ani flruirj) Courts of Cranbornc, 



1725=35. 



By HENRY SYMONDS, F.S A. 



JHE four MS. volumes which I have brought 

 for inspection by the Field Club record the 

 transactions and illustrate the customs of 

 the various tribunals during the decade 

 covered by the books, and in view of the 

 fact that all manorial observances ceased 

 at Cranborne in 1877 it may be useful to 

 offer some notes upon the more interesting 

 points disclosed by a perusal of these court rolls. 



The early history of the manor has been set out by Hutchins, 

 whose account I will supplement by a reference to a court 

 roll in the Public Record Office for the years 1 and 2, Edward 

 VI., in whose reign Sir Wm. Herbert received from the Crown 

 a grant of the principal manor for 21 years, the document 

 describing him as " capital seneschal." I will also add that 

 in Harl. MSS, 608, may be found the details of a sale of the 

 lesser manor (" parcel of the late monastery of Tewkesbury ") 

 by Philip and Mary to Robert Freeke. to be held in chief by 



