Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- The rise of the estate steward
- The steward's career
- The whole duty of a steward
- Between lord and tenant
- Returns to London
- The ambassador
- Tending the interest
- The almoner
- Filling the pulpit
- The constable: defending the manor
- The constable: defending the forests
- Exploiting the estate
- The clerk of works
- Master and man
- A note on the manuscript sources
- Index
- Title in the series
Exploiting the estate
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- The rise of the estate steward
- The steward's career
- The whole duty of a steward
- Between lord and tenant
- Returns to London
- The ambassador
- Tending the interest
- The almoner
- Filling the pulpit
- The constable: defending the manor
- The constable: defending the forests
- Exploiting the estate
- The clerk of works
- Master and man
- A note on the manuscript sources
- Index
- Title in the series
Summary
To me [the ropeworks] seems to be a thing that might … be made to turn to account if right managed, and in time much more, and that so long as the stock is sufficient to carry it on (without advancing more money unless upon an adventure to Riga which is very proper to be considered) we should not give it over.
William Gilpin, 1697The complexity of large or at least substantial estates ensured that stewards could never be mere rent collectors, negotiators of leases and seekers of tenants because their masters' estates yielded more forms of income than those which derived from tenancies and leases. Many of these other sources of income required the supervision of a man with a keen nose for business, capable of handling substantial business transactions which were often complex and demanding. Occasionally one encounters stewards, like William Gilpin at Whitehaven, who were quick to perceive potential assets and eager to exploit them on their master's behalf. In brief, some estates were well served when they were placed in the charge of a man of enterprise, a man with entrepreneurial skills. This type of steward was needed on a greater proportion of estates than might be supposed. The industrial emphasis which Sir John Lowther's coalmines gave to his estate at St Bees-Whitehaven was certainly unusual, but it was not unusual for some estate income to derive from mining royalties in regions which were rich in coal, lead, tin or copper, or for some income to derive from quarries for slate, stone and millstones.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Stewards, Lords and PeopleThe Estate Steward and his World in Later Stuart England, pp. 222 - 235Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992