The House

       Hunting and fishing for something to eat was a common activity of the day. Open spaces allowed for such adventures and, one could cover around 20 miles going a comfortable pace. [My "Boy Scout" days during the 1960s gave evidence of such "hikes", [see post  August 12, 2013 titled "In Those Days"]. At any rate, one would find a plot of land not occupied by others, which by your judgement, might provide the needed resources such as water, grazing, and game.  It was time to plant some roots anyway and, to get that Jones family tree a growing. Interestingly, Welsh genealogists such as Lewys Dwnn (1846) record the Welsh family as a "plant"! [see post April 9, 2023 titled "References"]

       Planting that family tree first required a house. In the Welsh a house was ty (accent circumfex [^] over y). Not sure why the accent [^] was always placed over the vowel "y" with this word but, any Welsh writers out there to help understand this usage? Anyway, the house was placed upon the selected land and, encircling the house with a fence, was the crown of ownership. The fence enclosing a house became called a toft and, you were then the owner that was socially recognized a "proprietor". Thus, the toft was a plot of land carrying a house with the key being the plot was enclosed. As the proprietor, your name became the proper way to link this plot of land to your ownership and, this became the object of legal rights of property to your kindred and descent. Wow...keeping all these principles straight? Let's see, here is a copy of my notes on the concepts:

       Starting with "land" (tir) at the top, the "house" (ty with accent shown) to toft is shown. The page numbers listed are from the text by Jenkins. The toft was to contain 4 "legal" acres of land as accepted during the period of time. It was the object of legal rights to each particular person building the house and fencing the plot. In the law books the concept was tir a daear (land and earth). 

P.S. For a discussion of the Celtic land usage see text by Miranda Green, The Celtic World, reviewed post April 17, 2022, pp. 192-199. Much more to come from the toft!