CARTS AND WAGONS. 545 



all the iron-work of the wheel, but merely the strakes and 

 strake-nails. It is clear that when these strake-nails were 

 worn down they were replaced. Thus Elham in 1350 buys 

 a pair of iron-bound wheels, the irons of which, that is the 

 strakes, are old, (probably purchased second-hand,) but the 

 other parts of the wheels, including cart-nails, are new. 



The accounts therefore, it will be seen, include sufficient in- 

 formation for a series of averages from three different articles. 

 These are plain wheels, wheels fitted for iron-work, and iron- 

 work without wheels. To these may be added clouts, the 

 evidence of which is so copious that it has been formed into a 

 separate table conjointly with clout-nails, and will be treated 

 below; and great nails, otherwise called strake-nails. Besides, 

 though there is not sufficient evidence for any trustworthy 

 average of the price of finished carts, and for wheels when 

 fitted "with their iron- work, notices of these articles occur in 

 such quantity as to deserve comment. 



There can be no doubt that carts and cart-fittings varied in 

 quality, and that in some localities much more expensive 

 carriages were used than will be found elsewhere. For instance, 

 at Bosham in Sussex, a manor belonging to Bigod, and not far 

 from the region in which the most extensive iron factories 

 were situate, the cart-fittings are more costly than in other 

 places. Again, there is great variety in the price of wheels 

 prepared for the reception of irons. It is probable that custom, 

 or the character of the country and the roads, might have 

 induced the use of a light set of irons in one case and a heavy 

 set in another. But, on the other hand, these local influences 

 are quite lost in the decennial averages, and there cannot, 

 I think, be a doubt that the average price, one county with 

 another, of such carts as were used for agricultural purposes, 

 was, as nearly as possible, that which will be found in the 

 decennial tables. 



The contrast between the earlier and later period is indeed 

 striking, the variation exceeding that of almost all other 

 examples which have been given before; being more than 



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