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‘Distant Lands’: The Management of Absentee Estates in Woodland High Suffolk, 1660–1800

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Jonathan Theobald
Jonathan Theobald
Affiliation:
Centre of East Anglian Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
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Abstract

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were a time when many of the landed classes chose to be absent from their estates. However, this same period also saw the early stages of a so-called ‘revolution’ in agricultural methods and techniques. This article, therefore, evaluates the impact of non-residency on estate management structures and agricultural progress. Specific issues examined here include the role of the steward, leasing policy, the promotion of new farming techniques and estate investment by the landlord. In this context, comparisons will be made between absentee, semi-resident and resident estates for the region of Woodland High Suffolk.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , April 2001 , pp. 1 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

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