Kilham : Extent Of Settlement And Cultivation

The pattern of settlement depicted in the 1712 the map can be amplified with the aid of certain medieval documents. Particularly enlightening is a dispute over the dower due to Idonea, widow of Michael of Killum the former lord of the manor, which provides a detailed breakdown of the major property holders in the vill in 1290 (cited in NCH XI (1922), 160). Idonea sued as many as eleven defendents, eight of whom held property in the township, property which her husband presumably alienated to them.

It follows that the landholdings and building plots (messuages) listed below represent a substantial proportion of the township's cultivable land and dwellings, since Michael of Killum was clearly lord of the manor and the largest single landholder in the vill in the late 13th century. However they were by no means the only proprietors and some of those listed here may have held other land in the township which they had not acquired from Michael and was not therefore liable for inclusion that third of her husband's holdings which Idonea could expect to be granted for her lifetime, as her widows entitlement.

This last point is particularly clear in the case of the Kirkham Priory which is known have held substantial holdings and grazing rights in the township (cf. NCH XI (1922), 163-6). Even so the figures recorded are sizeable. The ploughland amounts to 3 carucates, 56 bovates and 143.5 acres. A bovate is usually 12-15 acres, two bovates representing a fairly standard allotment for an unfree bondage tenant on Northumbrian manors, whilst a carucate was generally c. 100-120 acres (equivalent to 8 bovates). On the basis of the lower end of these figures we can conservatively calculate the arable land on Michael's manor at 1115.5 acres. The totals for meadow, pasture and wood were much lower at 30.5 acres, 8 acres and 100 acres respectively. There were also rents, presumably from various free tenants.