330 ENGUSH FIELD SYSTEMS 



55 acres.* In a terrier of " PomtTrctt " lands drawn up in 30 

 Henry VIII the subdivision was 16, 25, and 6 acres. ^ In 2 

 Henry VII Sir Thomas Briggs's manor of Hillhall was so situated 

 that 132 acres lay in North field, 45 in Church field, and 390 

 in South field.' The same manor was smaller in 17 Edward IV, 

 and of its parcels 128 acres were in North field, with 68 in Stathe 

 field, 2)2) i^ Church field, and 105 in South field.* The nearest 

 approach to an equal division of acres in the fifteenth-century 

 Holkham terriers is the assignment of 19 acres of Galfridus Por- 

 ter's holding to South field and 17 to North field ;^ but in a con- 

 temporary conveyance of 39 Henry VI the 50 acres which John 

 Newgate transferred to his son Thomas lay almost entirely in the 

 northeastern part of the village arable area.^ The distribution 

 of the acres of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century holdings among 

 the fields of Holkham thus seems to have been chronically 

 irregular. 



For discovering what rotation of crops was favored in fifteenth- 

 century Norfolk a Holkham charter of 20 September, 16 

 Richard II, is of value.^ In an exchange of lands, John and 

 Isabell Lyng " invenerunt terras seisonatas ut inferius patet, 

 vidz. : 



i acra in crofta de terra frista semel arata non compostata, 

 iiii acre dimidia in campo australi semel arate de terra firista 



non compostate [fallow, probably to be sown with wheat 



the next year] 

 iiii acre dimidia in eodem campo que fuerunt cum ordeo anno 



elapso [seminate] semel arate non compostate [barley 



stubble, probably to lie fallow for a year] 

 iiii acre in eodem compostate anno elapso non arate [probably 



sown with wheat in the year past and to be sown with 



barley in the coming season]." 



Here not only were the 12 acres all in the same field, but they 

 were apparently under a three-course rotation and were manured 



1 Holkham Records, uncatalogued. ' Ibid. 



' Holkham Field-book, 75. * Ibid. 

 '- Holkham Records, uncatalogued. 



* Holkham Deeds, 2d series, 29. ' Ibid., 77. 



