OLD ENGLISH VILLAGE LIFE. 1 59 



We notice that part, perhaps the ecclesiastical portion, of the 

 Barrow manor proper has been placed under the jurisdiction of 

 the King's township of Melbourne, and the remainder recog- 

 nizes the lordships of Henry de Ferrers and Ralph FitzHerbert. 

 The industrial life is not seriously disturbed by these independent 

 jurisdictions. What strikes us most is the small extent of land 

 then under cultivation, and the few men apparently employed 

 upon it ; but this is explained by the general purpose of the 

 survey, which was only to record those for whom the lord had 

 to pay taxes to the King. Another noticeable feature is the 

 remarkable drop in the value of the assessments of these three 

 places since the time of Edward the Confessor. Perhaps the 

 key to the explanation lies in the significant words, " It is waste." 

 The hand of the Conqueror and of the Norman barons may have 

 pressed hard upon these villages. Or it may be due to the 

 disastrous floods, which have taught the farmer by long experi- 

 ence how fruitless is the task of ploughing and sowing so near 

 the river bed. The name " Fenholmes " is still used to denote 

 a strip of land near Twyford in this loop of the Trent, and it 

 helps us to understand what must have been the wet, spongy 

 nature of the soil with which the first settlers had to deal. 



One pleasing feature in this Survey is the comfortable position 

 of the villein, with his four oxgangs of plough land and eight 

 acres of meadow, in all, sixty-eight acres. He was very similar 

 to the later yeoman. Beneath him in status and in general 

 comfort, and yet enjoying a certain amount of independence, 

 there is another small class of men, unrecorded here, bearing a 

 resemblance in some respects to the occupiers of small holdings, 

 to whose existence a passing reference may be made if we are 

 to understand the agricultural conditions of those times. The 

 principle of the small holding was at work eight centuries ago, 

 and it has in the parish of Barrow a comparatively modern 

 exemplification. In the year 1847, the Beaumonts of Barrow, 

 purchased by sale, from the Bristows of Twyford, seventy-two 

 acres of land, henceforward known as " The Happy Meadows," 

 and let them out to small holders in the form of allotments. 



