A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



and is not a measure of land at all, but means a prebend, implying that 

 the estates in question were prebends of St. Paul's. 27 



There are indications that the virgate represented a variable number 

 of actual acres on different manors, and even, as at Stepney, on different 

 holdings of the same manor. It is noted in the survey of Drayton of 

 1222 that the virgate there contained 16 acres, and at Teddington in the 

 reign of Edward III one or two virgate holdings are stated to contain 

 i6j acres, and half-virgate holdings 8i acres. At Harmondsworth, where 

 there was a great deal of sub-letting, a holding generally continued to 

 be called a virgate however much its actual contents had been reduced 

 by subdivision. 



The earliest custumal we possess for any Middlesex manor is one 

 of Harmondsworth of 1 1 Henry I (l 1 10-1 1), which is transcribed in a 

 valor of the reign of Richard II. It is the sworn verdict of twelve 

 jurors on the customs and services owed by the tenants to the abbot of 

 Saint Katherine's of Rouen, 28 the lord of the manor, and gives the 

 services in great detail. 



At the time of sowing, every villein tenant who owned a plough 

 had to plough and harrow 2 acres, one for corn and one for oats. The 

 lord supplied the seed, and his servant sowed it, but the tenant had to 

 fetch the seed from the grange and cart it to the field. Of whatever 

 kind the seed might be, the tenant's horse must not have a feed from 

 it, but if any remained over after the sowing it was to be taken back to 

 the grange by the servant. Those villeins who had no plough were 

 to thrash in the grange till vespers instead of ploughing. 



At the hay harvest all the villeins, except the cottars, must mow 

 for one day at their own cost, it being understood that they are bound 

 to complete the mowing of the meadow, and that the lord is bound to 

 find two mowers to help them. Custumers who do not come the first 

 day may do their mowing on the morrow or at the lord's pleasure 

 without fine. At vespers, after the day's mowing, each tenant receives 

 as much grass as he can lift on the heft of his scythe in the presence 

 of the lord or his ministers. But if the scythe break he loses the hay, 

 and is fined into the bargain. When all the mowing is finished the 

 tenants receive from the lord a ram or I 3^. in lieu thereof. 



All villein tenants, including the cottars, must attend or send one 

 man to lift, load, and stack the hay, bringing with them any tenants 

 they may have. For this work they are at their own expense. Every 

 tenant who possesses a cart or wagon must carry three loads of hay 

 to the grange, where those tenants who have no carts stack it, each 

 working for the time occupied on its three journeys by the cart with 

 which he came. Should the rain prevent the completion of this task, 

 the tenants must make good the hours that are lacking either on the 

 morrow or at the lord's pleasure. Any carrying works which may 

 not be needed at hay-time must be made up, load for load, at the corn- 

 harvest cartings. There were three precariae at Harmondsworth : a 



" Round, Feud. Engl. 103. * P.R.O. Rentals and Surv. ptfo. 1 1, No. 20, Ric. II. 



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