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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cornwall => Topic started by: River Raven on Thursday 06 January 11 12:11 GMT (UK)
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I have been looking through old records and I found two terms I cannot get a satisfactory definition for. I believe that others here may know.
Closes (in terms of land.
Tenement.
For closes I understand they are fields enclosed by hedges or fences. I assume though from how often they are used in legal documents that there must be a unit attached to this - one acre?
For tenement I understand the modern definition but in the Cornish countryside what would one of these look like? Do any survive today from the 17th century? How many people could live in them?
Thank you all in advance.
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Hi, I don't know if it is of any help, but ancestors of ours lived in Blanches Tenements near to Lansallos in the 1800's.This was near a farm? called Winsor, and it seems that these are now holiday lets. I found this while idly searching the net one day
Marton
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A tenement referred originally to a house lived in by tenants (generally more than one household).
A close would be an enclosed area of land.
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According to the Dictionary of Genealogy a tenement had other meanings too:
originally a holding of land and buildings in manorial terms, or a fee farm held from a superior lord. Later any holding of land and buildings. A roweless (roofless) tenement was one without any building on it.
Nell