A HISTORY OF DORSET 



hundred, though there is no record of this. Of the manors belonging to the queen two, 

 Cranborne, in Albretesberge hundred, and Ashmore, in Langeberge hundred, had not 

 paid geld. Hampreston, in Canetidone hundred, had not paid geld. It was assessed at 2 

 hides and i virgate with i hide in demesne, and according to Exon. Domesday William 

 Belet had held it of the queen. The Geld Roll for Canendone hundred states that de it 

 hidis et i virga quas tenet i tagtiiis adfirmam de rege non habuit rex geldiim. The rest of the 

 queen's manors appear to have paid geld in the usual way. The two manors which had 

 belonged to Countess Goda, and which the king held in 1086, were certainly liable to 

 geld. At Hinton there were 6 hides and i virgate in demesne, duly recorded as exempt in 

 Canendone hundred, where the manor lay, and de v hidis de terra Gode quam tenet 

 Rotbertns de Oilleio ad firmavi de rege habuit rex geldum post Pascha. Hinton was 

 assessed at 14 hides and i virgate so that 3 hides must have paid geld normally. The 

 geld due from Melcombe was also withheld until after Easter, and the king had still not 

 received it. The manor was assessed at 10 hides and lay in Haltone hundred, 3^ virgates 

 in Buckland hundred being attached to it. The king's demesne consisted of 7 hides and 

 3 virgates, which were exempt, and Robert de Oilly retinuit inde xv solidos iisqiie post 

 Pascha quos nundum habet rex. In the Geld Roll for Buckland hundred it is further stated 

 that de dimidia hida et dimidia zirga quas Rotbertns de Oilleio abstulit i tagno et posuit 

 intra firmam regis in Melecoma non habuit rex geldum. Thus no part of Melcombe had 

 paid geld. 



Alienations of royal land are occasionally recorded. A king's reeve had leased to 

 Toxus a piece of land in Sw^^re (no. 263) que nunquam geldavit T.R.E. sed erat in 

 dominio et in firma regis, and which in 1086 was held by William of Eu. The abbey of 

 Cranborne held a piece of land in Gillingham (no. 70) which Hugh fitz Grip had given 

 to the abbey, having taken it de firma regis. Half a hide attached to Cerneli (no. 212) fuit 

 de dominica firma Cerne T.R.E. and an entry in the Geld Roll for Whitchurch hundred, 

 which seems to refer to this land, says that it belonged to the king.^° Apart from these 

 pieces of land it seems likely that King Edward had already given Portland to the 

 Old Minster at Winchester. A writ exists which purports to be a record of this grant, 

 but it is of doubtful authenticity.^' The grant, if genuine, may have been intended to 

 take effect after the king's death, and it is noticeable that the king held Portland in vita 

 sua or, as Exon. Domesday expresses it, ea die qua ipse fuit virus, omitting the customary 

 et mortuus. In any event the writ seems to reflect an actual grant, since in his charter to 

 the Old Minster King Henry granted it Portland and its appurtenances as the gift of 

 King Edward.22 Soon to be alienated was Burton Bradstock, which in i loi was given by 

 King Henry to the abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, in exchange for the crown and other 

 regalia which William I had left to that abbey. ^^ Richard de Rivers (or Redvers) gave 

 Loders to the abbey of Montebourg, with the king's permission, and its assessment was 

 reduced from 20 hides to five.--* Two of King Edward's manors, Winfrith Newburgh 

 and Bradpole, were later held by serjeanty. 



After King Edward the richest man in Dorset before the Conquest was Earl Harold, 

 whose earldom of Wessex included Dorset. As well as the manors held in 1086 by King 

 William, Harold had possessed Bincombe (no. 122), assessed at 8 hides, Waterston 

 (nos. 334 and cvi), assessed at 10 hides, and Shillingstone (no. 367), assessed at 16 

 hides. He held in all 87I hides, or about one-eighth of the land in Dorset held by 



^° See pp. 125, 126. In 1212 the Prior of Winchester held Portland de antiqiio 



" This writ is printed in F. E. Harmer, Anglo-Saxon fefemento region Anglorum: Bk. of Fees, 90. 



Writs, no. 112. For a discussion of it, see ibid. 385-7. -^ Regesta Regum Anglo-Nonnannorum, ed. C. Johnson 



^^ This charter is printed in V. H. Galbraith, 'Royal and H. .\. Cronne, ii, nos. 601, 1575. 



Charters to Winchester', E.H.R. xxxv. 390 (no. xviii). " Ibid. no. 1018. 



30 



