SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



your land and profit as is conceived made by the lord of Stowlangtoft. . . . 

 Besides it is confessed by the foreman of the homage and others that many 

 hold lands within your manor for which they have no evidence to show.' A 

 survey of the same manor in 1627 concludes its summary of property with 

 the words,^" ' Land intruded upon & concealed 316 acres.' To meet the 

 difficulties which arose from the conflict of ancient custom with modern 

 conditions much readjustment was necessary. In a survey of Mendlesham 

 (undated) ^" a contrast is drawn between the ' ancient free rents of assize 

 yearly — whereby ariseth yearly divers reliefs,' and the ' new free rents ' 

 reserved by the lord of the manor and yearly payable for lands and tenements 

 by him sold free, namely, some to the tenants and their heirs for ever, some 

 leased for a thousand years. 



The sale of portions of the demesne land of Monk Soham"' in 1599 

 gave the steward an opportunity of breaking it up afresh into such con- 

 venient properties as would find a ready market. The lords of Framlingham 

 abandoned the ancient method by which the revenues of their manor were 

 collected, as part of their service, by the Coliar-holders (who paid a uniform 

 rent of z^d. an acre), and employed a bailiff in their stead."* Lords of the 

 manor began to take stock of their properties with a view to ' reasonable im- 

 provements ' to be effected when the leases fell in. The survey of the 

 Ixworth property {circa 1625) "' gives an insight into the direction in which 

 improvement was expected. All the farms which consist of stocking grounds 

 and inclosures of meadow and pasture are to have their rents raised (^^40— 

 >C5°» >C28— 40, &c.). On the rents of farms consisting largely of arable no 

 advance could be made (i.e. a large farm of 180 acres of arable inclosed and 

 340 acres in the open field, and 23 acres of meadow to pay as before 

 ^221 IS. 4^/.) A lease of 1 1 acres for ninety-nine years, dating from 

 23 Henry VIII, will be worth on renewal a rental of ^6 5/. instead of 5J. 

 as heretofore. The value of timber is so high that on one wood alone an in- 

 creased profit of £j per annum (a yield of 6d. per pole on coppice of seven 

 years' growth) is anticipated. The benefit of fairs and markets at Ixworth 

 has doubled in value, and is to be rented at ^5 instead of ^2 ioj. per annum. 

 The popularity with the gentry of fishing (as also of hawking, hunting, 

 fowling, and keeping swans) * which this manor as doth the whole county 

 affordeth most plentifully ' has made it worth while to preserve the fisheries 

 on the river and in the moats and ponds, hitherto neglected, and to ask for 

 them a rent of ^6 6s. Sd. a year. 



Finally (although at this date the anticipation seems unwarrantable) the 

 profits upon weyves, estreyes, and felons' goods, copyholders and the perquisite 

 of court, estimated at jC^oo, but bringing in nothing, may be made to yield 

 ^50 per annum. The farmers of the forest sheepwalks are alleged to be 

 making undue profits. The farmers sell 150 full grown wethers fornix, 

 jri2, and >ri3 a score, and buy in so many ' tegge' for half the money, 

 which in three or four years will again yield double the price paid for them ; 

 the profit on such sales amounting to j^50 or ^60 a year. The wethers 

 produce 3 lb. of wool apiece, above yy tod in all, at ;^28 the tod, and besides 



"■ Harl. MS. 98, fol. 368. '" Ibid. 2296, fol. 132. 



"» Add. MS. 23959, fol. 47. "* MS. Hist, of Framlingham (Add. MS. 33247), fol. 388-91. 



'" Harl. MS. 98, fol. 118. Date from internal evidence. 



667 



