DOMESDAY SURVEY 

 as II manse,'^^ and Hinton St. Mary {Hamtiine) (no. 126) was given by Edmund to 

 Wulfgar in 944, when it was reckoned as 5 manse.'>^ Mapperton was assessed at 1 1 hides 

 in 1086 and Hinton St. Mary at eight. Another charter of Edmund, dated 942, concerns 

 the manor of Cheselbourne. According to this charter Edmund restored 7 manse of 

 land at Cheselbourne to Wynflaed, a rehgious woman, with an additional grant of 8 

 manse in the same place. ^9 According to Domesday Cheselbourne was one of the manors 

 taken by Earl Harold from the abbey and restored by King William in accordance with 

 a writ of King Edward. It was then assessed at 16 hides. Earl Harold had also taken 

 another manor, Pidele, from the abbey, which was not returned and was held by the 

 Count of Mortain in 1086. According to a charter in the abbey's cartulary Edgar in 

 966 restored to the church 10 cassati of land at Uppidelen, which had originally been 

 given by Wynflaed, described as his grandmother {ava), whose charter had been lost 

 through carelessness.' Of the four manors called Pidele held in 1086 by the Count of 

 Mortain, only one, Piddlehinton (no. 168), assessed at 10 hides, is large enough to be 

 identifiable with Uppidelen. It had been held T.R.E. by two thegns^ro ii maneriis, and 

 it is not said ever to have belonged to Shaftesbury Abbey. Uppidelen has in fact been 

 identified as part of Piddletrenthide (no. 69), 2 held T.R.E. by Almar and Alverd of King 

 Edward, which belonged in 1086 to the New Minster, Winchester. Neither Pidele 

 (whether it be identified with Piddlehinton or Piddletrenthide) nor Melcombe (no. 30) 

 was ever returned to the abbey, but half the hide in Farnham (no. 135), taken from the 

 abbey by Aiulf and the wife of Hugh, was returned. Aiulf the chamberlain restored it to 

 the abbey when his daughter became a nun there, and added the manor of Blandford 

 (no. 336) for the soul of his wife. Drew of Montacute's daughter also became a nun 

 at Shaftesbury, and on this occasion he gave to the abbey his manor of Nyland (no. 



I50).3 



Apart from the two great houses of Sherborne and Shaftesbury the Dorset abbeys 

 were quite small. Cerne Abbey was the foundation of Aethelmaer son of Aethelweard, 

 patron of Aelfric the homilist. Aelfric was responsible for teaching at Cerne, and later 

 became Abbot of Eynsham. Aethelmaer has been identified with the earl of the western 

 provinces to whom Bishop Aethelric addressed his complaint about ship-scot inen- 

 tioned above."* His foundation charter of 987^ gave to the abbey Cerne Abbas itself, 

 with ID mafise in Winterborne, the two manors of Littlebredy and Long Bredy, reckoned 

 at 12 and 16 manse respectively, and 3 manse in Renscombe. Leofric the clerk of Poxwell 

 gave Poxwell, and Aelfrith, a relative of Aethelmaer, gave 4 cassati at Puddle. Alfwold 

 gave 5 manse at Bloxworth. All these manors belonged to the abbey in 1086. Winter- 

 bourne Abbas was still assessed at 10 hides, Littlebredy and Long Bredy were assessed 

 at II and 9 hides respectively, and Renscombe at 5 hides, i virgate. Poxwell was a 

 manor of 6 hides and Bloxworth of five and a half. Two manors called Puddle were 



" Cart. Sax. no. 781. Eadric minister attests nos. 763, Saxon Charters, 281-2. 

 765, and 767, and no. 769 is a grant to Eadric vassalus, ' Cart. Sax.no. 11 86. The Wynflaed of this charter may- 

 dated 941, of Beechingstoke (Wilts.) by Edmund, which be the same woman as the Wynflaed of Edmund's charter 

 Stevenson considered 'may be genuine' : Asser, Life of relating to Cheselbourne. The Wynflaed who received the 

 King Alfred, 255. Eadric attests Cart. Sax. no. 775 (dated grant of Cheselbourne has been identified with the woman 

 942) as dux. who bequeathed Chinnock (Som.) to the abbey c. 950: 



'* Carf. 5ax. no. 793. For the identification of //awdoie D. Whitelock, .4nglo-Sa.xon Wills, no. iii and nn. ; cf. 



with Hinton St. Mary, see A. Fagersten, Place-Names of Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters, 379-80. 



Dorset, 41 and n. ^ Saxon Charters of Dorset (Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist, and 



" Cart. Sax. no. 775. Two charters of Aethelred I are Arch. Soc. lix), 107. 



preserved, granting 7 manse of land at Cheselbourne to ' Regesta Region Anglo-Normannorum, ii. 346-7. 



Earl Aelfstan: Car/. Sa.v. nos. 52s, 526. One is printed in •'See p. 41. For the identification, see Robertson, 



Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters, no. xii. Stevenson Anglo-Saxon Charters, 386-7; Whitelock, Anglo-Saxon 



regarded no. 525 as doubtful or spurious: E.H.R. xxix. Wills, 144-5; Harmer, Anglo-Saxon Writs, 553. 



692 n., 698 n. Cnut gave i6 hides at Cheselbourne to ' Cod. Dipl. no. 656. Dr. Whitelock (Anglo-Saxon 



Agemund in 1019: Cod. Dipl. no. 730. These 3 charters Wills, 145) seems to accept it as genuine, 

 and that of Edmund are discussed in Robertson, Anglo- 



43 



