22 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



In Domesday Book, the " vinitor," or vine-dresser, is only 

 once mentioned, but some idea of the size of the vineyards 

 may be gathered from the survey, as about thirty-eight in many 

 different counties are described. 1 They are usually measured 

 by " arpendi,", the arpends being equal to about an acre, or 

 less. The largest was at Bitesham, in Berkshire, on the land 

 of Henry de Ferrieres, and covered twelve arpends. Some 

 vineyards were old, others but newly planted, as at Westminster 

 four arpends are described as " vineas noviter plantatae," and at 

 Ware another vineyard as " nuperrime plantatae." Some of 

 the vineyards bore grapes, while others did not, and these are 

 distinguished as " vineas portantes," or " vineas non portantes." 

 The quantity of wine yielded by a vineyard of six arpends in 

 Essex was as much as twenty " modii," or about forty gallons, 

 if the season was favourable. 



If England could boast of so many vineyards before the 

 Norman Conquest, it was only natural that the influx of 

 foreigners from a grape-growing country should infuse fresh 

 ardour into vine-culture, and monasteries, with Abbots or 

 Priors from the Continent, lost no time in improving the old 

 and making new vineyards on their lands. The name " vine- 

 yard " was often retained long after the monks who planted it 

 had passed away. Thus " Vineyard," near Gloucester, de- 

 scribed in Camden's Britannia as the seat of the Bridgemans, 

 " on a billet " to the west of the town, was once the vineyard 

 belonging to the Abbots of Gloucester. 2 Gloucestershire was 

 famous for its vines, which, wrote William of Malmesbury in 

 the twelfth century, are " more plentiful in crops, and more 

 pleasant in flavour than any in England "; for the wines do not 

 " offend the mouth with sharpness, since they do not yield to the 

 French in sweetness." 3 Another survival is the "Vine Street " in 

 towns, as in London, Grantham, Peterborough, and many others. 

 Perhaps, at the latter place, the name marks the site of the 

 vineyards planted by Abbot Martin early in the twelfth century. 



1 In Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Gloucester, Berkshire, 

 Hertford, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, etc. 



A General Introduction to Domesday Book, by Sir Henry Ellis, 1816, 

 P- 37- 



2 Gough's Camden, vol. i., p. 392, ed. 1806. 



3 De Gestis Pontif, Book IV. 



