THE MEADOWS AND PASTURES 169 



and subjecting to the forest laws the whole or portions of 

 those separate woods which had previously belonged to 

 estates in its neighbourhood. Sir Henry Ellis states that 

 the assessment of certain estates, parts of which were taken 

 into the New Forest, was reduced by such abstractions from 

 216 hides to 76 hides, and their values from 364 to 129. 

 Other forests mentioned in Domesday Book are those of 

 Windsor, Gravelinges, Wimburne, Dean, Herefordshire, Mal- 

 vern, and Essex ; and in many cases the only reference to 

 these forests is that the King took the wood of certain 

 estates and placed it under the forest law. Among the 

 lesser tenants in capite are frequent hunters and foresters, 

 and certain lands were held at Dene (Glos.) by William fitz 

 Norman for keeping the forest. 1 At Writtle a swine-herd 

 was promoted to be forester in the King's wood in Essex. 2 



2. THE MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



To the ordinary town-dweller all grassland is alike ; to 

 him the difference between " meadow " and " pasture " is un- 

 meaning. In Domesday Book " meadow " is always used to 

 denote grassland bordered by a stream, and capable of being 

 flooded, on which hay can be grown ; " pasture " is the term 

 which is applied to land which all the year round is available 

 for feeding cattle and sheep. Of course, the arable land pro- 

 vided feed for cattle and sheep between one harvest and the 

 next seed-time, but such feed is always distinguished from 

 "pasture." Usually, meadow and pasture are measured by 

 acres. Referring to our three typical Oxfordshire manors 

 at Combe there were 15 acres of meadow; at Deddington 

 there were 1 30 acres of meadow and 30 acres of pasture ; 

 at Stanton Harcourt there were 200 acres of meadow and 

 the same quantity of pasture. It is very rare indeed to find 

 a manor to which some meadow did not belong. A glance 

 1 D. B., I. 167 a i. 2 Id., II. 5. 



