102 Erlestoke and its Manor Lords. 



higher receipts from pleas and perquisites of the manor court show 

 that in other ways also the power of the lord over his tenants was 

 greater. Cherhill (p. 216) was, like Erlestoke, held of the King 

 in chief, and here tlie conditions of service of the villeins were also 

 much easier. The value of Cherliill was some £5 10s. less than 

 that of Erlestoke, but the area was also smaller, and were it not 

 for the fact tliat the lord's arable was valued at such a high rate 

 the difference in the values would have been greater still. To 

 judge from the receipts from pleas and perquisites the number of 

 tenants was about one-third of those in Erlestoke, wliile the rents 

 of the villeins was very nearly the same in amount, so that it is 

 evident that the value of tlie lord's land must be taken as an 

 indication of a high average value throughout the manor. The 

 services were lower even in comparison than those of the Erlestoke 

 villeins, but they paid a tallage of £2 besides their donum of £1. 



The general conclusion may be drawn from these fifty inquisitions 

 that the manor of Erlestoke was considerably larger than was 

 usual at this period, and that the larger parishes of the present 

 day were divided into two or more manors, for Mildenhall (p. 214) 

 cannot be fully represented by the manor valued at £18 lis. lid. 

 which William de Mohun held, nor Market Lavington (p. 192) by 

 that which Peter de la Mare held, and whose value was estmiated 

 at £18 19s. 3(1, while an example of the division of a parish similar 

 in size to that of Erlestoke is found in the inquisitions relating to 

 Great Cheverell, one held after the death of Joan de Gaselin, the 

 tenant of Sir Walter de Balon, and the otlier after the death of 

 Philip Ihirnel, who held of the Kuig in chief. The comparison of 

 Collinglwurne with Erlestoke and Cherhill gives support to the 

 theory that in those manors whicli were formerly attached to the 

 crown the villeins were better off than elsewhere, and generally 

 in regard to the villeins, or customary tenants of Erlestoke — the 

 large majority of the inliabitants — it may be concluded that even 

 at this period the conditions under which they lived were not 

 onerous, though they may not yet have attained to that position of 

 sturdy independence which, as the manor court book shows, was 

 enjoyed by their successors of a later period. 

 To he continued. 



