ESSEX AS A WINE-PRODUCING COUNTY.
43
Rogerus de Brumf' tenet i messuagium quod aliquando
fuit &c. Fodiet tu' [tantum ?] in vineis dominii ii dolas precium
dole i d., &c.27a
Minister's Accounts, 9-16, Edward II. [1316-1323]. Idem
computat in i homine conducto per 20 dies provinei scindendis
et reparandis, 4s. — d.
Anno 10 [1317.] De exitibus vinee nihil respondet quia
non fuerant uvae hoc anno. Et de 5 d. de herbagio vendito in
eadem vinea sicut continetur ibidem.28
A Latin deed of the Thirteenth Century, now in the Public
Record Office, refers to the leasehold sale of a house, garden, shop,
vineyard, and premises at Colchester.29
In the Thirteenth Century, too, there was, adjoining
Colchester, a piece of land known as Wynescroft, which is thus
alluded to in a deed of the year 1242 witnessed by the Bailiffs of
Colchester and others 30 :—"terra cum pertinentiis que vocatur
Wynescrafte in suburbio Colecestrie, et quicquid in dicta
terra" &c.
In the year 1380, a certain Thomas Deynes was granted, at
a rental of two shillings annually, a piece of ground, for three
stulpes or spores, to carry a certain vine opposite the house of
Clement Dyer, in North Street, Colchester.31
There is still at Colchester a "Vineyard Lane." It runs
for some distance parallel with the outer side of the old town
wall, on the southern aspect. This suggests that vines were
formerly grown here, trained against the sunny side of the town
wall ; but whether this was done by the Romans or (as is more
probable) in later times, by the monks of St. John's Abbey, only
a few hundred yards distant, must here be left in doubt.
27a Free Tenants. John Franceys holds one messuage, and the aforesaid John and all
the other tenants carry hay in the Lord's meadow, and they have twelve flagons of ale or
12d., and shall dig in the vineyard one dole, which contains in length 4 feet and in width
3 perches. Also he shall gather grapes for one day, either himself or another man, and then
he shall have food and drink from the Lord.
Rogers de Brumf holds one messuage . . . and he shall dig also in the vineyard of
the domain two doles at the price of a penny each dole, . . .
28 And the same accounts for the hire of one man for twenty days, for tending and
repairing the vineyard—4s. d.
The tenth year [1317]. Of the issue of the vineyard, he gives no account, because there
were no grapes this year, and of 5d. of herbage sold in the vineyard as contained in the
same.
39. See Hebrew Deeds of English Jews before 1290, edited by M. D. Davis (London, cr.
So , 1888), p. 368.
30 Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Johannis Baptista de Colecestria, edited by S. A.
Moore (London, Roxburgh Club, 2 vols.). I am indebted to Mr. George Rickword, Librarian
of the Public Library at Colchester, for kindly calling my attention to this and other Col-
chester entries.
31 See Harrod's Calendar of Colchester Court Rolls (Colchester, 40 , 1865), p. 24.