A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



in Domesday has a bearing on the character of the river valleys and on 

 the position and extent of the manors at the time when the Survey was 

 made. 



The streams which made the meadows fat performed the same 

 function for the eels which appear to have been deemed an important 

 addition to the restricted diet of the time. The fisheries or weirs (gurgites) 

 entered in Domesday normally paid a rent in eels. One of the manors 

 at Hoddesdon received ' 100 eels from the weir' ; another ' 150 eels 

 from the fishery.' At Hailey there were similarly received ' 50 eels from 

 the weir,' and at Cheshunt ' 100 eels from the weir.' It would seem 

 therefore that eels were more highly esteemed than fish. The monks of 

 St. Alban's however, to whom fast days were a matter of importance, had 

 a fish-stew (vivarium piscium) as a needful supplement to their * park for 

 beasts of the chase.' There was one more function that the streams had 

 to perform : they turned the wheels of those mills of which the annual 

 value is so carefully recorded in Domesday. This value depended rather 

 on the amount of wheat that they were entitled to grind than on the 

 actual power of the mill. At Hertford itself the 3 mills were an 

 important factor in the king's revenue, to which they contributed no less 

 than 10 a year. At Ware, to the eastward down the river, there 

 were no fewer than 5 mills, of which 2 produced between them yearly 

 24J. and 375 eels, while the other 3 were only worth IQJ. together. 

 The part payment of the rent in eels was a common feature in some 

 counties and the above number is accounted for by the fact that eels were 

 always reckoned by ' stiches,' 25 going to the ' stich.' Even now eel- 

 traps are found commonly enough in connection with the mill-leat. 



The woodland in those days was of great importance, but its para- 

 mount value consisted in the mast on which the swine were fattened. 

 In some counties the woodland was measured by the number of swine 

 that it yielded to the lord in return for the ' pannage,' but in Hertford- 

 shire its extent was reckoned by the number for which it could afford 

 feed. Although this was somewhat of a rough estimate it obviously 

 affords some indication of the distribution of woodland at the time. 

 Knebworth, it was reckoned, had enough for feeding i ,000 swine, as had also 

 Bushey ; Hatfield enough for 2,000. On the other hand Lilley, though 

 a manor containing 9 ploughlands, had only woodland enough for 6 

 swine ; and Wymondley, with 24 ploughlands, had only enough for 10. 

 The parks of Cashiobury and Rickmansworth appear to represent the 

 woodlands in which the abbots of St. Alban's were able to feed 1,000 

 and 1,200 swine respectively. When for a great part of the year fresh 

 meat was not to be obtained, an important part in the supply of food was 

 played by the great herds of swine that then roamed through the forest 

 glades, and the accounts for provisioning castles in the pipe-rolls of the 

 next century reveal the position in the diet of the nation occupied by 

 ' pork and beans.' The woodland was of value also as supplying the 

 timber for building and repairs and underwood for fences and for firing. 

 In Hertfordshire however the fences alone are mentioned in this 



294 



