72 WILLEY. 



the marriage of one, Warner de Williley, witli tlie 

 heiress of Roger Fitz Odo, of Kenley. AVarner de 

 "Williley appears to have been a person of some con- 

 sequence, from the fact that he was appointed to 

 make inquiry concerning certain encroachments 

 upon the royal forests of Shropshire ; but an act of 

 oppression and treachery, in which his wife had 

 taken a part, against one of his own yassals, whose 

 land he coveted, caused him to be committed to 

 prison. Several successive owners of Willey were 

 overseers of Shirlot Forest ; and Nicholas, son and 

 heir of Warner, was sued for inattention to his 

 duties ; an under tenant also, profiting probably 

 by the laxity of his lord, at a later period was 

 charged and found guilty of taking a stag from the 

 king's preserves, on Sunday, June 6th, 1253. 

 Andrew de Williley joined Mountford against King 

 Edward, and fell August 4th, 1265, in the battle of 

 Evesham ; in consequence of which act of disloyalty 

 the property was forfeited to the crown, and the 

 priors of Wenlock, who already had the seigniory 

 usual to feudal lords, availing themselves of the 

 opportunity, managed so to increase their power 

 that a subsequent tenant, as shown by the Register 

 at Willey, came to Wenlock (1388), and " before 



