IN 1450 south-east England, along with the rest of the country, was in the midst of a deep recession. Dependent on the production of wool for export, it was badly hit by the interruption of overseas trade. Landlords could not find lessees for their demesnes, tenant farmers reduced or eliminated their sheep flocks, rents and entry fines fell, and still land often lay unused for lack of takers. A century later, while the north of England still lay submerged in economic problems, recovery in the south-east had begun, helped by a number of interlocking factors. The growth of the Kentish cloth industry from the 1480s provided a new market for local wool. At the same time, the development of the new industry of beer-brewing increased the demand for barley and malt. The expansion of London's population, perhaps as many as 15,000 new people, encouraged the flow of fuel and food — both grain and meat — into the metropolis from northern Kent and Surrey, while the need to provision Calais similarly stimulated the economy of south-east Kent and east Sussex. This expansion, however, could not have taken place without changes in the customary-land market that allowed lesser gentry, enterprising peasants (the yeomen), and merchants to build up substantial holdings. The greater availability of credit, and the willingness to make bargains backed by obligatory bonds, in their turn facilitated trade in larger quantities.