I initiated a discussion of the meaning and significance of "wande" on the Yorksgen list. The following posted by Ian Hancock is particularly interesting and is copied here with his permission. Garth Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:28:14 +0100 From: Ian Hancock <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [YORKSGEN] wande To: [email protected] Garth, I have seen the term wande mentioned in connection with measuring meadow land. In the 16th and 17th century the communal meadow land for the village of Crakehall in the North Riding was still unenclosed. It was marked out (probably with big boundary stones) into several distinct areas called dales. Each farmer had a share of the meadow in each of the dales (according to the size of his farm) and each dale contained a certain number of ?wandes? or ?wands? of meadow (probably like strips in the open arable fields). So a farmer?s share of the meadow was described as, for example, ?5 wands in oxdale, 11 wands in ringdale, 8 wands in thackmyre?. The wand was probably what its name implies - a measuring stick that was used to measure out the amount of meadow each farmer was allowed to mow for hay in each dale. There are written records of farmers dealing in wands of meadow - for example, in 1611 John Clerke exchanged his share of a piece of land called Horsfall, for his cousin William Clerke?s ?long wande of meadow in the Fitts?. The size of a wande would be a custom of a particular manor - just a convenient and practical length for measuring - and would vary from village to village. If the manorial court records have survived for the place concerned, you might be able to get a better idea of exactly what the wande represented. Ian Hancock www.glenlodge.me.uk/crakehallindex.html