6. The hide, the 'hof,' and the 'centuria' 395 7. The gafol and gafol-yrth 399 8. The boon-work and week-work of the serf 403 9. The creation of serfs and the growth of serfdom 405 10. The confusion in the status of the tenants on English and German manors 407 11. Result of the comparison 409 CHAPTER XI. RESULT OF THE EVIDENCE. 1. The method of the English settlements 412 2. Local evidence of continuity between Roman and English villages 424 3. Conclusion 437 APPENDIX 443 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 455 LIST OF MAPS AND PLATES. facing page 1. MAP OF HITCHIN TOWNSHIP, &C. _title-page_ 2. MAP OF PART OF PURWELL FIELD 2 3. SKETCH OF 'LINCES' 5 4. HITCHIN, PURWELL FIELD 6 5. A NORMAL VIRGATE OR YARD-LAND 26 6. DOMESDAY SURVEY, DISTRIBUTION OF SOCHMANNI, LIBERI HOMINES, SERVI, BORDARII, AND VILLANI 85 7. MANOR OF TIDENHAM, &C. 148 8. GROUP OF PUTTCHERS ON THE SEVERN NEAR TIDENHAM 152 9. MAPS OF AN IRISH 'BALLY' AND 'HALF-BALLY' 224 10. EXAMPLES OF DIVISIONS IN A TOWNLAND 228 11. DISTRIBUTION IN EUROPE OF LOCAL NAMES ENDING IN 'HEIM,' 'INGEN,' &C. 256 12. MAP OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HITCHIN 426 13. MAP OF THE PARISH OF MUCH WYMONDLEY AND ROMAN HOLDING 432 14. ROMAN POTTERY FOUND ON DITTO 434 [p001] THE ENGLISH VILLAGE COMMUNITY. CHAPTER I. _THE ENGLISH OPEN FIELD SYSTEM EXAMINED IN ITS MODERN REMAINS._ I. THE DISTINCTIVE MARKS OF THE OPEN FIELD SYSTEM. The distinctive marks of the open or common field system once prevalent in England will be most easily learned by the study of an example. «Open fields of Hitchin Manor.» The township of Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, will answer the purpose. From the time of Edward the Confessor--and probably from much earlier times--with intervals of private ownership, it has been a royal manor.[1] And the Queen being still the lady of the manor, the remains of its open fields have never been swept away by the ruthless broom of an Enclosure Act. Annexed is a reduced tracing of a map of the [p002] township without the hamlets, made about the year 1816, and showing all the divisions into which its fields wore then cut up.