Page:Massingberd - Court Rolls of the Manor of Ingoldmells in the County of Lincoln.pdf/6

vi is further inland, and Partney and Great Steeping are on the extreme west of Candleshoe Wapentake, in what is called the Wold Division. The sand hills, or meales, may still be seen, and it is important for their consolidation and maintenance that the thorns and synes which grow upon them should be pre­served. As regards the synes Mr. Woodruffe Peacock tells me that there are two species of grasses called by this name—Ammophila arundinacea, which is properly called ‘synes,’ and Elymus arenarius. There are ‘Syne Hills’ at Huttoft and North Somercotes, and a ‘Syne Hill House’ at Skegness.

I know that experts prefer to have the original Latin text rather than a more or less imperfect translation, and I quite acknowledge that they have good reasons for their preference, but to give both text and translation was in this case out of the question. I have given what may be considered by scholars a bald translation, as thus experts will, I hope, be able to judge how the original text runs, and for the same reason I have left some paragraphs as they are, though I know quite well that they are not good English. The 194 rolls, of which I give extracts, were found by Mr. Richard Cheales in Ingoldmells Church in 1684, having, according to a statement of Sir Drayner Massing­berd, been kept private in the county by the tenants, and never returned into the Duchy Office, because they show the ﬁnes to be uncertain, while the rolls in the Duchy Office mention the ﬁnes to be 2s. an acre. The rolls then in the Duchy Office are now at the Public Record Ofﬁce, and are temp. Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth. There are also rolls temp. Eliza­beth and James I. at Ormsby Hall, and from the time of the purchase of the manor in 1658 there is an unbroken series of rolls in books.

I had hoped to be able to give in an appendix some rather long extracts from the Ministers’ Accounts &c. at the Public Record Office relating to the manor of Ingoldmells, but have been obliged to refrain. These accounts of the rents and issues of the manor make clear the customs of the manor concerning the acquisition of land by villeins, and mark the progress of their prosperity. It seems that the old rent paid by villeins for bond land was 4d. per acre, and that on alienation an additional