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Burgage is a medieval land term used in 
Burgage grants were also common in Ireland; for example, when the town of
Medieval English Towns - Glossary
*The Local Historian's Encyclopedia by John Richardson -
Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
and Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, well established by the 13th century.
A burgage was a town ("borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
...
" or "burgh
A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...
") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement") usually, and distinctly, consisted of a house on a long and narrow plot of land (), with a narrow street frontage. Rental payment ("tenure") was usually in the form of money, but each "burgage tenure" arrangement was unique and could include services.
As populations grew, "burgage plots" could be split into smaller additional units. (Amalgamation was not so common until the second half of the 19th century.)
Burgage tenures were usually money-based, in contrast with rural tenures, which were usually services-based. In Saxon times the rent was called a ''landgable'' or ''hawgable''.
Burgage grants were also common in Ireland; for example, when the town of Wexford
Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...
received its royal charter in 1418, English settlers were encouraged into the town and were given burgage plots at a rent of one shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
per year. The term was translated into Irish as , and the element " Borris" survives in many Irish place names. Rothe House
Rothe House is a late 16th-century merchant's townhouse complex located in the city of Kilkenny, Ireland. The complex was built by John Rothe Fitz-Piers between 1594 and 1610 and is made up of three houses, three enclosed courtyards, and a larg ...
in Kilkenny
Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...
is an exceptionally well-preserved medieval burgage.
See also
*History of English land law
The history of English land law can be traced back to Roman times. Throughout the Early Middle Ages, where England came under rule of sub-Roman Britain, post-Roman chieftains and Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, Anglo-Saxon monarchs, land was the ...
*Land tenure
In Common law#History, common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement betw ...
*Grid plan
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
*Feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
References
Medieval English Towns - Glossary
*The Local Historian's Encyclopedia by John Richardson -
Further reading
*{{Cite book , publisher = Adamant Media Corporation , isbn = 1-4021-4052-5 , last = Hemmeon , first = Morley de Wolf , title = Burgage Tenure in Mediaeval England , date = 2004-07-09 * T.R. Slater, The Analysis of Burgage Patterns in Medieval Towns, Area, Vol. 13, no. 3, 1981 History of agriculture in the United Kingdom Feudalism in the British Isles Real estate in the United Kingdom Local government in England Land tenure