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Road Piece Husborne Crawley

Road Piece shown in green
Road Piece shown in green

In 1970 Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service staff carried out research on a number of fields belonging to Woburn Experimental Farm in Husborne Crawley. This seems to have been prompted by an enquiry from The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Plant Pathology Laboratory about Workhouse Field.

Research on Road Piece [CRT130HusborneCrawley2] revealed that in 1760 [R1/42] the ground was occupied by fifteen strips of Dry Mead Hill Furlong and included the old road to Ridgmont. When Husborne Crawley was inclosed in 1799 [MA75] the road to Ridgmont was straightened and took its current [2012] form.

When Husborne Crawley was inclosed the land formed part of the seventh allotment to the Duke of Bedford and by 1820 [R1/43] it was two fields, the western section called Road Piece and the eastern half called Dry Mead Hill. The two fields had been merged by about 1850 [R1/229], the area being 15 acres, 2 roods, 5 poles.

Cropping books forming part of the estate archive of the Duke of Bedford [R4/209, 215, 223 and 229] and cropped as follows:

  • 1866: wheat;
  • 1867: fallow;
  • 1868: barley;
  • 1869: clover;
  • 1870: wheat;
  • 1871: fallow;
  • 1872: barley;
  • 1873: clover;
  • 1874: wheat;
  • 1875: fallow;
  • 1876: barley;
  • 1877: clover;
  • 1878: wheat;
  • 1879: fallow;
  • 1880: barley;
  • 1881: clover;
  • 1882: wheat;
  • 1883: clover and fallow in ratio 5;10;
  • 1884: barley;
  • 1885: ½ oats; ½ peas;
  • 1886: wheat;
  • 1887: roots;
  • 1888: not recorded;
  • 1889: oats, roots and potatoes in the ratio 9:4:2½ ;
  • 1890: barley and oats in the ratio 13:2½ ;
  • 1891: clover;
  • 1892: wheat;
  • 1893: potatoes and roots in the ratio 1:14;
  • 1894: wheat and barley in the ratio 2;13;
  • 1895: clover;
  • 1896: wheat;
  • 1897: arable and potatoes in the ratio 13:2;
  • 1898: wheat, oats and barley in the ratio 5:5:5;
  • 1899: oats;
  • 1900: wheat;
  • 1901: potatoes and wheat in the ratio 12:3;
  • 1902: wheat and beans in the ratio 4:11;
  • 1903: clover;
  • 1904: wheat;
  • 1905: roots and potatoes in the ratio 12:3;
  • 1906: experimental uses, wheat and barley in the ratio 2:4:9;
  • 1907: clover and oats in the ratio 4:11;
  • 1908: wheat, potatoes and rape in the ratio 7:2:6;
  • 1909: roots, wheat and clover in the ratio 4:6:5.