BEDINGHAM, DITCHINGHAM & THE FARMS 25 



TRANSLATION 



To all Christ's faithful, to whom this present writing comes, Roger of 

 Huntingfield wishes health. Let our whole acquaintance know that I have 

 given and granted, and by this present charter of mine have confirmed, to God 

 and to the Church of the Holy Cross at Bungay and to the nuns there serving 

 God, Alveva, the wife of Roger Brunllan, and Thomas his firstborn son, with 

 their whole tenement which they held of me in the village of Metfield, of the 

 purtenances of Mendham, for free, and pure, and perpetual charity for the 

 salvation of the soul of my father, and of my mother, and of my ancestors and 

 successors. Saving the service of (our) lord the King, to wit, for ward, one 

 penny a year on a thousand shillings, and for scutage of (our) lord the King on 

 twenty shillings two pence, and on more, more, and on less, less. 



And that this donation -and confirmation may remain firm and settled I 

 have strengthened it by the muniment of my seal for myself and for my heirs. 



These being witnesses : William of Huntingfield, Walter Malet, Peter 

 Walter, Robert of Huntingfield, William of Gorton, Hubert Walter, Alan 

 of Withersdale, William Cantelow, G(eoffrey ?) of Drokes, Adam the son of 

 Walter, Walter King, Adam the monk, William the monk, Martin the monk, 

 Godfrey of Linburne. 



Strange times indeed when a woman and her son could be given 

 as serfs to a nunnery to benefit various souls, disembodied or still 

 to be embodied. This ancient and most interesting document 

 still carries the perfect seal of Roger de Huntingfeld, which, as he 

 states, he affixes to it to bind himself and his heirs. On the next 

 page is a reproduction of it as it came from his hand all that 

 remains to-day of the pious and once upon a time very important 

 Roger. Well, six centuries hence, of how many of us will there 

 be left even as much as this ? Few, indeed, I think. 



This deed passed to me in a curious manner. Some years ago 

 I went into the shop of a chemist at Kensington with a prescription, 

 and left my address, to which it was to be posted. In due course 

 the medicine arrived, and with it the original charter of Roger de 

 Huntingfeld. The chemist, Mr. W. H. Stickland, into whose hands 

 the parchment had come, I forget how, knowing that it had to do 

 with Bungay, and that I lived in the neighbourhood, most kindly 

 sent it to me. I can assure him that his gift was appreciated ; 

 indeed, I would swallow many potions to win such another. 



