THE TWO- AND THREE-FIELD SYSTEM 21 



water from the latter was diverted to flow along the village street, 

 rejoining the main brook near the church. Beside both streams 

 were the short strips of meadow which were never ploughed and 

 were elsewhere often called dales. Between the homesteads and 

 the stream were the home closes (" homestalls," " garths," 

 " backsides.") 



Thus far the above description might well apply to many an 

 open-field township which was by no means cultivated in accord- 

 ance with the principles of the two- and three-field system. The 

 characteristic feature of the latter was the further grouping of the 

 furlongs into two, three, four, or six large fields. At Chalgrove 

 there were two groups of fields. The fields of the smaller group 

 to the south of the village are designated in the tithe schedule 

 Langdon, Middle Langdon, and Lower Langdon. With these 

 went certain furlongs toward the northwest, and within them lay 

 much freehold. Indeed, it is not certain that so late as 1841 they 

 were tilled in a strictly three-field manner. To the northeast 

 of the village lay those fields among which the copyholds, the 

 glebe, and certain freeholds were divided. They were without 

 doubt the old three fields of the township, and in 1841 were known 

 as Solinger field, Houndswell field, and Sand field. They ad- 

 joined one another and were similar in extent. At the western 

 end of Houndswell field lay two small " fields " named Bower 

 End and Upper End, both pretty clearly appendant to Hounds- 

 well field but probably deriving independent names from their 

 proximity to parts of the village called Bower End and Upper 

 End. 



How the customary holdings were related to the fields is shown 

 by the following description, transcribed from the schedule.^ 

 Since this copyhold of John Jones was similar to the glebe and to 

 several other copyholds, it may be taken as typical of early con- 

 ditions. Although the schedule does not use the term virgate or 

 yard-land, often applied in other documents to customary hold- 

 ings, the size of this copyhold is about that of the normal virgate, 

 and not improbably represented such a holding: — 



^ Tithe schedule, p. 12. 



