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Mitcham in 1846:
The Tithe Apportionment Map
Local History Notes 22: ed. Peter Hopkins
The tithe apportionment records of 1846 supply a very detailed picture of Mitcham, including every property and providing field names for almost every field. The map identifies each field and building with a number, and the accompanying schedule also gives the name of the owner and the occupier of each field, its area (in acres, roods and square perches), and, in most cases, the use to which it was put. It also gives the same information for the larger houses, but most dwellings are listed together near the end of the schedule under the general headings of Sundry Owners and Sundry Occupiers.
The apportionment schedule listed landowners alphabetically by the initial letter of their surname, with the lands then arranged by occupants. This order has been retained in the transcript but, in addition, a list in numerical order gives just the owner and folio number for each entry. An alphabetical index of landowners and occupiers, including folio numbers, has also been provided.
Extracts from the tithe map have been included in the centre of the booklet. A much reduced copy of the map is reproduced as the centrefold, preceded by a series of extracts, at the original scale, covering the main residential areas.
Of particular note in Mitcham is the survival of strip cultivation from the medieval open-field systems in both the East and West Fields, and medium-scale extracts of these areas of the map have been included, each plot being annotated with the names of owners (in capitals) and occupiers (in normal script) and the use of the plot indicated in brackets (arable, meadow, pasture or wood).
A set of small-scale maps, at the end of the booklet, show the holdings of major landowners and of the main occupiers, and also the use to which the land was put.
Extract from the Introduction
