of WIT Dutnct durinff Histone Times. 281 



up from several diflferent peasants, who shared the produce in 

 proportion to the oxen. One field was in corn, the second in 

 green fodder, and the third in fallow in each year. Outside the 

 arable land were Lammas meadows {i. e., meadows kept for hay, 

 but grazed after hay harvest), common pasture, and common 

 woodland. The cattle, geese, &c., also grazed on the fallow 

 field. It is said that working oxen, in order to thrive, must have 

 plenty of space and grazing after their work, and it is possible 

 that their disuse is partly owing to the gradual enclosure of 

 common land. It will be readily seen what an important factor 

 these lumbering ploughs, working for a thousand years at least, 

 must have been in the carving down of the surface of the land. 

 Especially has this been so on the slopes of the chalk-hills, 

 where it is customary to plough one way only, turning the sod 

 downhill, the plough returning idle. This has the effect of 

 moving the entire top soil of the field one furrow wide downhill 

 at each ploughing. This custom would have ere now removed 

 all the son to the bottoms, but this was prevented by the other 

 custom mentioned, that of ploughing in strips only. This 

 resulted in the formation of what are called linces, a series of 

 steps on the hill-side ; this is not often seen now, owing to the 

 linces, after the disuse of the communal system, being ploughed 

 down ; but there are some very fine examples on the chalk 

 between Calais and Boulogne, where the French system of petite 

 culture has preserved them. This ploughing of linces has been 

 further extended with the object of enlarging the fields ; very 

 many linces have been ploughed in Coulsdon parish during the 

 last ten years. After a while the upper part of the hill-side is all 

 ploughed away, and has to go out of cultivation, on account of 

 the chalk being left bare. Thus the slopes of the hUls tend to 

 go out of cultivation, and return to a condition of waste. 



The first, and, indeed, the only complete record we have of 

 the state of our district in ancient times is that remarkable 

 survey known as Domesday Book, compiled about 1080 a.d. 

 This survey was made for the purpose of taxation, and does not 

 give exact quantities of land, &c., but only, so to speak, their 

 rateable value. On examining the record for our district it is 

 very remarkable how nearly, so far as we can judge, the amount 

 of arable land, &c., approximates to what we now see. It is not 

 always certain whether the boundaries of the Domesday manors 

 were the same as those of the present parishes, but in many cases 

 we have no reason to doubt that they were. The survey runs 

 somewhat in this form : — The manor of so-and-so is held by A. B. 

 of M. N. ; in King Edward's time it was valued (or taxed) at so 

 many hides, now so many ; there is land for so many ploughs, 

 and the woods yield so many swine. Other items adding to the 

 value are also mentioned. The items of plough-lands and swine 



