A HISTORY OF DORSET 



to bubulci, who, as the context shows, were ploughmen. At Handley bubiilci qui tenent 

 carucam habent singuU vi acras quietus pro suo servicio. At Tisbury (Wilts.) there were 1 1 

 bubulci, to whom datur cibus in natale Domini et in die Pasche et quando educant carros. 

 Each of the men held 4 acres and tefiet carucam et de ipsa arat suam terram. At Chesel- 

 bourne the bubulci had 5 acres each (quit of all dues except geld), a piece of land, and a 

 beast quit of herbage ^ro utensilibus caruce quorum parteiii emunt de suo et partem accipiunt 

 in nostram sikamJ^ At Compton Abbas and Melbury Abbas the cotsets appear to have 

 taken part in ploughing the demesne. On both manors the cotsets ad carucas educendas 

 habent dimidiam ambram et dimidiam multonemJ^ 



After describing the peasants Domesday gives an account of the non-arable 

 appurtenances of the manor, such as meadow, pasture, and wood. Meadow (pratum) 

 was an important adjunct, since, in the absence of root crops, hay was the staple diet of 

 farm animals in wintertime^? Out of 515 manors recorded in the Dorset survey 418 

 had associated meadow, although only 63 manors had more than 25 acres. Occasionally 

 the meadow lav at some distance from the manor to which it was attached. The Bishop 

 of Salisbury had 130 acres of meadow attached to the manor of Sherborne (no. 37), 

 3 acres of which were in Somerset tuxta Meleburne. At Bingham's Melcombe (no. 30) 12 

 acres of meadow had been leased to Wlgar Wit T.R.E. and were held by William Belet 

 in 1086, while at Rushton (nos. 407 and cxl) the wife of Hugh fitz Grip had subinfeu- 

 dated the entire manor to two knights, retaining in demesne only 16 acres of meadow. 

 Meadow was naturally located on or near rivers and streams, the largest concentrations 

 lying along the valley of the Stour. Pasture {pastura, pascua), though less common than 

 meadow, occurs in connexion with 366 manors and was spread over a larger area. One 

 entr\' records an encroachment of arable land on pasture. At Swyre (no. 263) there was a 

 piece of land which prius erat pascualis modo seminabilis. This land had been leased 

 T.R.E. to Toxus the priest by a king's reeve, just as the meadow at Melcombe had 

 been leased to Wlgar Wit. At Spetisbun,- (nos. 274 and Ixxxiv) there was a piece of 

 pasture 2\ furlongs long by 2 furlongs wide, and in alio loco super aquanf^ another piece 

 2\ furlongs long by i-i furlong wide. A similar entr}', concerning Tarrant Rawston(nos. 

 404 and cxxxvii), records a piece of pasture 3 furlongs by 2 furlongs and in alio loco 

 another piece, measuring 8 furlongs. At Mapperton (no. 137) there were inter pasturam 

 et silvam xi quarentine lojigitiidine et tantundem latitudine. This may mean a piece of 

 grassland with scattered clumps of trees, or it may refer to the use of woodland for 

 grazing. Woods [sika, ne?nus) were used to pasture pigs^'' as well as to provide fuel and 

 timber for building houses and barns. ''^ At Stoke Wake in the 12th century Wulfric the 

 priest had 10 pigs free of pannage in the Abbess of Shaftesbury's wood.'^' Wood which 

 did not provide acorns and beechmast on which pigs could feed was called silra in- 

 fructuosa, like the wood at Renscombe (nos. 91 and liv). According to Exon. Domesday, 

 the wood at Nettlecombe (nos. 88 and li) nullum fructum fert, although the Exchequer 

 text does not say that it was infructuosa. Silra minuta and silva modica are both recorded 

 occasionally in the Dorset survey. What precisely these terms implied is now difficult 



•' B.M. Harl. MS. 6i, ff. 45V, 55; cf. Iweme Minster, MS. 61, f. 46V. 



Orchard, and Stoke Wake; ibid. ff. 47, 52, 52V. " In some counties the Domesday suney gives the 



'•• Ibid. fF. 48V, 49V-50. extent of woodland in terms of the number of pigs it could 



" In the second survey of Shaftesbury .-Abbey's lands suppon: H. C. Darby, 'Domesday Woodland', Ec. H. R. 



carting hay was a common obligation of virgaters and half- N.s. iii. 23 ; cf. Laws of Ine, 44, 'a tree that can shelter 30 



virgaters. At Iweme Alinster the virgaters carried J cart- swine' : Latcs of the Earliest Eiig. Kings, ed. and translated 



load of hay from Combe, and at Fontmell Magna they had F. L. .^ttenborough, 51. 



to find 20 mowers for the meadow iiixta Saticliim Ad- "* Thatched with stubble (stipula). In the early 12th 



wardiim: B.M. Harl. MS. 61, ff. 65, 67. cent, the peasants of Cheselboume reaped the stubble ad 



'"' This reference to pasture on or near water is similar domos cooperindos (sic): B.M. Harl. MS. 61, f. 44V. 



to an entry in the earlier Shaftesbury survey which '° Ibid. f. 52. 

 mentions pascua de mareis at Iweme Minster: B.M. Harl. 



20 



