The Size of a Manor

Werminton Manor -- circa 1125 A.D.

In Werminton are 7 hides at the taxation of the king. And of this land 20 full villeins and 29 half-villeins hold 34 virgates and a half; and for these the full villeins work 3 days a week through the year; and the half tenants as much as corresponds to their tenancies. And all these men have 16 plows, and they plow 68 acres and a half, and besides this they do 3 boonworks with their plows, and they ought to bring from the woods 34 wagon loads of wood ... In the demesne of the court are 4 plows of 32 oxen, and 9 cows and 5 calves, and 1 riding horse and 129 sheep and 61 swine and 1 draught-horse and 1 colt. And there is 1 mill with 1 virgate of land and 6 acres ... And Ascelin the clerk holds the church, with 2 virgates of land, from the altar of St. Peter of Borough. Robert, son of Richard, has 2 virgates and a half. In this vill 100 sheep can be placed.

Alwalton Manor -- 1279 A.D.

The court of the said manor with its garden contains one half an acre. And to the whole of the said vill of Alwalton belong 5 hides and a half and 1 virgate of land and a half; of which each hide contains 5 virgates of land and each virgate contains 25 acres.

J.H. Robinson, trans., University of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints, Vol III, no.5. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, 1912.