THE EAST ANGLIAN SYSTEM 329 



yearly from the feaste of St. Mychael the archeAngell or the 

 ende of harveste until the annunciation of our Ladye or untill 

 suche tyme before the sayde feaste ... as the said feilds and 

 grounds be sowen agayne." 



From this it is clear that all the village cattle ranged over the 

 entire common waste throughout the year and over the unsown 

 fields from October to February. From February to October 

 they had no access to the fallow arable, which was reserved for 

 the various flocks of sheep. Each flock of sheep, furthermore, 

 never passed beyond the bounds of its fold-course; within this 

 course it was presumably folded from day to day over the fallow 

 acres. Since in all probability wattles were used, no inconven- 

 ience arose if sown and fallow acres lay side by side. Hence 

 came the flexible, particularist, more modern system that was 

 employed in the days of George Elmdon. It was an arrange- 

 ment far better for the soil than was that of the midlands, since 

 by it each parcel of arable was assured of fertilization during the 

 fallow season. Some of the thriftless convenience of the mid- 

 land system may have been sacrificed, but superior agricultural 

 method and profitable sheep-raising were compensations. 



Touching the subjects discussed above — the distribution of 

 the parcels of a holding throughout the arable area of the town- 

 ship and the rotation of crops practiced upon them — we should 

 like testimony from an earlier time than the end of the sixteenth 

 century, and we happily find it in various items that carry back 

 a little the regime of insignificant fields and three-course hus- 

 bandry. Most numerous are data relating to Holkham. This 

 township, it will be remembered, revealed on the map of 1591 

 a large South field and two smaller fields to the north next the 

 sea, called Church or West field and Stathe or North field. That 

 the distribution of a tenant's acres among these three fields had 

 for a long time been unequal, becomes apparent from an examina- 

 tion of several earlier terriers. In 26 Elizabeth the manor of 

 " Nealds " allotted its arable to the three in the proportion of 

 233, 66, and 87 acres respectively,^ while in 3 Edward VI the 

 apportionment of the lands of Edward Newgate was 13, 7, and 



1 Holkham Records, uncatalogued. 



