A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



also consumed as the food of man in those northern regions.' ^ As far as 

 concerns Durham in the twelfth century the generalization is contrary to 

 the evidence at our disposal in Boldon Book.^ Let us consider the produce 

 of two or three typical vills. At Boldon the only grain which the villeins 

 rendered their lord was oats, and the farmers of the demesne there rendered 

 wheat, barley and oats in equal quantities. This does not of course prove that 

 the villeins raised nothing but oats, but it does prove that the produce of oats 

 was greater than that of any other grain. The conditions are the same 

 at Sedgefield, Stockton, and a number of other vills. At Wolsingham the 

 villeins rendered no grain at all, but the demesne farmer was answerable for 

 1 6 chalders of wheat, i6 of barley, and 70 of oats. The inference from these 

 figures is obvious. Then, again, although barley is the grain commonly used 

 for malting, and although barley was grown and malted in the north, oats 

 were also used for that purpose in Durham, and the two terms ' brasium ' and 

 ' avermalt ' are contrasted in Boldon Book.' Thus the villeins of Heighington 

 rendered 10 chalders of malt and 63 chalders of avermalt, and those of 

 Killerby loj chalders of malt and 66 of avermalt. In 121 1, when the 

 temporalities were in the king's hands, the keeper accounted for 2065J 

 quarters of wheat and 5236 quarters and 3 bushels of oats, and in that same 

 year 1725 quarters of oats were exported to Ireland.* There can be little 

 doubt then that in Durham oats formed the staple product of the land, 

 although wheat, barley, and beans ^ were also grown. The occurrence of a 

 gardener as a village officer at Wolsingham and the obligation of transporting 

 fruit incumbent on the villeins of Darlington * indicates that the more 

 elaborate forms of cultivation were not unknown, but they must have been 

 rare, as these are isolated notices. 



The usual local production of beer and bread is attested by the renders of 

 malt and by the mills and bakehouses already noticed, as well as by the profits 

 of the toll of beer recorded at Norton and other places, and the tun of that 

 fluid which was provided for the refreshment of the villeins of Aucklandshire 

 when they were constructing the bishop's hunting-camp. A render of meal 

 (farina) was also not uncommon. There must also have been a pretty 

 considerable production of timber and firewood. The second appears from the 

 very common duty of the villeins to render ' wodlades,' tliat is to convey 

 loads of fuel from one place to another. Good examples of this may be seen 

 in the Boldon and Wolsingham entries. Then as late as the fifteenth century 

 the bishop's forests still produced fuel enough for the smelting of a good deal 

 of iron.' The use of timber for building appears frequently in Bishop Pudsey's 

 charters. Ralf Basset, to whom the bishop granted Pencher, was permitted 

 ' mercmeum in forcsta nostra ad molcmlinum illud faciendum ct rcficiendum 

 per visum forestariorum nostrorum, ibi capiendo ubi ad molendina nostra 



1 Thorold Rogers, Six Ceaturirs of Work and IVages (New York, 1884), p. 59. 

 On (he use of o.its in Kngl.inil, despite Professor Rogers ' conviclion tliat tlic populace lived pr.ictic.illy 

 on wheat,' sec Cunningh.mi, Im/icsliy ami Commerce, i. 304 n., 503. 



* One may be permitted some reasonable doubt ,is to the quality of the beer made from this malt. When 

 Robert de L'lslc was bishop he visited Norham, ' et dominus dc Scrcmcrston sibi scrvisiam misissct, 

 Epiicopus cum non csset .issuctus servisiam a m.igno tempore biberc, ob rcverentiam tamen niittcntis ct famam 

 ccrvisix gustavit ; ct non austincns statim a mensa surgcns, evomuit,' Graystanes, cap. xvi. in Scriftora Tret. 

 (Surtccj Soc), 57. 



♦ Pipe R. 13 John, in Boldon liook (Surtces Soc), App. p. xix. ' Ibid. 



• Thi» is not in the best text of Hojdon Book. 

 "I Lapilcy, in F.ufJ. I Hit. Rev., xiv. 509-529. 



30^. 



