ore the proportion was exactly half, and on the two others for which the shares can be calculated the figures were 67 per cent and 80 per cent. (fn. 284) In 1796 Sir John Mordaunt of Walton (Warws.), the heir apparent to the Wicken estate following his marriage to Mrs. Prowse's sister-in-law Elizabeth, persuaded the Wicken tenants that they, and not Mrs. Prowse, should pay the tithe composition of £130 due from the estate, rather than face an increase in rent. (fn. 285)
The estate was only slightly affected by the building of the Buckingham branch canal in 1800-1, when Mrs. Prowse sold 2½ acres of land to the Grand Junction, part of which was later sold back to her. (fn. 286) She appears to have accepted payment for the land in shares. (fn. 287) Also in the early 19th century a new house and buildings were erected at Mount Mill, after the mill went out of use, (fn. 288) and a third new farm, Park Farm or Sparrow Lodge, was built midway between Dagnall and the village. Manor Farm and Home Farm, the two main farmsteads in the village itself, were improved. (fn. 289)
An important element in the economy of the estate in this period, and of the local community as a whole, was the large acreage of woodland, from which sales of underwood, faggots and hedgerow wood were producing about £200 a year between the 1770s and Mrs. Prowse's death in 1810, (fn. 290) representing an addition of nearly 20 per cent to income from the farms. This figure was only two thirds of that included in the valuation of 1662, (fn. 291) presumably a reflection of the contracting market for wood as a fuel during the 18th century. By contrast, the farm rental quadrupled over the same period, which also saw a reduction in the number of holdings. During the 1770s and 1780s timber was only occasionally felled for sale, but between 1795 and 1808 annual sales realised an average of £280 a year (including bark). These were made at the request of Sir John Mordaunt, who was to inherit the Wicken and Grafton Park estates after Mrs. Prowse's death; in 1809, exceptionally, timber and bark to the value of £1,635 was sold at Wicken. (fn. 292)
The estate under the Mordaunts and Douglas-Pennants.
In 1810 the Wicken estate passed to Sir John Mordaunt of Walton (Warwicks.), whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Prowse's husband George; the Mordaunts had already inherited Grafton Park in 1800. (fn. 293) At Wicken the mansion and 336 a. were let to General Charles FitzRoy for 12 years from 1812 at £616 a year. (fn. 294) FitzRoy died in 1829 and, after a short tenancy in between, Wicken Park was leased to Col. E.H. Douglas-Pennant from 1838, but with only 35 a. (fn. 295) The rest of the Mordaunt estate in Wicken was divided into seven farms, two of which were held in 1838 by the same tenant. If those are treated as a single holding, the size of farm ranged from 217 a. to 377 a. around a mean of 304 a. (fn. 296) The woodland, of which 236 a. lay within Wicken parish, was kept in hand. (fn. 297) Five freeholders had five acres between them in 1838, of which 4¾ acres were owned by Henry Gurney; another 10 a. belonged to the canal company; and the rest of the parish (131 a.) was glebe. There were two small quarries on the road from Wicken to Deanshanger at work in 1838 but no other industry. (fn. 298) Mordaunt made at least one small addition to the estate during his period of ownership. (fn. 299)
Sir John Mordaunt died in 1845, (fn. 300) leaving a son and heir, Sir Charles, who was a minor and whose trustees immediately announced a reduction in charitable donations on the Northamptonshire estates, expressing the hope that Col. Douglas-Pennant would make up the shortfall. (fn. 301) Since Wicken Park continued to be let to Douglas-Pennant until he bought the entire estate in 1877, the Mordaunts were never resident there. As effectively sole owners in the parish, they appear to have behaved in a conventionally paternalistic manner towards their Wicken tenants, providing land for allotments in 1838 (fn. 302) and a new school the following year. (fn. 303) When Sir Charles Mordaunt came of