DOMESDAY SURVEY 



Lowy, or ' Leuga ' of Battle,' and all the lands within it were freed for 

 ever from the payment of geld and other services. One result of thus 

 drawing a circle was that the Liberty contained only one complete pre- 

 Conquest manor or estate — ' Bocheham ' — and portions of twelve other 

 manors, of which the main body was surveyed under the lands of the 

 Count of Eu. These lands were assessed at 6 hides — with an extra 

 unassessed half-hide according to the survey, or half-virgate according 

 to the Abbey Chronicle, which in two cases complains that ' the 

 king's book ' has attributed more to the monks than they really held. 

 We have seen that the king exempted the lands of the Liberty from 

 Danegeld and all other payments to the Crown, but as it is expressly 

 stated in Domesday that the 2^ hides which the abbot held in demesne 

 ' have not paid geld in the rape,' it is clear that the remaining 3^ hides 

 must have paid it, in which case the only conclusion is that the abbot 

 collected the geld but did not hand it over to the king. In addition to 

 this grant of land round the site of the church the abbey also received 

 the valuable manor of Alciston in Pevensey rape, which had been rated 

 at 50 hides, but was now reduced to 44I hides, as outlying portions of 

 the manor had been annexed to the rapes of Lewes and Hastings, in 

 which they were situated. A charter of Henry L^ relates that the 

 abbot and convent of Battle had complained that they were charged 

 for 50 hides for their manor of Alciston, although 7 (sic) hides had 

 been taken away from it ; in granting relief the king states that these 

 hides lay at Ovingdean, Codingele (Coding in Hooe), Betelesford 

 (Batsford in Warbleton .?), Wivenham, Daningawurde, Scoweswelle 

 (Shoyswell), Baresselle (Borzell), Wertesc, Brembreseboc and Seure- 

 deswelle. 



The abbey of Westminster held Parham by grant of King Edward, 

 the abbey of Hyde,^ Southease and Donnington, and the nuns of St. 

 Edward of Shaftesbury held Felpham in west Sussex. Of Norman 

 monasteries the only one that appears as tenant-in-chief is the abbey 

 of Fecamp, to which the Confessor had given the two valuable manors 

 of ' Rameslie ' in the extreme east of the county, including Rye and 

 Winchelsea and at least part of Hastings, and Steyning. This latter 

 in King Edward's time was worth £S6, and had consequently attracted 

 the attention of Harold, who seized it from the abbey and held it 

 ' in fine Regis Edwardi.' William is said to have particularly pledged 

 himself before setting out on the invasion of England to restore this 

 manor to the abbey ; but while doing so he found it advisable to deprive 

 the monks of certain tenements in Hastings — possibly including the site 



' These lands are described in Domesday Book as held hy the abbot ' in suo rapo,' but after careful 

 consideration of all the evidence in and outside Domesday, Mr. Round is of opinion that these words need 

 not imply a ' rape of Battle,' but may only mean ' in the rape of Hastings in which his abbey stands,' as 

 opposed to the rape of Pevensey, in which the rest of the endowment lay. 



= Harl. ch. 43 C. 12. 



3 Hyde Abbey also claimed Treyford, and the hundred court found that it had been held of the 

 abbot by a tenant who had only held it for his life. A virgate in Riston Hundred had also belonged to 

 Newminster, as the abbey was then called. 



375 



