CELTIC SYSTEM IN ENGLAND 21 3 



grouping, nor could they well have maintained themselves as 

 four fields. Their names, too, were unusual. To Quarrell field 

 were assigned 72 acres, to West field 97, to Bank quarter 158, 

 and to Gawkland quarter 57.^ Here, as in the maps and ter- 

 riers of several other townships, the same phenomena appear. 

 Despite what superficially seems to be a simple three- or four- 

 field arrangement, the inequality in the apportionment of the 

 arable among the fields raises the question whether the subdivi- 

 sion has mote than topographical significance. 



There is, of course, a simple criterion in such cases, one to 

 which resort has often been had. It is the distribution of the 

 acres of a holding among the township fields. Only the inade- 

 quacy of the transcripts in the otherwise elaborate county his- 

 tory makes necessary inferences from other data. Yet a few 

 terriers of the desirable kind are discoverable. The best refers 

 to Rennington, a township in which, as has been noted, the 

 West field contained 248 acres, the North field 146, and the 

 South field 89. Since the terrier is a part of the survey which 

 states these areas, one would expect some correspondence be- 

 tween them and the apportionment of the acres of the holding in 

 question. Yet scarcely any appears, the terrier assigning to the 

 three fields 21, 2, and 10 acres respectively .^ West field and 

 South field thus receive more than their due, while North field is 

 markedly sHghted. The terrier of a holding at Elford, made in 



^ History of Northumberland, i. 234. 



2 Ibid., ii. 157. The specifications of " Trestram Philpson's farme " run as 



follows : — 



Acres Roods Perches 



House and garth i 2 38! 



South field arrable 10 o 27I 



Orchard " o i 8i 



West field " 21 o si 



North field " 8 3 "i 



Barlawe feUd " 2 o oj 



In the West feild meadowe 2 i 11 J 



In Twenty acres i 3 3°! 



In Cowde close 2 3 32 



In Gowlands Croke poole i 1 i6| 



In the Meadow Dayles i 3 20J 



In the Orchard Layninge o 2 16J 



Eight gaytes in the Oxe pastures 19 2 28 



Some of acres 74 3 8 J 



