RISBOROUGH HUNDRED 



from serving on juries and paying tolls.' The ancient 

 earthwork called Grim's Dyke enters the parish on 

 the north-eastern border by Lilly-bottom Farm, and 

 reaches to Lacey Green. To the west of the church- 

 yard of Princes Risborough there is a site of about an 

 acre surrounded by a moat that popular tradition 

 asserts to be the site of the Black Prince's palace. 

 The civil parish of Princes Risborough contains the 

 hamlets of Longwick, Lacey Green, Looseley Row, 

 and Speen. 



Before the Norman Conquest 

 MANORS PRINCES RISBOROUGH belonged to 

 King Harold.* There was attached to 

 the manor in his time a burgess of Oxford, who 

 remained there after the Norman Conquest, and a 

 salt-worker of Droitwich paid an unspecified number 

 of loads of salt to the lord of the manor in 1086.' 



William the Conqueror kept the greater part of 

 Harold's lands, and so Princes Risborough became 

 part of the ancient demesne of the Crown. Half of 

 this part of Risborough seems, however, to have been 

 granted to Ansculf de Pinchengi very shortly after the 

 settlement of the Normans,' but was exchanged for part 

 of Ellesborough with Ralph Talgebosch or Taillebois, 

 by the king's command. Soon afterwards Risborough 

 again changed hands, and was held by the second Earl 

 Walter Giffard, who made various grants from these 



PRINCES 

 RISBOROUGH 



lands to the abbey of Notley.* From 1162 to 1180 

 Princes Risborough is said to belong to the honour of 

 Giffard, 10 but on the death of the earl in 1164 it 

 reverted to the Crown," and does not appear to have 

 been included in the grant of his honour made by 

 Richard I to William Marshal and Gilbert de Clare, 

 the heirs of the Giffards. Before 1165 the manor 

 was granted to Richard de Humeto," the Constable 

 of Normandy, and from this time was reckoned among 

 the ' lands of the Normans.' The original grant was 

 probably made by Walter Giffard, but in 1 173-4, after 

 his death, Henry II gave a new charter " to the con- 

 stable. This grant was renewed on Richard's death 

 to his son and successor, William de Humeto. 1 * The 

 latter does not appear, however, to have held the 

 manor, which went to his younger brother Engelard," 

 but by what charter or right he held it is doubtful. 

 Engelard's son, named William de Similly," succeeded 

 him, and held the manor till his death, circa \ 205, 

 when it escheated to the king." While in the royal 

 hands, various grants of land " in Risborough were 

 made, but only of a temporary nature, and by 1224 " 

 William de Similly's son, another William, was in 

 seisin of the manor. The heirs of Earl Giffard K now 

 made a determined attempt to recover Princes Ris- 

 borough, claiming that it was part of the honour to 

 which they had succeeded. Moreover, they denied 



PRINCES RISBOROUGH : THE MARKET PLACE 



Thii charter ii now in poneuion of 

 Mr. Gorge Stritton of High Street, 

 Prince* Riiborough. 



r.C.H. Biuki. i, XJM. 

 7 Ibid. 



* Ibid, i, 154*. 



* Dugdale, MM. i, 178. 

 10 Pi ft R. vi, 17. 



11 Rid Bk. tf Exit. (Roll! Ser.), 311 ; 

 Pi ft K. ix, 1 5 j G.E.C. Comfltti Peiragr. 



w Pipe R. rii. 



C*l. Doc. Franct, 186. 



" Ibid. 187. 



u Maitland, Braeton'i Nate Bk, cae 

 1734. " Ibid. 



Rot. Lit. Claui. (Rec. Com.), i, 86. 



26l 



" Ibid, ni, 46, 50, 75*, 576; Kid Bk. 

 of Exck. (Roll* Ser.), 537 j Pipe R. 14 

 John, m. 14. 



u Curii Rcgii R. 8j, m. n | Tatt J* 

 Ncvill (Rec. Com.), zjii. 



10 Curia Regii R. 87, m. 7 | Maitland, 

 Bracnn'i Nta Bk. cate 17541 Auiz* R. 

 54, m. gd. 



