THE TWO- AND THREE-FIELD SYSTEM 23 



It will be noticed that the parcels were distributed with con- 

 siderable equality among the three fields. Solinger field received 

 7 J acres in 15 parcels, Sand field 9 acres in 13 parcels, Hounds- 

 well field (with Bower End and Upper End fields) 5! acres in 

 13 parcels. Were the terrier of an earlier date, the irregularity 

 in apportionment would, as will appear elsewhere, probably have 

 been less. The areas assigned to the parcels show approxima- 

 tions to acre, half-acre, and quarter-acre strips; and the locations 

 (numbers on the map correspond with numbers in the schedule) 

 illustrate the scattering of the strips throughout the fields and 

 furlongs. Late though the Chalgrove map and terrier be, they 

 enable us to form a correct and vivid idea of the fundamental 

 characteristics of the three-field system and prepare us to inter- 

 pret earlier evidence not made graphic by contemporary maps. 



As pointed out in the Introduction, the most comprehensive 

 and satisfactory descriptions of EngHsh townships are the surveys 

 of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. At their best 

 these note nearly everything that one could wish to know about 

 the manors or townships to which they refer. The metes and 

 bounds, the area of the demesne with its location and the terms 

 upon which it was leased, the number of the freeholders and copy- 

 holders, the holdings of each, the rents, fines, and heriots paid, the 

 parcels of land enclosed and in open field, the nature of these, 

 whether arable, meadow, or pasture, the names of the common 

 fields and meadows, — - all this, in the most extended of the sur- 

 veys, a sworn jury of the villagers was called upon to report. The 

 monasteries seem to have originated the custom of making such 

 surveys, for some of the earhest are found in their cartularies of 

 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; but the administrators of 

 crown property proved apt pupils, and the most elaborate reports 

 are those relative to crown estates or to manors temporarily in 

 royal hands. During the sixteenth century the latter, of course, 

 included many monastic properties. 



So long are the best surveys that it is impracticable to make 

 extended transcripts from them. The information touching field 

 systems is, furthermore, so interwoven with other detail that it 

 is not readily comprehensible unless rearranged and adapted. 



