Some Terms used n Agraran Hstory A GLOSSARY By R. A. BUTLIN r: I! ~: J/.,,:!l :~ ~ RARIAN EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION hstory, lke other branches of learnng, not nfrequently fnds tself bedevlled n dscusson and exposton by ambguty n the terms employed. Ether the terms themselves lack precson, or the wrter uses them n a sense dfferent from that commonly understood, and feels safe n dong so because there s no generally accepted standard. The glossary whch follows has been drafted by Mr Butln at my nvtaton, as a frst step towards the adopton of an agreed termnology. It deals prncpally wth the language of open-feld husbandry, and therefore should be regarded as a frst nstalment, to be followed later perhaps by a glossary of terms used n modern farmng. The defntons t offers are provsonal; readers who dsagree wth them are nvted to propound alternatve defntons of ther own. It s publshed n the hope that after dscusson and revson t wll fnd acceptance wth wrters n ths REVIEW and contrbutors to the Agraran Hstory of England and Wales now n progress. ED., A.H.R. ACRE. See LAND MEASUREMENT. AGISTMENT. The pasturng of one person's anmals on another's land on payment of a due. In relaton to common land, t sgnfes the lettng to another of a commoner's rght to pasture hs stock (but not a rght APPEN- DANT). APPENDANT. See COMMON, Rght of. APPURTENANT. See COMMON, Rght of. ASSART. A pece of land, taken from waste or forest, cleared of trees, and converted nto arable (from French verb essarter, to grub up). BALK (BAULK). An unploughed pece of land n a common arable feld, wth varous uses: as an access path, by whch a tenant could reach hs land (known as a FOOTBALK) ; a boundary between shotts, strps, and other unts of arable; or merely places whch are unsutable for cultvaton. Balks were often grazed by tethered anmals. BEASTGAIT. See STINT. BOVATE. See LAND MEASUREMENT, BUTT. A secton n a common arable feld whch has been shortened by the rregular shape of the feld, and s therefore shorter than the others n the shott. CALMING. The reapng of stubble left n the arable feld after the ears of corn have been reaped. CATTLEGAIT. See STINT. COMMON APPENDANT. A rght of common gven by law to the freeholders of a manor (those who held land granted as freehold arable by the lord of the manor before the Statute of Qua Emptores n I29o ) to depasture ther commonable anmals on the waste of the manor. At a later date, the rght was lmted to those commonable anmals whch were "levant and couchant" on the tenement,.e. those commonable anmals whch could be mantaned throughout the wnter on the land to whch the rght was appendant. After 129o, the rght could be clamed by prescrpton only. 98 :1 ~ I, '11 I! It!'
SOME TERMS USED IN AGRARIAN HISTORY 99 COMMON APPURTENANT. A rght of common of pasture whch depends on express grant by the owner of the sol or on prescrpton, and s attached to a partcular holdng. The rght may be granted to a person who s not a customary tenant of the manor, e.g. a freeholder who s a tenant n fee smple, and may exst n respect of anmals other than commonable anmals, and n respect of land whch was not part of the ancent arable land of the manor. COMMON ARABLE. Arable land, contaned n common felds, whch became commonable after harvest. COMMON FIELD. Land cultvated n common, ncludng arable and meadow land. COMMON-FIELD HUSBANDRY. See FIELD SYSTEMS. COMMON IN GROSS. A rght to have grazng and other rghts n the waste rrespectve of any ownershp of land, for the rght s annexed to a man's person, ether by grant to hm and hs hers by deed, or t may be clamed by prescrpton. COMMON LAND. Land subject to common rghts. COMMON MEADOW. Land, cropped for hay, whch reverted, once the hay had been lfted (usually at Lamnas-tde), to the whole communty; then commonable anmals were pastured on t. The common meadow was often low-lyng alluval land, adjonng a stream or rver. If the ownershp of the ndvdual portons was not fxed, the strps of meadow mght be allotted by rotaton or by lot. See DOLE MEADOW, LOT MEADOW. COMMON OF ESTOVER. The common rght, appurtenant or n gross, to take wood from the waste or woods of a manor. Ths rght ncludes: Plowbote, the rght to take wood to repar ploughs, carts, and farm mplements; Frebote, the rght to take tree loppngs for fuel; Hedgebote (or Heybote), the rght to take wood for the repar of fences and gates; Housebote, the rght to take wood to repar a house. COMMON OF PASTURE. The most mportant of the rghts of common. Ths ncludes Common Appendant, Common Appurtenant. Common n gross, Common pur cause de vcnage, and Common of Shack. COMMON OF PISCARY. The rght to fsh n waters belongng to another