yardland


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yardland

(ˈjɑːdˌlænd)
n
an archaic medieval unit of land, between 15 and 40 acres depending upon the locality, a virgatea peasant who holds this land
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References in periodicals archive ?
Dyer records entry fines per yardland of 3 [pounds sterling]-8 [pounds sterling] in the 1530s, while Howell notes entry fines of 14 [pounds sterling]-15 [pounds sterling] per virgate in Kibworth Harcourt by the end of the sixteenth century.
This is demonstrated by the fact that standard-sized holdings -- virgates or yardlands -- are ubiquitous in `Midland' manors, but virtually non-existent in `East Anglian' manors, where holdings are simply measured in acres and rods, and no particular holding size dominates.
Individualism and the family-land bond: a reassessment of land transfer patterns among the English peasantry c. 1270-1580

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