1616, 366 acres of
arable and pasture and 39 acres of meadow were valued at 12s. an acre
for letting, and the Hall Farm of 175 acres (8-1/2 acres meadow) at
10s.; and Great Pipers Farm of 138 acres (8 meadow) at 7s., while
meadow and pasture near the mansion was valued at 21s. an acre.

In 1658 the rent of the Hall Farm had advanced from 10s. an acre to
about 13s., though in 1682 it went down to 11s. 6d.[264] According to
the survey of the Manor of Manydown in Hampshire in 1650, meadow land
was worth 20s. an acre, pasture 8s. to 10s., arable from 2s. to 10s.,
the latter showing a great variation in quality.[265] In 1723 Bryers
Wood Farm at Hawsted, which had been let in 1620 for L15, was let at
L29 5s. These rents are considerably higher than the estimate of
Davenant and King; but it must be remembered that they were for land
in the parts of England, where farming was at its best, and they, in
accounting for the whole country, had to take into consideration a
vast amount of land in the north and west which was worth very little.
In the Rawlinson Collection[266] in the Bodleian Library is a rental
of Lord Kingston's estate in north Nottinghamshire in 1689, the rents
averaging 10s. an acre; but this was an exceptionally good estate,
much of the property being meadow and pasture. The farmhouses also
were above the average, while in two of the parishes the tenants had
rights of common, and in two others the tenancies were tithe free.
There was very little arable land on the estate, three small holdings
letting for 6s. 8d. an acre; and some of the pasture land was let at
14s., 15s. 6d., and even 18s. an acre. The largest farm, Saundby Hall,
of 607 acres, nearly all meadow and pasture, was 9s. 10d. an acre. The
cottages were fortunate in having pieces of land attached to them. In
Saundby, Richard Ffydall rented a cottage and 2 acres of arable land
for L1 13s. 4d.; Widow Johnson a cottage and yard for 13s. 4d.;
William Daubney a cottage with 6-1/2 acres of arable and 5-1/2 acres
of pasture for L7 18s. 6d. A farm in Scrooby, consisting of a
messuage, cottage, and 113 acres of arable, meadow, and pasture, only
let at L23.

As to the freehold value of land, in 1621, according to D'Ewes, it was
worth from sixteen to twenty years' purchase; yet, in 1688, Sir Josiah
Child said that lands now sell at twenty years' purchase, which fifty
or sixty years before sold at eight or ten; and he also states, 'the
same farms or lands to be no