AN ATLAS of the TITHE MAP of the Parish of AVETON GIFFORD 1842

Brief analysis of the apportionment	CLICK HERE TO OPEN
Landowners and occupiers list	CLICK HERE TO OPEN
Properties list	CLICK HERE TO OPEN
Aveton Gifford Master list	CLICK HERE TO OPEN
Maps	CLICK HERE

TITHES.
In Saxon times one tenth of the produce of farms was required to support the priests who were being established in each parish in the country. Land, known as glebe was also allocated for the priest to manage himself. The tenths were known as tithes.
Over the centuries it often became more convenient for the parish priest to accept a monetary payment (or modus) in lieu, and this practice became more and more common until in the 19th century, when it was universally and very unevenly applied. This led to the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836, which set out to establish a regular system based on the prevailing price of grain.

The Tithe Map.
In order to bring it into effect it was necessary to survey each parish showing the boundaries of individual holdings and this was accompanied by the apportionment or terrier which gave a detailed list arranged in alphabetical order of landowners. It was set out under the following columns: Landowner, Occupier, Number on the map, Name and description of lands or premises, State or Cultivation, Area in acres, roods and perches, tithe charge payable.
The Aveton Gifford map was surveyed by Philip Trant of Bigbury and appears to be to the scale recommended by Lt R.K. Dawson Royal Engineers who drew up the technical specifications nationally. This was 1 inch to three chains, which equates to approximately 28 inches to the mile. Since the parish is approximately 6 square miles in area it can be seen that this is extremely large and inconvenient to handle. Three copies were made: one for the parish (no longer extant), one is in the Exeter Record Office and one in the Public Record Office at Kew.

The Atlas.
With the intention of making the map more accessible, the Parish Project Group have produced this atlas, which is based on photocopies held by the Cookworthy Museum in Kingsbridge. The apportionment has been reproduced with the omission of the tithe payable, which varied according to cereal prices. But, as a matter of interest, the total tithe payable in 1842 to the Rector, the Reverend Vaughan was £667. This is quite a considerable sum, always assuming he was able to collect it all!

Using the atlas
For convenience we have arranged the apportionment in numerical order of the item numbers, which brings together all the fields and parts making up the ownership of a particular property. In view of the large number of small properties in the village this has been placed on a separate map at 20. The map reference appears in the final column; where there is no number present we have been unable to find it on the map. It may have been omitted by the creator of the copy of the map in the record office or be too small to be seen on the copy we have used.

Indexes
To facilitate using the map two indexes have been provided. These are:
Landowners and Occupiers, arranged in alphabetical order of names, giving the name of the property and the plan numbers.
Properties, again arranged in alphabetical order, giving the plan numbers.


Notes

1. The spelling used is that of the Tithe map and may not accord with modern versions of properties or surnames. Modern spelling is used on the key map with Tithe map version underneath in brackets.

2. 1 acre = 4 roods = 4840 square yards
1 rood = 40 perches = 1210 square yards
1 perch = 30¼ square yards

3.Edmund Pollexfen Bastard of Kitley, whose name appears as a landlord was the Lord of the Manor of Aveton

4.Henry Jeans the Trustee of Collings Tenement (Plan Nos 560 – 571) represents The Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen of Exeter

5.Church Lands at nos. 705 – 711 belonged directly to the church and were not Glebe. Rents for these properties were paid to the Churchwardens. Item 707 was the Church House Inn in Fore Street.

6.No landlord or owner was given for the Weslyan Chapel at 1578

7.The landlord of Efford Bottoms (1538 – 1547) is shown in full as His Grace the Duke of Cleveland representative of the late Duke of Boulton

8. The original map and apportionment are not without errors; in some cases it has not proved possible to locate a site on the map and the sequence 1092-1094 has not been used.

Dated : February 2010.