The early history of Hampstead lies very far back, though for all purposes of respectable antiquity—whether persons or places are concerned—an appearance in Domesday Book is sufficient. Hamestead, in its old, pleasant Saxon name, tells of a yet higher antiquity, and long before the astute Norman (in the language of the Saxon Chronicle) ‘sent forth his men to inquire how many hundred hides of land were in each shire, so that there was not a hide of land in England of which he knew not the possessor, and how much it was worth.’
Long before the existence of this pleasant schedule enabled the Conqueror to parcel out the fairest portions of the land to his favourite retainers, the five hides of land and five manses, or homes, of which this manor consisted, were said to have been given by King Ethelred, the gift being afterwards confirmed by Edward the Confessor, to the Abbey Church of St. Peter at Westminster.[16] These grants are said to be spurious—forged, in fact, by the monks, the mark of a pendent seal attached to one, and the wax adhering to the other, proving too much, such seals not being used in England till after the Conquest. But William, desirous of standing well with the Church, continued the grant of Hamsted to the Abbot of Westminster. At the making of Domesday Book, not another roof had risen on the manor. There were still five manses, the homes of villeynes and bordarii, the first small farmers having certain degrees of personal freedom, but dependent for their ground on several corporal and servile services rendered to the lord; the others, mere labourers, who paid rent in eggs, poultry, etc.
‘“The Abbot holds four hides (arable) land to three ploughs. To the demesne appertain three hides and a half, and there is one plough. The villeynes have one plough, and could employ another. There is one villeyne who has one virgate, and five bordars who have one virgate; and one bondman or slave. The woodlands afford pannage (beech-mast and acorns) for a hundred swine.
‘“The whole is valued at fifty shillings, of which Ranulph Peverel, who held one hide of the land under the Abbot, paid five shillings.”
‘There is nothing more undecided than the presumed value of the hide. Some writers say it represented as much land as employed a plough during the year. Another, that it meant as much land as would maintain a family. Spelman imagined it 100 acres. At one place in Domesday Book 20 acres are called half a hide.
‘“In Maldon in Essex there were five free men holding 10 acres of ground; of these Ranulph Peverel holds 5 acres, and Hugh de Montfort 5 acres; it was in the time of King Edward the Confessor worth tenpence, it is now [at Domesday] worth twelvepence.”’[17]
This Ranulph Peverel, a Norman high in the King’s favour, who held, as Camden tells us, estates in several counties of England, had married the discarded concubine of the Conqueror, the daughter of a Saxon noble, and one of the most lovely women of her time, and had given his own name to the King’s son by her—William Peverel,[18] subsequently Lord of Nottingham, and founder of the famous castle in the Peak—and if it had not been shown that such small portions of land were frequently held by noblemen in those times in different counties, probably as a nucleus to be added to as opportunities arose, one would have been inclined to doubt the identity of the owner of one hide of land at Hamstede with the Peverel whose descendants became so important in the history of England.
The original grant (or presumed grant) of Ethelred gives a certain spot of land, in the place called Hamstede, of five cassati—this word, we read, means hide—in perpetual inheritance, etc.