Tithe Apportionment - Parish of Millbrook, Hampshire
Note the reference to Depopulation and read more about it here. By 1530 the population of England and Wales had risen to around 3 million. At the end of the 17th century it was estimated the population of England and Wales was about 5 1/2 million. The population of Scotland was about 1 million. The population of London was about 600,000. London went on to become the biggest city in the world for a while. In the 19th century Britain became the world's first industrial society. It also became the first urban society. By 1851 more than half the population lived in towns. As our population approaches 70m it is interesting to think of depopulation efforts at 3 million! The maps of Millbrook clearly show the urbanisation of the countryside.
Following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836 Tithe Maps were produced which recorded both the Landowner and Occupier for most lands. From the Tithe Apportionments records it is apparent that on 4th March 1843 Lady Hewitt
was both the Landowner and Occupier of Plot 875, Freemantle Estate, described as House Offices and Pleasure Grounds, with an area in statute measure 6,0,2, about 2.4 Hectares.
Nathaniel Newman Jefferys was both Landowner and Occupier of Plot 825 described as House Offices and Garden, an area of 2,2,24 imperial, on 4th March 1843. However, one plot does not show the full picture.
Using the Tithe Apportionment map of the Parish of Millbrook, Hampshire, as a base, I have colour washed some of the plot landowners. The Freemantle and Banister Estates, pale orange and brown respectively can be clearly seen. The landowners in 1843 where Lady Hewitt and Reverend William Fitzhugh. Shirley Park, owned by William Henry Roe, is in green. Blightmont Lodge, occupied by Lady Lisle, just north of Millbrook Road, and part of the larger Berrywood estate owned by Nathaniel Newman Jefferys is shown in a slightly darker blue than the light blue of the rest of the estate. It appears that Nathaniel Newman Jefferys has bought a large swath of the newly released Shirley Common land in the area of Shirley Warren. Clement Hoare & William Dunn seem to have also taken advantage of the inclosue of Shirley and Nutshalling Commons, as joint owners of plots coloured lime green. Roads such as Warren Avenue, Warren Crescent and Tremona Road have already been laid out for the impending urbanisation. However, the biggest landholding in the Parish, by a long way, is Sir John Barker Mill and various associates who together are landowners of the pink coloured plots, mainly farmland in 1843, but destined to be developed and absorbed as suburbs of Southampton.
Greenwood's Hampshire 1826 section 53
Moving into the current, the Church of England has a database of interesting statistics about all the Parishes in the country. Below is the Map which covers the original Millbrook Parish and shows the current Parishes of;
Millbrook: Holy Trinity
Freemantle: Christ Church (1851)
Shirley: St James (1836)
Maybush.
Click on the parish to bring up the statistics.
The Parish of Millbrook Tithe Map 1843 including Shirley, Freemantle and Four Posts, layered onto Google Earth Pro and Geolocated. Same base map as the coloured ownership map. Over 20 separate tiles or files to fit spherical base globe of Google Earth. All adjusted to best fit the projection, and align roads and as many details as possible. Below is just an image of the result. Google Earth Pro is desktop based so does not lend itself to sharing. However, using transparency of the layers I can locate buildings on the tithe map and see what is there now. I can also use the Lat and Lon and show on Google Maps to georeferenced individual buildings or plots.
The interactive version is created using a Project in Google Earth and can be seen here, The Parish of Millbrook Tithe Apportionment. Using the Tithe Map plotted on Google Earth Pro above and other maps, I have placed some of the Property names onto a Google Earth Project with an up to date backdrop. History mapped to now.
A screenshot as at March 2020. Work ongoing.
Freemantle
Freemantle Estate
more later
