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 “ vinese noviter plantatae,” and at 
Ware another vineyard as “ nuperrime plantatse.” Some of 
the vineyards bore grapes, while others did not, and these are 
distinguished as “ vinese port antes,” or “ vinese 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 hillet ” 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 Willfam 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. 
