
1813	NOV	25	PHILPOTT	HARRIET	D	HENRY & FRANCIS  INNKEEPER
1814	MAR	17	PHILPOTT	ELIZABETH	D	JOHN & SARAH  LAB
1816	NOV	17	PHILPOTT	SARAH	D	JOHN & SARAH  LAB
1818	DEC	21	PHILPOTT	CATHERINE	D	JOHN & SARAH  COACHMAN
1819	DEC	20	PHILPOTT	SUSANNA	D	HENRY & FRANCES  INNKEEPER
1820	AUG	30	PHILPOTT	ELEANOR	D	JOHN & SARAH  COACHMAN
1823	AUG	29	PHILPOTT	JAMES	S	JOHN & SARAH  COACHMAN
1823	JUL	17	PHILPOTT	SARAH JANE	D	HENRY & FRANCES  INNKEEPER
1824	OCT	25	PHILPOTT	ANN	D	JOHN & SARAH  COACHMAN
1825	AUG	26	PHILPOTT	ROBERT SLOPER	S	JOHN & HANNAH  MALSTER
1825	DEC	16	PHILPOTT	AMELIA	D	HENRY & FRANCES  INNKEEPER
1828	DEC	28	PHILPOTT	HENRY	S	JOHN & HANNAH  MALSTER
1828	DEC	28	PHILPOTT	JOHN	S	JOHN & HANNAH MALSTER 2YRS 8MTHS   2WEEKS
1832	APR	29	PHILPOTT	WILLIAM	S	JOHN & HANNAH  MALSTER
1833	JUL	21	PHILPOTT	ELIZABETH	D	JOHN & HANNAH  MALSTER
1835	APR	19	PHILPOTT	JULIA	BBD	ELIZABETH
1836	APR	3	PHILPOTT	TOM	BBS	SARAH
1839	JAN	18	PHILPOTT	GEORGE	S	JOHN & HANNAH  LICENSED MALSTER

Henry also took the brickworks. We know he leased Brick Kiln Field in 1840.

The Philpott family drifted away from Market Lavington. In 1851 there were 18 Philpotts in the parish. By 1881 there were just 8 and in 1911 there were none.

One Philpott has left his mark, literally, for the museum.

Brick inscribed Philpott at Market Lagvington Museum

In 1861 Caroline Philpott, Widow, was ‘victualler’ at the Royal Oak in Easterton.

We have odd snapshots of information. It would be lovely if someone out there can put some flesh on our bare Philpott bones.