Road Piece Husborne Crawley

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.