ee ae eS Se 
— 
37 
I now come to the Gloucestershire Vineyards. The first 
mention of the Vine in Gloucestershire is in “ Domesday,” and 
in the ‘Gloucestershire Survey” “it is only once mentioned— 
‘ii—arpenz Vinee’ are registered at Stonehouse on land which 
had belonged to Tovi, a large landowner, before the Conquest, 
and which was held in 1086 by William de Ow. . . . . It 
is surprising that mention is made of only one Vineyard . . 
but it is interesting to note that it was situated near to the 
Roman settlements of Frocester and Woodchester, and there 
could be few warmer spots in the county than the south-western 
slope of the hill above Stonehouse. The arpent was certainly 
less than half an acre ia extent, so that William de Ow’s 
Vineyard covered less than an acre. About a mile and a half 
north of Stonehouse is a farm which bears the name of Vinegar 
Hill Farm ; it is now, and probably always has been, in the Parish 
of Standish, but the name is interesting as a testimony to the 
cultivation of the vine in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
spot where the ‘Domesday’ Commissioners found it.”* 
The next notice of the Vine in Gloucestershire is in the well- 
known description of Gloucestershire by Wm. of Malmesbury, 
who was born at the end of the 11th Century, and published his 
book, ‘“‘ De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum,” about the year 1125. In 
it he says, ‘‘ The Vale of Gloucester yields plenty of corn and fruit. 
. . . «+ Here you may behold Highways and Publick Roads 
full of Fruit Trees, not planted but growing naturally. The earth 
bears fruit of its own accord, much exceeding others both in taste 
and beauty. many sorts of which continue fresh the year round, 
and serve the owner till he is supply’d by a new increase. No 
county in England has so many or so good Vineyards as this ; 
either for fertility or for sweetness of the grape. The wine has 
in it no unpleasant tartness or eagerness,t and is little inferior to 
* “Taylor's Domesday Survey of Gloucestershire,” p. 70. 
+ Eagerness lit : trans; of acritudo—eager=acris, the word survives 
in Vinegar, i.e., vin—eager—vinum acre. 
