By C. R. Straton. 303 



John Rabbetts rented the manor farm at South Newton and with 

 it the services of the copyholders who did the work of the farm. 

 He paid 14s. in money, twenty quarters of wheat, twenty quarters 

 of barley, ten quarters of oats, twenty capons, twenty geese, and 

 twelve great trowtes. On the margin wheat is 8s., barley 5s. 4f^., 

 and oats 2s. 8rf. a quarter, while capons, geese, and trout are ^d. 

 each. Every virgate at South Newton paid 3s. for salt silver. This 

 may be the remains of salt dues, or it may have been commuted for 

 the service of bringing the salt from the pans at Southampton 

 Marsh. Most abbeys had their salt pans at one time, but the salt 

 was poor, and better could be bought from France. Before the 

 days of water meadows and winter roots, mutton and beef were 

 salted down like fish or bacon for winter use, and then salt was 

 an important article of consumption. At Stockton certain acres 

 are called saltacres in the survey. i 



Another tenant by convention was the miller. He had to grind 



the lord's corn for nothing, but all the tenants were bound to take 



their corn to him and he took as toll one part in twenty if they 



brought their corn to him, and two parts in twenty if he fetched it 



and took it back. The manor court occasionally ordered him to keep 



proper scales. He had a right to the eels and small fish, but not 



to the " fowling, great trouts, or ground-swans." The swan was a 



royal bird, and if, instead of nesting in the little islands that were 



set apart for them, they built their nests on the banks of the 



t stream, they were not allowed to be disturbed, but the lord of the 



I manor claimed one cygnet out of the brood as a ground-swan for 



the trouble of guarding them. 



There were also a few tenants " at the lord's will," who were 



I generally his own servants, and they were paid in a curious way. 



For example, the usher of the hall had for his wages the tithes of 



i Burdensball ; the lord's valet and cellarer had the Eectory of South 



I Newton. Robert Grove, one of the commissioners who made this 



survey, had the Rectory of Dinton. 



By far the most numerous class of tenants, however, were the 

 customary tenants — the copyholders, as they were called. In 

 Broad Chalke and Bower Chalke there were nearly fifty copyhold 



