Perhaps it was the rent increases, the first for many years that caused Lord Fauconberg’s Old Byland tenants to complain about the condition of their properties and press for repairs as three years later a surveyor was asked to make a report on the state of the properties and give estimates of the cost of necessary repairs.
JOHN ABRAMS Wants three new doors, a hog sty building and a chamber floor laying. £5 10s.
THOMAS DOBSON Wants a new water wheel for the mill and several other repairs.
JOHN HORNBY senior Dwelling house a very poor one. The dairy wants underdrawing to make
things like tolerable. Cannot cost less than £10.
JOHN HORNBY junior The barn much out of repair, the side walls want rebuilding and a stable
making at one end. £10.
BENJAMIN COAL Dwelling house repairs. £6
JOHN ROWLAND Dairy wants enlarging and granary floor overlaid. £6 5s.
JOHN HOLIDAY Roof of the dwelling house wants repairing and door frames very poor. A chamber
floor wants laying and a cart house rebuilding. £9 19s.
ROBERT FREER Wants a new kitchen building. £12.
THOMAS CHAPMAN The dairy very bad and wants rebuilding. One end of the cow house very bad and wants taking down and rebuilding and an additional bay built to it for a threshing floor. His barn stands at some distance from the house and wants new doors and a chamber floor laying.
EDWARD ROWLAND The mantle tree in house broke and in danger of letting the house down and must be supported by a new chimney and staircase. Dairy wants underdrawing, six new doors and door cases. Stable roof and walls very bad wants rebuilding and chamber floor over it for a granary. £16 14s.
WIDOW KEMP One of the end walls of the house is very bad and wants rebuilding, a new chamber floor laying and three new doors and frames. £8 11s.
STEPHEN BACKHOUSE Dwelling house end wall and part of front wants repairing. Three new doors and frames, window frames likewise very bad and should be made new. Barn must be rebuilt. £20 17s.
The total of the estimated costs amounted to £105 16s which did not include those of repairs for Thomas Dobson and Thomas Chapman which were so extensive that the surveyor may have been hesitant to provide estimates. If it is assumed that the repairs were carried out in the last quarter of the 18th century the dwellings of the Old Byland tenants presumably were in a far better condition at the beginning of the 19th century than they were a hundred years earlier.
