86 ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



the Woodstock group. These four Oxfordshire townships thus 

 seem to confirm the conjecture that location in an old forest area 

 may be a reason for the appearance of irregular field arrangements 

 within the midland territory. Among the fields it is natural 

 that one. an Old field or a Home field, should have been larger 

 and more important than the others. 



Another forest region, somewhat nearer the outskirts of the 

 two- and three-field area, was Arden in northwestern Warwick- 

 shire. From it we have several Tudor and Jacobean surveys, 

 among the best, since its copyholds are numerous and are estima- 

 ted in virgates, being that of Hampton-in-Arden. Here, in addi- 

 tion to three inconsequent areas that furnish an occasional acre, 

 four fields frequently recur, or even five, if In field, which is nearly 

 always joined with Mill field, be counted. The township thus 

 bore a superficial resemblance to those of four fields, such as could 

 at this time be found on the lower Avon.^ Yet the virgate hold- 

 ings do not well stand the test of quadripartite division. Often 

 they had acres in the four fields, and occasionally a not very un- 

 equal number (3, 3, 4, 2^; 4, 4, 4, 3; 6, 6, 8, 5^); but more often 

 one of the fields was sHghted (6, 3, 4, 2; 4, 4, 5, 2; 4, 3, 3, o), and 

 in some cases two fields were altogether omitted (o, o, 3^, 5^; 

 o, o, 4, 7). Since all the irregularly divided holdings were vir- 

 gates or fractional virgates, and since there were no enclosures 

 recently taken from the fields to account for the irregularities, it 

 is difficult to look upon Hampton as a strictly four-field township. 



Near Hampton was the manor of Knoll, comprising various 

 hamlets. At Knoll itself the copyholds consisted very largely 

 of enclosed meadow and pasture. So they did also in the ham- 

 lets of Langdon and Widney, the fields of which are not separated 

 in the survey. The freeholds of these hamlets, however, usually 

 contained, along with preponderant enclosures, a few acres of 

 open arable field. For the most part such acres were in Berye 

 field and Seed furlong, but occasionally in Whatcroft and Hen 

 field. The field parcels were often large (4, 5, 11 acres), and no 

 principle of distribution among the curiously-named fields is 

 perceptible. 



' Cf. below, p. 88. 



