houses with just sufficient land to maintain. a single family, were called cassamanni. These who held small cottages and slips of land on condition of ploughing, harrowing, mowing, and reaping in the lord's demesne, or providing fuel for the hall, were denominated cottarij or nativi; and such persons as bound themselves to servitude by agreement, were called bondi. Small cottagers or burgesses, who had some small portions of land attached to their burgage, were called toftmanni, holders of toft (from tofta, a small grove), which was less than an acre, and generally the fourth part of one. It appears from William of Malmsbury, every tenth hyde of land (a hyde was generally one hundred acres) was reserved for the purpose of clothing and feeding the destitute poor. A socmanni was not permitted to allow his daughter to be married without paying a fine to the lord, neither were they permitted to make their sons clergymen or monks, or on any account suffered to sell or alienate their tenements. The fine payable to the lord for permission to allow a bondsman's daughter to be married, was one cow, or in lieu of it six shillings. The socmanni held their small tenements at the sole will of the lord, being the service of villanage, which disabled them from departing out of the lord's domains without his consent. Each of the socmanni was bound within a certain period to appear before his lord unarmed, bareheaded and falling down upon his knees, took the oath of fealty for soccage
tenure, as follows:
" Hear me my Lord, I will bear faith and loyalty to you for the lands I hold of you, and I will justly performe the customes which I ought to do to you at times appointed. So help me God, and his Holy Angels."

These customs prevailed only in manors and lordships, therefore it is most probable the only places where they were put in practice within this district would be in the limits of Chadderton, Werneth, and Glodwick. The greater part of the holders and sub--

16