Victorian
The tithe award schedule for Leigh, signed on 5 December 1840, survives as Sheet 1 of the parish's tithe records and offers a detailed snapshot of Tonbridge Powder Mills Farm at that date. The document was typed up for the website by Deborah Cole, making this Victorian record accessible to anyone curious about how the land around the powder mills was used nearly two centuries ago.
The schedule names Lord William Burton as the owner of the property, with the occupier given simply as "Himself" — in other words, Burton farmed and ran the estate in his own hands rather than letting it to a tenant.
The plot-by-plot listing is where the document really comes alive. Shaw Wood appears as plot 208, covering 1.1.32, while plot 272 carries a recorded area of 272. Nearby, plot 273 is the powder mill meadow, a meadow of 0.3.27, and plot 274 is described both as water and as a willow bed, with areas of 9.2.36 and 1.1.9 respectively. The water features continue with plot 281, wood water, at 1.0.29, and the buildings and mill pond fall within plot 282, classed as meadow and extending to 20.21.
Grassland features too: plot 283, the five acres, is pasture of 2.3.1, and plot 284 is old pasture measuring 5.2.0. Working areas include plot 285, the wood yard and shops, at 1.3.26, and plot 286, the house and garden, covering 1.0.10. Back river wood, plot 280, accounts for 8.0.13, while plot 316 is a willow bed wood of 0.1.27. Smaller entries include plot 301 at 0.1.15 and plot 318 at 0.2.18, and plots 302 to 309 are listed as cottages and gardens.
The schedule closes with totals of 38.0.24 and an additional figure of 4.10.0, and it records both vicarial and appropriator columns, reflecting how tithe liabilities were shared.