A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



pie to the king by the city of Gloucester is a custom of immemorial 

 antiquity, revived, after sixty years' lapse, in i8<)2. 1 The other product for 

 which Gloucestershire was famous was its wines, which, says William of 

 Malmesbury, ' carry no unpleasant tartnesse, as being little inferiour in sweet 

 verdure to the French wines.' ' Gloster,' sings Drayton, 



Herselfe did highly prize, 



When in her pride of strength she nourisht goodly vines, 

 And oft her cares represt with her delicious Wines. 3 



Nor is this reputation mythical, for Domesday mentions a plot of vines at 

 Stonehouse (where, by the way, there is still a farm called Vinegar Hill),* 

 and later on a vineyard is mentioned both at Bisley (1324)* and Prinknash. 

 Houses called 'the Vineyard' still exist in several places in the shire, 

 while a vague local tradition tells of vine-roots dug up on the hillside 

 beneath Birdlip.' 'There is not any county in England so thicke set 

 with Vineyards ' as Gloucestershire, said Malmesbury, who also described 

 ' the Highwayes and Common Lanes clad with Apple trees and Peare 

 trees ; the ground of itselfe is so inclined to beare fruits, and these 

 both in taste and beautie farre exceedinge others.' 6 This statement can 

 be readily believed by anyone who has seen the orchards of modern Glou- 

 cestershire, though contemporary accounts say little on the subject. Apples 

 were sold at 8</. per quarter at Tidenham in 1293 4' 7 but were apparently 

 only a garden fruit; the almoner of Winchcombe Abbey (1270) distributed 

 apples to the tenants, together with seed of leek and colewort. 8 Salt, another 

 article of prime necessity in days when no fresh meat could be got all 

 winter, was rather easily attained in Gloucestershire, owing to the proximity 

 of the Worcestershire salt mines. At Wyche (Droitwich) salt works were 

 owned by eight manors in the time of Domesday. 9 In the twelfth century 

 Winchcombe Abbey had salt springs there, 10 as had Gloucester Abbey in the 

 thirteenth century. At Hartpury several tenants owed the service of 

 carrying loads from Wyche once a year. 11 The Saltway from Droitwich 

 to Lechlade, where packs of salt were shipped to London, passed through 

 Gloucestershire, by Hinton-on-the-Green,Toddington, Hayles, and Chedworth. 

 At the latter place tolls on salt were a regular item in the lord's revenue." 



This discussion of the income and subsistence of the Gloucestershire 

 peasant has led us rather far afield. Taking it as a whole, the lot of the 

 labourer and small holder seems to have improved after the Black Death, 

 but there were no changes of a rapid or startling nature. There was not a 

 sudden rise of a system of bailiff-farming, or of leaseholding, as in some parts 

 of England. Gloucestershire landlords were in no hurry to abandon the old 

 leases for one life, even in the case of mills and quarries, which had always 

 lain outside the regular manorial economy. 13 The rent in such cases in the 

 middle of the fifteenth century at Hawkesbury varied from 13^ 4^. to i6s. 



1 Right Royal Fish. * Polfolbion, 1889 reprint, p. 231. 



I C. S. Taylor, op. cit. ' Atkyns, Hist. ofGhuc. znd ed. p. 146. 



6 Add. MS. 24,783, fol. 209. 6 Quoted in Gough, Glouc. 23. 



7 Mins. Accts. bdle. 859, No. 23. 8 Landboc, i, 219-25. 

 9 C. S. Taylor, op. cit. I0 Landboc, i, 27. 



II Glouc. Cart, iii, 68, 83. " C. S. Taylor, op. cit. 



18 e.g. Cheltenham Ct. R. portf. 174, No. 50, m. 4. John Roche takes a quarry, according to the 

 custom of the manor, for \s. rent and ten feet of ' Sharpe crestys' (roof-tiles), 1419-20. 



150 



