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 A HISTORY OF RUTLAND and at Barrow 4^/.^^ On account of this general fertility there was probably much prosperity among the inhabitants of Rutland, and it is not surprising to read that large portions of the demesne land at Oakham, Langham, and Egleton were farmed by the neifs or bond tenants." As they also farmed meadows, pasture, fisheries (the moat round Oakham Castle being one of these), and the mills, it is not unlikely that they farmed in conjunction with the free tenants the tolls and profits of the market and fair. In a more important trade centre these might have been farmed by a gild merchant. Oakham was in reality only a large village with the messuages and cottages clustering round the central manor-house or castle. The following descrip- tion of the latter was given in 1340 : — ' At Oakham is a certain castle well walled, and in that castle are a hall, four rooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a stable, a barn for hay, a house for prisoners (the state prison for the county), a room for the porter, a drawbridge with iron chains, and the castle contains within its walls 2 acres of ground. . . . Outside the castle is a garden, which is worth with the fruit and herbage Ss., and also a vivarium and a moat worth per year 3J. 4^.' '* Evidently the busy part of the little town was just outside the castle moat, where during the reign of Edward III there seems to have been a considerable demand for sites for workshops, the usual size of these being 40 ft. long and 18 ft. broad, and the rent 4^. per annum." We also read of sites being let in the ' Bayllie ' and of houses near the bridge and on the castle ' dych.' The records at our disposal do not give much information as to the price of hired labour before the year i 349, but the money value of the day's work expected from bond tenants is frequently mentioned. For example, in Greetham in 13 15, a day's ploughing, harrowing, weeding or tossing hay, was worth ^^., while reaping was valued at 1^.,*° the autumn services being always worth double those of the rest of the year. These sums sound small, but it is necessary to remember that the purchasing power of money was high at that period. Thus in 1300 horses were sold at Ss. and 12s., geese and capons at 3^., and oxen at about jTi." The 'Black Death,' which occurred in England in 1348-9, has sometimes been considered the direct cause of the rise of wages during the 14th century, but there is ample evidence to show that the price of labour had risen before that date. This was undoubtedly due to the famines and lesser plagues which according to the chroniclers ravaged the whole country at intervals during the first half of the century. As an illustration of this rise we quote from a document of the year 1331,'' where we find that the value of a day's sowing was i^., a day's reaping 3^/., and a day's ploughing 8^., this latter being the work of four men at 2d. per day. With regard to the Black Death itself very few details concerning Rutland can be quoted, but probably the following case was typical of many others : [at Whissendine] ' i 5 virgates of land. . . are now worth nothing, because all the tenants of the same are dead, but each virgate used to be " Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. II, file 47, no. 49. " Mins. Accts. bdle. 964, no. 2, m. 1 and 2 ; also ibid. no. 4. " Inq. p.m. 14 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 6j. " Mins. Accts. bdle. 964, nos. 2 and 4. '» Inq. p.m. 9 Edw. II, file 48, no. 6. " Westm. Abbey, Rut. Doc. Mins. Accts. 20228 and 20230. 218
 * ' Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. Ill (2nd nos.), no. 103.