person. COMMON OF SHACK. The rght of customary tenants and freeholders to pasture ther commonable anmals over the arable and meadow land of the manor between harvest and seed-tme, or over the parts of the manor whch were temporarly lyng fallow. COMMON OF TURBARY. The rght to take peat or turf for fuel. COMMON PASTURE. Land used exclusvely for pasture by manoral tenants. The sol may be vested n the lord of the manor, or n undvded shares n the owners of the pasture rght. Because the pasture could, n most nstances, be grazed by a lmted number of anmals (see STINT), and often for only part of the year, the common pasture tended to be land of better qualty than the common waste. COMMON PUR CAUSE DE VICINAGE exsts where there are adjonng wastes belongng to dfferent manors, and tenants havng a rght of pasture over one of the wastes are allowed to pasture ther anmals on the waste of the other. The rght s a permssve one, and overcomes the problem of excess ltgaton for trespass. COMMON, RIGHT OF. A rght of common s the rght whch one or more persons have to make use of, or take produce from, the land of another. In most nstanr2es the owner of the Sol was the lord of the manor, who also enjoyed rghts of common thereon. 1 The waste of the manor was vested n the lord n fee smple, but normally subject to customary common rghts. In the arable and meadow the strps of the customary tenants were vested n fee smple of the lord of the manor, holdng of the Crown, but these tenants had exclusve possesson, subject to common rghts. When the common arable and meadow were thrown open for pasturng of common- 1 Some common lands are not n manors, e.g. the common lands of an ancent borough, or of a 'reputed manor'. See Royal Commsson on Commc, n Land, I955-8, Report, Cmd 46z, p. I7o. j
100 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW able anmals, the ownershp of the sol dd not change, but the rghts of pasture were common rghts, because each tenant exercsed rghts over land other than hs own. It s necessary to make the dstncton between the rghts of common, and sole or exclusve rghts (see SOLE VESTUI~ and SOLE PASTVRe). Common rghts evolved through "an ncreasng lmtaton of rghts to more sharply defned classes of user. Ths lmtaton arose naturally from the pressure of a growng populaton upon a fxed supply of land throughout hstorc tmes. The degree of pressure, and hence the chronology of the lmtaton of common rghts, vared accordng to local crcumstances. ''1 COMMON WASTE. Ths term ncludes a vcde varety of classes of land, all of whch were ether uncultvated or uncultvable. They were used as permanent sources of grazng for lvestock, as sources of fuel, and of materal for repars of houses and mplements, and they also allowed the expanson of the arable area to take place, by enclosure and mprovement. COMMONABLE LAND. Land communally used for part of the year (arable, meadow, and sometmes common pasture) whch, after harvest, was pastured by the commonable anmals untl seed-tme. COMMONABLE ANIMALS. Those anmals whch the holder of a rght of common of pasture may lawfully turn out on common or commonable land. If the rght s appendant, only horses, sheep, and cattle may normally be pastured; f appurtenant, or n gross, other anmals (e.g. pgs and geese) may be pastured, accordng to local custom. It s mportant to note, however, that the legal dstncton between these types of rght of common of pasture dd not always obtan n practce, and rghts of common of pasture were gven for pgs, sheep, and goats--anmals whch n many areas were non-commonable. CROFT. A small pece of land, frequently attached to a house, whch was almost nvarably enclosed. Crofts are occasonally located wthn common felds. See TOFT AND CROFT. DEMESNE. () A feudal term, as n the phrase 'n demesne as of fee', meanng a tenement not sub-enfeoffed,.e. kept n the hands of the owner and descendng to hs lneal and collateral hers. () Agrcultural demesne: demesne land s the reserve whch the lord of the manor cultvates through hs own agents so that he may drectly consume or sell the produce, as dstnct from land held by hs tenants. The demesne was frequently sub-let, and could be worked by labour servces, by hred labour, or by slaves. () ANCIENT DEMESNE. Land whch had formerly been royal demesne land, but whch had subsequently been alenated to other landowners. 