36 The Demesne. 1270 — 1307. [ch. 



animals were driven or carried from the more distant manors to 

 Forncett, there fattened, slaughtered, and the meat carried to Caister 

 — a distance of some six or seven miles. In 1290, 96 geese, 60 hens, 

 and 89 pullets^ were bought, fattened, and sent for the use of the 

 earl to Framlingham, and in the same year 2700 eggs were bought 

 and carried to the same place. Geese and hens were raised for sale, 

 and in most years from 25 to 50 of each kind of fowls were brought 

 to market. Hens to the number of 170, due from the tenants as rent, 

 30 or 40 capons, partly from the demesne farm and partly from 

 rents, and eggs from the same two sources, were also sold. A small 

 number of peacocks and peahens was often kept, and in 1278 five 

 were sent to Lopham, where the king was expected I The proceeds 

 from the sale of poultry ranged from 14?. to £\. \^s. yearly; they 

 were of course diminished when, as occasionally happened, a large 

 proportion of the fowls were sent from Forncett to other manors ^ 



The dairy was an important source of income. In 1300 and 

 afterwards the milk was farmed at the rate of d^. 6d. for the milk of 

 each cow. As some 20 cows were usually kept, the receipts from 

 this source averaged about £/^, los. a year. Before the milk was thus 

 farmed, the proceeds from the sale of butter and cheese sometimes 

 exceeded and often fell considerably below this amount. The income 

 from the sale of stock about equalled that from the dairy. 



The windmill was also profitable. Although mill-stones were 

 expensive^ and were frequently renewed, yet the yearly expenses 

 connected with the maintenance and operation of the mill were, as a 

 rule, from £2, to £$ less than the value of the barley and wheat 

 which constituted the receipts from the mill, and which, in the 

 earlier years, seem to have been a certain proportion of the grain 

 ground at the mill. In 1300 and later the mill was farmed for a 

 yearly payment of 24 or 25 quarters of barley. While the bondmen 

 were obliged to bring their grain to the mill, free tenants sometimes 

 had theirs ground elsewhere^ 



It was probably at Norwich that the manor produce was sold. 



^ The geese and pullets together consumed 32 bushels of oats and 6 bushels of coarse 

 barley, or 6| quarts of grain each. Min. Acc'ts, 935/12. 



2 Min. Acc'ts, 935/6. In Advent, 1278, the king was present at the dedication of 

 Norwich Cathedral. Gough, Itinerary of King Edtvard the Firsts i. iii. 89, 90. Lopham is 

 not mentioned in the Itinerary. 



3 Min. Acc'ts, 935/6, 935/12. 



* In 1275 a mill-stone was bought for £\. 13J. ; in 1278, two stones cost £\. 8j. and 

 £\. 10s. respectively; in 1290 a stone cost £\. ioj., etc. 



" In 1279 the reeve accounted for 26 quarters 2 bushels of barley from the mill. ' Et ideo 

 non plus hoc anno pro debilitate molendini et quia alii {sic) ii. molendina de novo erecti {sic) 

 sunt prope et liberi homines noluerunt sectare molendinum comitis pro debilitate.' Min. 

 Acc'ts, 935/7. 



