THE LOWER THAMES BASIN 37 1 



Another projection of Hertfordshire, comprising the townships 

 of Long Marston, Puttenham, Wilston, and Tring, runs into the 

 midland area between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The 

 open fields of all these townships except Puttenham were en- 

 closed by an award of 1799.^ According to the enclosure map, 

 Long Marston had three fields (Langdale, Mill, and Lolymead) ; 

 Wilston had three, somewhat subdivided, to be sure, but still 

 clearly discernible (Near East and Far East, Bennell, Lince Hill 

 with Blackmoor and Moor Hill); and Tring had seven, appar- 

 ently grouped as Dunsley and Parkhill, Hazely and Gamnill, 

 Hawkwell and Hitchin and Gold. 



Turning now from the three-field edge of Hertfordshire to the 

 body of the county, what field system do we find ? Evidently 

 one which is irregular in much the same way as that of Surrey. 

 In so far as the holdings of a township lay in open field, the 

 fields were many and there was no symmetry in the distribution 

 of parcels among them. Indeed, at a fairly early date certain 

 townships contained no open field whatever. In 28 Charles II 

 a survey was made of the manor of Hemel Hempstead with its 

 members, Flanden, Eastbrook, Boxhamstead and Bovingdon, a 

 large area in the Chiltern region of the west.^ All the parcels are 

 expressly stated to have been closes, and there is no trace of open 

 field. In an earlier survey of 1607 relating to Berkhamstead 

 and its neighbor Northchurch most of the parcels appear as 

 closes, though a half-dozen common fields are mentioned. Of 

 these the two most often named probably lay in Northchurch, 

 an indication that even at this early date Berkhamstead was al- 

 most, if not quite, enclosed.^ 



If we pass northeastward along the southern slope of the Hert- 

 fordshire hills, we come successively to Little Ayott, Kings 

 Walden, Weston, Clothall, and Ardeley. The appearance of 



viam que ducit de Sheneffeld versus Wylie et abuttat super boscum de Langenoke 

 . . . [are] ccxxi acre iii Rode et vi acre de novo adquisite. In Seysona de Gravele- 

 feld . . . ciiii^'' et v acre et Roda et x perticatas. In Seysona de Duxwellefeld . . . 

 ccbc acre preter iii perticatas " (Add. MS. 33575, ff. 57-58). 



1 K. B. Plea Re, 45 Geo. Ill, Mich. 



2 Land Rev., M. B. 216, ff. 39-70. 



3 Ibid., M. B. 36s, ff. 1-25. 



