26 RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 164l, 



the owner giveth him as many hal-pennies as there are odde 

 lambes ; if there bee above five the procter falletli one, and is 

 to returne backe to the owner as many halpennies as there 

 wants lambes of tenne. If there bee just five, the usuall way 

 with wooll is for the owner and procter to plueke a fleece be- 

 twixt them ; but for lambes, the owner is to sette [the] price 

 of the lambe, and the procter to choose wheather hee will have 

 the lambe and give backe halfe the value, or hee himself will 

 take lialfe the value, and leave the lambe. 



Such sheepe as are bought in after Candleme&se, the seller is 

 to pay tithe for the woll, and not the buyer; whearefore as 

 many sheepe as yow buy in after that time, yow are (att cHp- 

 pinge time) to lay by soe many fleeces by themselfes, and not 

 to suff"er them to bee teended. Wee oftentimes buy our tyth- 

 wooll and lambes of the procter, because wee woulde have noe 

 trouble with teendinge of om- lambes ; as for the wooll, it may 

 be teended and wayed that wee may knowe what is of it. The 

 procter fell (this yeare") two stone and an halfe for his share, 

 for which wee gave him just 20s., viz. : 8s. a stone ; 6 fleeces 

 beinge aboute a stone. The lambes in our field weare (this 

 yeare) very goode, of which theare fell seaven to the procter's 

 share, for which wee gave him 3s. a peece, though sometimes 

 wee can buy them for halfe crownes and 8 groates a peece, 

 and sometimes cheaper ; and sometimes againe they are att 

 3s. 4(Z. and 3s. Qd. a peece. Our wooll was (this yeare) jtiled 

 up all in tennes, viz. : just tenne fleeces in a rowe ; and our 

 procter tooke his tyth as it fell, viz. : he begaime att the hither 

 ende, and tooke the farthest fleece towards the faiTe ende, and 

 then beganne againe and counted backewards, and soe fell the 

 outermost fleece att the hither ende for him. The use (aboute 

 Buni'^) for tythinge of wooll is to throwe downe the fii-st fower 

 fleeces in each rowe, and of them the owner is to choose two, 

 and then the jwocter is to choose one out of the other two that 

 are left ; and then doe they throwe of for the owner the other 

 sixe fleeces that remaine of the tenne. 



Wee usually sell our wooll att hoame, unlesse it bee by chance 

 tliat wee carry some to Beverley on Midsummer day : those 

 that buy it carry it into the West, towards Leeds, HaUifax," 



* See the Account Book in the Appcndi.x, for more information on this point. 



•• The hamlets ending thns arc four in number ; true to the etymologj", cneh of 

 them marks a s<parate stream, or brook. 



• " At Liinilimar lived old liichard Jtrst who bought and built it. It nncicntlv bo- 

 lonped to one Sultonufcll who had 7 daughters, and divided the niony amongst them. 

 This Rich. Hist hud been n rarri/rr, had got a great estate with that and selling wool 

 at Halifax, wliieli he brought upon liis own horees. I have heard him oft say he 