2 (v) ROYAL DEMESNE. Demesne land whch belonged to the Crown. ENCLOSURE. The process of delmtng land by means of a fence or boundary, thus removng t, ether temporarly or permanently, from common use. Permanently enclosed land was not usually subject to common rghts. ENCLOSURE IN SEVERALTY. The dvson of common or commonable land among all persons legally nterested, usually n proporton to the value of ther respectve nterests. ESTOVER. See COMMON, Rght of. FALLOW. A perod of rest or recuperaton durng whch the ground was ploughed and harrowed, but not sown. FIELD SYSTEM. The term has htherto been used to sgnfy "the manner n whch the nhabtants of a townshp subdvded and tlledtherarable, meadow, andpastureland. ''a The systems of husbandry based on the cultvaton of common arable felds vared wdely, both n regard to the rotaton of crops over the arable area, and n regard to the type 1 Royal Commsson on Common Land, I955-8, Report, Cmd 462, p. 15o. 2 For further dscusson of the term, see R. S. Hoyt, The Royal Demesne n Englsh Consttutonal Hstory, Ithaca, N.Y. I95o, and R. H. Hlton, The Stonelegh Leger Book, Dugdale Socety Publcatons, XXlV, x96o, pp. xxv-xxv. H. L. Gray, Englsh Feld Systems, Harvard Unversty Press, 19I 5, P. 3. 4 I :
SOME TERMS USED IN AGRARIAN HISTORY 101 and length of fallow. Thus terms such as 'two- permanent cultvaton, normally not sown feld system' and 'three-feld system' seem to wth a wnter crop but wth a sprng crop. have lttle precse sgnfcance. Perhaps t Assocated wth INFIELD-OUTFIELD SYSTEM. would be better to replace 'feld system' wth INFIELD-OUTFIELD SYSTEM. A systhe term COMMON-FIELD HUSBANDRY,.e. a sys- tem of husbandry characterzed by the dvtem of husbandry based on the cultvaton of son of the cukvated area nto INFIELD and common arable and meadow. Alternatvely OUTFIELD. the term 'feld system' could be retaned, but INNAGE. The cultvaton of part of the ts meanng restrcted to: a system of hus- fallow area of the common felds for a crop. bandry based on two or more common INTAKE. A pece of land enclosed from the arable felds whch served as a framework for waste, ether temporarly or permanently, for cultvaton, but wthn whch there were wde the purpose of mprovement. varatons n croppng and fallowng practce. INTER-COMMONING. The practce of Ths would reject the dea, apparently n- pasturng the stock of two or more manors herent n the use of the term 'feld system', wthout hndrance on a contguous common that husbandry based on two or three felds of waste whch had never been approprated to arable followed a farly rgd pattern. a sngle manor. FOLD-COURSE. An area of common feld LAMMAS LAND. A class of commonable and heathland, n a townshp ncludng land, normally meadow, communally held manoral demesne and tenant land, pastured and managed for part of the year, but thrown by the flocks of two or more manoral lords. open to commonable anmals when harvest The common felds, heathlands, and closes of was over. The normal day for throwng open the townshp were dvded nto separate areas, these lands was Lammas Day ( August) and and each was allotted to a flock for grazng at they remaned open untl Lady Day (25 certan tmes of the year. Each area grazed by March). Other dates were from Old Lammas a flock was a 'fold-course' (Lat. foldagum). Day (I2 August) to Old Lady Day (6 Aprl). These were common n the 'sheep-corn' LAND (as ploughng term). See SELION. regon of East Angla. LAND MEASUREMENT. Most of the FURLONG. A measure of length, orgnally unts whch were used for purposes of land the length of a furrow n the common arable measurement, n tmes when the scence of feld, whch vared wdely n dfferent areas. exact areal measurement was unknown, have As a statutory measure of length, t s equal to tenural, fscal, and agrcultural connotatons, one-eghth of a statute mle, or 220 yards. The and are, therefore, not smply land measures. term had other meanngs, e.g. a block of Thus they can only be used to reflect land selons n the common arable feld, for whch area n specfc nstances. "The hde, the the term SHOTT s here preferred (see below). carucate, and the sulung were evdently too FURROW. A narrow trench made n the elastc quanttes to be regarded as measureearth wth a plough. See also RIDOE AND ments; but they keep all through ther charac- FURROW. terstc as shares, because whatever ther GAIT. See STINT. arthmetcal varatons they are always equal GROSS. See COMMON, Rghts of. as aganst each other wthn the lmts of one HEADLAND. A pece of land n a ploughed and the same tun at one and the same tme. ''~ feld, left for convenence n turnng the () THE ACRE. plough at the end of the furrows, or near the (a) CUSTOMARY ACRE. The acre was orgnally boundary of the feld. closely assocated wth ploughng technque HIDE. See LAND MEASUREMENT. and not wth exact areal measurement. An HIGHBACK. See RIDaE. acre was, n theory, the amount of land whch INFIELD. A common arable feld under a plough-team could plough n a day. Sol 1 p. Vnogradoff, The Growth of the Manor, I9o4, p. I52.
