The monks of Ely also had several manors in the Fen country, but the holdings in this district seem to have been peculiar. Instead of being 'each of a virgate,' or 'each of a half-virgate,' they are 'each of so many acres,' as was also found to be the case in some districts of Cambridgeshire in the Hundred Rolls. The Fen district seems to have had its own local peculiarities, both in the eleventh and in the fourteenth centuries, just as Kent also had. But here was no exception to the rule that the villani were classed in grades, each grade with equal holdings. «The yard-land the normal holding of the villanus.» These accidental instances in the Domesday Survey in which the required information is given are numerous enough to make it clear that at the date of the Survey the holdings of the villani were generally hides, half-hides, virgates, and half-virgates. The virgate or yard-land was the normal holding, as it was afterwards. And this being so, it may reasonably be [p095] concluded also that the virgates and half-virgates were themselves what they were afterwards--bundles of strips scattered over the open fields, and having some connexion not yet fully explained, but clearly indicated, with the number of oxen allotted to their holders or contributed by them to the manorial plough team of eight oxen. VI. THE HOLDINGS OF THE BORDARII OR COTTIERS. It has already been noticed that in the _Inquisitio Eliensis_ the particulars to be recorded as regards the tenants were-- 1. Quot villani. 2. Quot _cottarii_. 3. Quot servi, &c. And that with few exceptions throughout the Survey the three classes actually found in the Survey were-- 1. Villani. 2. _Bordarii_. 3. Servi. From this fact alone it would not be wrong to conclude that to a great extent the words _bordarii_ and _cottarii_ were interchangeable. This inference gains much weight from the fact that a great many bordarii as well as cottarii are found even in the _Inquisitio Eliensis_ itself. The facts, however, when collected together are somewhat [p096] curious, as a reference to the note below will show.[119] «Cottiers and bordarii very much alike.» In a few cases there are both bordarii and cottarii mentioned, which would lead to the conclusion that they were distinct classes. But in most cases there are either one or the other of the two classes mentioned, but not both. Examining their holdings there seems to be no difference between them. There are bordarii holding so many acres each, generally _five_, but varying sometimes from one to ten. There are cottarii with all these variations of holdings. There are 'bordarii with their gardens,' and there are likewise 'cottarii with their gardens.' There are both bordarii and cottarii who, as their holdings are not described at all, may, for anything we know, have held cottages only, and no land or gardens.