Did Martin West own his Farm?

[DianaCanada]

Just looking over some family lines I have neglected - I descend from Martin West of Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire via his daughter Ann (m. John Pickard).  I have a copy of his will, dated 1761 (he died soon after), in which he names all ten children and his wife Sarah.  He appears to leave the farm itself (variously Hagg Head, Haggshead, Hog Head etc., quite a few variations) - the will it is Hagg Head, parish of Skipton. So I am assuming Bolton Abbey is part of Skipton.
Forgive my naive question, but would Martin have owned the farm outright?  This seems rather rare in the time period. 
Haven't found his marriage yet, but one tree on Anc says he married Sarah Spofforth.  If this is true I am probably extremely distantly related to my children via their early New England settler, John Spofford.

[Kay99]

Genuki re Skipton Parish shows the boundary of the parish which does include Bolton Abbey https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Skipton   This could be the Hagg Head the will refers to https://maps.nls.uk/view/102344791#zoom=5.5&lat=5454&lon=13106&layers=BT

If Martin West left the property in his will then I would presume he owned it, although it is always possible there was outstanding  debts on the property ??  

Kay

[teragram31510]

Bolton Abbey is not far from Skipton.

Could be he left the lease of the farm? He might have held it for "three lives" (his own, a son and grandson perhaps) and have left the remaining lease to someone else, perhaps a second grandson? I think that was possible.

[DianaCanada]

Bolton Abbey is not far from Skipton.

Could be he left the lease of the farm? He might have held it for "three lives" (his own, a son and grandson perhaps) and have left the remaining lease to someone else, perhaps a second grandson? I think that was possible.

This is the exact wording on the will: "Item I will that my son Martin with the Leave of the Lord and Owner thereof have the farm where I now dwell."

[Elwyn Soutter]

My expertise is in Irish land ownership not English but this enquiry strikes a chord. In Ireland most farmland was leased (as opposed to owned outright by the farmer) and in the 1700s 3 lives leases were common here too. When a farmer died, in his will, he could leave the leased farm to a descendant (often the eldest son) or he might direct it be sold. What was being sold was the unexpired portion of the lease (which might also have been renewable in many cases, so of significant value), plus the crops in the ground, the livestock, seed, tools and machinery and the contents of the farmhouse.

[Biggles50]

As a side point, Bolton Abbey is a great place to visit.  A few miles east of Skipton off the A59 which goes towards Harrogate.

Great walks and in The Strid one of the most fascinating stretches of water in the country.

[teragram31510]

"This is the exact wording on the will: "Item I will that my son Martin with the Leave of the Lord and Owner thereof have the farm where I now dwell."

So Martin senior didn't own the farm outright, "the lord and owner" did. Must be the lease he was leaving to son Martin, if the lord agreed.

[Drosybont]

In that area the 'lord and owner' was most likely the Duke of Devonshire.

Drosybont

[AlanBoyd]

There are two sites marked 'Hag Head' on the map linked in reply #1. (On a later map the northerly Hag Head is marked as Hag Head Laithe).

On the 1847 tithe map the northerly site is in the township of Draughton (parish of Skipton). It is labelled on the tithe map as Hagghead, owner the Duke of Devonshire, occupier "Shiers" (very unusual on a tithe record to have an incomplete name). Whoever Shiers is, he has a large holding of ~300 acres in the vicinity. Looking at a few plots along the parish boundary it seems that the Duke of Devonshire's holdings did not extend south across the parish boundary into Addingham.

On the 1843 tithe map the southerly Hag Head lies just within the township of Addingham (in the parish of Addingham). Although the farmhouse is clearly shown on the map with a plot number of 16, it is not listed separately in the records. However the neighbouring land is all owned by Henry Alcock Bramley and occupied by Timothy Brear.

In the 1841 census a Timothy Breare is a farmer at Haghead in Addingham, and is still there in 1851. This must be the southerly farm.

I went looking for 'Shiers' in the 1841 census, and when I checked a Leonard Shiers, farmer, (abode unclear, but not Hag Head), I noticed that his neighbour immediately preceding him is Martin West, abode Hag Head, farmer age 76, plus 11 other family members (all West).

Thus it seems that the northerly Hag Head was the West's farm. Perhaps it had passed on to the Shiers family between 1841 and 1847?