10 - Conclusion

Summary

This study has looked at medium- and long-term changes in family fortunes and in rural landscape and society through a detailed case study. The many elements and linkages, and the range of themes explored encouraged an artificial subdivision into periods to ensure coherence. Although comparative studies have been drawn into the argument, it has concentrated on the internal dynamics of the Verney family and estates. What long-term trends and conclusions can be drawn from the various strands in the context of English social and rural history?

The Verney family's success in establishing themselves in the Claydons after losing most of their estates and their country seat in the first years of the seventeenth century was built on a single-minded dedication to the dynastic imperative over four generations. The heiress marriage was a vital and recurrent aspect of their aggrandisement. Four successive generations of Verneys married women with great financial assets in land or money, but without high social connections. This enabled them to build up their landed estate. But it took much more than that. Younger children, though few in number after the first generation, were never granted a substantial share of the growing wealth. When a younger son, Sir John Verney had been apprenticed to a Levant merchant, he was told to make his own way, and not to expect any landed endowment.