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Before the Reformation, the tithes of Stratford parish (a payment of a tenth part of all agricultural produce) belonged to the college of priests who served the parish church. At the Dissolution, some College property, including the right to the tithes, passed to the Stratford Corporation. The Corporation did not collect the tithes itself but divided them by place and/or type and let out the rights to others. Some were then sub-let. By a complicated series of transactions, Shakespeare became a sub-tenant of the rights to the tithes of corn and grain growing in the fields of Old Stratford, Welcombe and Bishopton. He paid the large sum of £440, subject to an annual rent to the Corporation of £17. But as the tithes were worth £60 a year and the lease had 21 years to run, it was a sound investment.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust reference: ER 27/2