must be considered without, has been attempted by computing the apparently
separate tenements drawn on the maps. The statistics of 1801 being compared
with Faden's map of 1789, and those of 188 1 with the new Ordnance Survey. Of
course in such matters absolute accuracy is impossible, since in Faden's maps the
houses are drawn in blocks, and even in the new Ordnance Survey it is impossible to
be sure of what constitutes a house. In respect to the partitioning out of the
population, that has been based on the houses, the ratio in the two divisions being
kept similar to that of the general ratio in the whole parish.
'^ Bearing in mind the difficulty which has been pomted out in the previous note,
as to differentiating in border parishes between those houses which should be reckoned
within the walls and those which lie without, it may be useful, in order to show the
fluctuation which has taken place, to give one or two examples from parishes wholly
within the wall. In All Saints' parish the 88 tenements of 1801 had, in 1851,
fallen to 84, in 1861 they rose to 91, in 1S71 they fell to 69, and in 1881 decreased
to 65. S. Martin's parish shows a tolerably steady decrease in the houses during
the nine decades, according to the census, at the following rate, 76, 67, 76, 62, 66,
68, 60, 52, and 47 at which they stood in 188 1. S. Mary's has remained, on the
whole, tolerably stationary, the 57 houses of 1801 being represented by 53 in 1881.
The parish of S. John, with 21 houses in 1801, was practically stationary to 1861,
when there were 22 houses, but in 1871 there were 31, and in 188 1, 34 houses.
All the parishes wholly without the wall show in the same series a considerable
increase, and, with scarcely an exception, the increase has been uniformly gradual
and at an increasing rate. Notably S. Giles', the increase of which is shown by the
following series, beginning in 1801, i.e. 184, 256, 294, 509, 620, 860, 964, 1147,
and 1602 in 1881.
232 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.
It is, however, the area comprised within the old enceinte of the
city with which we have to deah The area of the city in 1086 could
not have been more extensive than that within the line of the city
wall of the middle ages, and of this the remains are easily to be
traced ; for all practical purposes it may be considered to be identical
with it^
In the middle of the eleventh century, when Oxford had probably
arrived at the zenith of its early prosperity, and before the disastrous
incursion of 1065, we find there was a total of 721 houses, and though
the expression is used, tarn intra murum quam extra, there is no reason
to suppose that many of the houses were then outside ; a few perhaps
clustered round the north and east gates, and several perhaps lay
between the south gate and the river in S. Aldate's parish, and there
were some perhaps in the Manor of Holywell. If we allow that 7 1 of
these were outside, we have, in comparing 1065 with 1881, area for
area, only to compare 650 then with the 700 now; but we must take
into account that there was a great difference in their character. Most
buildings, no doubt, were but of four low walls and a roof; the better
sort of but one storey, i.e. they consisted of the ' celar' and the ' solar,'
for such is the ordinary description throughout all the documents
relating to leases which we possess of the following century. But
although the customs of the time with regard to the privacy, and even
existence of sleeping apartments were different from those of our own,
and even in well-to-do families the domestic arrangements would have
astonished even our artizans at the present day, it is impossible to
assign more than four persons on the average to houses such as these.
But then, as the record tells us, 478 of them were vastae, and in all
probability amongst these there were many which could scarcely be
estimated more than as huts and hovels, and for these the figure four
would be much over the mark.
It is a misfortune that we have but little corroborative evidence of the
number of houses and the population at different periods. The Hundred
Rolls ought to help us, but they, like the Domesday Survey, are made
with a purpose, and though probably a fair estimate of the population
and the number of tenants were before the commissioners, they have
not recorded it. Faden's map in 1789 represents the houses in blocks,
and it is impossible to count the several tenements, but on comparing
with this map that of Loggan, made a little more than a century
previously (1673), we find to all appearance the number of houses still
' See the map. Also ztepost, p. 237, as to the relation of the line of 10S7 with
that of the mediaeval wall.
DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMESDA V SURVE Y. 233
less. It is not easy to count them, nor perhaps could the accuracy
of the map be depended upon sufficiently in this respect ; but on the
whole, a comparison points to about 700 at this date being the
number of houses within the city walls. If, however, we go back to
Agas' map of 1578, we shall find it difficult to count more than 450
houses within the city wall. The small number however shown on this
map is due no doubt in part to artistic considerations ; for as Agas has
omitted all the houses on the south side of Broad Street, in order to
bring into prominence the line of the city wall which existed behind
them, so we may venture to think he has omitted several within the
line of the city boundary whenever they interfered with the view.
Probably also many small tenements may have been omitted by
accident, as again several which appear as if they were single houses
may have consisted of two or more beneath a single line of roof.
Still, allowing for all this, there is reason to think that the houses within
the area had probably reached their minimum early in Elizabeth's
reign, since many colleges had been erected during the three previous
centuries, and we know that throughout the middle ages every college
that was founded swallowed up very many separate tenements.
On the whole, then, if we assign a thousand occupants to the 243
houses paying tax at the time of the Survey — that is, a rate of full four
persons per house, we are probably overstating rather than understating
the number ; of these most were residents within the city fortifications,
and some few were occupying tenements outside. This number of
course would be exclusive of the garrison, who would be housed wholly
within the Castle precincts.
That, besides the 245 houses, there were 478 empty or destroyed, is
certainly a very striking fact, and even allowing for certain deductions,
it brings vividly before us a picture of the devastation which the country
had undergone. The circumstances attending this misfortune have
already been referred to ^, but as Oxford does not stand alone it may
be worth while to consider those attending some other towns, where
many of the houses are returned in Domesday as vastae.
York, which played a more prominent part in the disturbances which
preceded the Conquest, was in a far worse state even than Oxford.
The record in Domesday runs —
' Of all the above-named mansions there are only 391 in the hands
of the King, which are let to tenants and paying customary dues,
and 400 which are not let and which pay the better ones a penny,
* See ante, p. 200.
334 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.
others less, and 540 mansions so void {â– vacuae) that they pay nothing at
all, and 145 mansions are held by Frenchmen {frandgenae) ^.
But then York suffered the brunt of the insurrection when Tostig
was expelled, besides the siege of William in 1068.
Northampton does not seem to have suffered like Oxford. Possibly
the town was better protected, and the mob was not allowed to pass
within the gates ; possibly also there may have been other causes
which prompted them suddenly to rush on to Oxford instead of stop-
ping to devastate Northampton. Out of 292 houses, which are entered
much after the same manner as those in the Oxford Survey, only
thirty-six are void. Again, Exeter, which stood a siege, duly recorded ^
seems to have suffered very slightly, for out of 285 there are only
forty-eight returned as ' devastated, after the king came into England ^.'
In several boroughs, however, a large proportion of the houses are
returned as vastae and the like; e.g. at Dorchester, out of a total of
188, there were 100 penitus destructae; at Bridport, out of 120, there
were 20 iia destiiiUae that they cannot pay. At Wareham, out of 285,
there were 150 vastae; and at Shaftesbury, out of a total of 257, there
were 80 vastae. All these are in Dorset*. They do not quite reach
the Oxford proportion, which is 66 per cent. ; but Dorchester and
Wareham come very near to it, each with over 52 per cent.
Various causes however are assigned for the description of vastae in
the pages of Domesday. There were many so returned, for instance,
at Lincoln at the time of the Survey, and in this case the commis-
sioners explain the cause thus : —
' Of the aforesaid mansions which were hospitatae there are now . . .
240 -vastae. ... Of the aforesaid mansions which are njastae, 166 were
destroyed on account of [building] the castle. The remaining 74,
rendered 'vastae, are without the bounds of the castle, and are so, not
because of the oppression of the King's Sheriffs and Servants, but be-
cause of misfortune and poverty, and ravage by fire {propter infortunium
paupertatem et ignis exustionem) ^.'
^ Domesday, fol. 298 a, col. i. Here vacuae is evidently used as synonymous
vi\\h.vastae. Of the total 1331 it would seem that only 391 were in good condition.
On what grounds the 145 additional houses which were held by Frenchmen were
excused from paying any tax, cannot be well explained.
^ See ante, pp. 196-8.
