CHAPTER III. 



THE DEMESNE. 1376—78. 



The records dating from between 1307 and 1376 are not suf- 

 ficiently abundant to enable us to reconstruct the history of that 

 period, but light is thrown on the years 1376-78 by two Account 

 Rolls that have fortunately been preserved \ 



It has been seen that during the thirty-five years from 1272 

 to 1306, few changes occurred in the manorial organization and 

 management; but within the seventy years between 1306 and 1376 

 the organization of the manor and the administration of the demesne 

 were revolutionized. 



In the court-yard, as at the beginning of the century, stood 

 the demesne buildings. By 1376 some had fallen to decays but 

 in the two years now under consideration considerable activity was 

 shown in the erection and repair of buildings. Thus a stable and 

 cowhouse, eighty-four feet long^ and a chamber for the stewards 

 besides gates and walls^ were newly constructed. The halH, ward- 

 robe^ kitchen^, dairy^ hay-house^ grange^'^ stables^ and gate-house^ 

 as well as the milP, which, unlike most of the demesne buildings, 

 stood outside the court-yard, were repaired. A ' chamber called the 

 wardrobe ' was moved from the hall and placed next to the steward's 

 chamber! 



As in the earlier period, the work of building and repair was 

 performed by hired labourers assisted by the customary tenants! 

 The houses seem to have been built of about the same materials 

 as before ; the court-yard was partly inclosed by clay walls^, and 

 partly by ditches and dead hedges! 



But though it is possible that no very great change had occurred 

 since the beginning of the century in the appearance of the buildings 



1 Printed as Appendix IX. 2 Appendix IX. 1. 



^ Appendix IX. Iv. * Appendix IX. Ivi. 



^ Appendix IX. Iv., Ivi., Ixii., Ixiii. ^ Appendix IX. Ivi., Ixiii. 

 7 Appendix IX. Ixiii. 



D. ± 



