NOTES.
91
England seems to have been very general during the middle ages, and to have
ceased only when the superior quality of the foreign wine and the great facilities of
its importation rendered it useless to maintain the English vineyard. In "Domes-
day "we are told that they were at Haingheham (Castle Hedingham) 'vi arpenne
vinearum.' This vineyard was situated on the west side of the castle, on the slope
between it and Baylie Street and close to the present gardener's cottage ; Morant
tells that in his time there were wild vines bearing red grapes growing there. The
'Arpendium,'or arpen, was a French measure of land, which seems to have been
in France principally, and with us exclusively, applied to vineyards ; its exact size is
uncertain, but it probably contained about half an acre. In Great Maplestead we
find mention of a vineyard in 1252, when John de Hoding granted to Sarah de
Martnall, and Isabella her daughter, all his lands in Mapletrested which he had of
his nephew Ralph de Hoding, viz. the third part of two carucates of arable, an
alder ground called 'le Rede Fen' with a mill below it, and a vineyard. This
vineyard was probably situated on the slope of the hills above Hull's Mill in Great
Maplestead. The neighbouring parish of Little Maplestead also had a vineyard,
for in a deed without a date, of the time of Edward I., Robert de Harlow, of
Little Maplestead, quitclaims to the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem living
at Little Maplestead Hall, or as it was then called 'Le Hospital,' the annual rent
of twelve pence arising from a parcel of land in Hokholt near their vineyard.
It would be easy, no doubt, to collect many more notices of Essex vineyards, for it
is probable that few of the monasteries and castles were unprovided with them,
as is shown by the name of vineyard being still given to fields near their ruined
sites, and the vineyards being often marked on the early maps and plans." We
shall be very glad to receive further information on this subject.
Roman Road into Essex.—Our Librarian, Mr. A. P. Wire, lately inserted
the following query in several of the antiquarian magazines :—" Defoe in his 'Tour
Through the whole Island of Great Britian' (1722?), says (vol. i, 2nd Edit., 1738,
p. 4): —'There seems to be lately found out, in the bottom of the Marshes (gener-
ally called Hackney-Marsh, and beginning near about the Place now called the Wyck,
between Old-Ford and the said Wyck), the remains of a great stone-causeway,
which is supposed to have been the highway, or Great Road from London to Essex-,
and the same which now goes over the Great Bridge between Bow and Stratford.'
Can any of your readers say what authority Defoe had for this statement, and where
an account of this discovery may be seen ? "To this enquiry Mr. H. F. Napper replies
as follows in the "East Anglian," (4th September, vol. iii, N.S., p. 152) :—"It
appears to me very clear that the piece of road in question is a portion of one of the
several great military roads leading from Colchester to different parts of the country.
This particular road may be laid down as follows ;—From Colchester (Colonia) to
Kelvedon (Ad Ansam), Witham, Chelmsford, Widford (Caesaromagus), Stratford,
Old Ford, Old Street, Oxford Street, Brentford, Staines (Poules), and so on to other
stations westward. Iter V. of Antoninus from Londinium joins this road before it
reaches Widford ; but then Londinium was on the south side of the Thames, now
called Southwark and Bermondsey, and Dr. Pentinger's map (I am told) shows a
crossing of the river between Londinium and Colonia. The Watling Street ran
through or past Long Dinas, a town of the Cantii, and crossed the river at West-
minster, and onward by the Edgware Road to St. Alban's; but when Londinium
Augusta was afterwards founded on the north side, the Watling Street was turned
(over the river) into and through the new city, to join the way again before it reached
St. Alban's. Defoe had, no doubt, very good reason for saying that a Roman road
ran through Hackney Marshes; and I have read somewhere a description of the
road found outside the City Walls, about Hoxton and Bethnal Green."
Registration and Preservation of Ancient Monuments and Antiquities,
—A Conference of the leading county Archaeological Societies was held in the
rooms of the Society of Antiquaries, at Burlington House, on July 17th last,
upwards of forty representatives being present. Dr. John Evans, President of the
Society of Antiquaries, was in the chair. The first subject for discussion was the
formation of county archaeological maps, on the plan already accomplished by Mr.
Payne for Kent; and the following resolution, proposed by the Rev. Dr. Cox, and
seconded by Mr. Ralph Neville, was unanimously carried :—"That each local
H 2