A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



of the castle — and in order to compensate them for this loss gave them, 

 in 1086, the manor of Bury/ 



Turning to the monasteries which are entered amongst the sub- 

 tenants we find that the wealthy abbey of Wilton had held the manor 

 of Firle, worth jC^o, and that of Falmer, valued at X^20, but had lost 

 both. Sometimes a policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul appears to have 

 prevailed, and land taken from one house was bestowed on another. 

 Thus William de Warenne granted Falmer to his priory of St. Pancras 

 at Lewes, and the Count of Mortain gave ' St. John's ' manor of Frog- 

 Firle to his Norman foundation of Grestain, with 2 hides at Beddingham 

 and the manor of Wilmington, where a cell was established and continued 

 until the suppression of the alien priories. In the same way half a vir- 

 gate of the Abbess of Wilton's manor of Firle situated in Henhurst 

 Hundred fell to the share of Treport, which also held half the estate of 

 ' Bolintun ' in Bexhill. In West Sussex Earl Roger had converted the 

 secular canons of St. Nicholas in Arundel into a priory subordinated to 

 the abbey of St. Martin of Sees, re-granting to them, for the welfare of 

 his brother-in-law, a monk of Sees, the church of Harting, which the 

 seculars had held, and giving them also tithes of Arundel worth 24J., 

 and the vills of Eastergate and Fishbourne ; and after the death 

 of his Countess Mabel in 1082 he divided his manor of Climping into 

 two equal portions, giving one to Sees. The other half of Climping he 

 bestowed on the abbey of Almenesches, of which his daughter was 

 abbess, and from whence he had settled a colony of nuns on his estate 

 at Lyminster. At Runcton and Waltham the abbey of Troarn had 

 lands by grant of the earl, and ' a monk of St. Evroult ' held one hide of 

 the manor of Singleton. Finally, the monks of Mortain had eight 

 burgages in Pevensey bringing in 5J. 6d. It is probable that they 

 had also already received from the Count of Mortain lands in Withy- 

 ham which were temporarily usurped by Walter de Richardiville 

 when sheriff of the honour of Pevensey,^ as these lands seem to have 

 been included in ' Hertvel,' which was held by ' Walter ' in 1086. 



Some of the small ecclesiastical endowments are difficult to identify. 

 In addition to the individual holdings of priest or clerk, monk or canon, 

 we have canons of MalUng holding lands, which shows that the church 

 of South Mailing was already collegiate, in addition to the canons of 

 St. Michael, also mentioned under Mailing, and doubtless identical with 

 them. But the ' clerks ' who held in common St. Michael's endowment 

 in Horse Eye near Pevensey are less easy to identify.^ The clerks of 

 St. Nicholas (of Arundel) are mentioned under Harting, and the clerks 

 of Boxgrove church held i hide. The ' clerks of St. Pancras ' appear 

 as holding 2| hides in West Firle, possibly the endowment of that church 

 of St. Pancras at Lewes which formed part of the original gift by William 

 de Warenne to the monks of Cluni. It is possible that ' St. John,' other- 



• Cal. of Doc. France, p. 38. 2 Ibid. p. 437. 



3 Mr. Round has adduced evidence to show that this church may have been at Eastbourne {Suss. 

 Jrch. Coll. xlii. 76). 



376 



