THE LOWER THAMES BASIN 369 



" septem acras terre in Neweland 



et duas acras terre et dimidiam ad Horscroft 



et duas acras terre et dimidiam ad Kinerod 



et dimidiam acram ad Wudappeltre 



et medietatem curtilagii ... in eadem villa quod vocatur 

 Chapmanhag." ^ 

 The existence of compact virgates in this region need not im- 

 ply that there were no common fields. A Coulsdon rental of 

 II Henry VII specifies several crofts, "cum aliis terris in com- 

 munibus campis de Wentworth, Churchden, prestyslond." ^ 

 Other documents furnish a clue to the nature of these fields, and 

 any one who has seen the bald chalk downs of the neighborhood 

 can surmise what was their character. In a lease of 9 Henry VI 

 there is mention of " viginti acre terre pariter iacentes in campo 

 vocato Wenteworthe " ; ^ and in a Coulsdon charter of 18 Ed- 

 ward II 48I acres of arable are described as lying " in communi 

 campo in loco qui vocatur Toldene iuxta ferthyngdoune." * The 

 common fields were, it seems, nothing less than the slopes of the 

 downs, in which parcels were likely to be large; and the very fre- 

 quency with which the fields were named " dene " points to the 

 same conclusion. Fields of such a character in eastern Surrey 

 help to explain the tendency of virgates in that region to lie in a 

 few parcels, or even in a single parcel. The virgates did, indeed, 

 begin to take on somewhat the aspect of Kentish iuga, with which, 

 as we shall see, they were probably alhed. 



Hertfordshire 



What has to the modern student become the typical three-field 

 township of England, is, with no inconsiderable irony, located in 

 a county not characterized by the three-field system. Had See- 

 bohm gone ten miles to the south or to the east he would have 

 found no field arrangements like those of Hitchin. For it hap- 

 pens that the long northwestern boundary of the county falls 

 within the midland area and just beyond the hills that bound 



1 Ped. Fin., 225-5-25, 8 John. 



2 Exch. K. R., M. B. 25, f. 330. 



3 Ibid., f. 347. * Ibid., £. 336. 



