The Saxon inhabitants of the small villages in the Fylde who were engaged in agriculture had no knowledge of any manure beyond marl, which they mixed with lighter and finer soils; nor were their farm-lands cultivated all at one time, but a portion only of the estate was subjected to the action of the plough, and when its fertility had been thoroughly exhausted, the remainder was tilled and brought into service, the first plot being allowed to lie fallow for a few years until its productive powers had been renewed. Grain was not, as now, purchased from the growers by dealers and stored up in warehouses, but each of the neighbouring people, as soon as the crops had been gathered into the barns, bought whatever quantity he thought would suffice for his household wants until the ensuing harvest, and removed it to his own residence. The universal waste and improvident consumption of grain during this season of abundance, led frequently to famines in other parts of the year, and many instances of that punishment following such prodigality are related in the chronicle before named. One notice, bearing the date 1044, says:—“This year there was very great hunger all over England, and corn so dear as no man ever remembered before; so that a sester of wheat rose to sixty pence and even further.”

The ploughs of our forefathers were, as would naturally be supposed, somewhat rude and clumsy in construction, differing considerably in appearance, although not in their modus operandi, from those which may be seen furrowing the same land in the present day. Each plough was furnished with an iron share, in front of which, attached to the extremity of a beam projecting anteriorly, was a wheel of moderate diameter, its purpose being to relieve the labour of the oxen and to facilitate the guiding of the instrument, especially in turning. The oxen employed were ordinarily four, and yoked to the plough by means of twisted willow bands. Horses were prohibited by law from being used on the land, but there must have been little need, one would imagine, for a legal prohibition in the matter when it is remembered that horses were nearly four times as valuable as oxen, and that the latter were fully efficient at the task. The month of January commenced their season for preparing the ground, and during the period thus occupied the labours of the ploughman began each morning at sunrise, when the oxen were tethered and conducted to the fields, where the duty of the husbandman was lightened by the assistance of a boy, who superintended the cattle, driving or leading them whilst at work. In the inclement months of winter these oxen were fed and tended in sheds under the special care of the ploughman, but during summer they shared a common lot with the other cattle and were turned out to pasture in the fields, being transferred to the charge of the cowherd. Other implements of husbandry in use, in addition to the plough, were scythes, sickles, axes, spades, pruning-hooks, forks, and flails, besides which the farmers possessed carts and waggons of rather a cumbersome pattern. It is doubtful whether the harrow was known here so early, but opinion usually refers its introduction to a later date.

Of the moral tone of our Saxon settlers it is difficult to judge, but that their business transactions were not always governed by a very strict sense of honour is intimated by the following enactment, apparently framed to check repudiations of bargains and, perhaps, to insure fair dealing:—“No one shall buy either what is living or what is dead to the value of four pennies without four witnesses either of the borough or of the village.” William of Malmesbury, who wrote about a century after the Norman Conquest, informs us that “excessive eating and drinking were the common vices of the Saxons, in which they spent whole nights and days without intermission.” It may, however, with much probability be conjectured that not only is the statement in some degree exaggerated, but that its application was designed more particularly for the inhabitants of the larger towns than those of comparatively sparsely populated districts like our own. Nevertheless it cannot be claimed, with any show of reason, that the small section of the nation established in the Fylde was entirely uninfected by the vices which enervated and degraded the wealthier and more populous regions of the kingdom. The evil of intemperance in both food and drink, especially the latter, pervaded the whole community, but as its indulgence required both means and opportunity, its loathsome features were less prominently visible in localities where these were scarce than in others where they abounded. The Church used every effort to awaken a better feeling in the minds of her degenerate sons, and liberate them from the chains of a passion which had so thoroughly enslaved them. Canons were directed against the “sin of drunkenness,” and in order that no plea of ignorance could be urged by any who had overstepped the bounds of sobriety, a curious and minute description of the condition of body and brain which constituted inebriation was appended to one of them, as here quoted:—“This is drunkenness—when the state of the mind is changed, the tongue stammers, the eyes are disturbed, the head is giddy, the belly is swelled, and pain follows.” Ale and mead were the beverages on which these excesses were committed, and cow-horns the drinking cups. It would seem that there was yet another national blemish, that of gambling, which even invaded the cloister and threw its veil of fascination over the clergy themselves, for a canon of the reign of Edgar ordered—“That no priest be a hunter, or fowler, or player at tables, but let him play upon his books, as becometh his calling.”

