ii] The Demesne. 1270— 1307. 27 



surrounded by ditches, which, used as pasture, were a considerable 

 source of income^ These fields and five or six of the smaller pieces 

 of the demesne were also inclosed ' ad defensionem bladi comitis ' by 

 * fossat[a] ' annually erected and removed by the customary tenants*"*. 



The arable demesne was about 300 acres in extent, or about 

 one-ninth of the total acreage of the manor=^. 



Probably Forncett was a three-course manor, but the rolls 

 contain no clear indications that there were within the vill three 

 great fields, cultivated in rotation*. ' Campi ' are mentioned; but 

 they were numerous and small. 



It is somewhat surprising to find that the area of the demesne in 

 cultivation in different years was, as a rule, considerably more than 

 two-thirds of its total acreage. In the Account Rolls returns are made 

 of the number of acres sown with each kind of grain, and of the 

 (same) number of acres harvested. The figures are as follows : 



The large number of acres sown in 1293 and other years cannot, 

 apparently, be accounted for by any increase in the amount of land 

 in the lord's hands. It seems to have been the case that, as the 

 language of the rolls implies, some of the demesne was cultivated 



* Cf. p. 32. In 1286, 30J. \d. were spent 'in i. fossato circa Bone Welleridingg faciendo 

 de longitudine clxii. perticatarum.' In the same year only y. were received from the sale of 

 the herbage of the ditches about the ridding, 'et non plus pro fossatura impediente herbagium 

 ibidem.' In 1 290, 5^. \d. were received , which seems to be somewhat above the average amount. 



2 Appendix VIII., xxxix., and the later Min. Acc'ts. 



^ In the Account Rolls of 1376-8 it is stated that the arable demesne consisted of 166^ acres 

 besides Westwood Ridding. From a Court Roll of 1406, it appears that Westwood Ridding 

 was 1 20 acres in extent. This would make the total arable 2865 acres. By adding together 

 the areas of all the pieces described as former arable demesne in the conveyances of the 

 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries up to 1565, a total is obtained of about 175 acres plus the 

 1 20 acres of the Ridding or a grand total of about 300 acres. The inquisition post-mortem of 

 1270 gives 1 80 acres as the area of the arable demesne, but this doubtless refers only to the 

 acreage under cultivation in that year. If two-thirds of the demesne were cultivated in 1270 

 its total area must have been 2 70 acres. 



^ For an account of the three-field system, see Cunningham, Industry and Commerce^ 

 4th ed., i. 74, and Walter of Henley, 6, 8 et passim. 



5 The account for 1282 is too much damaged for the number to be ascertained. 



^ Cf. below, p. 48, n. I. 



