ESSEX AS A WINE-PRODUCING COUNTY. 43 



Rogerus de Brumf tenet i messuagium quod ali(}uando 

 ftiit &c. Fodiet tu' [tantum ?] in vineis doniinii ii dolas preciuni 

 dole id., &c,27a 



Minister s Accounts, 9-16, Edward II. [1316-1323]. Idem 

 computat in i homine conducto per 20 dies provinei scindendis 

 at reparandis, 4s. — d. 



Anno 10 [1317.] De exitibus vinee nihil respondet quia 

 non fuerant uvae hoc anno. Et de 5 d. de herbagio vendito in 

 tadem vinea sicut continetur ibidem. -S 



A Latin deed of the Thirteenth Century, now in the Public 

 Record Office, refers to the leasehold sale of a house, garden, shop, 

 vineyard, and premises at Colchester. -'J 



In the Thirteenth Century, too, there was, adjoining 

 Colchester, a piece of land known as Wynescrott, which is thus 

 alluded to in a deed of the year 1242 witnessed by the Bailifts of 

 Colchester and others 30 : — " terra cum pertinentiis que vocatur 

 Wynescrafte in suburbio Colecestrie, et quicquid in dicta 

 terra " &c. 



In the year 1380, a certain Thomas De3nes was granted, at 

 a rental of two shillings annuall)', a piece of ground, for three 

 stulpes or spores, to carry a certain vine opposite the house of 

 Clement Dyer, in North Street, Colchester. 31 



There is still at Colchester a " Vineyard Lane." It runs 

 for some distance parallel with the outer side of the old town 

 wall, on the southern aspect. This suggests that vines were 

 formerly grown here, trained against the sunny side of the town 

 wall ; but whether this was done by the Romans or (as is more 

 probable) in later times, by the monks of St. John's Abbey, only 

 a few hundred yards distant, must here be left in doubt. 



27a Free Tenants. John Franceys holds one messuage, and the aforesaid Juhn and all 

 the other tenants carry hay in the Lord's meadow, and they have twelve flagons of ale or 

 12 (/., and shall dig in the vineyard one dole, which contains in length 4 feet and in width 

 3 perches. Also he shall gather grapes for one day, either himself or another man, and then 

 he shall have food and drink from the Lord. 



Rogers de Brumf holds one messuage . . , and he shall dig also in the vineyard of 

 the domain two doles at the price of a penny each dole, . . . 



28 And the same accounts for the hire of one man for twenty days, for tending and 

 repairing the vineyard — 4s. d. 



The tenth year [1317]. Of the issue of the vineyard, he gives no account, because theie 

 were no grapes this year, and of sd. of herbage sold in the vineyard as contained in the 

 same. 



29 See Hebixj^' Deeds 0/ EiigUsh Jen's before 1290, edited by M. D. Davis (London, cr. 

 80 , 1888), p 368. 



30 Cartulariiim Monastciii Scincti Johannis BaptistiC de Colecestna, edited by S. A. 

 Moore (London, Roxburgh Club, 2 vols.). I am indebted to Mr. George Rickword, Librarian 

 of the Public Library at Colchester, for kindly calling my attention to this and other Col- 

 chester entries. 



31 See HarroJ's Ca'.cnd.ir of Colchester Court Rolls (Colchester, 40 , 1865), p. 24. 



