Parish Annals
Dr. Ruston and his associates have made one of the richest collections of local farming facts in our literature in the course of preparing a record of the Yorkshire parish of Hooton Pagnell (Edward Arnold, 25s.). One of the reasons doubtless for the preciser dates of older days was the large amount of Lammas or half-year land. On August 12th precisely the fields became common property again. The temporary fences were pulled down in a hurry and the stock of the villagers burst upon the stubbles. A good deal of Lammas land remains, but in many parishes its privileges are wholly neglected. No one turns out on it even so much as a donkey or a goose ; and I have known a strip offered for sale as freehold without the raising of a murmur among the adjacent cottagers. Many of them do not know even which is Lammas land and which is not. Certainly they do not notice the February date when it comes exclusively into the farmer's hands. One of the only local protests I ever heard was when a farmer let the land, after August 12th,
to a group of gipsics. *
Previous page
