PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
323 
There are numberless notices in the records and chronicles 
of extensive vineyards in England, which it is needless to 
quote; but it is worth noticing that the memory of these 
Vineyards remains not only in the chronicles and in the trea¬ 
tises which teach of Vine-culture, but also in the names of 
streets, &c., which are occasionally met with. There is “ Vine¬ 
yard Holm,” in the Hampshire Downs, and many other places 
in Hampshire; the “Vineyard Hills,” at Godaiming; the 
“ Vines,” at Rochester and Sevenoaks; the “ Vineyards,” at 
Bath and Ludlow; the “Vine Fields,” near the Abbey at Bury 
St. Edmunds; 1 the “ Vineyard Walk ” in Clerkenwell; and 
“near Basingstoke the ‘Vine’ or ‘Vine House,’ in a richly 
wooded spot, where, as is said, the Romans grew the first Vine 
in Britain, the memory of which now only survives in the Vine 
Hounds ; ” 2 and probably a closer search among the names 
of fields in other parts would bring to light many similar 
instances. 3 
Among the English Vineyards those of Gloucestershire stood 
pre-eminent. William of Malmesbury, writing of Gloucester¬ 
shire in the twelfth century, says: “ This county is planted 
thicker with Vineyards than any other in England, more plen¬ 
tiful in crops, and more pleasant in flavour. For the wines do 
not offend the mouth with sharpness, since they do not yield 
to the French in Sweetness ” (“ De Gestis Pontif.,” book iv.). 
Of these Vineyards the tradition still remains in the county. 
The Cotswold Hills are in many places curiously marked with 
a succession of steps or narrow terraces, called “ litchets ” or 
“ lynches ”; these are traditionally the sites of the old Vine¬ 
yards, but the tradition cannot be fully depended on, and the 
formation of the terraces has been variously accounted for. 
1 At Stonehouse “there are two arpens of Vineyard .”—Doniesday Book, 
quoted by Rudder. Also “the Vineyard” was the residence of the Abbots 
of Gloucester. It was at St. Mary de Lode near Gloucester, and “ the 
Vineyard and Park were given to the Bishopric of Gloucester at its founda¬ 
tion, and again confirmed 6th Edward VI.”— Rudder. 
2 “Edinburgh Review,” April i860. 
3 See Preface to “Palladius on Husbandrie,” p. vii (Early English 
Text Society), for a further account of old English Vineyards. 
