What is a tithe?

[mezentia]

Ok, so I know what a tithe is, but in this particular context, I'm not quite so certain. The word is used in the will of one William Nix that I have transcribed - 12 handwritten pages - and I'm now trying to make sense of what was written. The will is dated 1881. The particular text is:

I devise all that my Wolvey Hill
Farm containing One hundred and sixty acres
(more or less) now in the occupation of Henry Hatfield
and _ Hatfield his Son with the dwellinghouse
homestead and farm buildings standing thereon
situate in the several parishes of Witcham Coveney
and Downham in the said Isle of Ely and also the
Tithes on One hundred and twelve acres (more or less)
part of the said farm unto and to the use of the said
John Nix his heirs and assigns

The name of Hatfield's son is omitted in the will and is shown as an underscore in the original.

The tithes referenced clearly form part of the farm being devised, but what is the degree of ownership being conferred?

Then, what is the distiction between a homestead and a dwellinghouse?
 

[suey]

A homestead is a house, usually a farmhouse with land for farming, crops or animals. A dwelling house is simply a house.

[stanmapstone]

According to the OED a homestead  is a farmhouse, and its adjacent outbuildings, and a dwelling house is a house occupied as a place of residence, as distinguished from a house of business e.g. a farm.
In North America homestead has a different meaning, i.e. a freehold estate under the Homestead Act of Congress
Stan

[Vance Mead]

It sounds like impropriation of tithes. After the Reformation the right to collect income on tithes was often in private hands, though I didn't know it was still going on in 1881. The right could be sold or bequeathed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impropriation

[Maiden Stone]

I agree with Vance about tithes.
There may have been a farmhouse and an additional dwelling house on the property. Perhaps Henry Hatfield lived in one and his son in the other. There would be 2 households on 1881 census.

[stanmapstone]

See the topic What does Farmer of the Impropriation mean? at https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=742773.msg5894870#msg5894870
You could look at "A practical treatise of the laws relating to the clergy"
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0d06/
Stan

[mezentia]

I see I have a little light reading to do 

In the meantime, I've come across another obscure gem in the same will: 

Provided always and I declare that the provisions hereby
made for my said Wife shall be accepted by her in
satisfaction and bar of the dower and freebench to which
by the common-law or by custom she might be entitled
in or out of the freehold copyhold or customary
hereditaments of or to which I have been am or shall be
seized or entitled

I've attached a clip of the will where this occurs for clarification, but what does it actually mean?

[stanmapstone]

Freebench; The right of a widow to a share in her husband's copyhold lands, either for life or until her remarriage. It corresponded to a Dower  in the case of freehold lands. Alternatively called Widow's Bench. "The Local Historian's Encyclopedia"

Stan

[stanmapstone]

A Dower means that part of the estate, usually a third, could be claimed by the widow for life or until her remarriage.

Stan