DOMESDAY SURVEY 



and xxvi) and Edmondsham (nos. i8 and xxiv). Schelin also had held part of Ham- 

 preston (no. 443) of the queen, but in 1086 it was held by Torchil of the king. Another 

 part of Hampreston (nos. 19 and xxv) was held of the queen by William Belet, according 

 to Exon. Domesday. He also held 12 acres of meadow at Bingham's Melcombe (no. 30) 

 which formerly had been leased to Wlgar Wit. Melcombe and Hinton Martell (no. 31) 

 had formerly belonged to Countess Goda. Melcombe is said to have been taken by Earl 

 Harold from Shaftesbury Abbey and the fact that the abbey had once held this manor 

 is confirmed by the entry relating to the abbey's manor of Cheselbourne (no. 138) where 

 it is stated that Earl Harold had seized the abbey's manors of Stour and Cheselbourne. 

 King William had ordered them to be returned to the abbey in accordance with a writ of 

 King Edward, but he himself still retained Melcombe. Since Goda was dead by 1056 

 it seems likely that Melcombe passed to Shaftesbury Abbey as a bequest, and that 

 subsequently Harold committed the trespass. What became of Hinton in the interval 

 between the death of Goda and the arrival of King William is unknown. Nearly half the 

 manor was subinfeudated, mostly to ecclesiastics. A priest had held i hide of thegnland, 

 which the king had in demesne in 1086. Another priest held 2| hides T.R.E., of which 

 he retained i| hide in 1086, the other hide being held by the Bishop of Lisieux. A third 

 priest living in Tarente held i\ hide, and Ulvric held i virgate of land. Lastly, i\ hide 

 and \ virgate belonged to the church of Wimborne Minster, and were held by Maurice, 

 Bishop of London. Attached to the manor of Melcombe were 3^ virgates in Buckland 

 hundred which three free thegns had held T.R.E., and which, according to Domesday, 

 Countess Goda had added to her manor. The Geld Roll for Buckland hundred gives a 

 different account, attributing their acquisition to Robert de Oilly, who seems, from an 

 entry in the Geld Roll for Canendofie hundred, to have held Countess Goda's two 

 manors at farm of the king."'' Exon. Domesday records that Fulcred held the manor of 

 Child Okeford (nos. 7 and i) ad firmam de rege. Child Okeford had belonged to Earl 

 Harold, and Fulcred also held all the other manors of Earl Harold, with the exceptions 

 of Loders (nos. 13 and ix) which was held at farm by Roger, and Puddletown which was 

 held by Aiulf, Sheriff of Dorset, who also held the queen's manors of Frome St. Quintin 

 (nos. 15 and xxi) and Wimborne (nos. 21 and xxvii). Fulcred appears in the Geld Roll 

 for Uggescombe hundred, accounting for the geld on i| hide of Harold's land which can 

 be identified as part of Fleet, and it seems likely that he held the other manors at farm 

 also. Roger was perhaps Roger Arundel, a considerable landowner in the area, who had 

 held the manor of Piddletrenthide (no. 69) before it passed to the New Minster at 

 Winchester. 



It is uncertain whether all King William's manors were exempt from geld or whether 

 such exemption was confined to those of them which rendered the night's farm.'^ 

 In the Geld Rolls the demesne of the king is exempt in the same way as the baronial 

 demesnes, but in some cases, notably in the manors of Earl Harold, the villani had not 

 paid geld either. '^ It is not clear whether these were defaults or whether the land in 

 question was exempt. In the case of Ibberton in Haltone hundred there certainly seems 

 to have been a default. It was a manor of 5 hides, zl hides in demesne and 2\ hides 

 belonging to the villa?ii. In Haltone hundred the king received ;(^i2 15*. on 45 hides. At 

 6s. on the hide he should have received ,^13 10^. and in fact the account concluded 

 restant xv solidi de terra Heroldi que est terra villanorum, i^s. being the geld on 2\ hides. 

 This certainly implies that the land was geldable and should have paid with the rest. 

 Fleet (nos. 1 1 and vii), in Uggescombe hundred, is said to have paid geld in another 



" See pp. 129, 146. Rob. de Oilly was Sheriff of Warws. Celeberge (Charborough) hundred; Chaldon, in Winfrith 

 " See V.C.H. Wilts, ii. 176-7. hundred; and Loders, in Loders hundred: see pp. 136, 



" Okeford, in Ferendone hundred; Charborough, in 143,146,148. 



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