DOMESDAY SURVEY 



paying i shilling, while Cockley Cley measuring i league by i league pays 

 IS. 2d. Even the measurements themselves are confusing, being expressed 

 sometimes in leagues and occasionally in miles,^ while the value of the league 

 is itself uncertain, Blomfield estimating it at 2 miles,*' while Professor Maitland 

 inclines to 1 2 furlongs,^ and i mile has been suggested. Neither can we 

 deduce any exact statements as to area from the measurements given. As 

 Professor Maitland has shown,* they indicate shape rather than superficial 

 measurement, and only afford the roughest guess at actual area. 



If we attempt to compare the actual geld paid with the number of 

 assessed carucates we are in no better case. In some cases, especially upon 

 the king's lands, the number of carucates is not given at all, and comparison 

 with other manors shows that the relation between the number of carucates 

 and the number of ploughs is a very uncertain one. We may, however, take 

 a few instances at random. The adjacent vills of Fring, Shernborne, and 

 Bircham are assessed equally for geld, all paying is. 3^. The lands held in 

 each are as follows : — 



3 5 414 31 



i$ih. Fring is half a league long and half a league wide. 



6 [8]"= 106 872 632 



244^. Shernborne is i league long and half a league wide. 



' e.g. Massingham, f. 109^. ' Hist. Norf. \, 2 ». 



' Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 432. ' Ibid. 370, 371. 



'Part of Fring was a 'berewick' in Smethden (f. 193^), but the carucage is not given, and cannot 

 safely be deduced from the plough-teams, and is, therefore, ignored here. 



* The figures in brackets give the areas T.R.E. The figures, however, looic as though there had really 

 been 20 freemen holding 5 plough-lands, of whom Ivo Talboys had 16 with 3 plough-lands and William de 

 Warenne 4 with the remaining 2 plough-lands. 



