Other serjeanty services were carrying the lord's shield and arms,
finding attendants and esquires for knights, helping in the lord's
hunting expeditions, looking after his hounds, bringing fuel,
doing carpentry, and forging irons for ploughs. The Woodward
preserved the timber. The Messer supervised the harvesting. The
Hayward removed any fences from the fields after harvest to allow
grazing by cattle and sheep. The Coward, Bullard, and Calvert
tended the cows, bulls, and calves; the Shepherd, the sheep; and
the Swineherds the pigs. The Ponder impounded stray stock. There
were varieties of horses: war horses, riding horses, courier
horses, pack horses, and plough horses.
The majority of manors were co-extensive with a single village.
The villeins lived in the village in one-room huts enclosed by a
wood fence, hedge, or stone wall. In this yard was a garden of
onions, leeks, mustard, peas, beans, parsley, garlic, herbs, and
cabbage and apple, pear, cherry, quince, and plum trees, and bee-
hives. The hut had a high-pitched roof thatched with reeds or
straw and low eaves reaching almost to the ground. The walls are
built of wood-framing overlaid with mud or plaster. Narrow slits
in the walls serve as windows, which have shutters and are
sometimes covered with coarse cloth. The floor is dirt and may be
covered with straw or rushes for warmth, but usually no hearth. In
the middle is a wood fire burning on a hearthstone, which was lit
by making a spark by striking flint and iron together.
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