324 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
By some they are supposed to be natural formations, but 
wherever I have seen them they appear to me too regular and 
artificial; nor, as far as I am aware, does the oolite, on which 
formation these terraces mostly occur, take the form of a suc¬ 
cession of narrow terraces. It seems certain that the ground 
was artificially formed into these terraces with very little labour, 
and that they were utilized for some special cultivation, and as 
likely for Vines as for any other. 1 It is also certain that as 
the Gloucestershire Vineyards were among the most ancient 
and the best in England, so they held their ground till within 
a very recent period. I cannot find the exact date, but some 
time during the last century there is “ satisfactory testimony of 
the full success of a plantation in Cromhall Park, from which 
ten hogsheads of wine were made in the year. The Vine plant¬ 
ation was discontinued or destroyed in consequence of a dispute 
with the Rector on a claim of the tythes.”— Rudge’s History of 
Gloucestershire. This, however, is not quite the latest notice I 
have met with, for Phillips, writing in 1820, says : “There are 
several flourishing Vineyards at this time in Somersetshire; the 
late Sir William Basset, in that county, annually made some hogs¬ 
heads of wine, which was palatable and well-bodied. The idea 
that we cannot make good wine from our own Grapes is erro¬ 
neous ; I have tasted it quite equal to the Grave wines, and in 
some instances, when kept for eight or ten years, it has been 
drunk as hock by the nicest judges .”—Pomarium Britannicum. 
It would have been more satisfactory if Mr. Phillips had told us 
the exact locality of any of these “flourishing Vineyards,” for I 
can nowhere else find any account of them, except that in a 
map of five miles round Bath in 1801 a Vineyard is marked at 
Claverton, formerly in the possession of the Bassets, and the 
Vines are distinctly shown. 2 At present the experiment is 
1 For a very interesting account of the formation of lynches, and their 
connection with the ancient communal cultivation of the soil.see Seebohm’s 
“English Village Community,” p. 5. 
2 On this Vineyard Mr. Skrine, the present owner of Claverton, has 
kindly informed me that it was sold in 1701 by Mr. Richard Holder for 
.£21,367, of which £28 was for “four hogsheads of wine of the Vineyards 
of Claverton.” 
