A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



century at any rate, was undergoing a military specialization. When, 

 therefore, we read that ' Ralf de Burun has twelve knights' houses, in 

 one of which a merchant dwells,' we may be disposed to see a concrete 

 instance of the process, as a result of which, in Professor Maitland's 

 phrase, ' houses which should have been occupied by knights were occu- 

 pied by chapmen.' 1 Twenty-five knights' houses are recorded, twelve 

 of which belonged to William Peverel, who, we may remark, had been 

 at least formerly in charge of Nottingham Castle, and thirteen, as we have 

 seen, to Ralf de Burun. 



The one church which Domesday records in Nottingham was hand- 

 somely endowed. It possessed three ' messuages ' (mansiones) and 5 bovates 

 of borough land ' with sac and soc,' as well as 5 j acres, over which the 

 king exercised these rights, which also belonged to him in relation to 

 sixty-five houses situated ' in the priest's croft,' the total value of all these 

 possessions being 5 yearly. The foundation charter of Lenton Priory 

 carries the history of this church a stage further, for William Peverel 

 gives to his monks 'the church of St. Mary, of the English borough of 

 Nottingham, with all its appurtenances, by the grant of (his) lord King 

 Henry. >s These last words are explained by the statement in Domesday 

 that the church was situated in the king's demesne, and we may safely 

 identify it as the Norman predecessor of the present church of St. Mary. 



Of more general interest is the statement that ' In Nottingham the 

 water of Trent and the Foss way (fossa), and the road towards York were 

 so guarded that if any one should hinder the passage of ships, or should 

 plough or make a ditch within two perches of the king's way, he should 

 pay a fine (emendare] of 8.' Nottingham stood in later times at the 

 head of the navigation of the Trent, and the commercial importance of 

 the river is illustrated by the permission which Henry I gave to Alex- 

 ander, bishop of Lincoln, of making a bridge over the Trent at his castle 

 of Newark, ' so that it may not hurt my city of Lincoln nor my borough 

 of Nottingham,' 3 and also by the clause in Henry II's charter to the 

 burgesses of Nottingham, granting them rights of toll over all people 

 passing along the Trent from Thrumpton to Newark. 4 The Lincolnshire 

 Domesday shows us other than mercantile travellers passing down the 

 river, for it was the duty of the men of Torksey to conduct the king's 

 messengers in their boats from the latter place to York. 6 Much of the 

 trade of Nottingham was no doubt due to its situation at the point where 

 the Trent at or near its navigable limit was crossed by one of the great 

 highways running from north to south, the via versus Eboracum of 

 Domesday. There seem to have been two main ' through routes ' from 

 London to York, both of which intersected Nottinghamshire. The one 



1 Domes Jay Book and Beyond, 1 96. 



* Man. Angl. v, in. In 1538 the value of the tithes accruing to the priory from Nottingham 

 amounted to 3 5 1 8/. 8</. 



* Man. Angl. viii, 1275. 



4 Stevenson, Records of the Borough of Nottingham, \. The Domesday text is well illustrated by the 

 clause in the charter running ' Et iter de Trenta liberum esse debet navigantibus quantum pertica una 

 obtinebit ex utraque pane fili aquae.' 6 Dom. Bk. f. 337. 



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