RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1G41. 4-7 



and thus doinge yow shall neaver bee in dainger of loosing a 

 good opportunity, or seekinge the implements when you shoulde 

 use them. Wee neaver sowe winter corne but on our clayes ; 

 and therefore, whearesoever ovu- winter come groweth, our 

 waines leade constantly sixe and seaven loades a peece every 

 day, for they usually gette each of them a loade ledde afore 

 breakfast time. Wee use neaver to lay on above three course 

 of winter come on a waine ; and therefore those that have 

 good draughts will endeavour to lay her oiit both in length and 

 breadth ; for it is an usuall thinge with those that have good 

 furniture and strong cattle, to lay on att a loade, 14 stookes of 

 cleane v/heate ; 15 stookes of massledine, and 16 stookes of 

 cleane rye ; but as for those whose draughts are weake, and 

 wheare force is wantinge, there they neaver use to carry above 

 12 stookes of shorne corne ; as for winter corne that is mowne, 

 it is much heavyer ; but it is not an usuall thinge to mowe 

 winter corne, unlesse it bee when it is very thinne or else very 

 shorte. The greate roomesteade in the northende of the rye- 

 barne* helde all our winter corne this yeare, which was in all 

 45 loades of shorne corne, viz. ; 22 of massledine, and 23 of 

 cleane wheate ; which 45 loades filled it up to the very toppe, 

 and weare as much as could possibly be layed in that room- 

 steade. Those that goe with the waines are to bee forewarned 

 that they neaver come mityed, for feare of shootinge or scatter- 

 inge ; secondly, that they loose theire bande or cart-rope att 

 the barne-doore, afore they goe in ; thirdly, that they take out 

 theire forkes and rakes out of the waines arse, least they bee 

 broken with tm-ninge and twininge in the barne ; fourthly, 

 that they give to theire cattle of the rakins of loose come, and 



" The haver-bam, mentioned in the " Short Remembrances" next following, held 

 altogether eighty-four loads. Was this rye-barn the large "Tithe-bam" of the 

 interior of which a representation is given elsewhere ? It is supported entirely upon 

 its framework of timber, the brick walls (formerly of wattles and mud) having been 

 added only to keep out the wet, and not as a support. Common as these bams were 

 once, they are now extremely scarce. The width of that at Elmswell is 11 yards, 

 the length, north and south, 30 yards, the height of the west waU is 3 yards, that of 

 the east 8 feet, the inside height, from the floor to the ridge, 9 yards. It is said to 

 have extended even farther towards the south, a belief which the appearance of the 

 ground and of the exterior of the barn justifies ; inasmuch as tbe north wall is of 

 brick and 5 feet high, the thatched roof sloping down to meet it, while the south end 

 is filled up with wood and rises perpendicularly up to the ridge of the roof. There 

 are five interior props at an interval of six yards ; and, therefore, its original length, 

 if the tradition of the place may be credited, was 42 yards. On two of these inte- 

 rior props is carved the date of the building, 1607. It has large folding doors, or a 

 porte-cochere, and as many as six loaded waggons have been safely housed at one 

 time on a wet night. See Ai-chseologia, vol. xix., p. 27-5, in the Survey of Bridling- 

 ton Priory. " It'm there ys on the Northsyde of the same Same yarde a very fayre 

 Barne, conteyning in length Est and West cxvij paces and in breddith xxvij pac's 

 well covered with lede to the vallue of fyve hundred m'ks, and so yt ys offered for." 



