5y /oA?? Watson- Taylor. 



The Dotcer of Eleanor Fitz-John in the Manor of Erleslohe} 



£ s. d. 

 One-third of the naessuage 6 



60 acres arable @ 8d. 2 



30 „ „ „ &d. 

 83 „ „ „ ^d. 

 26 ,, meadow @ 2s. 

 PodenhuUe pasture 

 One-third of the grove 

 ,, ,, „ ,, rents, services, etc., of 11 virgators 

 Ditto of 28 half-virgators 

 Ditto of pleas and perquisites 

 Half the rents of the free-tenants 



i'20 12 2i 



The second of these documents gives a fairly complete survey 

 of the manor and supplements the information already obtained 

 as to the rents, services, and customs of the tenants who are now, 

 for the first time, mentioned together by name, and with the help 

 of the Court Kolls already referred to, it is possible to give a general 

 account of the community inhabiting the manor. 



The free-tenants, although they contributed less to the receipts 

 of the manor than the customary tenants, were only second to the 

 lord in importance, while in some respects they were his equals. 

 In 1737 they are referred to as " masters and mistresses of the 

 parish " who had the special right of stocking one mare and colt 

 each hi Marsh Common, and they seem also to have had the ex- 

 clusive right of feeding horned cattle in Skimcroft, a field near the 

 Common, during a certain portion of the year, for in 1692 the 

 following appears in the minutes of the court : — " We present that 

 there is a plot of ground called Skimcroft whereon are seven rudder 

 beasts Leaze, Now know ye that we the parties herein concerned 

 do promise and agree to and with the rest of the parish that for 

 ye time to come according to ye ancient custom it is to be broken 

 ye 3rd day of May, and to throw it open when ye mead is broke, 

 and the seven rudder beasts are likewise to go in ye mead and 

 common for the remainder of the time." The free-tenants seem 

 to have been the " parties herein concerned " who agreed with the 

 customary tenants — " the rest of the parish " — to open Skimcroft 

 ' Close Moll (132), 3 Edw. II., m. 21. 



