DOMESDAY SURVEY 



267 hides in Wiltshire, 8 hides in Somerset, and the two large manors of Sonning 

 in Berkshire73 (assessed at 60 hides T.R.E. but reduced to 24 hides in 1086) 

 and Dunsden in Oxfordshire (assessed at 20 hides), with just under 100 hides in 

 Dorset, where the monks of Sherborne held 119^ hides. In addition the bishop and the 

 monks held between them about 40 carucates of land in Dorset which never paid geld. 

 The original endowment of the Bishop of Sherborne seems to have been 300 hides. A 

 letter from Bishop Aethelric to Aethelmaer, dating from the early nth century, 

 complains that he is not receiving ship-scot from 33 out of the 300 hides which his 

 predecessors had for their diocese.74 He itemized the deficit as i hide at Btibbanciimbe, 

 2 hides at Alton Pancras, 7 hides at Up Cerne, 6 hides at Clifton, 5 hides at Hewish, 2 

 hides at Trill, i hide at Wyllon, 5 hides at Buchaematime, 3 hides at Dibberford, and i 

 hide at Peder. Alton Pancras and Up Cerne (nos. 33, 34) were both held by the bishop in 

 1086. Clifton Maybank and Trill (no. 225) were held by Earl Hugh as the successor of 

 Eadnoth the staller. Before the Conquest Eadnoth had bought two manors, Catsley and 

 South Perrott (nos. 228, 229), of Bishop Aelfwold, on condition that at his death the 

 manors should revert to the church; Earl Hugh, however, held them in 1086. It seems 

 possible that South Perrott is the Peder of Bishop Aethelric's letter, but this has been 

 disputed.75 Dibberford lies in Dorset, but does not appear in the Dorset survey.'^ 



Sherborne was originally a house of secular canons, but Bishop Wulfsige (992-1001) 

 expelled the clerks and replaced them by monks.'? A dubious charter of Aethelred II, 

 dated 998,^8 confirms to the church the manors of Bradford Abbas, Over Compton, 

 Oborne, Stalbridge, Stalbridge Weston, Thornford, and Lyme Regis, all of which, with 

 the exception of Lyme, were de victii monachorum Scireburne in 1086. Lyme was held by 

 the Bishop of Salisbury in 1086. It had never paid geld and was held by an unspecified 

 number of fishermen who rendered 155. for the fish (adpisces). The bishop had a house 

 there worth 6d. In a charter dated 774 Cynewulf, King of the West Saxons, gave Lyme 

 to the church of Sherborne for a salt-pan. 79 Bradford Abbas and Stalbridge were given 

 to the church by Aethelstan^" and Oborne by Edgar.^' Aethelstan's charters give the 

 extent of Bradford as 10 hides and of Stalbridge Weston as 8 hides and these reckonings 

 agree with the Domesday assessment of the manors, but in Aethelred's confirmation 

 charter Bradford is reckoned as 7 hides and Stalbridge Weston as five. In Edgar's 

 charter Oborne is reckoned as 5 hides, as in Domesday, but in the confirmation charter 

 it is reckoned as ten. Eadred is supposed to have given 8 cassati in Thornford to Wulf- 

 sige II in 951, with a reversion to the church. 8- Thornford was reckoned as 15 cassati in 

 the confirmation charter and in Domesday was assessed at 8 hides. Another charter of 

 Aethelred II, dated 10 14, gave 13 hides in Corscombe to Sherborne,^^ and in 1035 Cnut 



'3 Potterne, Cannings, Ramsbury, and Salisbury salt-workers are recorded at the Bp. of Salisbury's manor 



(Wilts.), and Sonning (Berks.) were the endowment of the of Lyme, there were 1 3 salt-workers at the manor of Colway 



Bp. of Ramsbury. (no. 68) held by the abbey of Glastonbury, and 14 salt- 



'* F. E. Harmer, Anglo-Saxon Writs, no. 63 (dated workers at the manor of Lyme held by William Belet (no. 



1001/2-1009/12), where it is pointed out that the Bp. of 504). 



Salisbury held 3 hundreds in Dorset, Yetminster, *" Cart. Sax. nos. 695, 696. Stevenson appears to 



Beaminster, and Sherborne. accept them as genuine (Asset, Life of King Alfred, ed. 



'5 For the alternative identifications of Peder, see W. H. Stevenson, 148 n.). Cart. Sax. no. 695 calls Sher- 



Harmer, op. cit. 485. The Domesday form of the name borne a monasteriuni, but this could mean a minster. 



S. Perrott is Pedret. *' A. J. Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters, no. i ; Cart. 



'"' Dibberford lay in Dorset in 1252, when it was held Sax. no. 1308. 



by Grece de Mucegros ; there is no evidence that it belonged *^ Cart. Sax. no. 894. The phrase ad refectionem familie 



to the Bp. of Salisbury at that date: Bk. of Fees, 1267. Scireburnensis ecclesie suggests a community, and Eadred 



" Stenton, Anglo-Saxon Eng. 450. styles himself Occidentaliiim Saxonum rex, whereas his 



" Cod. Dipl. no. 701. Stevenson seems to accept this normal style is rex Anglorum. Stevenson regards this 



charter (E.H.R. xxix. 689), but Miss Harmer {Anglo- charter as 'doubtful or spurious' : E.H.R. xxix. 692 n. 



Saxon Writs, 485) does not regard it as genuine. '^ Cod. Dipl. no. 1309. Both Miss Harmer (Anglo- 



'« Cart. Sax. no. 224. Stenton accepts it as a genuine Saxon Writs, 553) and Miss Robertson (Anglo-Saxon 



charter : E.H.R. xxxiii. 443 n. Although no salt-pans or Charters, 387) seem to accept it as genuine. 



