By C. B. Straton. 



303 



John Eabbetts rented the manor farm at South Newton and with 

 it the services of the copyholders who did the work of the farm. 

 He paid 14s. in money, twenty quarters of wheat, twenty quarters 

 of barley, ten quarters of oats, twenty capons, twenty geese, and 

 twelve great trowtes. On the margin wheat is 8s., barley 5s. 4d, 

 and oats 2s. 8d. a quarter, while capons, geese, and trout are 4c£. 

 each. Every virgate at South Newton paid«3s. for salt silver. This 

 may be the remains of salt dues, or it may have been commuted for 

 the service of bringing the salt from the pans at Southampton 

 Marsh. Most abbeys had their salt pans at one time, but the salt 

 was poor, and better could be bought from France. Before the 

 days of water meadows and winter roots, mutton and beef were 

 salted down like fish or bacon for winter use, and then salt was 

 an important article of consumption. At Stockton certain acres 

 are called saltacres in the survey. 



Another tenant by convention was the miller. He had to grind 

 the lord's corn for nothing, but all the tenants were bound to take 

 their corn to him and he took as toll one part in twenty if they 

 brought their corn to him, and two parts in twenty if he fetched it 

 and took it back. The manor court occasionally ordered him to keep 

 proper scales. He had a right to the eels and small fish, but not 

 to the " fowling, great trouts, or ground-swans." The swan was a 

 royal bird, and if, instead of nesting in the little islands that were 

 set apart for them, they built their nests on the banks of the 

 stream, they were not allowed to be disturbed, but the lord of the 

 manor claimed one cygnet out of the brood as a ground-swan for 

 the trouble of guarding them. 



There were also a few tenants " at the lord's will," who were 

 generally his own servants, and they were paid in a curious way. 

 For example, the usher of the hall had for his wages the tithes of 

 Burdensball ; the lord's valet and cellarer had the Eectory of South 

 Newton. Eobert Grove, one of the commissioners who made this 

 survey, had the Kectory of Dinton. 



By far the most numerous class of tenants, however, were the 

 customary tenants — the copyholders, as they were called. In 

 Broad Chalke and Bower Chalke there were nearly fifty copyhold 



