A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



so that their mention is merely incidental. At Latton we read of a 

 priest who holds no less than half a hide belonging to a church. At 

 Monksbury in Hallingbury there had been a priest who had similarly 

 ' 20 acres,' but these had been taken from the church. So too at Wethers- 

 field Gilbert the son of Warin had obtained possession of ' 30 acres,' which 

 had been held ' in almoin ' by a priest in King Edward's time, and of 

 8 \ acres 'belonging to another church.' An interesting entry under 

 Horndon-on-the-Hill shows us a deacon holding ' 30 acres ' and a fourth 

 share in the church, which is described as of the king's gift (or almoin). 

 At Peldon, where a deacon was the tenant-in-chief, 1 the church had ' 30 

 acres,' which was also the extent of the glebe at Downham, while at 

 ' Hacflet,' in Dengie Hundred, it was 40. At High Easter the church 

 had possessed half a hide, but this was held of Geoffrey de Mandeville 

 by one of his retainers at the time of the Survey. An entry, 

 valuable for the origin of glebe, records that at Stiffbrd the 30 acres 

 belonging to the church had been given to it by neighbours. No less 

 important is an entry under Horndon-on-the-Hill, which is suggestive, 

 if one may say so, of an Anglo-Saxon ' squarson.' ' ./Elfric the priest 

 (a) free man ' had held there a manor assessed at two hides and a quarter, 

 out of which he had bestowed on ' a certain church ' three-quarters of 

 a hide, which ' Suain took away from the church.' It is probable that 

 in all these instances the estimate represents, not the area, but the assess- 

 ment in hides and ' geld ' acres. The most important endowment in 

 the county was that of St. Peter's, Colchester, which had possessed an 

 estate assessed at two hides, and had been held in the Confessor's time 

 by two priests of the king's gift (or almoin). In 1086 a quarter of this 

 estate was in the hands of ' Eudo dapifer,' and the rest was claimed by 

 Robert son of Ralf de Ha (s) tinges. 2 



There are several cases in Essex in which priests are mentioned 

 without glebe. From the evidence afforded by the adjoining counties 

 of Middlesex and Herts it may safely be concluded that in such cases 

 the priest is entered as having, with the villeins, a part in the agricultural 

 system. Three successive entries of manors in the valley of the Roding 

 (fo. 36^) are here in point : at Little Canfield there were ' then i priest 

 and 9 villeins ; now i priest and 7 villeins ' ; at the Roding which 

 follows we read of i priest and 8 villeins, while under the next Roding 

 we have the suggestive entry : ' Then 3 villeins ; now i priest and 4 

 villeins.' So too at Little Easton we have : ' Then 5 villeins and i 

 priest ; now i priest and 3 villeins ' ; and on a Leyton manor we have : 

 ' Then 6 villeins ; now i priest and i villein.' A similar entry under 

 Great Easton records : ' Then 1 1 villeins and i priest ; now r 5 villeins 

 and i priest.' At Saling a noteworthy entry reads : ' Then 3 villeins 

 and i priest ; afterwards i ; now 2 villeins and i priest.' These entries, 

 it will be seen, class the priest with the villeins ; and where there were 

 no villeins, he is even classed with the bordars. The Saling entry is 

 immediately followed by one relating to Little Maplestead, in which we 



1 See p. 418 below. 3 See p. 423 below. 



384 