3 Domesday Survey, fol. 100 a, col. 2. The mode of reference to the siege is
certainly ingenious ; while the two circumstances, namely the slight effect of an
important siege, recorded by all the historians, and the fact that the result is duly
entered in the Survey, tell against the theory that the niansiones vastae in Oxford
are attributable to William besieging the town.
* Domesday, fol. 75 a, col. i.
^ This extract shows clearly that vastae does not mean necessarily that all the
DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMES DA Y SURVE V. 235
In Gloucester 16 houses are recorded to have stood where the
Castle stands, and 14 to be vastae, but the total of the houses is not
given. At Huntingdon 2 1 appear to have been returned 2^'~,vastae because
they ' occupied the place where the Castle stood, and besides these there
were 112 vastae for which the reasons are not given ; neither is it
possible to calculate the total number paying geld.' At Cambridge
the numbers, when added together in the ten different wards, amount to
a total of 371, of which 55 are returned as vastae, and apparently 27
had been destroyed for the Castle, besides several others which appear
from various causes not to have paid rent.
In Wallingford again, where the term haga is used instead o^mansio, it
seems that in the time of King Edward there were 276 hagae, but at the
time of the Survey there were 1 3 less ; that is, 8 were destroyed for the
Castle, and the remaining 7, it seems, had been appropriated rent and
tax free, i. e. one for the Moneyer ' as long as he coins money,' and
' Saulf of Oxford ' had one, but we are not told why. They are not
actually returned as vastae, but it will be observed those which were
freed from customary dues are put in the same category as those which
were destroyed to make way for the extension of the castle, and those
so destroyed are at Lincoln returned as vastae. Such illustrations go
far to show that we must take vastae in a very wide sense ; yet though
we do so, we must not overlook that in the case of Oxford the numbers
are very great and that the term destrudae is used as well.
Although in the summary the word domus is used for the house,
throughout the detailed list it will be observed the word viansio is used,
with only four exceptions. It would appear, from comparing the
entries in other parts of the Survey, that the use of these special terms
is purely arbitrary, and that practically the same thing is meant. It is
possible that the ' mansio ' in the view of the compiler had a slightly
different signification from that of the domus ^, just as the word mansion
has at the present time, and that most of the mansiones stood detached
houses so returned were standing in ruins, but that besides several being void of
tenants, the houses had decreased by so many since the return in King Edward's
Time; the site of 166 houses returned 7^% vastae had been occupied by the castle, and
the word therefore could not mean ruinous buildings, unless indeed, just when the
Survey was being taken these houses were one and all in the process of demo-
lition, which is, on many grounds, improbable; in other words, it may be said
that the houses in ruins, etc., and those which had disappeared altogether, were
classed in one category.
^ Kelham, in his Domesday Illtistrated, p. 267, says that ' mattsio and domus
seem to be distinguished, but wherein the difference consisted is not easy to say.
Ellis observes, that ' in a few entries of the Survey mansiones seem to imply
houses simply,' and quotes from Bracton on the distinction of the mansio from the
336 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.
and in their own plot of ground, whereas do?ni might be joined together
and possibly in rare exceptions without any garden or private land
attached; still the difference does not appear to be of any importance
in estimating the number or general character of the tenements.
It will be observed also that certain mansions which are called
' mural ' are exempted from payment, ' on account of their being
compelled to repair the walls ^/ At first sight, it would seem therefore
that Oxford was surrounded by a ' wall,' but there are reasons on the
other hand to suppose that the fortifications were in a considerable
part of earth rather than of continuous stone work, which the word
' wall ^,' in its ordinary acceptance, imphes. Along the northern side of
the city, which was most open to attack, from being unprotected by
any river, and from the chief road entering Oxford on this side,
there was no doubt a formidable line of defence; this probably
consisted of a vallum faced with stone work on the outer side, beneath
which a deep ditch had been excavated. The masonry was probably
carried to the top of the vallum, and along it the soldiers could easily
pass from one part to another during a time of siege I There was
of course a parapet, but this may have been as likely of wood as of
stone. The chief defences, as regarded the greater part of the city,
villa and that from the 77ianerm7n (lib. v. cap. 28) in the following words — ' Mansio
aute?n esse poterit constructa ex pluribus domibus ' vel una quae erit habitatio tcna ei
solasine vicinal Ellis' Introduction to Domesday, 18S5, vol. i. p. 243.
