208 



Cw^toms of tlje ^ixux of Hinteviount <Stok, 



Copied and Communicated by the Eev. C. V. Goddahd. 



" Generall Customes of the Manner' of Winterbourn Stoke,"- presented By 

 the Homage'' of a Court Barron and Court of Survay^ made and Holden The 

 four and Twentyth Day of Aprile, one Thousand, Five hundred and Seventy 



' Copyhold — this term sprang out of villenage. Manors are as antient as 

 the Saxon constitution, tho' perhaps antiently differing, in some immaterial 

 circumstances, from the manors which exist at this day. It is from the 

 Normans, however, that we derive the particular form of manors with which 

 we are conversant at present. Originally the lord kept for his own use such 

 parts of the ground held by him as were necessary (Demesne lands), and 

 distributed the rest to freehold tenants, to be held of him in perpetuity. Of 

 the demesne lands part was occupied by the lord, part let in villenage, and 

 other parts being uncultivated were termed the lord's waste, and served for 

 public roads and for common of pasture to the lord and his tenants. Manors 

 were formerly called also baronies, and each baron or lord was empowered 

 to hold a domestic court, called the court baron, for redressing misdemeanors 

 and nuisances within the manor, and for settling disputes among the tenants. 

 Villeins gradually became emancipated. Tho' still said to hold at the mere 

 will of the lord, yet that became subject to the "customs of the manor," as 

 evidenced by the entries in the rolls of the several manor courts. As such 

 tenants had nothing to show for their estates but these customs, and 

 admissions in pursuance of them entered on those rolls, or the copies 

 witnessed by the steward, they were called tenants by copy of court roll or 

 copyhold tenants. (BlacJcstone, Com.). 



- A small village, with a narrow watered valley and chalk uplands, 3 miles 

 W.ofStonehenge. The Inclosure Award of the parishes of Winterbourn Stoke 

 and Stapleford is dated 28 April, 1812. 



3 " The Jury of a Court Baron, consisting of tenants that do homage to the 

 lord, thus ; the lord obliged his tenants to certain services and took a sub- 

 mission by oath to be true to him as lord and benefactor. The tenant puts 

 his hands between the hands of the lord and says ' I become your man,' and 

 fealty is sworn, this is allegiance." 



* On the falling of an estate to a new lord consisting of manors where there 

 are tenants by lease and copyholders a Court of Survey is generally held and 

 sometimes at other times to apprise the lord of the present terms and 

 interests of the tenants as well as in order to improvements. 



