SOME ASHWATER LANDOWNERS IN 1873

White's Directory of 1878 gives the acreage of the parish as 8587 which includes land in the neighbouring hamlet of Quoditch. There are other  landowners who did not give Ashwater as the place of their principle residence and therefore do not appear in the list below.

Nonetheless, the list includes the names of a number of people who would have considered themselves to be persons of substance in their local community and who would have been able to live comfortably on the income from their rents.

The list was prepared as a valuation for calculating the Parish Rate and Poor Rate payable on each property.** Owners of land less than 1 acre were not included nor were holders of Long (99 year) Leases. Valuation, based on gross estimated rental, was carried out at local level and was largely a matter of guesswork, there being no standardisation of approach to valuation across the county. Waste and Common land was not included.

**Property valuation remains to the present time the basis of assessment for raising money to be spent locally - known today as Council Tax.

GROSS ESTIMATED ANNUAL RENTAL IN POUNDS (£)