Under Norwich, in the Survey, vol. ii. fol. 117a, will be found perhaps the
best example where the distinction appears to be recognized ; but in the Oxford
statistics there is no reason to suppose that the ' mansiones'' were detailed in
addition to the 243 domi paying geld ; this would lead to a considerable over-
estimate of the population of Oxford at the time.
1 The repair of the town wall was provided for by the English laws ; e. g. in those
of Athelstan the following occurs : ' And we ordain that every burh be repaired
fourteen days after Rogation Day.' Thorpe's Laws and Institutes, Svo, 1840; p. 247.
^ The word tnurtis no doubt, as a rule, in mediaeval writings, signified a stone
wall, and the fortifications of the Roman towns, to which it was originally applied,
were nearly always of stone or similar material. But as appears by representations,
e. g. on Trajan's column, the Romans adopted wooden brattishes and palisading in
addition to the stone fortifications, and this practice continued throughout the
Middle Ages ; so that the word in urns, adopted from the Romans, may well have
included the fortifications as a whole, and been applied when the palisades were the
chief means of defence. Varro, it may be noted, has this passage in his treatise
De Re Rustica (lib. i. c. 14), 'Ad Viani Salariam, in agro Crushimino, vidcre licet
locis aliquot conjundos aggeres cum fossis, ne Jlumen agris noceant aggeres qui
faciunt (sic) sine fossd, eos quidem vocant muros, tit in agro Reatino' This of
course only relates to the ' dykes,' as we term them, such as we see in fen districts,
but it shows that the word did not, even with the Romans, necessarily imply the
existence of stone. In the Bayeux tapestry, one or two representations of the siege
of fortified towns show the wooden palisading and the mode of attack by fire.
^ This probably accounts for the doorways in the towers of the Castle and of
S. Michael's. See ante, p. 210, zxiApost, p. 260.
D ESC RIP TION OF OXFORD IN DOMES DA V S UR VE V. 2^7
were the ditches and the streams, and no doubt a continuous vallum
of carih, which in time of danger was surmounted by woodwork of
various kinds to protect the soldiers from the arrows. So far as can
be judged it was the usual method, and the walling was exceptional.
It must be remembered also that Robert D'Oilgi, on his appointment
to the governorship, is not recorded to have fortified the town, and
though in all probability he put the existing fortification in order,
throughout the line of enceinte, and by building S. Michael's tower over
against the North gate he added much to the strength of this part of
the fortification, he could not well have built a wall round the town,
since it. is not probable that in Henry the Third's time the whole work
would have had to be done over again ; and yet the money expended
then, implies fortifications in progress on a very extended scale. Besides
which, it is implied by the account of the siege in Stephen's reign,
that ditches and water were the chief means of defence, and fire the
chief mode of attack.
The 'mural' houses were therefore those which had to keep the
fortifications generally in an efficient state ; and this consisted mostly
of repairing and clearing the vallum and trench, especially the latter,
when it was a ditch into which the water flowed ; and as the position
of Oxford was admirably situated in respect of water, few if any of the
diiches were likely to be dry\ They had also to repair the wooden
bi-attishes and palisades with which the vallum was surmounted.
Here, however, arises the question, What was the extent of this line
of ettceinte ? in other words, did the mediaeval wall, of which we possess
sufficient remains to be certain as to its course on the three sides of
the town (the Castle occupying the narrowed western side), follow the
original line ? The answer is, that in the absence of any traces of
another line of fortifications, and from the natural course of things, it
did so ; and that to all intents and purposes the area enclosed in Henry
the Third's reign was the same as that which was enclosed in William
the Conqueror's reign. That the later wall was built absolutely on the
site of the old vallum throughout, is perhaps saying too much ; indeed
^ Even the ditch above referred to along ihe outside of the northern wall must
have had some water in it ; this was apparent when the new drainage works in 1 880,
which involved digging down a considerable depth in the streets, exposed a portion
of the ditch with the black accumulation of the mud at the bottom. It was
admirably exhibited in section at the end of Turl Street, the gravel bank sloping up
from it and then forming a kind of terrace beneath the city wall, the foundation
of which here proved to be nine feet thick, completing the section. The fosse
obtained the name of the Can-ditch in the middle ages (probably the 'Canal'
ditch or sewer), and gave its name to the street formed by the row of houses built
between the road and the fosse, and which afterwards came to be Broad Street.
