\ Bji John WntM>ii-Taijlor. 69 



it by the payment of a fine.^ As keeper of Chippenham Forest 

 he presided at an inquisition held in 1294 to discover whether it 

 was to the damage or hurt of the King or anyone if the Abbot of 

 Stanlegh were allowed to dig out and carry away iron-ore for 

 smelting, when tlie jury of three foresters, four verderers, and 

 seven others reported that the operations were conducted on the 

 demesne lauds of tlie Abbey within the bounds but without tlie 

 cover of the forest, and that no one suffered any damage.^ In this 

 year he was succeeded in the office of Sheriff of Devon by Gilbert 

 de Knovill, but he continued Governor of Devizes until October 8th, 

 1301, when he surrendered his office and its appurtenances to the 

 King, who wanted them for a gift to Queen Margaret, and on 

 October 20th, 1305, he received in recompense the manor of 

 Wroxhale, in the Isle :,f Wight, reputed to be worth £42 per annum, 

 for which he paid a rent of £2.^ 



It may be presumed that while Governor of Devizes Matthew 

 paid frequent visits to Erlestoke, if he did not actually reside 

 there, and it was during this time that he rewarded his bailiff, 

 Thomas Fitz-Alured, by a grant of the water-mill called Marsh- 

 mill, with an acre of land adjoining, and the tenement and land 

 which Juliana la Proute held. As Matthew was tenant for life 

 only, it was necessary that Fitz-Alured should have the grant 

 conHrmed by the King, and this was done by letter patent,'* at the 

 instance of Walter de Winterbourn, the King's confessor, but it 

 would appear that at a later date some question arose as to the 

 expediency of the grant, for an inquisition was ordered to be held 

 in 1304, when, the report of the jury being favourable, a new 

 patent was issued in identical terms.-" 



Early in 1301 Matthew was among the barons at Lincoln and 

 others assembled in Parliament, when the famous letter was sent 



1 Abb. Plac, p. 238. 



= Liq.p. m., 22 Edw. I., No. 73, ed. Wilts Arch. Soc. 



3 Cal. Close Rolls, An. 1308, p. 87. 



* (117) 26 Edw. I., m. 30. 



* Chanc. Inq.p. m. 32 Edw. I., m. 9 ; Esch. L.T.R., Or»>.(65) 32 Edw. I., 



m. 9. 



