172 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



at Newton (Devon), where " Colsuen, a man of the Bishop 

 of Coutances, took away from this manor a common pasture 

 which there appertained T. R. E., and even for five years 

 T. R. W." 1 



In later years the number of cattle and sheep which any 

 person could turn on to the village pasture was strictly 

 stinted or limited, and the number varied from manor to 

 manor ; and we must surmise that such was the rule in the 

 eleventh century. In many cases the meadow was probably 

 Lammas meadow ; after hay-time it would be common to 

 the whole village till it was again shut up for hay : the hay 

 crop was often divided between the villagers by lot, as is 

 still done at Yarnton, a village 4 miles north of Oxford. 2 



3. THE MILL 



No Domesday vill appears to have been complete without 

 a mill, and in some vills there were more mills than one. 

 At Combe there was one mill of 3^. ; at Deddington there 

 were three, producing 4U. and one hundred eels; and at 

 Stanton Harcourt there were three mills, yielding a rent of 

 40^. Combe Mill may be seen to-day by every passenger 

 along the railway from Oxford to Worcester ; and it is pos- 

 sible that in most villages there is no more ancient trace 

 of man's handiwork than the cut which supplies the mill. 

 Mr. Eyton has counted 272 mills in the Dorset Domesday, 

 varying in value from 3^. to 2$s. a year ; but some mills were 

 far more valuable. At Petersham there were four mills, pro- 

 ducing ^42 9^. 8d., or corn to that amount. 3 Not infrequently 

 the profits of the mill were rendered in kind. The mill at 

 Bledlow rendered 24 seams of malt ; 4 the mill at Arundel 

 rendered 10 modii of wheat, 10 of mixed corn, and 4 modii 

 in addition, which were valued at i4'," 5 the 4 modii "in 



1 D. B., I. 112 b 2. 2 Country Life, vol. 18, p. 710. 



3 D. B., I. 32 a 2. 4 D. B., I. 146 b i. 



5 Id., I. 23 a i. 