!l 102 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW type, the number of oxen n the team, and sure of the rght of common appendant, local custom produced great varatons n the consstng orgnally of the number of comactual sze of the acre from regon to regon, monable anmals permtted on a tenement, although n some nstances a certan sze of but whch later became the number of comacre became 'customary' or normal n an area. monable anmals whch could be mantaned The customary acre dffers from the statutory throughout the wner on the land to whch the acre. rght was appendant. The rule was occason- (b) STATUTORY ACRE. Statutory values of the ally appled to appurtenant rght. acre were enacted n England by Acts of LOT MEADOW (or Dole Meadow). A 5 Ed. I, 31 Ed. II, 24 Hen. VIII, and fxed the meadow dvded nto strps, the ndvdual acre as a pece of land 4 poles long by 4 poles occupaton of whch s changed annually by broad, or ts equvalent of any shape. By the the drawng of lots, but whch s open at cer- Act of 6 Geo. IV, the acre was fxed as a tan tmes of the year for grazng n common standard or legal measure of land n Brtan. to all the temporary occupants of the lots. The statute acre s an area of 4,840 square MEADOW. Land cropped for hay. yards. OPEN FIELD. A confusng term, htherto () THE HIDE. In Domesday Book, the major- generally used to sgnfy common arable ty of hdes were reckoned at four yardlands, felds (whch were not always 'open'). It though there were varatons. The hde was seems to be an over-smplfcaton, stressng not an exact area but a complex unt havng smply the contrast wth the enclosed felds. agraran, tenural, and fscal mplcatons. The term could well be dscarded, and more Some hstorans equate t wth Bede's "land precse terms, e.g. 'common arable feld', of one famly," meanng the extent of land 'common meadow', used. whch ether actually supported one famly OUTFIELD. An area of common land n a and ts dependants, or for fscal purposes was townshp practsng the nfeld-outfeld sysdeemed capable of dong so. The hde was tem, part of whch was perodcally cultvated regularly used as a unt of assessment for the by the tenants of the nfeld. The perodcty mposton of taxes. If the fscal and agraran of cultvaton vared wdely, but ntervals of functons can be dstngushed n any n- four to seven years were common. stance, they may be termed FISCAL HIDE and OX-GANG. See LAND MEASUREMENT. FIELD HIDE respectvely. RIDGE. A pece of land thrown up by () THE YARDLAND or VIRGATE. The yardland ploughng acton. Some ambguty has arsen s not a unt of exact land measurement, from the use of the term n the phrase 'rdge but represents a tenement of varyng sze and furrow': rdges are not nvarably steep measured n customary acres, and ncludng or hgh-backed, and are often ploughed flat3 arable wth appurtenant meadow and pasture. The term HICHBACK could be adopted to de- The yardland or vrgate mght be subdvded scrbe the steep rdges of many commonnto OX-GANGS (half of a vrgate) or FERLINGS feld areas. (quarter-vrgates), both terms beng pr- RIDGE AND FURROW. The name often marly fscal and areally nexact. In areas of gven to the regular corrugatons whch are Dansh nfluence, dfferent nomenclature was evdent n the surface of many felds on the used. Wthn the wapentake (hundred) the present-day landscape, and are most obvous CARUCATE replaced the hde, and the BORATE n grass-covered felds. The 'rdges' are the was the equvalent of the OX-GANG. In south- rased peces of land, and the 'furrows' are the eastern England the SULUNG was the equ- depressons whch separate them. They frevalent of the hde, and was sub-dvded nto quently exhbt a snuous reversed-s form, four YoI~s. and rdge crests are often equdstant. They LEVANT AND COUCHANT. The mea- have been equated by some wth the selons x H. A. Beecham, 'A Revew of Balks as Strp Boundares n the Open Felds', A.H.R. Iv, x956, p. z9. t 1
