Steve, A 'yeoman' was someone who owned land. "A man holding a small landed estate; a freeholder under the rank of a gentleman; hence vaguely, a commoner or countryman of respectable standing, esp. one who cultivates his own land." [OED] Paul has given you the definition of 'yardland'. Howard On 12/06/2012 20:49, SBrainstev@aol.com wrote: > > Can anyone offer an explanation of a few terms I have encountered in a > late seventeeth century will? > > The writer was a yeoman (at least that was what he called himself) and he > refers many times to various plots of land he wishes to bequeath : > > one-yard land two-yard-land and half-yard land > > is this a reference to old 'strip-farming' allocations prior to enclosures? > > Steve > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Oxfordshire Family History Society now has its own page on Facebook - www.facebook.com/oxfordshirefhs - press the "like" button to receive Society news& updates > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OXFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >