378 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. woollen cloth-workers or weavers, well known in the early history of the London companies. (Herbert, vol. i. p. 25 — 27 ; vol. ii. p. 645.) That the Abbot of Hyde claimed to include the whole suburban precinct of the abbey within his hundred of Mitcheldever, and thereby to exclude the city coroner fi-om exercising his office therein, and to exempt various tenants of the king from their suit and services of right due to the crown. That the great drapery hall, called the Old Mint, had been formerly in the hands of the crown, and was granted by King John to Walter de Pavcly, ex-mayor of Rouen, to indemnify him for the losses he had suffered by his faithful adherence to the King of England and consequent expulsion from Normandy. That after the death of Walter it remained vacant for many years, till it was demised to the citizens by King Henry III. at the appraised value of six pounds per annum. That on the depreciation of the cit}"^ rents, by reason of the above encroachments on the suburbs, the same king assigned the 61. and other rents to the farm of the city, — that is, allowed the amount in their farm. That Nicholas Coppinger, mayor of Winchester, tried to expel the tenants and remove the Drapery, and promised to pay to the crown an additional rent of 31. ; and that, although he failed in his object, the extra rent continued to be paid to the Exchequer, and that the whole annual rent of the house was therefore dl. That the rent of a large house, formerly demised by the crown to Richard Brian at 50s. rent, was now received by the Slieriff of Hampshire from the present tenant, Roger Dalerun. That the large house, used, at the time of the Inquest for the sale of linen cloth, had been granted by King John to his tailor, William, by the service of rendering yearly to the King and his heirs one fur pelisse ; and that the house had descended to his son, William, from whom it had passed by successive feofments to Hugh de Stoke and to William de Dunstaple, the present possessor. That the land called the Mewes, on the west side of the city, in which were a house and dovecote, had been bought by King John for the mewing of his hawks : Tbat John lived often and long at the castle, and that Henry III. demised (tradidit) it (probably the house) of his mere will to Reginald, the son of Peter, who was the pi'esent holder ; by what warrant the jury know not. After enumerating certain tallies of debts, including arrears of the aurum rcgllnce] (on which Prynne has poured out so much learning), the Jury specify the annual rents payable in respect of the Drapery, already noticed, and the fullers, and then state in detail the persons and tene- ments charged with the rents of Assise, called langable, i. c, land-gavel, in all the principal streets of the city. The great majority were payable by tenants in the High Street and without tbe West Gate. Among them are the monks of St. Swithin, and of St. Barnabas, that is, Hyde Abbey ; and the nuns of St. Mary. All the streets here named occur in the two Inquests in the reign of Hen. I. and Stephen, which form the well known Liber Winton. A plate in the quarto edition of Milner's History, cliiefly copied from Godson's map, explains the situation and present names of most of them, and the variations in them are further traced down to a later date in the recent octavo, or 3rd, edition. There are, therefore, at least, five distant and widely separated dates, at which wc have authentic and accessible materials for the ancient topography of Winton, namely, a charter of Eadward, of Wessex, a. d. 901 — OO'J (Cod.
