The
hide was an
English unit of land measurement originally intended to represent the amount of land sufficient to support a household. It was traditionally taken to be 120
acres but was in fact a measure of value and
tax assessment, including obligations for food-rent (), maintenance and repair of bridges and fortifications, manpower for the army (), and (eventually) the
land tax. The hide's method of calculation is now obscure: different properties with the same hidage could vary greatly in extent even in the same county. Following the
Norman Conquest of
England, the hidage assessments were recorded in the
Domesday Book and there was a tendency for land producing
£1 of income per year to be assessed at 1 hide. The Norman kings continued to use the unit for their tax assessments until the end of the 12th century.