Terriers for the Parish of Westow
What is a Terrier?
Terrier, or Glebe Terrier, is a term unique to the Church of England and refers to a document that lists the property available to the vicar to support himself and his church. (Terrier is derived from 'terra' the Latin for land).
Originally, every church was entitled to a house and glebe. The glebe could be cultivated by the incumbent himself or by tenants. The terrier often includes the names of the tenants and may be defined by naming the holders of adjoining lands. This can give a very useful picture of the fields in the parish, especially where the land was part of a strip system.
Where the parish had little or no glebe land tithes formed the major source of income for the incumbent. Some terriers include a description of how income from tithes and fees is calculated and collected.
The holdings of each parish church was first required was in 1571, when the bishops were required to hold a copy of terriers in their archives. The actual survey was left largely to the discretion of the vicar and the contents therefore vary widely.
Note that in the Terriers recorded here:
Currency is pre-decimal sterling: 12d (pence) = 1s (shilling); 20s = £1 (pound)
Measurement of land: 40p (poles) = 1r (rood); 4r = 1 a (acre)