A TYPICAL VILLAGE 257 



time of King Edward. When she received it, ^8. Now it is worth 

 ;io. Godric and Alwin held it freely." l 



Then follow the statistics relating to Oddington, the 

 village adjoining Islip on the east, and afterwards is the 

 statement, " The wife of Roger of Ivry holds these two lands 

 of the King in commendation." 



We first notice that Islip is a manor and vill assessed at 

 5 hides, and that three of its hides had never paid geld ; 

 it does not appear probable that these hides were inland 

 and had shifted their liability to the other lands in the vill. 

 " Inland " is distinctly mentioned as such in the adjoining 

 manor of Watereaton. And it will be noticed that the record 

 does not state that these 3 hides were in demesne. It would 

 be better to consider that for a long time this vill had been 

 beneficially hidated, and that its assessment of 5 hides had 

 been reduced to two. 



It is comparatively an easy matter to deal with the assess- 

 ment, but the agricultural statistics require more consideration. 



Islip lay in open fields till 1806, and the map attached 

 to the Enclosure Award gives some slight particulars from 

 which the general outline of the old open fields can be recon- 

 stituted. If reference be made to this map, it will be seen 

 that north of the Ray there were five fields : Mill Field, 

 Brought Field, the Lankett, North Field, and East Field; 

 south of the Ray were Sart Field, the Wood Hill and Plain, 

 the Cow Pasture, and certain old enclosures known as Prat- 

 well Wood, and the Upper and Lower Woods. We at once 

 connect " sart " with " assart," a word we have previously seen 

 to mean the land recently broken up and brought into cultiva- 

 tion ; and the names of the southern fields suggest that they 

 were the last to be brought into cultivation. That being so, it 

 is natural to look in this direction for the wood mentioned in 

 Domesday Book, and a rough measurement will show that 

 from the Ray to the southern boundary of the parish is a 



1 D. B., i. 160 a 2. 

 s 



