s~==s.v1.DEc. 15.1900-1 NOTES AND QUERIES. 461 LONDON, SA TURDA Y, DECEMBER 15, 1900. CONTE NTS. -No. 155. N OTBS :- English and Roman Land Measures, 461 - °‘Reochelees," 463 - Shakespeare’s Books, 464 -Sir R. Holloway - The ‘ D.N.B.’ - Parallel Passages, 466-Two Church Brasses- Olympias and Kisagotami, 467. QUERIBS :-Passage in Chaucer-Webb Family-" Mumble a sparrow"-R. Cosway -Papers of Hudson Gurney- Troy Weight for Bread -Japanese Folk-lore-Montague- Thackeray's °Bouillabaisse,' 468-Goethe Quotation- Loyola and Thucydldes-Henry of Wichenton-Stewart of Athenry - Latin Motto - Comte de Beaumanolr - Bt. Hugh's Day-Verses Wanted-‘Go to the Devil and shake yourself,' 469-Petition to Parliament-‘ Masterman Ready ’-“Combination ” -Pitman-Dr. J. M. Nooth- “ Frabbed "-“To palmer," 470. BEPLIES :-Title of Esquire, 470-The Bellman, 471- Vanlshlng London-Major Burrington, 472-“Like one o'clock"-Parrot in ‘Hudlbras,’ 473-Godfrey-Latin Lines- ‘Shakespeare’s Greenwood’-Julius Caesar- Author’s Errors ln ‘Lothair,' 474-Ancient Carthuslan Honasteries - “Max” for Gi 475 - "B " n, issona - “’Sdeyns"-Language to conceal Thought, 476-Ten Whelps-Healing Stone-Unclaimed Poem by Jonson- “Now thus,” 477-Columbaria, 478-Lines attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots-Whitglft’s Hospital, Croydon- Mlss Trefusis-Delagos and Algoa, 479. NOTES ON BOOKS :-Qulller-Couch’s ‘Oxford Book of English Verse '-Lee's ‘ Shakespeare's Life and Work'- Scott's ‘ Studies in Fossil Botany ’-Cotgreave’s ‘ Contents- Bubject Index/ Notices to Correspondents. Bain. ENGLISH AND ROMAN LAND MEASURES. (Concluded from p. 383.) I HAVE now to complete the evidence which shows that the English, as well as the Roman, measures of area were multiples or ali uot parts of a space containing 240 square (feet, such space having original y been the super- ficial content of a bay of building. I need not repeat what I have said else- where* about the division of peasants’ houses and rural buildings into bays, or about the bay as a unit o measurement. It is im- rtant, however, to notice that there were liglf-ba s as well as whole bays. Sir Gyeorge R. Sitwell has kindly sent me an extract from accounts relating to his estate at Renishaw, from which it appears that in 1731 the Nether Fold contained 25§ bays. A survey of lands belonging to the manor of Sheffield, dated 1611 mentions a corn barn of 4§ bays. In 1592 John Brome- head died seised of a bay and a half of a barn at the south end of such barn in Nether Bradfield, near Sheflield, and it was found ' ‘ Evolution of the English House.’ ghat E/illiam Bromehead was his brother and eir. There was no difference, in size or con- struction, between the bays of a barn and those of an oxhouse or peasant’s dwelling- house; indeed, those buildings were often under the same roof, forming a continuous series of uniform bays. By comparing the sizes of bays in existilntg rural buildings with evidence in old reco s and books, we are enabled to see that the normal English bay was a space of 15 feet by 16 feet, or 240 square feet. In the work gust mentioned I have shown that the normal ength of the English bay was 16 feet, and I have found bays of 16 feet by 15 feet in old buildings. A statement b Cotgrave in his ‘ Dictionarie of the Frencf’ and Eng- lish Tongues# first published in 1611, is valuable as giving the size of the bay in France, and as treating the bay as a known uantity or unit. Under the word travée he defines “a bay of building” as “ the space, and length, betweene the maine beames of a roome; or betweene two beames, or the two walls thereof ; in breadth about twelue foot, in length betweene nineteene and twentie.’ A space of 12 feet by 20 feet is 240 square feet, and this is mere y the bay of 15 feet by 16 feet thrown into another shape. A bay of 12 feet by 191) feet would be 234 square feet. When we s of an acre and a half or an ounce an a half, we assume that the acre and the ounce are known quantities. And so when old surveyors speak of a bay and a half, we may, on this ground alone, resume that the bay was a known quantity, For the surveyors do not speak of half a room or half a chamber. It is recorded in ‘Boldon Book’ in 1183 that all the 'villani in Auklandshire had to make the bishop’s hall in the forest 60 feet in length, and 16 feet in breadth within the posts (infra. postes), with a buttery and a sgence, a chamber and a latri1uz.,° moreover, t e had to make a chapel 40 feet in length andy 15 feet in breadth.+ The bishogs hall therefore contained pre- cisely four ays of 240 square feet each, or the double of the actus simple.1:. And the chapel contained precisely two and a half
- The material words are: “De et in una baia
et dimidio unius baiaz horrei in australi fine eiusdem horrei” (Sheffield Court Rolls, in the custody of the Duke of Norfolk). 1' ‘ Boldon Book’ (Surtees Societiy), p. %. These measurements are confirmed gg ‘ ishop Hatfield’s Surve&)’ (Surtees Society), p. . See also pp. 173, 185, 1 _ This survey was compiled between the years 1345 and 1381.
