'The Hyde', Scaldeford and early medieval Wight

摘要

Upper Hyde Farm nearShanklin on the hie of Wight was until quite recently complemented by its neighbour Ij>wer Hyde Farm. Three landholdings namedScaldeford were recorded in 1086 totalling 1 hide. This hide farm can be reconstructed to include Upper and Tower Hyde farms, nearby Ninham Farm and the adjoining deserted site of Selbournes, with a total area of 453 acres. Other instances of shared Domesday place-names on the Isle of Wight are explored as are further instances of landholdings of 1 hide in1066. The hide farm of Scaldeford would have formed part of a putative multiple estate centred on Brading, which in turn had been part of the regio of the wihtgara. The existence of other hide farms is postulated through two instances of 'lost' hid place-names and the association between potentially early place-names and estates of 1 hide in 1066. The Scaldeford hide farm can be seen as a 'pioneering hide' akin to examples of hiwisc from Somerset. Earlier research based on the reconstruction of charterbounds on the Isle of Wight is compared with such hiwisc units to develop a broad correlation between the acreages of hides and the agriculturalpotential of the land. Appendices provide additional information about the ecological history of the Scaldeford area and the earthwork within the reconstructed hide which formedpart of its internal boundary.