Rentals
The area and rental value of the Arley Estate in about 1744 are given below:
Acres and rental values
| Approx statute acres |
Income £ |
|
| Aston by Budworth | ||
| The Home Farm around Arley Hall | 393 | in kind 215 |
| The remainder of the demesne land let to 14 tenants paying full annual or rack rents |
824 | 424 |
| 32 tenants on three-life leases | 730 | 42 |
| Great Budworth | ||
| 33 tenants on three-life leases | 468 | 35 |
| Appleton | ||
| 43 tenants on three-life leases | 1,443 | 50 |
| Three farms let at rack rents | 341 | 150 |
| Sutton Weaver | ||
| One farm let at rack rent | 257 | 170 |
| 27 tenants on three-life leases | 882 | 44 |
| Warburton | ||
| One farm let at rack rent | 301 | 241 |
| 63 tenants on three-life leases | 1,451 | 65 |
| Lymm | ||
| 27 tenants on three-life leases | 328 | 11 |
| Marthall | ||
| One farm at rack rent | about 1,200 | 44 |
| 30 tenants on three life leases | 35 | |
| Pulford | ||
| 20 tenants on three life leases | 991 | 37 |
| Mills, quarries, wharfs and warehouses | 111 | |
| Total | 9,609 | 1,674 |
| Source Four Cheshire Townships, p8 |
Below is a table giving the totals of the rentals for each township every five years approximately from 1751 to 1796. The 'Farm rents' were the full market rent for the land. 'Old rents' were payable on three-life leases and were normally the market rent payable in about the year 1540. There are long descriptions of how these leases arose and how they were valued in Capital and Innovation, see index item 'lease-holders for three lives'.
Arley Estate-Actual Gross Rents from Rentals
| 1751 | 1755 | 1760 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | |||
| £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | |||
| Aston & Crowley | 389-15- 9 | 42- 9- 3 | 620-10- 6 | 40-11- 4 | 681-14- 5 | 38- 2- 4 | ||
| Appleton | 292- 0- 0 | 49-16- 5 | 294- 2- 6 | 55-11- 2 | 390- 7- 6 | 51- 0-11 | Gt Bud & Comberbach | 49- 8- 0 | 34-11- 5 | 51-18- 0 | 38-14-10 | 57-13- 0 | 37-10- 1 |
| Pulford | 27-10- 0 | 17- 6- 7 | 25- 0- 0 | 37- 6- 7 | 103- 0- 0 | 20- 0- 8 | ||
| Sutton | 223- 5-11 | 43-10- 8 | 210-15- 7 | 43- 7- 0 | 259-18- 8 | 43- 8- 2 | ||
| Warburton | 311- 7- 6 | 64-13- 9 | 311- 7- 6 | 66- 2-11 | 245- 2- 6 | 67- 1- 8 | ||
| Lymm | 11- 3- 1 | 11-17-11 | 12- 3- 1 | |||||
| Totals | 1293- 7- 2 | 283-11- 2 | 1513- 4- 1 | 293-11- 4 | 1737-16- 1 | 278- 6-11 | ||
| 1765 | 1770 | 1776 | ||||||
| Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | |||
| £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | |||
| Aston | 767-13- 3 | 36- 4- 0 | 853- 3- 8 | 34- 8-11 | 1177-15- 0 | 35-10- 3 | ||
| Appleton | 639- 5- 7 | 40- 8- 3 | 652- 0- 4 | 42- 7- 0 | 853- 6- 6 | 41- 3- 0 | Gt Bud & Comberbach | 60- 0- 0 | 37-16- 0 | 109-10- 0 | 35-10-10 | 109-10- 0 | 37- 3- 7 |
| Pulford | 134- 0- 0 | 27- 3- 1 | 147- 0- 0 | 26-17- 7 | 199- 5- 0 | 26-11- 7 | ||
| Sutton | 210- 0- 0 | 43-18- 7 | 273- 0- 0 | 47-18- 5 | 283-10- 0 | 43-18- 2 | ||
| Warburton | 394-13- 5 | 63- 8- 0 | 331-14- 3 | 65- 8- 6 | 405-10- 0 | 68- 7-10 | ||
| Lymm | 12-13- 3 | 17-17-10 | 17-19- 4 | |||||
| Totals | 2205-12- 3 | 261-11- 2 | 2366- 8- 3 | 270- 9- 1 | 3028-16- 6 | 270-13- 9 | ||
| 1781 | 1789 | 1796/7 | ||||||
| Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | Farm rent | Old rent | |||
| £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | £ s d | |||
| Aston | 1470-15- 0 | 30-16- 7 | 1694- 9- 0 | 19- 9- 9 | 1791-11- 0 | 15-2-1 | ||
| Appleton | 918- 3- 0 | 41-19- 3 | 1191-12- 0 | 39-10- 1 | 1382-11- 6 | 35-14- 6 | Gt Bud & Comberbach | 202-17- 0 | 31- 5- 3 | 282-11- 0 | 30-12- 3 | 281-16- 6 | 30-18- 3 |
| Sutton | 368-19- 0 | 43- 4-11 | 811-15- 0 | 37-14- 1 | 867- 1- 0 | 39-17- 7 | ||
| Warburton | 522- 0- 0 | 64- 6-10 | 680- 0- 0 | 60-15- 5 | 882- 0- 0 | 57-17- 0 | ||
| Lymm | 95- 5- 0 | 4- 4- 1 | 3- 0- 9 | 3- 0- 9 | ||||
| Totals | 3577-19- 0 | 215-16-11 | 4660- 7- 0 | 191- 2- 4 | 5205- 0- 0 | 182-10- 2 | ||
As can be seen from the table the rental income approximately tripled over these forty years. In the 1740s most of the land was divided into small farms that had been suitable for subsistence farming before 1550. But by the 18th century the main business of Cheshire farming was to produce cheese for the London market. This was best done on farms of a minimum size of at least 60 acres and preferably 100 or more acres.
Details of the farms in Aston-by-Budworth, Gt Budworth, and Appleton in the 1740s are given in Four Cheshire Townships, pp 55 - 79.
Details about 18th century farming when cheese was being produced are given in Cheshire Cheese and Farming in the North West in the 17th & 18th centuries, pp 49 - 87.
The policy of the two Warburton baronets at Arley from 1750 onwards was to try to reorganise the land into the best possible shape and size for cheese production. They bought all the land, both freehold and leasehold, that came onto the market and slowly created good dairy farms which they let at market rents for 7, 14 or 21 years. They often improved and rebuilt the farmhouses and other farm buildings. They saved and borrowed money to finance these improvements. In 1780 the Arley Estate sold Pulford Manor complete to pay off some of these loans. For the valuation of Pulford Manor in 1778 see Capital and Innovation, p 41.
Rentals for most years survive and are in the family archives in the John Rylands University of Manchester Library, Deansgate. Some samples are reproduced below.
Farm Rentals
Farm rentals for 1751-3, 1759, 1765, 1774, and 1789.
Old Rentals
Older rentals for 1752 (with summaries of 1751 & 1753), 1760, 1774 and 1790.