Many thanks to you all, especially you Eve. My Glossary of words found in our village wills [Kingston Bagpuize] wasn't quite as descriptive, but now is. ;-)) Kind regards, Jill http://www.kingston-bagpuize.com - an online history of Kingston Bagpuize & area. -----Original Message----- From: oxfordshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:oxfordshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of eve@varneys.org.uk Sent: 14 June 2012 13:12 To: Paul Irving; oxfordshire@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [OXF] Request: advice on terms used in a will Yard-Land Yard-Land a quantity of land, containing in some countries 20, in others 24, 30 and 40 acres; but at Wimbleton in Surry, no more than 15 Definition taken from The Universal Etymological Dictionary, edited by Nathan Bailey (1736). Found online. Or - Yardland From - the Harmsworth Encyclopedia c.1910 >A yardland or virgate was an old English measure of land, varying from >10 to 30 or 40 acres. It was the normal holding of a tenant of arable >land, and the variation probably arises from the fact that in early > times land was measured more by quality than by extent. This generally works - it is the quality of the land which counts, so lush grassland is better than thin upland acreage. However, be wary of the fact that the term 'yardland' is also used as equiavalent to a half acre strip. The context will usually tell you, since if a man leaves 'four acres in the common fields of X' and then itemises them as an acre here, an acre there and a yardland there, it is likely that he is using the 'half acre' definition. >he writer was a yeoman (at least that was what he called himself) yeoman in the last C17 probable did mean a freeholder. Later the term was extended to lessees or tenant of very large farms. EVE Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society