The history of the manors can be pretty fully traced by means of the Court rolls, from 1649, when a Parliamentary survey was held, to the present day. In 1649 Stratton had one copyhold tenant holding a place and a-half, four holding one place each, and ten holding half a place each, making 10½ “places” or “livings” altogether. There were, besides, 12 copyholders who each held a “customary cottage with thappurtenances.” During the next two hundred years (from 1649 to 1838) the number of “livings” diminished from 10½ to 9; the actual number of holders of livings or half-livings diminished only from 15 to 14; but the twelve “customary cottages with thappurtenances,” which included one or two acres of arable land and corresponding common rights, diminished to five “cotes.” The other cottagers, however, retained the right of cutting as much furze on certain “sleights” on the down, at any one time, as they could carry home on their head and shoulders; and the total number of cottagers was just two less in 1838 than in 1649. The Court rolls contain, besides declarations of rights of the manor to water from the stream, and to the allegiance of certain residents outside, and a record of the changes in the tenantry, the names of the officers elected, and regulations agreed upon for the management of the land. Thus, there is usually some regulation as to the length of the rope by which a horse may be tethered in the common fields; mares are continually being prohibited from being kept in common or common field; pigs must not be allowed to stray; cow dung must not be removed from the meadow, nor certain thorny bushes in the meadow be cut, nor may ducks or geese be fed in it. The penalty for each of these offences is a fine of 5_s._ or 10_s._ The neglect to carry water up to the down for the sheep is another punishable offence. In 1748 it was found that the sheep pond needed to be mended; the viewers accordingly had to see to its repair, and penalties were agreed upon for refusing to pay the proper share of the cost. Previous to 1765 the dates for, _e.g._, turning cows into the meadow or sheep into the “hatching ground” varied from year to year; but the settlement then arrived at was maintained for a succession of years. The jury “PRESENT that the Common Meadow be broke with horses on November 22nd,[6] that it be laid up on January 5th and continue unfed till February 5th, then be broke and fed with sheep. “That the Hatching Ground be laid up on January 5th, and not be fed again till September 19th. “That the Cow leaze must not be fed with sheep in time of sheep shearing, nor with horses or mares at winnowing time.” [6] At this time the Court met in October.