Tithe Map of Luton

The 1842 Tithe Map of Luton provided some of our earliest information about orchards in the town. It not only told us where they were, but who owned the plots and who used them. Securing a digital version was vital to better understand land use patterns in Luton.

One of the pieces of land noted as 'orchard' in the corresponding tithe map register.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries restored the slightly battered map in 1936. 
The beautifully drawn header of Luton's tithe map of 1842, as authored by Henry Davies, Kimpton. '© Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. www.NationalArchives.gov.uk & www.TheGenealogist.co.uk'

About the tithe and the map

What is the tithe? 

Tithes were an annual tax paid by landowners to support local churches and clergy. This was originally 10% of their agricultural produce. 

Major changes to this practice happened after the Church of England was forced to break away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church during the English Reformation of the sixteenth century. A lot of Church-owned land passed to lay people, who then received the tithes.

Why the 1842 tithe map?

The 1836 Tithe Commutation Act outlawed the practice of payments in produce as that was seen as outdated. Instead, produce such as corn, wheat and orchard fruit were converted into money equivalents. 

Who created the Luton Tithe Map? 

Assistant tithe commissioners surveyed the land to provide definitive answers as to which land was tithed, who owned it, the amounts to pay and to whom. The results were written down and all parties had to agree. For Luton, this was done by assistant tithe commissioner John Maurice Herbert, Barrister at Lincoln's Inn and a Henry Davies from whom we only know that he was from Kimpton. 

What shape does the tithe map take? 

The tithe records consist of 2 parts: 

In the register, Luton parish consists of 'six several Townships or hamlets called respectively Luton township, Stopsley, East Hyde, West Hide, Limbury cum Biscott and Leagrave'.

The first page of the tithe apportionment register, where the honourable John Maurice Herbert sets out the work. The Parish consists of 'six several Townships or hamlets called respectively Luton township, Stopsley, East Hyde, West Hide, Limbury cum Biscott and Leagrave'. '© Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. www.NationalArchives.gov.uk & www.TheGenealogist.co.uk'

What can we learn from the register of apportionments?

Each numbered parcel or plot of land on the tithe map has a corresponding entry in the register. 

For each plot, we can see: 

A crop of the register, showing the landowner, occupier, number on the plan, the land-use details, size and tithe amount. '© Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. www.NationalArchives.gov.uk & www.TheGenealogist.co.uk'

Who benefitted?

The distribution of tithes was worked out in great detail and down to the last pence.

A small section of the Luton tithe map summary for Leagrave, Stopsley, East Hyde, West Hyde, Biscott and Luton. '© Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. www.NationalArchives.gov.uk & www.TheGenealogist.co.uk' 

These people got money, some only from specific areas: 

Selected orchards from the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton

Plot 20

Area: Leagrave
Owner: Sir Edmund Filmer Baronet
Occupier: William Smith
Size: 1 rood, 36 poles
Tithe: 11d

Plot 53

Area: Leagrave
Owner: Sir Edmund Filmer Baronet
Occupier: James Smith
Size: 1 rood, 1 pole
Tithe: 5s, 7d

Plot 59

Area: Leagrave
Owner: Sir Edmund Filmer Baronet
Occupier: James Smith
Size: 1 acre, 1 rood, 36 poles
Tithe: 10s, 8d

Plot 63

Area: Leagrave
Owner: William House
Occupier: William House
Size: 2 acres
Tithe: 10s, 10d

Plot 77 and 78

Area: Leagrave
Owner: Sir Edmund Filmer Baronet 
Occupier: John Kinder
Size: 2 acres
Tithe: 10s, 10d

Plot 80

Area: Leagrave
Owner: James Woodruff
Occupier: Thomas Tennant
Size: 2 roods, 2 poles
Tithe: 5s, 6d

Plot 87

Area: Leagrave
Owner: George James Sullivan
Occupier: William Partridge
Size: 1 acre, 11 poles
Tithe: 5s, 8d

Plot 192

Area: Limbury cum Biscot (Great Bramingham farm)
Owner: William Sutcliffe
Occupier: Thomas Smith
Size:1 acre, 12 poles
Tithe: 17s, 5d

Table of orchard entries in the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton 

View the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton

To see a version that lets you zoom in, hover over the map and click on the arrow. 

BW_Master_IR30_1_34_1_300dpi_100cm copy.jpg
Low-resolution grayscale version of the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton. Click on the image to open a slightly higher resolution in a new window. '© Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. www.NationalArchives.gov.uk & www.TheGenealogist.co.uk'

How we got access to Luton's tithe map

It took months to get access to be able to use the 1842 Tithe Map of Luton for our research into orchards. Heritage Lottery funding enabled us to purchase the digital copy of the map and the rights to display it as part of this project. 

The Culture Trust Luton has a paper copy of the map, which has not been digitised. It is a large physical map that would be difficult to request for viewing. Even if we were to view the paper version, this could only happen - quite properly - under restricted hours and conditions.

Curators at Wardown House, Museum and Gallery (part of Culture Trust Luton) pointed me towards The Genealogist website, who has a copy of the map for paid subscribers. With an additional licence from the National Archives, we're now able to show you crops of the maps and images, as well as a low-res version. 

Future research and work ideas

We are hoping to work out a way to display an interactive copy of the map on the Luton Orchards website. 

We have investigated different options, including QGIS Cloud, but haven't found anything that will handle the size of the file. The original file is 15GB in size. Even after rendering it down, we couldn't get the size small enough to be georeferenced and still be under 50MB. If you have any ideas, get in touch.

Also see How we used QGIS.