A HISTORY OF DORSET 



Fordington, Sutton Poyntz, Gillingham, and Frome (nos. 4 and xii); Pimperne and 

 Charlton Marshall (nos. 5 and xiv); and Winfrith Newburgh, Lulworth, Wintreborne , 

 and Knowlton (nos. 6 and xv). None of them was assessed in hides, nor had they ever 

 paid geld. The three groups headed respectively by Burton Bradstock, Dorchester, and 

 Wimborne Minster each rendered one night's farm (firma iinius noctis) and the two 

 remaining groups headed by Pimperne and Winfrith Newburgh each rendered \ 

 night's farm {dimidia firma iinius noctis). The night's farm was an ancient food-rent, 

 dating from the time when the king continually travelled about with his court, and 

 representing the supplies needed to support the king and his retinue for one day. It 

 survived in 1086 largely in the area of the old West Saxon kingdom, and is found in 

 Hampshire (where it is called the firma uniiis diei), Wiltshire, and Somerset as well as in 

 Dorset, but traces of it also survive elsewhere. In Dorset it was not commuted to a 

 money rent in 1086, but money values are given for the farm in the other three western 

 counties. In Hampshire, the only county where the value was in any way standardized, 

 the farm was worth ^jb \bs. M. T.R.E. and £\o^ 12s. zd. in 1086. No T.R.E. value is 

 given for either Wiltshire or Somerset. In Somerset in 1086 two groups of manors 

 rendered ;(^io6 c*. lod., a third group rendered ^^loo 10^. gld., and a fourth group 

 ;^I05 lys. ^\d. In Wiltshire in 1086 one manor paid i^ioo and another /^i 10, while the 

 remaining four manors liable to the night's farm were not valued in money."' 



In Dorset the manors liable to the night's farm are grouped together in such a way 

 that the only obvious reason for their association is that of size, although this is unlikely 

 to have been the only consideration. Certainly they do not form compact geographical 

 entities. Gillingham, in the northern tip of Dorset, is associated with Dorchester and 

 its suburb of Fordington, in the south of the shire, and Bere Regis in the east is 

 associated with Burton Bradstock, Chideock, and Shipton Gorge, which form a 

 compact group in the west. If the number of teamlands can be taken as a rough guide to 

 the comparative sizes of the manors, then the three groups rendering a full night's 

 farm were approximately equal, if not in size, at least in agricultural capacity, having 

 respectively 56 teamlands (Dorchester), 55 teamlands (Burton Bradstock), and 45 

 teamlands (Wimborne Minster). The two groups rendering \ night's farm were about 

 half the size, with 20 teamlands (Pimperne) and 24 teamlands (Winfrith Newburgh). 

 Three of the four Dorset boroughs contributed to the night's farm in the manner 

 already described, and some of the Dorset hundreds — Dorchester, Gillingham, Bere 

 Regis, Pimperne, Winfrith Newburgh, and Knowlton — bear the names of royal 

 manors, which must have been their heads. 



Of the manors which had belonged to Earl Harold the most important was Puddle- 

 town (nos. 8 and ii). Since the third penny of the whole shire was attached to this 

 manor it was clearly part of the official endowment of the earldom, and it was in the 

 hands of Aiulf, Sheriff of Dorset, in 1086. With its adjuncts, consisting of li hide in 

 Purbeck and \ hide in Mapperton, Puddletown was worth £']-^, and was beneficially 

 hidated, being assessed at | hide, with land for 15 ploughs. It must also have been the 

 head of the hundred of the same name. Of Earl Harold's other manors, Charborough 

 {Celeberge) was also the head of a hundred, and Loders, assessed at 20 hides, was a 

 hundred in itself. 



The land of Queen Maud consisted of nearly 42 hides: 31 hides which had belonged 

 to Beorhtric son of Aelfgar, and a further 1 8 hides which Hugh fitz Grip had held of her. 

 According to Exon. Domesday Schelin held two of her manors, Witchampton (nos. 20 



"■ For a full discussion of the night's farm and its Poole, Exch. in the i2th Cent. 27-30; Dialogus de Scaccario, 

 commutation, see J. H. Round, Feudal Eng. 109-15 ; R. L. ed. C. Johnson, pp. xxxviii, 40-41. 



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