DOMESDAY SURVEY entry alone we should learn nothing of the connexion, whatever its nature, which existed between Thistleton and South Witham.^' Burley, folio 293^ (Rutland) Burley, folio 355^ (Lincolnshire) M. — In BuRGELAi habuit Ulf ii camcatas M. — In Burgelai habuit Ulf ii carucatas terrae ad geldum. Terra vii carucis. Ibi Gois- terrae ad geldum. Terra vii carucis. Ibi habet frid homo Gilberti de Gand habet ii carucas Goisfrid homo Gisleberti ii carucas 7 xxx villanos 1 xxx villanos 7 viii bordarios habentes iii carucas 7 vii bordarios cum iiii carucas 7 xxx acras prati. 7 xxx acras prati. Silva per loca pastilis i leuca Silvae i leuca longitudine 7 iii quarentenae latitu- longitudine 7 iii quarentenae latitudine. T.R.E. dine. T.R.E. valuit iiii libras, modo c solidos. valuit iiii libras, modo c solidos. Ulf, the pre-Conquest owner of Burley, was no doubt identical with the Ulf who had preceded Gilbert de Gand in his great manor of Folkingham, Lincolnshire, and with the Ulf ' fenisc ' who was Gilbert's ' antecessor ' in this and many other counties. The chief point, however, which arises out of this pair of entries is the discrepancy between their respective figures relating to the bordars and the villeins' teams, Rutland giving 8 bordars and 3 teams, as against the 7 bordars, 4 teams recorded in the Lincolnshire entry. No external evidence being available, it is not possible to check either statement. Ashwell, folio 293^ (Rutland) Ashwell, folio 349^ (Lincolnshire) M. — In ExwELLE habuit comes Harold ii caru- M. — In Exewelle habuit comes Harold ii catas terrae ad geldum. Terra vi carucis. Ibi carucatas terrae ad geldum. Terra ad vi caru- Gozelin homo comitis Hugonis habet ii carucas cas. Ibi Gozelin homo comitis Hugonis habet 7 xiii villanos 7 iii bordarios habentes v carucas ii carucas 7 xiii villanos 7 ii bordarios habentes v 7 xvi acras prati. T.R.E. valuit c solidos, modo carucas 7 xvi acras prati. T.R.E. valuit c solidos, vi libras. modo vi libras. Here, as in the previous entry, discrepant figures are given for the bordars on the manor. In view of the similar facts which have resulted from our comparison of the Rutland and Lincolnshire surveys in relation to other manors, we seem justified in claiming that a considerable margin of error should be allowed for before any theory involving an extensive employment of Domesday statistics is held disproved, and we may also gather from this series of parallel entries that the precise formulae into which the statements furnished by the original returns should be cast were left in great measure to the discretion of the individual scribes who compiled Domesday Book. No one would claim infallibility for Domesday Book, the production of foreign scribes working against time on unfamiliar materials ; it is the peculiar value of the evidence just brought forward that it gives us some measure of the degree of accuracy with which the great undertaking was carried into effect. Of the twelve estates which are described under Alstoe Wapentake on folio 2931^, eight are duplicated in the Lincolnshire Domesday. The remain- ing four include the king's land in Greetham and Cottesmore, Robert Malet's manor of Teigh, and the lost vill of ' Alestanestorp.' The last-named estate presents especial difficulties to the topographer, for while the vill itself has " This connexion presents a serious difficulty, for although the land in Thistleton is definitely stated to be a ' manor,' we are also told that it was sokeland belonging to South Witham. It would be difficult to give another instance from the Danelaw of a manor which at the same time is described as sokeland of another manor. It may also be noted that Alfred of Lincoln possessed sokeland rated at i carucate, and Godfrey de Cambrai a manor of i^ carucates in this vill, both of which estates lay in Lincolnshire. Godfrey's manor was held of him by ' Gleu,' the tenant of Alfred of Lincoln on the estate which we are considering.