SOME TERMS USED IN AGRARIAN HISTORY 103 and furrows of the common arable felds of earler tmes. But rdgng of land was a common practce untl the nneteenth century n areas of heavy sols, for dranage purposes, and many of the straght 'rdges' and 'furrows' (of varyng ampltude) are attrbutable to ths practce. 1 ROTATION (OF CROPS). A change or successon of crops on a gven pece of land. The number of unts n a crop rotaton does not necessarly correspond wth the number of felds over whch t operates. SELION. The basc unt of ploughng n the common arable felds, the feld beng marked off nto parallel wdths called 'lands', of 22 yards or less. The Orwns descrbe the process of dvson of the arable feld nto these selons or 'lands'. 2 The term selon s here preferred, as 'land' has now acqured a large number of meanngs. The term s synonymous wth other local terms--'sttch', 'stetche', 'rdge', and 'rg'. Selons may take a varety of forms, some rdged (see RIDGE AND FURROW), some, on areas of dry sol, flat and separated not by furrows but by balks. The term 'strp' has occasonally been used synonymously wth selon, but as there s doubt as to the equaton of unts of tenure wth unts of ploughng, 'strp' (see below) s here employed n a dfferent sense. SEVERALTY. Indvdual or unshared tenure of an estate or tenement. Ths term s used to denote ndvdual tenure of land (usually enclosed) as opposed to tenure of land n common; the term can also be used to descrbe the exclusve occupaton of strps of commonable land at those tmes of the year when common rghts cease to be exercsed over them. SHEEP WALK. (a) A stretch of unfenced pasture for sheep. (b) A rght vested n the lord of a manor to feed sheep on the lands of the manor, ncludng tenant land, at certan tmes of the year. SHOTT. A block of arable land, consstng of several or many selons, all runnng n the same drecton, and havng at ether end a headland on whch the plough-team could turn. Ths term could serve as a standard term, n preference to varous words whch have been used n the same sense, e.g. 'furlong', 'flatt', 'Tong', etc. SOLE PASTURE. The grant by the owner of the sol to another, of the exclusve rght, n fee smple or n copyhold, to graze anmals on the sol. Both sole vesture and sole pasture could be granted to several persons as tenants n common, and the land mght then appear to be land subject to common of pasture. But these are not common rghts because they are exclusve or sole rghts. SOLE VESTURE. The exclusve rght, granted by the owner of the sol to another, to take the produce of the sol. STINT. The number of anmals whch a holder of common rght s enttled to put on to common land (usually common pasture). The stnt s always for a specfc number of beasts wth an equvalent accordng to the type of stock and s normally proportonate to the sze of the holdng. Orgnally the stnts were allocated only to copyhold tenements. Pastures whch are stnted are known as STINTED PASTURES. The equvalent term n the North of England s 'gate' or 'gat'--hence 'cattlegat', 'pasturegat', etc. STRIP. The unt of tenure n one place n the common felds (arable or meadow) held by one person. 3 TENEMENT. The land held by a tenant n a communty,.e. hs land n the common felds and the common rghts attached to t. It ncludes hs house and garden. In the courts, ths term could be used of a very wde varety of holdngs, especally 'free tenements'. TOFT. Ths term s frequently found to be synonymous wth Croft. See TOFT AND CROFT, TOFT AND CROFT. These terms are used 1 See M. W. Beresford, 'Rdge and Furrow and the Open Felds', Econ. Hst. Rev., 2nd Ser., I, I948 ; also E. Kerrdge, 'Rdge and Furrow and A~raran Hstory', Econ. Hst. Rev., znd Set., tv, 95 t. o C. S. and C. S. Orwn, The Open Felds, Oxford, I938, p. 33. 3 I am here adoptng the use of the term suggested by Mss H. M. Clark, 'Selon Sze and Sol Type', A.H.R. vm, I96o, p. 9I.
104 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW jontly to mean a homestead wth an attached pece of land. IRGATE. See LA~D MEASUIU~rVmNT. WARREN. Land over whch the lord of the manor had exclusve rghts for the huntng of small game--rabbts, etc. WASTE. See COMMON WASTE. WATER MEADOW. An rrgated meadow. The floated water meadow, "techncally the crownng glory of Englsh agrculture," was an mportant type of water meadow, found manly n Chalk areas, and ntroduced early nto Wltshre early n the seventeenth century. I YARDLAND. See LAND MEASUREMENT. 1 See E. Kerrdge, 'Floatng of Wltshre water meadows', Wltshre Archaeologcal Magazne, LV, pp. Io5-I8.,I.r. l