Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/552

 454 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s.x. JUNE 10, 1022. " HAY SILVER." (12 S. x. 409.) " HAY SILVER " is not mentioned, so far as I can see, in the ' N.E.D.' or in any legal dictionary to which I have access, and the only reference to it, which I can find, is in Wright's ' Dialect Dictionary,' where he gives it as " a tithe-charge of Is. an acre upon mown land," and refers to " Der. Addy, -G1. 1891," which probably means " Derby- shire, Addy's ' Glossary.' : Wright's explanation hardly seems to fit the payments referred to by MB. BARNARD. Perhaps they were of manorial origin. Manorial customary tenants had originally (1) to render personal services called " week work," which meant working for the lord, usually two or three days a week, and most at harvest time ; (2) to perform precariae or " boon-days " special or extra services at the lord's request ; (3) to make payments in kind, or in money, at specified times. In examples given by Seebohm (' English Village Community '), we find that, amongst 1)heir other services, certain tenants in Huntingdonshire had to pay Id. as loksilver, and Id. on Ash Wednesday as fispeni (fish- penny) ; and certain tenants in Gloucester- shire had to mow the lord's meadow five days, and more if necessary, and to lift the lord's hay for five days ; and that the villani of Aucklandshire, when the Bishop of Durham went hunting, had to make his | hall in the forest 60ft. long and 16ft. wide and make their portion of the hedge (haya) round the lodges. Some of the manorial services were commuted at an early period for money payments, and pay- ments were also made for special privileges granted. In the ' Chronicle ' of Jocelin of Brakelond we find that at Bury St. Edmunds, before the town became free, the men of the town were accustomed to reap for the Abbey as serfs, but when it became a borough in lieu thereof they used to give to the cellarer one penny from every house in the beginning of August, which was called rep silver. They also formerly made a payment called sorpeni for every cow they pastured. The men of the cellarer's fee paid a penny, called borthselver, which is probably similar to bord halfpenny, which Jacob, in his 'Law Dictionary,' says was a small toll for setting up stalls, booths, &c., .in fairs and markets. Formerly also the men of the town had to go, at the order of the cellarer, and catch eels for the Abbey, and this was commuted for the payment of Id. from every 30 acres. They also formerly paid twopence from every 30 acres as aver- peni, which was money paid in commutation of the service (avera) of performing any work for the lord by horse or ox, or by carriage with either. The men of the town were also bound to fold their sheep in the cellarer's folds, so that he should have the benefit of the manure. The steward of the Manor of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, in his account for the year 1272 (see Dr. Whitehead's ' Undercliff '), charges himself with d. received for fold- peni, showing that the tenants of that manor had commuted their liability to fold their sheep on the lord's land for a money payment. Jacob's ' Law Dictionary gives the following examples of other small customary payments in various parts of the country : Green silver, a halfpenny paid in the manor of Writtel, Essex, by every tenant whose front door opened to Greenbury. Head silver, sometimes called cert-money, paid by the resiants in some court leets to the lord, and said to be a recompense for his expense in obtaining the grant of a leet and thus saving the resiants from having to attend the sheriff's tourn. In the Manor of Sheepshed, Leicestershire, each tenant paid Id. per poll, which was there called " common fine." Hundred penny was collected by the sheriff or lord of the hundred in onerio sui subsidium. Land gable, mentioned in Domesday as payable in some places, was, according to Spelman, Id. for every house, and was in effect a quit-rent for the land on which the house stood. Mark penny was paid at Maldon by those who had gutters from their houses into the streets. Meal rents were money payments made by the tenants of the honour of Clun in lieu of providing meal as food for the lord's hounds. Plow silver was paid by some tenants in commu- tation of the service of ploughing the lord's lands. Pride gavel was paid in the Manor of Rodeley, Gloucestershire, for the privilege of fishing for lampreys or lamprids in the Severn. Salt silver was Id. paid in some manors at Martinmas (the great time for salting meat for winter consumption) in discharge of the liability to carry the lord's salt from market to his larder. Sheep silver was a payment made instead of discharging the service of washing the lord's sheep. Slough silver was a small payment made