GRAPE-VINE. 185 



yielded twenty modii of wine. Vineyards are noticed 

 in the Domesday book, as also by Bede, as early as the 

 commencement of the eighth century. 



That vineyards were common in this country, we have 

 such numerous records in the early period of our history, 

 as to place it beyond a doubt. Tacitus states that vine- 

 yards were planted by the Romans in Britain ; and it is- 

 natural to suppose that the propagation of the vine would 

 be first attempted in the southern parts of our island, 

 both on account of the warmth, and its vicinity to Gaul. 

 The neighbourhood of Winchester was so famous for 

 vines, that it is supposed to have taken its name from that 

 circumstance. Canterbury was celebrated for its vines. 

 Somner tells us, that, in the year 1258, both the abbey 

 and the priory of that city were plentifully furnished with 

 vineyards. At Rochester, a large plot of ground con- 

 tiguous to the city is still called the Vine; and at Hailing 

 near Rochester, the bishop of that see had formerly a 

 vineyard ; for when Edward the Second was at Bockin- 

 feld, in 1316, bishop Hamson sent him thither, as Lam- 

 bert tells us, " a present of his drinkes, and withal both 

 wine and grapes of his own grouth in his vineyarde at 

 Hailing." Captain Nicholas Toke, of Godington, in 

 Great Chart, in Kent, " hath so industriously and ele- 

 gantly," says Philipot, " cultivated and improved our 

 English vines, that the wine pressed and extracted out of 

 their grapes, seems not only to parallel, but almost to out- 

 rival that of France/' Of Sussex, Lambarde writes, 

 " History doth mention that there was about that time 

 (the Norman invasion) great store of vines at Santluc 

 (near to Battle)/' 



The plot of ground called East Smithfield, was at one 

 time converted into a vineyard, and held by four suc- 

 cessive constables of the Tower in the reigns of Rufus, 

 Henry, and Stephen, to their great emolument and profit. 



