Domesday and Feudal Statistics 



more cautiously Prof! Maitland, accept such 

 entries as areal extents, and thereby attach con- 

 siderable holdings to the villeinage of Middlesex 



Villeins, & 5 . 



and their (the average viJlan here holds i virgate, cases or 

 io86. ngs ' i villan with 2 Hides at Hanwell and W. Bed- 

 font) ; now a test case can be found in the Manor 

 of Heruluestune (Harlesden Green, fo. 127^, and 

 but once noted in D. B.), belonging to St. Paul's, 

 where are 4 Teamlands, 2 ploughs in demesne, 

 and \ plough held by 22 villeins, of whom 12 

 hold virgates and 10 half virgates. The total 

 in villeinage (assuming each virgate =: 30 acres) 

 amounts to 510 acres, against which set 4 oxen, 

 or if the land were fully stocked 2 ploughs, and 

 whether or not 510 acres could be tilled either by 

 4 oxen, or a couple of ploughs must be left to 

 the sober judgment of any in the least acquainted 

 with practical agriculture. To them it must be 

 clear either that the acres here are rateable, or that 

 1 they consisted largely of pasture (not improbable 

 ' owing to proximity to London), or that the vir- 

 gate in this Manor actually contained but a small 

 number of acres. 



Peterboro' Concerning the appended"" tables, the virgate has 

 been taken as 30 acres arable (save Alwoltuna, 

 wnere 2 5 ac -> see Rt- Hund., vol. ii., p. 638), 

 though ancient evidences do not establish it to 

 have been entirely in tillage ; and it may be seen 

 that in 1086 there were 109^ teamlands, 104 

 teams, and 348 recorded folk, against 139 teams 

 and 434 pop. (recorded) in 1125-8, and at the 



* See tables, pp. 132, 133, and note that Estona has 12 fiscal 

 carucates in 1086, and 3 hides ad in Waram, 1 125 ; co. Leics. 

 being rated both by Hides and Carucates : see note, p. 39. 



