A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



the support of the impounded cattle until they were released. On the other 

 hand, the pinder was required to render the bishop a considerable number of 

 hens and eggs, a due which does not seem to have had any relation to the size 

 of his holding. Thus the pinder of Norton, who held 4 acres, rendered 

 80 hens and 500 eggs, while the pinder of Aucklandshire, who served 4 vills 

 and held 20 acres, made precisely the same render. The only other village 

 officers mentioned in Boldon Book are a bee-keeper at Wolsingham, who has 

 6 acres for his services, and a gardener at the same place, who has 5 acres on 

 the same terms. 



Turning from the land of the peasants to that of the lord, we find, as we 

 should expect, that our information becomes more abundant and more detailed. 

 The term ' demesne ' included not only the lord's arable, but the meadows and 

 pastures as well as the stock, instruments, and such banalites as mills and 

 bakehouses. 1 At Little Haughton, for example, Adam de Selby farmed the 

 demesne from the bishop. There is the stock of two ploughs and two harrows, 

 with certain acres which are sown, a grange, and an enclosed court or farm- 

 yard. The pasture with the sheep remain in the bishop's hand, but Adam 

 may have one hundred sheep there as long as he holds the farm. At Ketton 

 the demesne was furnished with a grange, a byre, and other buildings standing 

 in a court which was enclosed by a hedge and ditch an early form of moated 

 grange. At Gateshead mills, fisheries, and a bakehouse were attached to the 

 demesne ; at Stockton there was a ferry. 



Although the home-farm was cultivated by the servile tenants, the lord 

 had his own ploughs, in terms of which the measure of the land was expressed 

 it was a demesne of so and so many ploughs. The land was either in the 

 bishop's hand, when we may suppose that it was cultivated under the super- 

 vision of his own officers, or else it was put to farm, in which case the 

 ' firmarius ' would have the whole responsibility, getting what he could out of 

 the land and turning over to the bishop a stipulated quantity of money and 

 produce. Sometimes, as at Ryton, the village community acted in this 

 capacity and took over the land and stock, agreeing to make a fixed annual 

 return. The bishop made over to them the mill, the stock of one plough 

 and one harrow, and 20 chalders of oats and the fishery, and they were to 

 render 147. in return. At Great Haughton, Benedict of Haughton held 

 the demesne at farm by charter ; certain acres were sown for him, 

 and he rendered 20 marks. At Heighington, ' the demesne is at farm with 

 the stock of three ploughs and a half and three harrows and a half, and it 

 renders for two ploughs 16 chalders of wheat, 16 chalders of oats, and 

 8 chalders of barley, and for one plough and a half 5/.' Sometimes the 

 whole vill, including the demesne, was put to farm, as at Winlaton, Barlow, 

 and Wivestone. 



In many cases, as we have seen, several vills were connected with a single 

 demesne, and this occasionally causes some perplexity. Thus at first sight it 

 would seem as though Merrington, Hutton, and Butterwick were without 

 demesne. But a more attentive reading discloses the fact that these vills are 

 connected with Newbottle, Shotton, and Sedgefield respectively ; in the first 

 case by the existence of a pinder common to the two vills, and in the second 

 and third by the obligation to plough at Shotton and Sedgefield. 



1 See on this subject, Ashley, op. cit., i. ch. i ; Vinogradoff, op. tit., 3 1 3-3 1 5. 



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