DOMESDAY SURVEY 



manor goes the third penny of the hundred of Teignbridge ' (fol. 96). 

 Who would gather from these bald statements that from time immemorial 

 all the landholders in the county, with the exception of those in the two 

 boroughs above named, had the right of depasturing their cattle by day in 

 a forest nearly as large as the cultivated area, and could also by paying 

 agistment or lying-out dues leave their cattle in the forest after sunset, and 

 that whilst the king had two-thirds of these dues one-third of them in the 

 north went with the comital manor of MoUand and one-third of those in 

 the south with that of Moreton Hampstead ? Yet so it was, and the right 

 survives to the present day in all that remains of the forest of Devonshire, 

 the Forest of Dartmoor.^ 



To obtain freedom from the oppressive forest-law the men of Devon- 

 shire in 1204 paid King John 5,ooomarks, and received from him a charter of 

 disafforestation.^ This charter was, however, not put in force until 1242 

 (27 Hen. Ill), when the boundaries of the forest were delimited, Dartmoor 

 and Exmoor being still left forests. Round the Forest of Dartmoor lie ' the 

 Devonshire Commons,' on which, however, only the manors of the adjoining 

 township now have rights. The tenants enjoying these rights are termed 

 Venvil tenants,* and pay a fixed fine or commutation-rent instead of agistment 

 dues for the trespassing of their cattle on the forest. The forest of Exmoor 

 is mostly in Somerset, but its ' regard ' extends into Devonshire.* 



Although the record says nothing about the forest, yet it frequently 

 mentions the forest ponies (equae sihestres) kept for breeding purposes. There 

 were five at Colyton Raleigh, ten at North Lew, eighteen at Ottery St. Mary, 

 eight at Bratton Clovelly, seventy-two at Lynton, four at Combe Raleigh, 

 two at Ashford, six at Sourapple, and six at Villavin. At several other 

 places, as Cornworthy, Musbury, Bradworthy, and Brendon, unbroken mares 

 {equae indomitae) are mentioned, by which Dartmoor and Exmoor ponies are 

 doubtless meant, as many as 104 occurring at Brendon. 



A mill is an unfailing mark of a manor, but not every manor has a mill, 

 because for a water-mill water is necessary, and wind-mills were unknown in 

 England at the time of the survey. No fewer than seventy-seven manors 

 are mentioned as possessing mills, and the number of mills in them amounts 

 to over ninety-nine. The number is comparatively small, seeing that the 

 estates which had to be served by them numbered 1,266. In the hundred 

 manor of Hairidge were three mills, and the same number at Ottery St. Mary 

 and Otterton. At Axminster, Tiverton, Halberton, Holcombe Rogus, UfF- 

 culme, Weycroft, and Lamerton there were two each, but Buckerell (fol. 338) 



' Mr. Birkett, Dartmoor Preservation Association's Report, p. xv, observes: The perambulation [of 1224] 

 establishes three important facts — (i) that the moor was originally part of a royal forest, (2) that the commons 

 of Devon were once part of the forest, and (3) that the moor is not waste of any manor in particular. Trans. 

 Devon Assoc, xxxiii, 585, n. 57. 



' Pipe R. 6 John, m. 7. 



' The term ' Venvil ' is a corruption of Fines villarum or township fines. A list of these commutation 

 fines is in Trans. Devon Assoc, xxii, 185 ; xxiv, 418 ; xxxiii, 585, ». 57 and 591, ». 61. Dartmoor Preservation 

 Society's Publications, i, 63, 66. 



* At an inquisition held at Wells 2 July, 1366 {Devon N. and Q. ii, 189), it was found that ' R.A. and 

 W.T. had taken and killed a young stag within the hundred of Witheridge within the regard of the Forest of 

 Exmoor, which regard is continuous {unum est) and extends as well within the county of Somerset as of 

 Devon. And they say that all the officials of the aforesaid forest belonging to the county of Somerset, 

 although the aforesaid regard is partly sitifate in Devon, have entry {intromittunt se).' Exmoor Forest was 

 enclosed and the boundgries defined in 1815 by 55 Geo. Ill, c. 138. 



399 



