plough-tilt

1) The OED has a reference to this term in 1494 in which it was used as a measure of tilled land, equivalent in the example quoted to 160 acres.

In Yorkshire it occurs very rarely but was recorded in 1598 when the highway between Leeds and Wike near Harewood was in great decay. The matter was taken up at the Wakefield Quarter Sessions and the justices of peace laid a pain that euerie person occupieng a ploughe tilth of land in certain villages around Leeds should send their draughts and sufficient labourers … and repaire the same waie. The injunction can be traced to an Act of 1555 which dealt specifically with highway maintenance and required those persons who were in possession of ‘plow-land in tillage’ to provide carts and labourers when repairs were in hand. The Statute was revived in 1562 and 1587 and the Leeds case confirms that it was being enforced. An East Riding reference shows that the possession of plough-land continued to be a measure of a person’s communal responsibilities: 1734 That every Husbandman for one Plow-Tilt of Land do send a sufficient Person to gather Stones at the Common Day work, Lund.

spellings plough-tilth
places Harewood Lund
dates 1555 1598 1734

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