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.