Ravenshill Farm 2003

Parts of which date from the early 17^th century.

Quarter Sessions Records

(Midsummer 1817 Ref 110 Packet 628 (179 -182)

John Slater was accused of stealing 1½ bushels (104lbs) of winnowed wheat worth £1 from John Hartwright (b. 1753) of Ravenshill Farm, Tibberton, Worcs.

Information concerning this case was sworn before the Justice of the Peace on 10^th June 1817.

John’s son, Henry Hartwright confirmed that on 7^th June he had measured a quantity of wheat into some bags in his father’s barn at Tibberton as the sale of the wheat had been agreed with Mr Thould’s mill. When Henry arrived at the mill with the wheat it was weighed and no doubt to Henry’s surprise it was 104lbs light of the agreed quantity.  Henry went off in search of the stolen wheat.  He made enquires at local mills and in the early evening found that in the nearby parish of Churchill, John Slater had taken 104lbs of wheat to be ground by Richard Falkner at John Sharp’s mill.  Richard Falkner had already ground about half a peck of the wheat, but Henry was able to persuade him to stop, by convincing him that he had no doubt that it was the same grain that had been stolen from the bags in his father’s barn. John Slater was due back at  Mr Sharp’s mill at seven o’clock in the evening to collect the flour and Richard Falkner agreed to pretend that he had been too busy to finish the job.  Seven o’clock came and went and it was not until half past four the following morning that Slater returned to the mill.  Falkner using the agreed delaying tactics told Slater to call back at seven o’clock that night. Presumably this delay was necessary in order for Henry to contact the constable and a local magistrate.

On the 10^th June, Henry Hartwright, Richard Falkner and Richard Pugh, who worked for the Hartwrights and had thrashed and winnowed the wheat, were called to give evidence against John Slater at the Quarter Sessions. Richard Pugh agreed that there was no doubt that it was his employer John Hartwright’s wheat, although no explanation as to how the wheat could be identified was made by any of the three witnesses.

At this point Thomas H. Bund, the Justice of the Peace, asked the prisoner what he had to say on the charge now brought against him. Slater replied that he had bought three bushels of wheat in the Corn Market, Worcester three weeks before and that the wheat shown in evidence was part of the purchase he had made that Saturday, although he could not remember who had sold it to him! 

John Hartwright was then called to give evidence. It transpired that the bags had not contained just wheat, but also a little barley. It now becomes clear why Henry and Richard Pugh believed they could state without doubt that the wheat that John Slater had left for grinding with Richard Falkner was John Hartwright’s. 

On the basis of all the evidence Thomas Bund’s judgement was that John Slater was “guilty” and he was fined one shilling and sent to the House of Correction for three months hard labour.

Robert Young who farms at Ravenshill today tells me that barley will often grow in amongst a wheat crop even if the land has been used in rotation since the barley was planted. These days the  “admixture” can be a problem if the percentage exceeds a certain amount.