llingford, held a messuage, a mill, and 6 acres of land in free
alms; i.e. under no obligation or liability other than offering
prayers on behalf of the donor. A free tenant had a messuage and 3-3/4
acres, the rent of which was 3s. a year. He also had another messuage
and nine acres, for which he paid the annual rent of 1 lb. of pepper,
worth about 1s. 3d. The rector of the parish had part of a furrow,
i.e. one of the divisions of the common arable field, and paid 2d. a
year for it. Another tenant held a cottage in the demesne under the
obligation of keeping two lamps lighted in the church. Another person
was tenant-at-will of the parish mill, at a rent of 40s. a year. The
rest of the tenants were villeins or cottagers, thirteen of the former
and eight of the latter. Each of the villeins had a messuage and half
a virgate, 12 to 15 acres of arable land at least, for which his rent
was chiefly corn and labour, though there were two money payments, a
halfpenny on November 12 and a penny whenever he brewed. He had to pay
a quarter of seed wheat at Michaelmas, a peck of wheat, 4 bushels of
oats, and 3 hens on November 12, and at Christmas a cock, two hens,
and two pennyworth of bread. His labour services were to plough, sow,
and till half an acre of the lord's land, and give his work as
directed by the bailiff except on Sundays and feast days. In harvest
time he was to reap three days with one man at his own cost.

Some of these tenants held, besides their half virgates, other plots
of land for which each had to make hay for one day for the lord, with
a comrade, and received a halfpenny; also to mow, with another, three
days in harvest time, at their own charges, and another three days
when the lord fed them. After harvest six pennyworth of beer was
divided among them, each received a loaf of bread, and every evening
when work was over each reaper might carry away the largest sheaf of
corn he could lift on his sickle.

The cottagers paid from 1s. 2d. to 2s. a year for their holdings, and
were obliged to work a day or two in the hay-making, receiving
therefor a halfpenny. They also had to do from one to four days'
harvest work, during which they were fed at the lord's table. For the
rest of the year they were free labourers, tending cattle or sheep on
the common for wages or working at the various crafts usual in the
village. This manor was a small one, and contained in all twenty-four
households, numbering from sixty to sev