The Barton and Bartoner of Christ Church, Canterbury

( 16 ) THE BARTON AND BARTONER OF CHRIST CHURCH, CANTERBURY. BY R. A. LENDON SMITH. THAT curious* and whimsical antiquary, WiUiam Gostling, taking his Walk In and About the City of Canterbury nearly two centuries ago, did not fafl to wend his way down Northgate Street. First he came upon Jesus Hospital, the charitable foundation of Sir John Boys, and then " farther on and within the city Hberty . . . on the river a Httle way from the road " he espied Barton MiU. There he observed that " some remains of flint waUs by the wayside thither, and a chapel near the miU, pretty entire, seem to show there was once a considerable enclosure " ; but, he added, " neither the Canterbury antiquarians, nor common tradition give any history of it." l UnhappUy GostHng had omitted to consult the Antiquities of WilHam Somner, for it is that most redoutable of Canterbury antiquaries who teUs us that " Barton MiU was sometimes, and that from old times belonging to Christ Church, where the Monks' Corn was ground for their own spending within the Court." 2 In the Dean and Chapter Library, Canterbury, there have fortunately survived a large number of documents bearing upon the liistory of the Barton and its management. It is therefore proposed in this article to amplify the statement of WiUiam Somner and to show the pecuHar importance of the Barton in the domestic economy of Canterbury Cathedral Priory. The name barton (O.E. beretun) is derived from two Old EngHsh words, &ere=barley, and tun=&n enclosure. In its primitive form, therefore, the word barton simply designated a granary for barley. Soon, however, in its Latin guise bertona, which is common in Christ Church records before the end of the twelfth century, it came to have a more extended meaning and to be used for a home-farm,—an area of land held in demesne for the lord's own profit. With this second and wider connotation the word barton is frequently encountered in this country in the later middle ages. Thus the Manor of Barton was the home-farm of Ramsey Abbey, and manors of the same name served a . like purpose for houses as wide apart as the cathedral priories of Ely, Bath, and Winchester. The monastic barton, or home-farm, was, in fact, a common institution in medieval England. Bartons were alsc to be found, though less frequently, on ooUegiate and lay estates. The barton of Christ Church, which must be at once distinguishec 1 1825 ed., p. 36. 2 Ed. N. Battely (1703), p. 26. THE BARTON AND BARTONER OF CHRIST CHURCH, CANTERBURY. 17 18 THE BARTON AND BARTONER OE CHRIST CHURCH, CANTERBURY. from the barton of St. Augustine's on the east side of the city (commemorated to-day in Barton Fields) Ulustrates both the limited and extended sense of the word. It was the home-farm of the monks but was also, from an early date, the place where their barley was stored, miUed, and malted. We learn that in 832 King Atulph, at the behest of Archbishop Ceolnoth, gave the vill near the city of Canterbury caUed Northwood (Nordwda) to the monks, to which were attached five yokes (jugera) of land and two meadows, one at Thanington and the other at Schettynge. In the Domesday Monachorum this manor of Northwood, which soon for reasons which will now appear obvious received the name of Barton, was said to be appropriated to the table of the monks (est de cibo eorum) and to be in the hundred of Canterbury. No less than 97 burgesses dwelt on the manor and paid rents to the value of £8 Os. 6d. With aU its assets the manor was said to be worth £17. Pope Alexander III confirmed the possession of the manor of Barton to the monks in 1179, together with the meadows and mills which belonged to it. It was only natural that a large area of land in close proximity to the city should become a bone of contention between the city authorities, assertive of their judicial rights, and the monks of Christ Church, who were equaUy bent on maintaining their franchises. In the first years of the fourteenth century the city officers actually arrested a man within the Barton manor and confined him in the city gaol. Archbishop Winchelsey wrote a letter of sharp reproof to the baHiffs of the city in 1303, ordering them to hand over the prisoner to the baiHffs of the prior and chapter. The first indication as to how the Christ Church barton was managed is contained in a Canterbury rental1 of the late twelfth century (R.31 in Box D. in Room ZA in Dean and Chapter Library). Rents were then owned in the parish of'Northgate by " the monk who manages our barton " (monachus qui custodit bertonam nostram). It seems certain, therefore, that at least by the end of the twelfth century the Saxon and Domesday manor of Northwood was the site of the barley granaries, miUs, and malthouse of the priory, from which it took its new name of Bertona,a,?id was speciaUy supervised by one of the monks. This much we can infer from the rental. In the thirteenth century the records become abundant and leave us in no doubt as to the function of the barton and its monk-manager, the bartoner (berthonarius), in the economic system of the cathedral priory. The first extant bartoner's account forms one of that group of obedientiaries' accounts which were compued at the Michaelmas audit and thus caUed Assisae Scaccarii. Its date is 1225, but we learn from the treasurers' account of 1214 tha t barley was taken to the barton before the exile of 1207-13. It therefore seems reasonable to suppose that bartoners were presenting accounts at, or before, the turn of the century. A magnificent series of accounts, surpassing those of any THE BARTON AND BARTONER OE CHRIST CHURCH, CANTERBURY. 19 other monastic obedientiary, has survived for the later middle ages. In the first place, Room XYZ in the Dean and Chapter Library contains account-rolls of the bartoner for the years 1279-1428 and, secondly, accounts of the Serjeant of the barton plough-land (caruca de bertona) for the period 1291-1471. In the same coUection there are accounts of the bartoner as keeper of the malt-haU for the years 1377-1460, and a number of loose accounts for individual years. None of the series is, of course, unbroken, but the accounts occur with exceptional frequency in the years under consideration. Finally, roUs of the bartoner's •court are extant for the period 1434-1522, rounding off and completing an altogether remarkable body of manuscript survivals. Apart from his judicial work in the Barton court, the bartoner had four main functions aUotted to him by the monastic' chapter. First, he supervised the cultivation of the plough-land and the rearing of stock on the manor, which was placed under the immediate direction . of a Serjeant (serviens). Next, he saw to the receipt of barley and oats a t the granaries. Thirdly, he was responsible for the mflling and malting •operations and, lastly, for the deHvery of the malt at the brewery in the curia of the priory, where it was made into beer. The plough-land of the barton consisted of a wide belt of land to the north of the city, stretching from the parish of Northgate to the manor of Sturry. Part of it was simply called Bertona, but the larger part was known as Colton. All the main cereal crops, save rye, were grown on the manor. In 1291, for example, 50£ acres were sown with wheat, 73£ acres with barley, and 4 | acres with oats, making a total of 128J acres under crops. Wethers and ewes grazed on the pasture lands, and there were also a number of oxen and pigs. But the manor was not nearly as important as Ickham and Monkton and other large arable farms of the Christ Church monks in Kent. It was one of their smaller estates, and is chiefly of interest for the mining and malting operations which took place within its confines. I t is easy to see why the Canterbury monks chose the manor of Northwood