368 ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



three in Hegecroft, while the others were situated at Stikelehelde, 

 Twiseledeweie, Westhehe, Cwernherst, and Netherathe.^ At 

 Polestede, in a transfer of two virgates, one was described as 

 " aliam virgatam . . . ciusdem PhilHppi, sciHcet, 



duas acras terre et dimidiam que iacent versus austrum sub- 



tus viam que est inter Polestede et losne 

 et duas acras in Westden et in Coster . . . una 

 V acras dimidiam in bromhell versus boreal' 

 unam acram et iii acras in Estden et in Melherse 

 tertiam partem unius acre et i acram prati et tertiam partem 

 prati subtus polested et capitale mesuagium . . ." ^ 

 Such curious and varied descriptions of the parcels of a virgate 

 indicate that in the thirteenth as well as in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury the open fields of Surrey between the downs and the Thames 

 were not divided into two or three or four large fields among 

 which the acres of a holding were equally distributed. The mid- 

 land system was not in vogue, and the reminiscent history of 

 the reporters to the Board of Agriculture is not sustained by 

 contemporary evidence. The fields were numerous, were curi- 

 ously named, sometimes being called furlongs, and the distri- 

 bution of the acres of a holding among them was irregular. 

 What the affiliations of this unsymmetrical system were can 

 best be discussed after a study of neighboring counties has been 

 made. 



Before we leave Surrey it should be noted that on the Kentish 

 border a virgate in the early documents does not resemble one 

 which lay in the plain to the north and west of the downs. In 

 the high rolling country between Croydon and Reigate a virgate 

 often seems to have been a more or less compact parcel of land, 

 with no scattering of the acres. At Banstead the 24 acres which 

 were granted from a virgate lay '' in Snithescroft." ^ At Sander- 

 stead the fourth part of a virgate was " unum campum terre . . . 

 et quinque acre in hadfeld quas Ricardus filius Swein essarta- 

 vit." ^ At Gatton the half of two virgates may perhaps have 

 been shghtly more disparate, comprising as it did 



^ Ped. Fin., 225-3-4, 5 John. ^ Ibid., 225-1-41, 10 Rich. I. 



' Ibid., 225-2-8, I John. ^ Ibid., 225-2-15, i John. 



