20 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



Glastonbury. The grapes were gathered in October, and that 

 month was called " Winter filling moneth," or " Wyn moneth,"" 

 another proof of the extent to which vines were cultivated^ 

 The pruning of the vine took place in February. The picture 

 of vine pruners taken from an Anglo-Saxon MS. in the British 

 Museum, illustrates that month in the calendar. 



Necham devotes a chapter of his De Naturis Reriun, to the 

 vine, but he chiefly moralizes, and does not treat his subject in 

 its practical sense. He tells us that in gathering grapes, having 

 reached the final row, the workers in the vineyard break into a 

 song of rejoicing, but, unfortunateh', he does not satisfy our 

 curiosity by handing down the words of their chant. 



In Domesday Book, the " vinitor," or vine-dresser, is onl\' 

 once mentioned, but some idea of the size of the vineyards 

 may be gathered from the survey, as about thirty-eight in mau}^ 

 different counties are described."^ They are usually measured 

 by " arpendi," the arpends being equal to about an acre, or 

 less. The largest was at Bitesham, in Berkshire, on the land 

 of Henry de Ferrieres, and covered twelve arpends. Some 

 vineyards were old, others but newly-planted, as at Westminster 

 four arpends are described as " vinea novella," and at Ware 

 another vineyard as "nuprime plantatas." Some of the vine- 

 yards bore grapes, while others did not, and these are distinguished 

 as 'Winse portantes," or " vinae nonportantes." The quantity of 

 wine yielded by a vineyard of six arpends in Essex was as 

 much as twenty " modii," or about forty gallons, if the season 

 was favourable. 



If England could boast of so many vineyards before the 

 Norman Conquest, it was only natural that the influx of 

 foreigners from a grape-growing country should infuse fresh 

 ardour into vine-culture, and monasteries, with Abbots or Priors 

 from the Continent, lost no time in improving the old and making 

 new vineyards on their lands. The name "vineyard " was often 

 retained long after the monks who planted it had passed awa}'. 



* In Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Gloucester, Berkshire, Hertford,. 

 Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sec. 



A General Introduction to Domesday Booh, b\- Sir Henry Ellis, 1833. 



