A HISTORY OF DORSET 



Hinton St. Mary, belonging to Shaftesbury Abbey, in the later I2th century. There the 

 cotsettle, with 5 acres each, are distinguished from the cotarii, who had only their 

 houses and gardens. ^^ The distinction between bordars and cotsets is, if anything, more 

 problematical. It has been suggested that they were alternative names for the same 

 group, bordar (from borde, meaning a wooden hut) being the French equivalent of the 

 Anglo-Saxon kotsetla or cotset, but since bordars and cotsets occur together on two 

 Dorset manors, this cannot be so.^^ Such information as there is about the holdings of 

 the bordars comes from Exon. Domesday. At Cerne (nos. 108 and Ixxxii) 7 bordars had 

 a virgate and 5 acres, at Waia (nos. 380 and cxii) 6 bordars had i hide, and at Nutford 

 (nos. 28 and xxxiii) there were 8 cotsets, two of whom held 8 acres, 5' while the third 

 was apparently landless. There are no entries crediting the cottars with any land. In 

 several cases the statement that the villani have so much land is followed by information 

 about bordars or cotsets only. At Wintrebiirne (nos. 103 and Ixxvii), for example, the 

 rillani are said to have a hide and a virgate, but there were in fact two bordars. ^° There 

 is one striking entry concerning bordars (no. 480) where two of them held a \ virgate 

 which they themselves had held freely T.R.E.: Duo bordarii tenent quartam partem 

 uniiis virgate terre. Valet xv denarios. Ipsi libere temierunt T.R.E. The locality is not given, 

 but it may have been part of Stourton Caundle which is the subject of the preceding 

 entry. These two bordars do not appear to have been holding of any lord other than the 

 king, and though their holding is very small it is not unique in this respect, since Al- 

 ward, a thegn, held J virgate (perhaps part of Wilksworth) rendering 30^/. (no. 446) as a 

 manor. There is nothing to suggest that the two bordars were not holding as freely in 

 1086 as in 1066. 



There is even less information about the rents and services of the bordars. Money 

 rents are recorded twice. At Langton Herring (nos. 23 and xxix) there were eight 

 bordars, one of whom paid 30^., and at Lewell (no. 492) two bordars paid 2od. There is 

 no reference to weekwork, ploughing, or any other services. The question of the 

 bordars' share in the men's ploughs has already been discussed. On manors where 

 there were no villain ploughs were held by bordars and sometimes cotsets, but never by 

 cottars. At Frampton (no. 121) 24 bordars and 7 cottars had 14 ploughs, but whether 

 the cottars shared the ploughs with the bordars or not cannot be determined.^' At 

 Wintrebiirne (no. 179) 7 cotsets had \ plough. At Shilvinghampton (no. 216) there was 

 land for i plough que ibi est cum i coscet, and at Moleham (no. 511) there was land for i 

 plough que ibi est cum i cotario. It is hardly likely in these cases that each held a full 

 team. Probably the ploughs belonged to the lord, and the bordars were merely in 

 charge of them in the absence of servi. There are indications that bordars were some- 

 times attached to the demesne ploughs. At Worth Matravers (nos. 332 and civ) there 

 was land for h plough que ibi est cum Hi bordariis, and the corresponding Exon. entry 

 shows that the plough belonged to the lord and not to the bordars ; ibi habet Rogerus 

 dimidiam carriicam et Hi bordarios. At Creech (nos. 412 and cxlv) there was land for \ 

 plough que ibi est cum iiii bordariis, and the Exon. entry shows that this \ plough was in 

 demesne. 



After the villani and bordars the largest group of peasants was that of the servi, of 

 whom there were 1,161 in Dorset in 1086. Large numbers oi servi vftre found in all the 



" B. M. Harl. MS. 6i, ff. 65V-66. estates of Shaftesbury Abbey in the 12th cent. 



" H. P. R. Finberg, Tavistock Abbey, 61-62; see nos. ''" Forsimilar examples, see nos. 279 and Ixxxix, 329 and 



37, 46. The Peterborough survey records cotsets in some ci, 376 and cviii, 401 and cxxxiv, 402 and cxxxv. 405 and 



places and bordars in others, but both are recorded at cxx.xviii, 410 and cxliii. 



Fiskerton (Lines.), where there is ; plenus cotsetus et in " For examples of bordars holding ploughs, see nos. 



bordarii: Chron. Petrohuraense, 164. 158, 169, 253, 272, 279 and Ixxxix, 303, 338, 346, 376 and 



" Four acres was the normal holding for a cotset on the cviii, 401 and cxxxiv. 



ig 



