Advancing still on the same lines, we approach the very remarkable case of the adjoining Hundred of Long Stow.
Now it is necessary to explain at the outset that, the _Inq. Com. Cant._ being here imperfect, it only gives us the first two of the above 'quarters', its evidence ending with Bourne. But, by good fortune, it is possible to reconstruct from Domesday alone the remaining half of the Hundred, and thus to obtain the most valuable example of the system we are engaged in tracing that we have yet met with. The grouping I have adopted is based on the figures, but in some cases it is obvious from the map: Eltisley and Croxton, for instance, which form a ten-hide block, occupy a projecting portion of the county all to themselves, while Caxton adjoins them.
Eversden 8-1/3} 13-3/8 } Kingston 8-1/3} 25 8-9/16 } 38-1/16 Toft and Hardwick 8-1/3} 16-1/8 }
Grandsen 5 } 25 9 } Bourne 20 } [23 } 32-1/2
Gamlingay 20} } Hatley 4-1/4} 5} 25 [Unnamed] 3/4} }
Croxton 7 } } Eltisley 3 } 10} } Caxton 10} 25 } Caldecot 1-3/4} } Long Stow 3-1/4} 5} -------- 100
Several points are here noticeable. Observe, in the first place, how the twenty-five hide 'quarter' which heads the list is divided into three _equal_ blocks of 8-1/3 hides each, just as we found in Wetherley Hundred that one of the twenty-hide 'quarters' was divided into five _equal_ blocks of four hides each. In these cases the same principle of simple equal division was applied to the quarter hundred as we saw applied to the whole hundred in the first two cases we studied--the Hundreds of Staines and of Radfield. Notice next how the two Vills of Toft and Hardwick, which are separately surveyed in Domesday under their respective names, are found from the _Inq. Com. Cant._ to have combined (under the name of 'Toft') in a block of 8-1/3 hides. Lastly, it should not be overlooked that the 3/4 hide not localized in Domesday fits in exactly with Hatley to complete its five hides.
The chase now becomes exciting: it can no longer be doubted that we are well on the track of a vast system of artificial hidation, of which the very existence has been hitherto unsuspected. Let us see what further light can be thrown by research on its nature.