Up on the farm: farming in 18th century Brymbo

I have talked a lot, in previous posts, about the farmers of Brymbo and the surrounding area, but have said little about what it was they actually farmed. Up until around 20 years ago this was a largely dairying area, with most fields given over to pasture, but this sort of narrow specialism was a 20th century development. 19th century documents, like the tithe records, show the same fields being used to grow a variety of crops, although some of these would have also gone for animal feed. We also know about John Wilkinson’s efforts as an ‘improver’, which by heavy fertilisation of the clay soils of the township got the tithe values up quite substantially. But how about earlier still?