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I begin with Somerset. The earliest notice of a Vineyard 
in the County, and almost the earliest notice of one in England 
(except the general notice of Vines in England by Beda in the 
8th Century), is in ‘the confirmation of a grant of a Vineyard 
by King Edwyth to Glastonbury Abbey in the 10th Century. 
This Vineyard was situated in Pattensberg in Mere, Co, 
Somerset.” (Gard. Chron. Nov. 17th, 1888.) 
In the “Domesday Survey” the following Vineyards are 
mentioned in Somerset:—Among the possessions of the 
Church of Glastonbury there are at Glastonbury “iij arpents of 
Vineyard. In the manor adjoining an island called Mere, where 
are sixty acres of land; and two arpents of Vineyards.” . . , 
“ Another island belongs thereto, which is cailed Padenebene ; 
There are six acres of land and iij arpents of Vineyard.” These 
two places—Meare and Pamborough—are close to Glastonbury, 
and are within the Hundred of Glaston twelve hides—and there 
can be little doubt they are the Vineyards that were given by 
King Edwyth. “In the Inquisition of the Manors of Glastonbury 
Abbey, by Abbot Henry de Soliaco in 1189, there are several 
tenants of the Manor of Glaston mentioned, who as part of their 
work had to cultivate the Vineyards—‘ fodit in Vinea’—and one 
tenant, who had the principal charge of them, was ‘ E]winus Custos 
Vinee.’” The Vineyards are not referred to at the time of the 
dissolution of the Abbey, but about that time we find reference 
to lands called Wineyats, and the site of the Vineyards on the 
Southern Slope of Weary All Hill or Werrell Hill is still called 
Vineyards. (JSS. inf : Vicar of Glastonbury.) 
There are still remains of the old Vineyard at Meare. There 
is a ruined wall which formerly served as the back wall to the 
vines, and some of the stone projections are there to which the 
vines were fastened. The field itself is still called the Vineyards 
(MS.: Vicar of Meare.) 
At Dunster there is a small plot of ground, less than an acre 
in extent, on the south side of the hill called the Vineyards, in a 
