EARLY HISTORY OF TWO AND THREE FIELDS 6y 



seen, make this probable.^ With regard to the demesne arable 

 of another manor little doubt about the apportionment remains. 

 At Faintree, in 2 Edward I, the jurors say that " in uno campo 

 sunt xxxiiii acre terre arabilis et in alio campo xxx acre et in tertio 

 campo xxvi." ^ Thus in one way or another we get glimpses of 

 considerable tripartite division of the demesne in fourteenth- 

 century Shropshire.^ 



Always more relevant to the study of field systems than the 

 items about the demesne is information about tenants' holdings. 

 Fortunately there are four or five descriptions of early Shropshire 

 virgates or parts thereof. One is contained in an account of the 

 land at Poynton from which Shrewsbury abbey in 13 Henry IV 

 claimed tithes.^ Most of it was demesne, which lay in furlongs 

 or " bruches " pretty equally divided between Tunstall field, 

 Middle field, and Mulle field. But there is this further speci- 

 fication : — 



" Item de uno mesuagio et medietate unius virgate terre quam 

 Willielmus Bird tenet omnes decimas in le MuUefeild 



Item de medietate unius virgate terre quam idem Willielmus 

 tenet, viz. de Marlebrook furlonge . . . tertiam garbam 



Item de tota terra dicte medietatis virgate terre quam idem 

 Willielmus tenet iacenti in le Middlefeild omnes decimas . . . 



1 Cf. p. 46, above. 



2 C. Inq. p. Mort., Edw. I, F. 4 (14). 



3 It could not always be found in the sixteenth century, however. An extent 

 of the demesne of the home manor of the monastery of Wenlock, made when the 

 property was taken over by the crown, runs as follows (Land Rev., M. B. 184, 

 f. 61): — 



" [159 acres in eleven closes.] The nombre of acres lyeing in the comyn fyld 

 First the West Fyld callyd eadege fyld of arable gronde count' 105 acres valewyd 



at 4 d. the acre 

 Item the South fyld count' 95 acres valewyd at 4 d. the acre 

 Item a leysowe by the myle pole sown with wheat cont' 10 acres [at 6 d. the 



acre] 

 Item the further Standhyll lyeing in the comyn feld northward count' 16 acres 



[at I d.] 

 Item the shorte Wahnore dyked and quycksett about cont' 7 acres [at 10 d.] 

 Item the pole Dame dyked and quycksett about cont' xii acres [at 10 d.] 

 Item the cawscroft byndyng upon the myll cont' iii acres [at 12 d.]. " 

 * Add. MS. 3031 1, f. 241. 



