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Browsing through old estate documents can be a fascinating pastime. And when you find an old book containing a secret code, the fascination becomes akin to that of the treasure hunter who has turned up an old chart of the Indies!
Among the records of the estate on which I was an Agent for many years I found a nineteenth century note book, containing a private code. It was the Valuation Book of a much respected previous Agent, Mr. Lipscomb. His "Old hints to young Agents" still appears in the land agents bible - Walmsley's Rural Estate Management (1) - and are as sound now as when first written. His portrait hangs in the Estate Office today. His gaze is clear and direct, his hair is parted in the middle, and a well clipped beard covers a high winged collar. The face is that of a man of the utmost integrity. And on the back of the portrait is a hand written tribute from the owner of the estate:-

"His services on behalf of my property I can never sufficiently acknowledge".

The Agents rental valuations were carried out field by field, as many valuers still indeed do. As he walked the farm, he jotted down the details of cultivations, drainage, crops etc in each field, and he also set down his valuation in shillings per acre. This valuation was, however, in code, so that the accompanying tenant, glancing over his shoulder, should not glean too much.

The Land Agent with whom I had been a pupil used the same method, so I knew how the system worked. A ten letter word is selected, in which no letter should appear more than once. Each letter in the word represents a number, the first letter being 1, the second 2 and so on up to the tenth, which represents zero. So, if the code word is INCUBATORS, the letters US, the fourth and tenth letter of the word, would represent 40. In Victorian days the value was 40 shillings/acre: now it would be £40!

A copy of the valuation for 'Ridon Farm' is set out below, with the code in the second column from the right. The valuation contains much else of interest, not least the pithy remarks added by the valuer from time to time. I particularly like his comment about moles in "Front Close", with the added quotation from a Devon farmer which obviously caught his fancy. The note book contains many similar comments about the damaging habits of "colts in orchards" to that against "Home Orchard".

The valuation took place on 6th February 1883, and 24 hours were spent walking the farm. As to the land, Orchards were the most valuable, followed by "watered mead", permanent pasture, and finally arable, a situation completely opposite to our present situation. Orchards were valuable for their cider, for this was South Devon, and the trees took years to establish. Hence their value, and the comments about horses damaging trees.

The penalty for ploughing permanent pasture without the landlord’s permission was the horrific sum of £50 per acre - a figure near to the freehold value of the land itself, and indicative of how valuable permanent pasture was considered then.In an earlier valuation, I discovered that in 1866 the same farm had been valued at just under £2 an acre. Intrigued to find out why the rent had been reduced 17 years later, I turned to the front of the book, and read "Valuation of farms in South Devon, the rents of which have been appealed against in terms of Mr. R's letter to his tenants of November 1882". After further research I found that 1882 was a time of severe depression in agriculture in England, and that was why a revaluation in rents had been recommended. Yet more research showed the farm was re-let in 1917 (to another generation of the same family), and the rent in 1917 was once again 32/ - per acre! A period of 34 years had occurred with no alteration in rent, which seems incredible by present standards, when rents have risen five fold in 20 years.

For those who wish to break the code the final value of each field (in pounds, shillings and pence) should be divided by the area (in acres, roods and perches) to ascertain the field value in shillings per acre. It took me longer than I care to admit dividing pounds, shillings and pence by rods, poles and perches, and the slightly unusual spelling of Mr. Lipscomb’s code word also caused me difficulty. However, I duly cracked the code. The word he had chosen for his simple code was sympathize. The use of the letter “Z” was obviously to avoid the letter appearing twice. (After all my hard work, I was somewhat piqued to find the word neatly written in pencil in the fly leaf, but at least I was proved right.)

The word itself, however, adds an extra dimension to the character of the valuer. No doubt many tenants today would approve of the sympathetic approach of a valuer prepared to recommend a reduction in rent in a time of agricultural depression!

Farm Rental Valuation of Ridon Farm – 6th February 1883

 (This is a summary table. The original includes the tithe map field numbers.)

Researched and written by © Philip Greenhow, 1980.

References
1. Published by The Estates Gazette Ltd, London in 1969.
2. Estate Valuation Books.

Footnote by Moderator: Although the Estate Headquarters were in East Budleigh the Ridon (or Rydon) Farm mentioned lies outside the Lower Otter Valley. However, the method described has general applicability within the area.

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