- [7] The Boldon Book shows that in the Bishopric of Durham in the twelfth century, the pounder, carpenter and smith generally occupied holdings of about 12 acres in virtue of their callings, to remunerate their services to the manor and to the common ploughs of the manor.
In its main features the common-field system of Stratton and Grimstone appears to be typical of that prevailing before enclosure in the counties of Dorset, Wilts, Hants, Berks, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire.
The report of the Select Committee on Commons Enclosure gives a map of a “rotation meadow,” in which each strip was held in rotation by different occupiers, in Shilton, Berkshire; and one of a “lot meadow,” in which the rotation was not by rule, but by lot, in Bestmoor, Oxfordshire.
CHAPTER IV.
EXTENT OF EXISTING COMMON FIELDS.
A “Return of the Acreage of Waste Lands subject to Rights of Common and of Common Field Lands in each Parish of England and Wales, in which the Tithes have been commuted under the Tithe Commutation Acts, so far as the same can be ascertained from the Maps, Agreements, Awards, and Apportionments relating to the Commutation of Tithes in the custody of the Tithe Commissioners for England and Wales, deducting any lands inclosed under the General Enclosure Acts since the Commutation; also the estimated Total Acreage of such lands in the remaining Parishes of each county,” dated 27th November, 1873, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, April 13th, 1874, gives us the following results:—
Totals.
| Number of Parishes stated to have Common Fields. | Area of such Common Fields. | Estimated Area of other Common Fields. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 853 | 153,867 | 97,001 | 250,868 |
| Wales | 52 | 13,086 | 353 | 13,439 |
| 905 | 166,953 | 97,354 | 264,307 |