196 ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



Although this has regard primarily to the assessment of rents, 

 the number of persons bearing the same family name who have 

 become responsible for the return from a particular ledum, 

 Gavelle, or Wele (the terms are used interchangeably) testifies to 

 the widespread transmission of land to co-heirs. The structure of 

 the villata ' of Wigfair in the commot of Ysdulas will make this 

 clear.- The villata in question consisted of eight lecla, the first of 

 which was divided into three smaller lecta or gavellae, while the 

 first of these in turn comprised three gavellae or weles, each 

 haN-ing several tenants. If we attend to only the first of the sub- 

 diNisions in each instance, the account runs as follows: — 



*' Villata de Wyckewere cum HameUis de Boydroghyn et Kyl- 

 mayl consistebat temporibus Principum ante Conquestum in octo 

 lectis unde vi lecta fuerunt in omnibus locis predictis. . . . 

 Et de hiis vi lectis 



[i] unum lectum fuit penitus in tenura liberorum quod 



vocatur Wele Lauwargh' ap Kendelyk. 

 [n] Secundum lectum consistit videlicet due partes in 

 tenura liberorum et tertia pars in tenura Nativorum 

 quod lectum vocatur Wele Morythe. 

 [ill] Tercium lectum consistit videlicet due partes in 

 tenura liberorum et tertia pars in tenura Nativo- 

 rum quod quidem lectum vocatur Wele Peidyth' 

 Mogh'. 

 [iv-vi] Cetera tria lecta de predictis vi lectis fuerunt in- 

 tegre in tenura Nativorum, unde primum lectum 

 vocatur Wele Breynt' secundum lectum vocatur 

 Wele Meyon et tercium vocatur Wele Bothloyn. 

 [vii-viii] Et duo ultima lecta . . . fuerunt tantumodo in 

 villa de Boydroghyn et consistunt penitus in tenura 

 Nativorum, unde primum lectum vocatur Wele 

 Anergh Guyrdyon et secundum lectum vocatur 

 Wele Thlowthon. . . . 



1 The villata of fourteenth-century Wales was a far larger unit than the Irish 

 villata or townland of the seventeenth century, referred to above (pp. 187-189). 



2 Survey of the Honour of Denbigh, 1334 (ed. P. Vinogradoff and F. Morgan, 

 London, 1914), pp. 210-212. 



