SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY your land and profit as is conceived made by the lord of Stowlangtoft. . . . Besides it is confessed by the foreman of the homage and others that many hold lands within your manor for which they have no evidence to show.' A survey of the same manor in 1627 concludes its summary of property with the words,^" ' Land intruded upon & concealed 316 acres.' To meet the difficulties which arose from the conflict of ancient custom with modern conditions much readjustment was necessary. In a survey of Mendlesham (undated) ^" a contrast is drawn between the ' ancient free rents of assize yearly — whereby ariseth yearly divers reliefs,' and the ' new free rents ' reserved by the lord of the manor and yearly payable for lands and tenements by him sold free, namely, some to the tenants and their heirs for ever, some leased for a thousand years. The sale of portions of the demesne land of Monk Soham"' in 1599 gave the steward an opportunity of breaking it up afresh into such con- venient properties as would find a ready market. The lords of Framlingham abandoned the ancient method by which the revenues of their manor were collected, as part of their service, by the Coliar-holders (who paid a uniform rent of z^d. an acre), and employed a bailiff in their stead."* Lords of the manor began to take stock of their properties with a view to ' reasonable im- provements ' to be effected when the leases fell in. The survey of the Ixworth property {circa 1625) "' gives an insight into the direction in which improvement was expected. All the farms which consist of stocking grounds and inclosures of meadow and pasture are to have their rents raised (^^40— >C5°» >C28— 40, &c.). On the rents of farms consisting largely of arable no advance could be made (i.e. a large farm of 180 acres of arable inclosed and 340 acres in the open field, and 23 acres of meadow to pay as before ^221 IS. 4^/.) A lease of 1 1 acres for ninety-nine years, dating from 23 Henry VIII, will be worth on renewal a rental of ^6 5/. instead of 5J. as heretofore. The value of timber is so high that on one wood alone an in- creased profit of £j per annum (a yield of 6d. per pole on coppice of seven years' growth) is anticipated. The benefit of fairs and markets at Ixworth has doubled in value, and is to be rented at ^5 instead of ^2 ioj. per annum. The popularity with the gentry of fishing (as also of hawking, hunting, fowling, and keeping swans) * which this manor as doth the whole county affordeth most plentifully ' has made it worth while to preserve the fisheries on the river and in the moats and ponds, hitherto neglected, and to ask for them a rent of ^6 6s. Sd. a year. Finally (although at this date the anticipation seems unwarrantable) the profits upon weyves, estreyes, and felons' goods, copyholders and the perquisite of court, estimated at jC^oo, but bringing in nothing, may be made to yield ^50 per annum. The farmers of the forest sheepwalks are alleged to be making undue profits. The farmers sell 150 full grown wethers fornix, jri2, and >ri3 a score, and buy in so many ' tegge' for half the money, which in three or four years will again yield double the price paid for them ; the profit on such sales amounting to j^50 or ^60 a year. The wethers produce 3 lb. of wool apiece, above yy tod in all, at ;^28 the tod, and besides "■ Harl. MS. 98, fol. 368. '" Ibid. 2296, fol. 132. "» Add. MS. 23959, fol. 47. "* MS. Hist, of Framlingham (Add. MS. 33247), fol. 388-91. '" Harl. MS. 98, fol. 118. Date from internal evidence. 667
