It seems quite probable that when in the course of the gradual improvement of horses and ploughs in Fordington, the stage was reached at which three horses were sufficient for a plough, the holders of half-places already possessing two horses each endeavoured to emancipate themselves from the necessity of joint-ploughing, by obtaining an additional horse; and that when they had generally succeeded in this they obtained the right of pasturing three horses each on the commons and common-field; and when a two-horse plough had come into general use, the holders of farthing holds would naturally take similar steps, and so acquire common rights for two horses each.
There is one other noteworthy fact with regard to Fordington revealed by the Tithe Apportionment. Certain lands scattered over the fields of a total area of 4 a. 2 r. 20 p. were the property of the parish constable for the time being; the churchwardens similarly held 1 r. 7 p., the parish hayward 1 a. 3 r. 18 p., and the parish reeve 3 a. 0 r. 17 p. These ancient village offices were therefore in Fordington not entirely unremunerated.[7]
[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.
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:--
