There is a general characteristic of the numerous Saxon charters of all periods, which, when carefully considered, can hardly have any other explanation than the fact that the holdings were composed not of contiguous blocks of land, but of scattered strips. «The boundaries were of whole manors,» It is this--that whatever be the subject of the grant made by the charter, _i.e._ whether it be a whole manor or township that is granted, or only some of the holdings in it, the boundaries appended are the boundaries of the _whole_ manor or township. No doubt the royal gifts to the monastic houses generally [p112] did consist of whole manors, and thus the boundaries in most cases naturally were the boundaries of the whole, and could not be otherwise. But it was not always so. Thus, among the Abingdon charters there are two of Edward the Martyr, one of vii. hides (cassatos), in 'Cingestune,' and another of xiii. 'mansas' in 'Cyngestun,' one to the Church of St. Mary at Abingdon, the other to a person named _Ælfstan_;[135] and to both charters are appended _the same boundaries_ in substantially the same words. And these are the boundaries of the _whole township_.[136] There can hardly be any other explanation of this peculiarity than the fact that the holdings were not blocks of land, the boundaries of which could be easily given, but, in fact, like the hides and virgates after the Conquest, bundles of strips scattered over the open fields, and intermixed with strips belonging to other holdings. Indeed, there is in a charter of King Ethelred (A.D. 982) among the Abingdon series relating to five hides at '_Cheorletun_,' a direct confession of the reason why in this case all boundaries are omitted. Instead of the usual boundaries of the whole township there is the statement that the estate is 'the less distinctly defined by boundaries, _quia jugera altrinsecus copulata adjacent_'--because the acres are intermixed.[137] «of which they were shares.» On the hypothesis already suggested that the hides, half-hides, virgates, and bovates were the shares in the results of the ploughing of the village plough [p113] teams--in other words, the number of strips allotted to each holder in respect of the oxen contributed by him to the plough team of eight oxen--it is perfectly natural that in a grant of _some_ only of the holdings the boundaries given should be those of the whole township, viz. of the whole area, an intermixed share in which constituted the holding. «Other evidence.» There is another fact, which has, perhaps, never yet been explained, but which is nevertheless perfectly intelligible on the same hypothesis.