A Cottestvold Manor : Painswick. By M. St. Clair Baddeley.
(J. Bellows, Gloucester. 10s. 6d. net.)—The history of the region in which Painswick occupies an important place goes back as far as the ' beginning of the continuous history of the island. The Romans came here at the earliest stage of their occupation. Here was the only colonia of the West Country, Glevum. Nor is there any part of England richer in Roman remains, as any one may See who will study such collections as that of the Cirencester (Corinium) Museum. The Saxon and Danish periods have left few traces, except, indeed, in place-names. When we come to the Domesday we find the facts of the common type. The old owners' lands have been parcelled out among Norman lords, and there has been, in part at least, a shrinkage of value. Mr. Baddeley gives us much useful information about the tenure of lands in the Pains- wick Manor. He has been helped by the existence in number beyond the average of illustrative documents. There is, for instance, a complete rent-roll of 1496 for the " tithings " of Stroud, Edge, Shonebed, and Sheepscombe, with the quarries, inns, and "damsel's." The rents given are, as may be supposed, highly interesting. A house, with fifteen acres of land, for instance, is valued at about 12s. One cottage is priced as low as 2d. TwO acres are put down at 15d. One tenement has to pay "a red rose," but this is the only " fancy " rent mentioned. The total comes to over 470, three times as much, as we happen to know, as had been put down for the same forty years before. Mr. Baddeley's volume, of which we are able to give only some casual samples, must be studied in detail.
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