on the JtUnor of Jforfcington, 



By H. J, MOULE, M.A. 



these days, when Parish and Manor histories are in 

 fashion, and deservedly so, the Manor of Fording- 

 ton and its ancient and now obsolete system of 

 tenure should not be overlooked. The notice in 

 Hutchins' History of Dorset* is very short. It 

 is as follows : " This luxuriant and extensive 

 Manor contains upwards of 4,000 acres of arable, 

 meadow, and pasture, and is divided into 65 tenements or livings, 

 denominated in the court-rolls places and half places, which are 

 held under the Lord of the Manor by grants for lives. Of the 

 above 4,000 acres about 1,300 are annually sown with corn, 

 and on the remainder are fed 4,912 head of cattle." Hutchins 

 further records that at the beginning of this century a pro- 

 posal to enclose the Manor was made by the officials thereof. 

 But at a meeting of tenants at the King's Arms, Dorchester, in 

 February, 1801, this proposal was negatived. Here ends my 

 borrowing from Hutchins. For a mass of the details which follow 

 I am indebted to my friends, Mr. Hayne, Mr. Legg, and Mr. Hunt. 

 In 1842 it was decided that the system should be changed. The 

 Council of the Duchy of Cornwall, of which Duchy, an appanage 

 of the Prince of Wales, the Manor is a part, resolved to refuse all 



* Third Edition, vol. ii., p. 287. 



