Economic and Social History
Great Tew is recorded as having two watermills by the 13th century, and both were still in use when the estate was surveyed in 1778. One mill had ceased working by 1815 and the other was disused by 1837.
Many of the homes in the village seem to have been built in the 17th century, during the Great Rebuilding of England. Given the Tanfields' behaviour towards the villagers, they are more likely to have been built during the decades when the Cary family had the estate. Every cottage and house is built from the local ironstone from Great Tew's own quarry, and most have thatched roofs.
Matthew Robinson Boulton had most of the village's old cottages and houses rebuilt and embellished from 1819 onwards.
In the 17th century Lettice Cary, wife of the 2nd Viscount Falkland (see above) cared for the poor and sick of Great Tew and founded a village school. The village still had a school in the 18th century, but a schoolroom attached to the church fell was disused by 1738 and later in that century it was demolished. A school had been re-established by 1774 and its building was enlarged in 1815. In 1818 the village had also two dame schools. In 1852 M.R. Boulton re-housed the primary school in a new building on the village green. Since 1923 the school has also served Little Tew.
A sawmill powered by a beam engine was built in the middle of the 19th century. The beam engine is no longer there but the engine house and its tall chimney survive.
After M.E. Boulton's death in 1914 Great Tew estate was held in public trusteeship for nearly fifty years, during which time many of its historic cottages and houses were unoccupied and allowed to become derelict. In 1962 Major Eustace Robb inherited the estate and declared he would restore its prosperity and buildings. However, a decade later many cottages were continuing to decay and Jennifer Sherwood and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner condemned their deterioration as
one of the most depressing sights in the whole county. Terraces of cottages lie derelict (1972) and will soon be beyond hope of restoration. A scheme of gradual rehabilitation is said to be in progress, but nothing has been done meanwhile to prevent the decay of unused cottages, some of which are completely ruinous and will need to be entirely rebuilt.
In 1978 another academic authority described Major Robb's treatment of Great Tew as a "notorious example" that had "demonstrated that a singleminded or neglectful owner can still cause both the community and the village fabric to die". Also in 1978, Great Tew village was declared a conservation area. In 1985 Major Robb died, leaving Great Tew estate to the Johnston family. The Johnstons have worked to restore the village and in 2000 reopened Great Tew's historic quarry to supply ironstone for building.
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