FINCHDEAN HUNDRED 



special protection,* 5 and further in June, 1217, ordered 

 the men of Mapledurh.im to be obedient in all 

 things to Roger, to whom he had committed the 

 manor to hold during his pleasure." Four months 

 later Randolph de Norewyzand Randolph . . . resham 

 were appointed guardians of the manor." After this 

 date the manor again reverted to the Honour of 

 Gloucester, which had devolved on Amice wife of 

 Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, as sole surviving 

 heiress of William, earl of Gloucester. Richard de 

 Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, the grandson 

 of Richard and Amice, granted the manor to his 

 brother William de Clare and his right heirs for 

 service of one knight's fee with reversion to the 

 grantor and his heirs.' 8 Henry III confirmed this 

 grant in 1248, and granted free warren in his 

 demesne lands in Mapledurham to William de Clare 

 .and his heirs. 29 William de Clare died of poison in 

 1258, leaving no issue. Consequently the manor 

 reverted to Richard, 50 who died seised of it in 1262, 

 leaving a son and heir Gilbert. 31 The descent of the 

 manor of Mapledurham from this point is identical 

 with that of Corhampton in the hundred of Meon- 

 stoke (q.v.), until the close of the seventeenth century. 

 According to the Hampshire Repository for 1 80 1 the 

 family of Hanbury held the manor until 1691, when 

 the sisters as co-heirs of the last male heir sold the 

 estate to John Barkesdale, who shortly afterwards sold 

 It to Ralph Bucknel, whose heirs-at-l.iw conveyed it 

 to Edward Gibbon," to whom it was with other 

 estates granted and confirmed by the Trustees of the 

 South Sea Company in 1724.** The historian, 

 Edward Gibbon, in his autobiography states that his 

 grandfather, Edward Gibbon, having acquired a for- 

 tune of ,60,000, was chosen a director of the South 

 Sea Company in 1716, and became involved in the 

 general ruin which fell on that company in 1720, 

 but soon made a fresh fortune equal to that of which 

 he had been despoiled, purchasing large landed estates 

 in Buckinghamshire and Hampshire.* 4 Edward 

 Gibbon died in 1736, and the manor passed to his 

 son Edward Gibbon, the father of the historian. 

 He was early left a widower, ' and soon withdrew 

 from the gay and busy scenes of the world, and his 

 prudent retreat from London and Putney to his 

 farm at Buriton in Hampshire was ennobled fay the 

 pious motive of conjugal affliction." 5 He lived 

 there for the remainder of his life, keeping the whole 

 of the estate in his own hands, and even renting 

 some additional land.* 6 He died in 1770, and the 

 manor then passed to his son Edward Gibbon the 

 historian, who in April, 1789, sold it to Lord 

 Stawell," the only son of Henry Bilson-Legge, from 



CLARE. Or three chev- 

 erons gules. 



BURITON 



whom it passed by purchase on 19 April, 1798, to 

 Henry Bonham of Petersfield. Henry Bonham died 

 in 1800 ; his brother and heir died in 1826, leaving 

 his Buriton estates to his cousin John Carter, who 

 assumed the name of Bonham, and was the first John 

 Bonham-Carter. He died in 1838, leaving a son 

 and heir John Bonham-Carter, who died in 1884, 

 leaving a son and heir John Bonham-Carter. The 

 last-named died December, 1905, leaving the Buriton 

 estates to his brother Lothian George Bonham-Carter, 

 the present owner. 



While Richard de Clare earl of Gloucester and 

 Hertford was lord of the manor of MAPLEDURHAM 

 he granted away from it three 

 carucates of land, in frank- 

 almoign, to the prior and 

 convent of St. Swithun, Win- 

 chester,* 3 receiving in exchange 

 the manors of Portland and 

 Wyke, the vill of Weymouth 

 and the land of Helewell.*" 

 This exchange was confirmed 

 by Henry III in 1260.' 

 The title of the prior and 

 convent to these manors was 

 defective," and knowing this 

 the earl caused a proviso to be inserted in the 

 agreement to the effect that they would restore to 

 him, his heirs or assigns all the land and tenements in 

 the manor of Mapledurham which he had given to 

 them in exchange for the Isle of Portland and its 

 members in Weymouth, Wyke and Helewell in case 

 the latter were recovered from him, his heirs or 

 assigns in court of law." John de Gervais bishop of 

 Winchester 12608, and Nicholas of Ely bishop of 

 Winchester 1268-80, in turn petitioned that the Isle 

 of Portland should be restored to the bishopric, 43 but 

 it was not until about 1280 that determined efforts 

 were made to recover it from Gilbert de Clare earl of 

 Gloucester and Hertford." In the course of the pro- 

 ceedings the manor of Mapledurham, as the three 

 carucates of land had come to be called, was taken 

 into the king's hands by the justices in eyre, but was 

 restored to the prior by the king's orders in 1281 so 

 that he might till and sow the land until the next 

 Parliament in order that there might then be done 

 what the king should cause to be ordained by his 

 council. 45 The lawsuit between the king and the earl 

 extended over several years. Thus as late as 1284 

 John de Pontoise bishop of Winchester, while granting 

 to the prior and convent all rights which he had in 

 various manors and other lands, expressly excepted his 

 rights in the Isle of Portland and its members in 



* Pat. i Hen. Ill, m. n. 



96 Ibid. m. 7. 



*> Ibid. m. I. 



18 Chart. R. 32 Hen. Ill, m. I. 



M Ibid. m. 2. 



80 It must have been about this time 

 that a portion of this manor was granted 

 to the prior and convent of St. Swithun, 

 Winchester, which in a short time de- 

 veloped into a separate manor with a 

 distinct history of its own. 



81 Inq. p.m. 46 Hen. Ill, No. 34. 



** It is probable that Edward Gibbon 

 purchased the manor in 1719, for in that 

 year he purchased the manor and borough 

 of Petersfield from Bucknel Howard and 

 Sarah Bucknel, grand-daughter and sole 



heiress of Ralph Bucknel (Close, 1 3 Geo. 

 II, pt. 17, m. 36, &c.). 



88 The Hampshire Repository, ii, 205. 



81 Murray's Autobiographies of Edward 

 Gibbon, 215. 



<"> Ibid. 218. 



Ibid. 246. 



" The purchase-money of i 6,000 was 

 not paid for a considerable time after the 

 sale. The matter was referred to Chan- 

 cery, and was not finally concluded till 

 Apr. 1791. (Murray's Private Letters of 

 Edward Gibbon, ii, 189, 222, 240 and 



Z43). 



83 Assize R. Mich. 8 Edw. I. 



89 Coram Rege R. Mich. 7 & 8 Edw. I, 

 rot. zo, 21. 



Ibid. 



41 Inasmuch as previous to this they 

 had granted them to Ethelmar bishop- 

 elect of Winchester, the grant being con- 

 firmed by Henry III in 1256. On the 

 expulsion of Ethelmar from England in 

 1258 the manors fell into the king's 

 hands, who granted them to Richard de 

 Clare earl of Gloucester and Hertford to 

 hold during his pleasure, shortly afterwards 

 however re-granting them to the prior and 

 convent (Coram Rege R. Mich. 7 & 8 

 Edw. I, rot. 20, 21). 



Coram Rege R. Mich. 7 & 8 Edw. I. 



Ibid. 



44 Ibid. 



45 Close, 9 Edw. I, m. 9. 



8? 



