[162]England’s Improvements by Sea and Land. By Andrew Yarranton. Ed. 1677, pp. 67, 70.
[163]As we have said, the muniment chest of the Christchurch Corporation, like that of all similar towns, is full of interest. It contains absolutions from Archbishops to all those who assist in the good work of making bridges;—letters from absolute patrons directing their clients which way to vote;—bonds from others that they will not require any payment from the burgesses, or put the borough to any expense;—old privileges of catching eels and lampreys with “lyer,” and “hurdells de virgis,” by all of which the past is brought before us. So, too, the Chamberlain’s Books are most interesting. From them we can learn, year by year, the prices of wheat and cattle, the fluctuation of wages, the average condition of the day, and both the minutest outward events as also the innermost life of the town. The true social history of England is written for us in our Chamberlain’s Books. They have unfortunately never been made use of as they deserve. Thus let me give a few general quotations from those of Christchurch. In 1578 lime was 6d. a bushel, from which price it fell within two years to 2d. Stone for building we find about 1s. a ton. Wages then averaged, for a skilled mechanic, from 7d. to 1s. a day, and for a labourer, 4d.; whilst night-watchmen, in 1597, were only paid 2d. Timber, contrary to what we should have expected, was comparatively dear. Thus in 1588 we find 9d. paid for two posts, and 20d. for a plank and two posts, whilst a few years afterwards a shilling is paid for making a new gate. Of course in all these calculations we must bear in mind that money was then three times its present value. Turning to other matters, we learn that in 1595, “a pottle of claret wine and sugar” cost 2s., whilst a quart of sack is only 12d. In 1582, a quart of “whyte wine” is 5d., and twenty years before this a barrel and a half of beer cost 4d. Again, in 1562, the fourth year of Elizabeth, large salmon, whose weights are not specified, appear to have averaged 7d. a piece. A load of straw for thatching came to 2s. 6d., and in some cases 3s., which in 1550 had been as low as 8d., and never above 20d. Drawing it, or passing it through a machine, cost 4d.; whilst a thatcher received 1s. 4d. for his labour of putting it on the roof.
At the same time a load of clay, either for making mortar or for the actual material of the walls, the “cob,” or “pug” of the provincial dialect, was 5d., a price at which it had stood with some slight variations for many years.
To conclude, the smallest things are noted. Thus a thousand “peats,” perhaps brought from the Forest, cost, in 1562, 15d., whilst a load of “fursen,” still the local plural of furse, perhaps also from the same place, was 8d. Nothing in these accounts escapes notice. In 1586 a “coking stole,” the well-known cathedra stercoris, the Old-English “scealfing-stol,” is charged 10d.; whilst a collar, or, as it is elsewhere in the same book called, “an iron choker for vagabonds,” cost 14d.
[164]In Archæologia, vol. iv. pp. 117, 118, is a letter from Brander, the geologist and antiquary, describing a quantity of spurs and bones of herons, bitterns and cocks, found on a part of the monastic buildings, showing that the site had been previously occupied.
[165]Holdenhurst had ten hydes and a half taken into the Forest (Domesday, as before, iv. a). It then possessed a small church, and, as we find one mentioned in the charter of Richard de Redvers in Henry I.’s reign, we may fairly conclude that this, too, was not destroyed by the Conqueror. There were also there fisheries for the use of the hall.
[166]Cartularium Monasterii de Christchurch Twinham. Brit. Mus., Cott. MSS., Tib. D. vi., pars ii., f. 194 a. This chartulary was much injured in the fire of 1731, but has been restored by Sir F. Madden. Quoted in Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. vi. p. 303, Ed. 1830.
[167]For further information, especially on the fortunes of the De Redvers family, and minor details, which I think would hardly interest the general reader, see Brayley’s and Ferrey’s work on the Priory of Christchurch, London, 1834, pp. 6, 11, 22: and Warner’s South-west Parts of Hampshire, vol. ii. pp. 55-65, which, notwithstanding some errors, is a most painstaking history.
[168]Collectanea de Rebus Britannicis, Ed. Hearne, vol. iv. p. 149.
[169]The possessions of the house were large, and brought in above 600l. a year. Yet we find that the brethren were in debt in every direction. At Poole, Salisbury, and Christchurch, they owed 41l. 19s. 6d. for mere necessaries. There was due 24l. 2s. 8d. to the Recorder of Southampton for wine; and a bill of 8l. 13s. 2d. to a merchant of Poole, for “wine, fish, and bere.” Certificate of Monasteries, No. 494, p. 48. Record Office. Quoted by Brayley and Ferrey, Appendix No. vi., pp. 9, 10.