The Manorial System in North Crawley was in force from the Norman Occupation until Enclosure in 1773.
By the time of the Doomsday Book the manorial system was established throughout most of the Country.
The manor system was a territorial unit originally held by feudal tenure, held by the landlord, not necessarily titled who himself was a tenant of the Crown. Many villages had one manor but often manors extended over several parishes.
In the medieval period it was an economic unit usually consisting of the demesne which the lord retained for his own use, and the remainder which was tenanted or used for common or waste.
There were two main types of tenant, villeins who occupied their lands on condition of rendering services to the lord such as cultivating his demesne and freemen who paid rent, usually a fixed sum to the lord.
Villein tenure evolved into copyhold tenure where the title had to pass through the manor court rolls of which he had a copy, hence the name copyhold, and a fine payable to the lord on each change.
Other types of tenant included tenants-at-will and tenants of demesne but these had less security of tenure than freeholders or copyholders.
The lord had the right as court baron to call a court to enforce his dues and repeat the customs of the individual manors, it was effectively an organ of local government. In the court the tenant needed to swear an oath of fealty to the lord.
As well as court baron’s manorial lords had the right to hold a court leet. This court inspected the working of the frankpledge, a system of mutual responsibility within a group for maintenance of law and order. It had powers to deal with nuisances, and affrays and could fine or imprison offenders, a constable could be appointed at this court, and commonly called the view of frankpledge.
Often both types of court went together and were run by the lord’s steward.
The tenants who attended the manor court were known collectively as “the homage” (persons who failed to attend 3 courts or provide an “essoin” an excuse could be fined).
Up to 1733 manorial court rolls were in Latin except for the Commonwealth period of Cromwell.
“Rentals” were much rarer than manorial court rolls and were drawn up mainly to give the new lord a record of his rights under the manor.
In North Crawley there is a “Rental” in October 1720 drawn up for William Lowndes in English (no: 42) at the court leet and court baron of William Lowndes.
Rents generally were “Quick Rents” fixed in the early 17th Century. These generally were small, but the lords could charge market or rack rents for lands where they owned freehold land.
Buying a manor usually made copyhold into freehold.
Tithes were on the produce of the land and due to the Rector, church or the lord if he owned the land freehold.
There were many Manors in North Crawley probably because of the various “Ends” such as East End, Brook End, Hurst End, and Little Crawley which would have operated as individual commercial units which later became just farmhouses.