28- HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [vit. 



being the more valuable part of the hide, and the 

 rest of the hide being regarded merely as an 

 accessory to the plough-land or carucata. 



Domesday gives the number of hides at which each 

 property was assessed at the death of King Edward 

 the Confessor, and at the date of the survey. It 

 gives also the number of carucates or ploughlands, 

 and these often exceed in number the number of 

 hides. It would appear that the extent of land under 

 the plough at the date of the original valuation had 

 been subsequently increased; and the remark is 

 sometimes added that one or two more carucates 

 could be made. 



After the hide had been taken as the unit of taxa- 

 tion, it came to signify a property which was rated at 

 the value of an average hide ; and, accordingly, as Mr. 

 Eyton has shown, the assessment, in many instances, 

 was not based entirely on the extent of the land 

 assessed, but that advantages or disadvantages of 

 situation were also taken into account. A hide at 

 the date of the Domesday survey meant, therefore, 

 land assessed at the value of an average ploughland 

 with its appurtenances of pasture, &c. 



