DOMESDAY SURVEY 



extreme south of the county, to Oswardbeck wapentake in the extreme 

 north. 



There are a few difficult questions of identification in the Nottingham- 

 shire Domesday, one of which has the rare distinction of being raised in a 

 mediaeval law suit. In 1285, Henry de Purpunt and Annora his wife, 

 lords of Sneinton, were impleaded by the men of that vill on the ground 

 that while Sneinton was ancient demesne of the crown, Henry and 

 Annora had increased the rents due from tenements there, and had inter- 

 fered with the legal rights and privileges of their tenants, on whom they 

 had also imposed an unaccustomed tallage of 100 marks. In reply it was 

 urged that Sneinton was not ancient demesne, upon which Domesday 

 Book was ordered to be searched, when ' Notintone ' was found to be 

 duly entered on the king's land. There the matter seems to have rested 

 for two years, but in 1287 a jury found that Sneinton was always called 

 by that name, and that ' Notintone ' was a part of Nottingham on the 

 side towards Arnold. On this the men of Sneinton were assessed, but in 

 view of the undoubted fact that their predecessors had enjoyed the 

 privileges of ancient demesne in the time of King John, and that in 

 documents of the time the name appears as Snotintone or Snadinton, 

 we shall not be disposed to attach much weight to the verdict of the 

 jury of I287. 1 



One of the few Nottinghamshire names which have quite vanished 

 from the modern map is the ' Schidrintune ' which is entered on the royal 

 demesne, and also on the fiefs of Roger de Busli, Gilbert de Gand, 

 and Geoffrey Alselin. We need, however, have little hesitation in 

 identifying it with the modern Kirton, near Ollerton, for in the thirteenth 

 century the latter was divided between the Everingham barony, repre- 

 senting the fief of Geoffrey Alselin, the earls of Lincoln, descendants 

 of Gilbert de Gand, and the family of Fitz Alan (fitz Flaald), the founder 

 of which had been enfeoffed by Henry I on certain of the escheated 

 lands of Roger de Busli, and has been recognized by Mr. Round as the 

 ancestor of the Stewarts.* Another name presenting difficulty is 

 ' Cledretone,' which was part of the king's soke of Oswardbeck, and has 

 also been already described as being divided equally between Count Alan 

 and Roger de Busli. In all probability it is now represented by South 

 Leverton, which formed part of Oswardbeck soke, and also, like 'Cledretone' 

 in Domesday, was held of the honour of Richmond by the Musters 

 family. It is probable that the ' Suderdeshale ' which occurs in the 

 king's land, for all the formidable appearance of the name, is in reality a 

 corruption for ' Sud Ordeshale ' (South Ordsall), with which it agrees in 

 geographical position 



No account of the Nottinghamshire Domesday would be complete 

 which did not include a passing reference to the history of the county 

 published in 1677 by Robert Thoroton, a most worthy member of the 



1 See the account of this case in Thoroton, Hist, of Notts, iii, 2, and Placita coram rege, Mich. 

 13-14 Edw. I, m. 28, 



* Round, Studies in Peerage and Family History, 129. 



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