

LAND CARRIAGE. COARSE GOODS. 70! 



sent in 24 carriages, i.e. each load was 5f quarters. But he con- 

 tracts to convey it at even a cheaper rate still, at is. $\d. a cart. 

 Unfortunately, I find no later records of these transactions. 



In 1442 the Minster at York was supplied with 500 wain- 

 loads (plaustratas) of stone from Huddlestone quarries. They 

 are carried to Cawood for subsequent water carriage at a 

 shilling the load, plus is. iod., i.e. about three-eighths of a 

 penny per load additional. The sum paid points to a contract 

 with the carriers. The rate is the same per wainload that is 

 paid by the ton in 1415, plus the fraction of a penny. In 

 1446 wainloads are carried from the same place at a little less 

 than n\d. and lod. In 1449 160 wainloads are carried over 

 the same road at lod. 



In 1447 ninety-five quarters of corn are carried from Borough- 

 bridge to Fountains Abbey. The distance is said in the account 

 to be nine miles, and the payment is 4^. a quarter, double the 

 rate paid by Fastolfe in 1438. But it is clear, from other 

 examples, that the shorter the distance the dearer was the 

 rate, except in those cases where several carriages could be 

 made in one day. If, as is almost certain, the contract made 

 by the abbot or bursar of Fountains left the carriers no other 

 occupation for the day, the price is virtually a day payment at 

 is. 8<, the rate, as we shall see presently, at which cart, two 

 horses, and carter were frequently hired. 



In 1448 King's Hall pays 95^. for eleven score and eight 

 bigates of stone from Histon, i.e. $d. a carriage. This village 

 is between four and five miles from Cambridge, and the rate 

 per mile is that which is customary. 



In 1452 eighty-six quarters of corn are sent from Spitling 

 on a journey of four miles, at <zd. a quarter. Here the rate is 

 nearly the same as that from Boroughbridge to Fountains, if 

 we reckon that two journeys were made by the same carts in 

 the day, sixteen miles being taken as, under the circumstances, 

 a day's work. 



In 1458 forty quarters of malt are carried from Ormesby to 

 Yarmouth in four carts. Here, again, it is clear that each cart 



