CELTIC SYSTEM IN ENGLAND 21/ 



only remains to inquire whether earlier evidence hints at the 

 strict observance of more inflexible rules and divisions. 



Numerous terriers of Northumberland holdings earlier than 

 the sixteenth century are to be found in the feet of fines and 

 in the monastic cartularies, especially in the record of a survey 

 of the lands of Hexham abbey. All these documents agree in 

 showing the prevalence of intermixed strips/ which were often 

 no more than one-fourth of an acre in size. They agree further 

 in seldom referring to fields, and are almost unanimous in never 

 dividing the strips of a holding between two, three, or four fields. 

 The parcels in question are assigned to divisions which in a midland 

 area would have been called furlongs, shots, or quarentines, but 

 in Northumberland were usually designated rigs, dales, flats, laws, 

 and occasionally even fields. A terrier of 1479, which describes a 

 husbandland containing 27 acres of arable attached to a tenement 

 at Chollerton, illustrates most of these pecuHarities.^ It is 



^ At " Mulefen " the 12 acres which accompanied a messuage lay in 11 parcels; 

 at " Copum " two tofts were transferred along with 15 acres in 8 parcels; at 

 " Berewik et Bitewurth " 10 acres were divided into 6 parcels (Ped. Fin., 180-3-22, 

 II Hen. Ill; 180-4-61, 19 Hen. HI; 180-5-107, 30 Hen. HI). Two deeds trans- 

 ferring 7 and 12 acres at " Thrasterston " enimierate 7 and 16 parcels respectively 

 {Charhilary of Brinkhurn Priory, Surtees Soc, 1893, pp. 43, 45). At Thockrington, 

 about 1280, 20 acres of arable lay in 33 small parcels {History of Northumber- 

 land, iv. 401). 



2 James Raine, The Priory of Hexham (Surtees Soc, 2 vols., 1864-65), ii. 30. 

 The description runs as follows: — 



" Et idem [Hugo Colstane] tenet xxvii acras terrae arabilis pertinentes tenemento praedicto, 

 quarum ii acrae et dimidia acra ex parte austraU rivulae de Eriane . . . 

 Et super le Kilnflate ex parte occidentali dimidia acra 



" " Horslawspule dimidia acra Schothalghbankys 



" " Nithre dimidia acra 



" " Overschotlaubankes dimidia acra 



" " le Blaklaw ex parte orientali ejusdem dimidia acra 

 Et ex parte occidentali ejusdem i acra 



" * " orientali le Lons . . . ane i roda 



" " " orientali Bronslauemedoue i roda 

 Et super Bronslawflate ex parte occidentali dimidia acra 

 Et ex parte boriali Bronslawmedoue buttando super eodem iii rodae 

 Et super le Canonflatte . . . i acra et dimidia 



" " " lez buttes iuxta le dyk . . . dimidia acra 



" " "lez hevedlandes de Brouneslawflatte . . . i roda 

 Et ad capud del Maynflatt . . . dimidia acra 

 Et ex parte australi le Crosse . . . i roda 

 Et super Holmersbank . . . dimidia acra 

 Et in Harlawhop buttando super le Messeway dimidia acra 

 Et ex parte occidentali iuxta le Harlaw dimidia acra 



