Subordinate to the Barony of Castle Combe. 273 



Dunstanville, b} r inheritance with the rest of the Honor of Combe, 

 from De Insula. This would account for the fact which Sir Richard 

 Hoare found so difficult to explain, that in the 9th Edward III., on 

 a plea brought to issue between the Attorney of the King and Sir 

 John De la Mare and Petronilla his wife, for this manor, the jury 

 found that "the ancestors of the said Petronilla had enjoyed the 

 said manor without interruption from the Conquest, and have 

 therefore a greater right than the king." This finding could hardly 

 have been given had the manor been originally derived by the De 

 Dunstanvilles from the grant of Henry II., but is perfectly con- 

 sistent with its inheritance as part of the Barony of De Insula. 

 The Manor of Heytesbury West Court, which comprises the ancient 

 borough, is one of those already mentioned as exchanged by Lord 

 Badlesmere with King Edward III. for the Castle of Chilham and 

 other estates in Kent ; and then granted by that monarch to Henry 

 de Burghersh, his Treasurer, Bishop of Lincoln, which exchange 

 dissevered it from the Honor of Castle Combe. Another portion 

 of the manor, East Heytesbury, remained to the son of Lord 

 Badlesmere, Giles, on whose death, without issue, it was assigned 

 by the partition so often referred to, to Lord de Boos and Margery, 

 his wife, by whom it was first granted on lease and afterwards sold 

 to Thomas de Hungerford. This knight purchased also West 

 Heytesbury of Elizabeth, widow of Edward le Despenser, and 

 grand-daughter and heir of Bartholomew Lord Burghersh, brother 

 and heir of Henry, Bishop of Lincoln, the first grantee. Heytes- 

 bury, South Court, another division of the original manor, was 

 released by Robert de Montfort and Petronilla de Dunstanville, his 

 wife, in 56 Henry III., to Philip Strug and his heirs, by whom it 

 was likewise conveyed to the Hungerford family, in whom ulti- 

 mately the entire fee of Heytesbury became vested. 1 



10. Come. — Erom the time of the erection of the Castle of 

 Combe (probably in the reign of Henry I.) this became the head 

 lordship and capital seat of the honor or barony, and as such con- 

 tinued not only during its possession by the De Dunstanvilles, but 



1 See Sir K. Hoare's Heytesbury, p. 73. 