Water-mills, planted on the banks of streams and consisting of square weather-boarded structures, usually open at the top, were the means possessed during the Saxon era for grinding the cereal products of the Fylde. The wheel which received the pressure of the current, and conveyed its motive power to the simple machinery within the fabric, differed little from those still in use in various parts of the country, one of which until recently was connected with a small mill on the brink of the brook which drains the mere at Marton into the river Wyre, and less than a century ago another mill, situated in the township of Marton and worked on a similar principle, was turned by a stream from the same mere. A water-mill is at present in use near Great Eccleston. After the grinding process had been completed the bran and flour were separated by hand-sieves. About seventy or eighty years after the Normans had settled in the district these primitive sheds were superseded by a fresh species of mill, in which sails supplied the place of the wheel, and another element was called into service. The new erections were of wood, and separated from the ground by a pivot of slight altitude, on which they turned bodily in order to be fixed in the most favourable position for their sails to reap a full harvest of wind. Solitary specimens of this early piece of mechanical ingenuity are still visible hereabouts, but most of the old mills were pulled down about a hundred years ago, or less, and rebuilt with more stable material, whilst the modern improvement of a revolving top only, did away with the necessity for the venerable pivot, and allowed the foundations of the edifices to be more intimately associated with mother earth than formerly.

Throughout the whole of the Saxon dynasty the mass of the inhabitants would be what were termed the “villani,” that is, a class forming a link between abject slavery and perfect independence. They were not bound to any master but to the soil on which they happened to be born, and on no plea were they permitted to leave such localities. To the lord of the manor each of the “villani” gave annually a certain portion of the produce of the ground he tilled, but beyond that they acknowledged no claim to the proceeds of their thrift by the large territorial proprietors. When a manor changed ownership the “villani” were transferred with it in exactly the same condition as before, so that really they seem to have occupied the position of small tenants paying rent in kind, with the important addition that they were forced to pass their lives in the district where they had first seen the light of day. It should be noted that any “villani” not having domiciles of their own were compelled to enter the service of others who were more fortunately situated in that respect.

During the twelfth century the house-wife’s plan of preparing bread for the table, in the absence of public bakehouses, common in some neighbourhoods, was to knead the dough into large flat cakes and lay them on the hearth in full glare of the fire, where they were permitted to remain until thoroughly baked. Bread from pure wheat of the best quality was a luxury unattainable except by those of high station or wealth, the bulk of the people having to content themselves with an inferior quality, brownish in colour and made from rye, oats, and barley. The amount of this indispensable commodity to be sold at a specified price was regulated by law, and the punishments for not supplying the proper measure, or for “lack of size” as it was termed, were—for the first offence, loss of the bread; for the second, imprisonment; and for the third, the pillory or tumbrel.[46] In 1185 the maximum charges to be made for certain provisions were settled by an act which decreed that the highest price for a hen should be ½d., a sheep 5½d., a ram 8d., a hog 1s., an ox 5s. 8d., and a cow 4s. 6d.

In the ensuing century no restrictions were placed upon the tenants of the Fylde as to the course of husbandry to be pursued, but each on renting his farm or parcel of ground cultivated it according to the dictates of his own inclination or experience, the only stipulation being that the soil should suffer no deterioration from any ignorant or imprudent action on the part of the holder. Oats and barley mixed, and a light description of wheat, very inferior to the best grain, were the favourite crops, the former being known as “draget,” and the latter as “siligo.” Arable land was let at 4d. per acre, and the annual yield of each acre sown with wheat, usually amounted to 12 bushels, the value of the grain itself averaging about 4s. 6d. per quarter. Demand notices were sent in two days after the rent had become due, and if not complied with in two weeks the landlord distrained without further ceremony; after an interval of another fortnight, if the money still remained unpaid, the tenant was summarily ejected, and the owner seized both farm and stock.

The meals consumed by the peasantry comprised only two during the twenty-four hours, one, called dinner, being eaten at nine in the morning, and the other, supper, at five in the afternoon. It is very possible, however, that during the summer those farm servants whose arduous duties were entered on at daybreak, partook of some slight repast at an early hour of the morning, but the only meals for which regular times were appointed were the two mentioned. During harvest the diet of the labourers consisted for the most part of herrings, bread, and an allowance of beer, whilst messes of pottage were far from uncommon objects on the rustic boards. Between the year 1314 and 1326 the prices of live stock were again arranged, as under:—

The best grass fed ox16s.0d.
The best cow (fat)12s.0d.
The best short-horn sheep1s.2d.
The best goose0s.3d.
The best hen0s.1½d.
The best chickens, per couple0s.1½d.
Eggs, twenty for0s.1d.