B3 RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1641. 



grownde lyeth as common from Michaelmasse till Lady-day, 

 and every one may putte in what and when hee list ; for if wee 

 shoulde not doe thus, the townsfolkes woulde bee desirous that 

 it shoulde bee kept onely for ewes and lambes, and that woulde 

 not bee soe good for our ewes ; besides wee coulde have but 

 part of them there. Att the time that wee putte our geld- 

 sheepe and hogges into the CaiTe, then all our gimmer-sheepe 

 that wee conceive to bee with lambe are putte in and kept in 

 the Bramble-hill, Long close, and Three-nook'd-peece ; and this 

 is purposely to bringe them to milke, for a fortnights fresh- 

 grasse before they lambe is accomited as good as a fortniglit 

 after they lambe, att which time wee aUsoe pull up a gappe and 

 make them way to goe into the bottomes ; for the bottome- 

 grasse, and nowe and then for the olde ewes to suppe on the 

 river, is thought to bee much avaleable for bringinge of them to 

 milke. Our fii-st lambe falleth usually aboute a weeke after 

 Candlemasse ; the chiefe of our lambinge time is aboute the 

 first of March, and most part of them lambed by the mid- 

 dle of March, unlesse it bee some fewe stragglers. Those closes 

 will very well keepe an himdreth ewes a moneth togeather, 

 with theire bottomes ; and that is all that they will doe, al- 

 though that they have beene ayred from 8t. Andrewe-day till 

 the time that the ewes come in ; and soe as fast as the lambes 

 fall wee remoove them to some httle close, as is before men- 

 tioned ; and after two or three dayes, that the beasthnges bee 

 once past, they will bee out of dainger of jnndinge, and after 

 that they are turned of weekes olde remoove them into the 

 Create Sikes, and there lette them runne till aboute the 3d or 

 4th of Aprill, as wee did this yeare, havinge in it five score ewes 

 and lambes, all at once ; then aboute the 4th of Aprill wee 

 remoove them into the Newe Wandill closes, and hire a boy or 

 girle to tende them a dayes, and on nights wee layd them in 

 the West-hall East-chjse. Wee hired (this yeare) Wilham 

 Huson, whoe had three halfe pence a daye, whoe came in the 

 mominge and cariyed them out by that time hee woulde well 

 see, and kept them in the South- Wandell close all the forenoone, 

 sittinge in the south-east corner of the close to see that none 

 gotte out neyther into Lynsley close, nor into the Greets ; then 

 after hee had dined hee putte them downe into the bottomes> 

 and soe ke])t them in the North-Wandell close, and the West- 

 hall West-close all the afternoone ; and then aboute halfe an 

 houro after sunsette, or soe soone as it begantie to growe darke, 

 hee sette open the gate, and putte them into the Ejust-close, 

 which was well fenced and made close fortius purpo.se, and after 

 this manner they weare here kept till Mmulay the 18th of 



