THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 177 



of some kind, probably a bank, round the whole farm. 

 Careful inspection with a glass shows which of the 

 roads — every track of any kind is mapped as if it 

 were a main road — were fenced and which abutted 

 on open ground. It is clear that these were islands^ 

 so to speak, of enclosure, sometimes of one farm, 

 sometimes of more ; but, except as regards the 

 small " ingrounds," individual farms do not appear to 

 have been cut up into fields, except perhaps by the 

 process of "ankle learing " round growing crops. 

 The rest of the country was open. 



When the great rise in the price of corn occurred 

 after 1795, considerable stretches of land, even on 

 the commons, were cultivated for a year or two. 

 The upper part of Bradley Ham and a good piece of 

 Winsford Hill by Comer's Gate carried crops of 

 wheat, as did other parts of Withypool Common and 

 South Hill near the cottage. 



With perhaps one or two exceptions, these patches 

 of cultivation have no connection with the old banks 

 which abound in the heather ; in fact, with the 

 possible exception of some banks by Landacre, 

 ^ which are probably the encroachments reported on 

 in the fourteenth century by the forest officers, none 

 of the banks seem to bear any relation to any of 

 even the oldest known farms. 



There is hardly any trace anywhere in the hill 

 country of the common-field system, though the 

 balks, or lynches, or ledges, characteristic of it can 

 be traced above Lynch Farm at Bossington. 



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