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 A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE Church,' and it should have returned to the Church after his death. It was seized nevertheless by Edward of Salisbury. At Therfield ./Elfric the priest had held land ' under the abbot of Ramsey without power to sell except by permission of the abbot' (fo. 141^). This may not have been a case of holding under a lease, but it is clearly implied that the land should not have passed, as it did, into the hands of Hardwin d'Eschalers. The wealth of the county at the time of Domesday was almost wholly derived from its rural manors. First in importance, as contri- buting to that wealth, was the plough with its team of 8 oxen ; then came the water-meadows that provided hay for the oxen, the ' pasture ' that afforded feed for the live stock of lord and peasant, the woodland in which were fattened vast herds of swine, the fisheries, as they were termed, which paid a rent in eels, and the water-mills to which the peasants took their corn to be ground. Hertfordshire was notably free from what Domesday terms ' waste,' that is from traces of ravage in which manors had been spoiled of their stock and land thrown out of cultivation. On the other hand, we may note a general decrease in the values assigned to the manors in 1086 as compared with that which is assigned to them under Edward the Confessor. Those, for instance, of the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Winchester, the first two tenants-in-chief (fo. 133), work out in aggregate as follows T.R.E. 3 s - T> ' When received ' Li 13*- z d - In 1086 Here we have a sharp drop due to the struggles of the Conquest and a partial recovery at the time of the Survey. This is much as might be expected, and is very frequent in Domesday ; but what is remarkable in Hertfordshire is that, in the place of recovery, we have sometimes a further diminution in value. Here are some typical manors, each from a different fief Manors T.R.E. 'When received' In 1086 Great Berkhampstead .....' Brausrhinf?

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20 16 ' 16 16 8 7 6 Flamstead 12 Q 1 1 18 12 14. 10 Vestone 70 2S 20 12 e 10 2"> 2O 22 Bennington 14- 6 12 Walkern 16 8 IO Broxbourne 7 } 4 These instances illustrate sufficiently the damage which the troubles of the Conquest inflicted on the shire's prosperity, the slowness with which 292