ON THE COST OF CARRIAGE. 



carried from Leynthale to Ludlow at the same rate, 2<^., and 

 four quarters of oats at a halfpenny less. There are two 

 villages, of this name in the neighbourhood of Ludlow, both of 

 which, if a direct line be taken, are about the same distance 

 from the town of Ludlow that Bladon is from Oxford. The 

 rate then is almost, if not quite, the same in two localities very 

 remote from each other, and at dates separated by an interval 

 of sixty-six years. 



In the year 1375 the bailiff of Ay lesham sends forty quarters 

 of malt from this place to the water, for shipment. If we take 

 Cromer as the port intended, the distance is nearly ten miles 

 in a straight line, and the rate (13*. 4^.) is 4^. the quarter. 

 This rate is slightly in excess of that which is found in the two 

 previous entries. Labour prices in Norfolk are always high. 



On the other hand, a quantity of wheat, the amount of which 

 is not given, is carried in 1328 from Troy-house, near Mon- 

 mouth, to Usk. In a direct line the distance is n-i- miles, 

 but the rate is only $d. a quarter, which is considerably less '' 

 than that at either Bladon or Leynthale. 



Still cheaper, however, is the cost in 1345 of carrying oats 

 from Ibstone to Reading. In a direct line this village is 12 

 miles from Reading; but five quarters of oats are carried for 

 6d. Similarly, nine quarters three bushels of the same kind 

 of grain are carried from Ibstone to Wycombe, a distance, 

 according to the same rule, of y| miles. In the next year, 

 twelve quarters of oats, occupying three men and six horses, 

 that is forming a lading for three carts, are carried from 

 Ibstone to Rickmansworth, a distance, following the same''' 

 computation, of 19^ miles, for is. d. 



All these prices are exceedingly low. The explanation must 

 be, I think, that as these horses and carts were hired, they 

 were supplied by the smaller landowners of the manor, at times 

 when there was no work, or no pressing work, upon the little 

 farm. Nor are the prices always higher in the period which / 

 followed the Plague. The carriage of tiles given under the 

 year 1363, at a day reckoning, is only 4^., that of lime at a 



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