Agricultural History Review, Volume 64 Part 2 (2016), p. 262

Focusing on the development of agrarian capitalism in county Durham between the turn of the fifteenth century and the eve of the Civil War, this book provides a detailed view of the fortunes of three groups of landowners: the bishops of Durham; Durham Cathedral Priory (later the Dean and Chapter); and lay landowners, both large and small. The existence of relevant material – including a range of Inquisitions Post Mortem, accounts, wills and probate inventories – in both cathedral and university library archives in the city has greatly assisted the analysis presented. In his introduction, Brown notes that economic change in the region was not the result of a single factor but rather the combined effect of three factors: increased commercialization; demographic changes; and changing relationships within the class structure. Brown also stresses the importance of analysis which straddles the late medieval/early modern divide, arguing that the 240-year period in question is best seen not as a ‘transitional era’ but as a long agrarian cycle during which changes occurred which were important to the development of agrarian capitalism. The book examines the effects on landed society of low prices, low rents and high wages during the recessionary fifteenth century, before progressing to consider how landowners’ responses to these issues affected the ability of their successors to deal with the high levels of inflation experienced in the sixteenth century.

As one would expect for Durham, there is a seam of coal running through the book. Whilst the bishops exploited the mines economically, albeit through lease income, thereby avoiding the costs of actually winning the coal, the Priory kept their mines in hand so as to meet the demands of household consumption. As for its farms, the Priory weathered the recession by firm management of arrears, improved rent collection, reorganization of farms and a move to leasehold arrangements. In contrast, the diversification of income sources by the bishops in the fifteenth century also extended to forests and parks, as well as mines, with little change in the agricultural estate, leading to the survival of copyhold tenure. Thus, in the following century, those copyhold farms had rents that were difficult to increase, resulting in nominal payments during inflationary times.

Having concentrated on the effects of these economic circumstances on the two major estates of the bishops and of the Priory in the first two chapters, the book moves on to consider lay landowners: whilst they were able to build up their estates during the fifteenth century, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries resulted in the fragmentation of many of these estates. The fortunes of the gentry are considered in Chapter 4 where the problems facing the aristocracy are shown to have been to the benefit of the lesser gentry. Chapter 5 considers the wealth brought to the rural economy by merchants. Brown suggests that not all merchants were looking to become landed gentlemen, but rather they bought land because of the coal and other minerals beneath it, which in turn had the potential to enhance their merchant status. The book then examines the emergence of the church leaseholder – that is, those tenants who were leasing land from the Dean and Chapter – while the final chapter explores the situation for the yeomen and smallholders on the estate of the bishops of Durham who were able to buy and farm their own land. By retaining ‘yeoman values’, as opposed to those of gentlemen, they were able to raise considerable profits, which funded further purchases of land thereby amassing reasonable fortunes by their deaths.

Overall the book is generally well produced with the exception of a few typographical errors: ‘amble’ rather than ‘ample’ being one instance. What lets the book down, however, is the application and quality of its maps. For those unfamiliar with the geography of the area, a good clear map with key locations marked thereon would be a great improvement to that presented on page 23. The maps of townships on pages 211 and 219 lack both clarity and any form of key. Given that they are from the late eighteenth century and do not relate to any of the tabulated records of tenants presented in that chapter, their relevance is also questionable. Another concern is the repetition of key points: for example, we are told about the differing responses to economic circumstances and their subsequent effects at least twice before page 26 – and twice again on that page. It would also have been helpful to understand how much coal there was in a chaldron and how much lead in a fother.

Notwithstanding this, Brown’s is a valuable book from an early-career historian. In his conclusion, he notes that neither national nor regional generalizations apply to the area under consideration. Therefore, the focus on this one county for a specific time period enables an in-depth understanding of the effects that the development of the coal industry had on both the economy and society. Overall, then, this book provides inspiration to undertake similar focused studies at a local level, both for different areas and for different periods.