'Tangled dead ferns and rowetty stuff.'—Gamekeeper at Home, ch. ii.
'That "rowetty" grass seen in the damp furrows of the meadows.'—Wild Life, ch. ii.
'Our low meadowes is ... rowtie, foggie, and full of flags.'—Harrison's Description of Britain.
Rowey. Rough (C.). See Rowetty.
*Rowless-thing. In the Diary of the Parliamentary Committee at Falstone House, S. Wilts, 1646-7, this curious phrase frequently occurs, apparently meaning waste and unprofitable land. It is once applied to a living. Several forms of it are used, as Rowlass-thing, Rowlist-thing, and Rowless-thing. See Wilts Arch. Mag., Nov. 1892, pp. 343-391. We have been unable to trace the word elsewhere, so that it may possibly be of local origin.
'George Hascall is become tenant for a Rowlass thing called Dawes-Frowd, land of Lord Arundell and estated out to Mrs. Morley a recusant ... John Selwood and Richard Hickes tenants unto Sir Giles Mompesson for his farm at Deptford and his Rowless-thing called Hurdles at Wiley.'—Diary, &c.
Sir Fras. Dowse, of Wallop, is said to have been possessed of 'another thing called the Broyl [Bruellii = woods] of Collingbourne.' See 'Wiltshire Compounders,' Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxiv. p. 58. In the New Forest a 'rough' is a kind of enclosure.
'Philips promised to feed the horse in a "rough" or enclosure ... which was well fenced in, but the bank foundered and the animal got out.'—Salisbury Journal, Aug. 5, 1893.
Rowney. See Rawney.
Rubble. (1) In Wilts usually applied to the hard chalk used in making roadways through fields (Wild Life, ch. ii),—N. & S.W. (2) Rubbish (A.B.C.S.).—N. & S.W.
Rubbly. adj. Of soil, loose from being full of broken bits of chalk (Agric. Survey).