CELTIC SYSTEM IN ENGLAND 255 



et totam illam terram que vocatur le Bruches . . . inter 

 terrain . . . et terram.^ 



The noteworthy peculiarity here is the naming of the selions. In 

 the case of the four headlands the use of individual appellations 

 is, of course, not unusual. Specifications, however, do not stop 

 with them, since the entire Hst is similarly distinguished. One 

 can see why three adjacent seHons, perhaps a small furlong, should 

 be denominated Cleylondes, but it is different with the selion 

 called Brocstanlond and the half-selion called Cleyhalflond. 

 Since most seKons of the charter were named, the usage must have 

 prevailed throughout the common field of Newton. If so, this 

 cannot have been very great in extent. No midland township 

 designated separately each of its two or three thousand selions, 

 finding it task enough to name the furlongs. The nomenclature 

 at Newton thus points to an open arable field of restricted area, 

 one in which individual selions might assume importance. 



Still another characteristic of thirteenth-century Cheshire 

 charters is the brevity of their descriptions of open field. The 

 terriers cited above are exceptional in length, few others enumer- 

 ating as many as six selions.^ To be sure, the seHons were often 

 not accompanied by messuages, and hence may not have been 

 complete holdings. At times, however, the house is mentioned, 

 as when St. Werburgh acquired at Chester half a burgage tene- 

 ment to which were attached a selion and two butts,^ or when 

 at Coddington a messuage was accompanied by five " half -lands " 

 and a half-acre of meadow.'* Small grants to monasteries are, 



* Add. Char. 50040, temp. Edw. I. 



2 A typical grant to St. Werburgh is as follows (Harl. MS. 2062, f. 17): — 

 " vi seliones in Elton, scilicet, 



unam selionem et dimidiam in campo qui dicitur Brom 



unam selionem in campo qui dicitur Bothum 



unam selionem que . . . extenditur usque ad magnam viam 



et unam selionem que vocatur Naylont 



et unam selionem que vocatur crongeflont 



et dimidiam selionem que iacet versus metam de yuis." 



' " Dimidiam burgagiam extra portam acquilonarem Cestrie et unam selionem, 

 scilicet tertiam, a fossa iuxta viam que tendit versus flokeresbroc et ii bottas [biUtas 

 in the margin] iacentes inter terram suam et . . . " (ibid., f. 166). 



* " Mesuagium cum una dimidia Landa iacenti inter terram . . . et terram 

 . . ., et unam alteram dimidiam Landam iuxta Le Ladeway, et unam dimidiam 