238 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.
it would be improbable that it should be so ; as they would scarcely
destroy in all cases the old fortifications till the new ones were nearly
ready, and so they may have built the wall just within or just without
the older line, if circumstances required it, and in one or two cases
along the line, traces of a deep ditch have been found on the inside of
the later line of the mediaeval wall. In Exeter College, for example,
when they dug the foundations for the Rector's house some few years
ago, the remains of what appeared to be an ancient ditch were reached
just within the line of the city wall, which is here visible from the court
at the back of the Ashmolean Museum, although the wall has been
refaced with modern ashlar. The peculiarity especially noted was that
considerable remains of wood, especially osiers, were found in the black
mud at the bottom, such as might well have been thrown in when the
ditch was filled up and the vallum destroyed, the new wall having been
erected on the outside of the old ditch ^.
In considering the list of the tenants holding property in Oxford
there are several points deserving attention. Twenty of the mansions
seem to be directly in the kings' hands, but they had been in Earl
JElfgar's up to 1062, and must have passed from his successor's hands,
whoever that was, into those of the king. Most of the houses in the
county towns held by the tenentes in capite seem to be connected more
or less with manors in that of the neighbouring counties ; probably all
were originally so, but in some cases the county property was sold
without the town house representing it, and sometimes the contrary
may have taken place. For the purpose of attending the courts, which
were held in the towns — which happened very frequently — in days
before hotels existed (and when, as appears to have been the case here
at this time, the abbey accommodation was very slight in comparison
with what S. Frideswide, Oseney, and Rewley would have afforded
a century or so later), it was necessary to have residences set apart for
the lords of the manors, and also in many cases for the under-tenants
also, when they came here on business ; and there can be little doubt
many of these houses were specially entered upon the geld-rolls, as
appropriated to certain manors ^
^ The line of the wall appears to have been altered more than once on the north
side of S. Michael's church ; the last time, perhaps, when the north transept was
thrown out in the fourteenth century. The remains of an old deep ditch were found
when digging on the site of the Ship Inn in 1883 at some sixty feet within the
so-called Cranmer's Bastion, reckoning from the centre of the ditch to the present
outer wall. This thirteenth century line of wall probably ran between the two,
while the first vallum or wall must naturally have been on the south side of the ditch,
^ The expression so frequently found oijacet ox jacuit implies this.
DESCRIPTION OF OXFORD IN DOMESDA V SURVE Y. 239
The five mansions next mentioned as belonging to Shipton, Blox-
ham and Risborough^ illustrate this; they had naturally passed to the
king, since we find that the chief manors at these three places
had themselves done so. As to Twyford (which like Risborough is in
the adjoining county of Buckinghamshire) it does not seem to have
had a distinct manor belonging to it, at least it does not occur in the
Survey in the part relating to that county.
Of Earl Alberic we glean but little knowledge from the historians.
He was raised to the earldom of Northumberland soon after the murder
of Walcher, Bishop of Durham, in 1080, but his possessions lay chiefly
in Wiltshire and in a few midland counties. Amongst the latter is found
Oxfordshire, in which he held Iffley (which Azor had held in the time
of King Eadward) and Minster [Lovell]. It is to be noticed that the
surveyors always use the word ie7itiit and not tc7tet in regard to Alberic,
so that the earl must have been dead at the time of the Survey ; and
as the phrase occurs more than once Modo sunt in vianu Regis, it may
be presumed he had only recently died, and that the lands had as yet
not passed to a successor. In what way Burford was connected with
Earl Alberic does not appear ; as it is divided into three manors, held
respectively by the Bishop of Bayeux, by the Abbey of Abingdon, and
by a certain Ilbod, and as the manors are underlet and no references
given to previous holders it is perhaps hopeless to discover the connec-