225 



'' %Mtm C^iitg '^— " f ofole$e Cenemcitt " 



By T. G. J. Heathcote. 



A.— In the years 1639—30 Isaac Selfe purchased sixteen small 

 holdings in Melksham then in the tenure of different persons by 



lease or copy. 



One of these holdings is described as " the Rovelesse tenement " in 

 the occupation of John Hayward. 



B.— In 164.7 the same Mr. Selfe made a settlement of these 

 estates in favour of his youngest son, then an infant. 



In the deed then executed the " Rovelesse Tenement is now spelt 

 the " Boivlesse Tenement." 



C._In 1697 on a different property in Melksham I find a pasture 

 o;round described as "all that Rowless Tenement." 

 "^ D.— Finally, about 1800, a Somerset lawyer, in making out a 

 schedule of lands with a view to redemption of land tax, sets down 

 inter alia " a Roofless Tenement." 



Now I imagine that a "Eoofless Tenement" simply means a 

 tenement or holding on which there is no " roof," i.e., messuage, or 

 dwelling-house, and that the phrases previously cited are intended 

 for the same thing, but are variously spelt owing to the ignorance 

 of the scribes. 



It would seem that a typical holding might consist of (i.) a 

 messuage, (ii.) one or more closes of pasture, (iii.) one or more 

 measured acres of meadow in a common mead, (iv.) a larger measured 

 amount of arable in a common field, and finally, (v.) common of 

 pasture, &c., in the commonable places according to the custom of 



the manor. 



Such a holding would be a maximum ; a minimum might be a 

 messuage cum pertinenciis. 



