DOMESDAY SURVEY 



Necton was the only considerable estate belonging to Harold which 

 King William granted out, though he seems to have bestowed Blickling and 

 Marsham, formerly part of Harold's estate at Cawston, upon the bishops of 

 Thetford. Of Gurth's estates the king only retained Ormesby. Aylsham, with 

 its members Shipden (or Cromer) and Brundall, appears among the lands 

 farmed by Godric, but we do not hear whether Earl Ralf ever held it. 

 Costessy with Bawburgh was bestowed on Count Alan of Brittany, Sedgeford 

 on the bishop. Brooke was given to St. Edmund's on the king's first visit to 

 the abbey, ^ when the monks claimed his alms. The soke which Gurth had 

 usurped over certain freemen was also granted to the abbey. Eight freemen 

 in Burgh in Flegg became directly dependent on the king. 



Next to the lands which the king held directly come the lands which 

 were farmed by Godric ' dapifer.' Like the lands in Suffolk and Essex which 

 he also farmed, most of these, if not all, had at some time belonged to Earl 

 Ralf, either as ' comital ' manors or by inheritance from his father,** the old 

 Earl Ralf, or by the grants made by King William out of the lands forfeited 

 by those who had taken part in the battle of Hastings. The bulk of Earl 

 Ralf's lands remained in the king's hands under the charge successively of 

 Robert Blund ' and Godric,* but a few of them fell into other hands. Thus 

 Belaugh, Hickling, and Ingham fell to Count Alan, and the neighbouring 

 manor of Sutton to Roger Bigod. The bishop became a tenant-in-chief at 

 Eccles, which he and his two predecessors had held of the earl, while a manor 

 in Filby was given to Rabel the engineer. 



The other group of lands fell into the king's hands a little earlier, upon 

 the deposition of Stigand from the archbishopric of Canterbury in 1070.^ 

 They were farmed successively by Richard Pugniant * and William de Noyers, 

 who seems to have had a certain Siward as his bailiff.^ Some of the property 

 was, however, granted out. The bishop of Bayeux obtained the valuable 

 manor of Snettisham, with its berewicks of Harpley, Flitcham, West 

 Newton, and Rising, and the manor of Grimston.^ Well Hall, in Gayton, 

 was granted to St. Stephen's, Caen,' and Wroxham to Ralf de Beaufou or 

 Bella-Fago, a near kinsman of Bishop William of Thetford, who also received 

 some of Stigand's under-tenants in the villages south of Norwich. The 

 bishop held Hemsby, which Stigand had taken from Alwi of Thetford, who 

 bought it of Earl Algar, and had bestowed on his brother Aylmer, his own 

 successor in the bishopric of Elmham. The land at Taverham, which 

 Stigand had held of St. Michael's, Norwich, returned to the church. Many 

 of the under-tenants in the south of the county fell to Roger Bigod. The 

 lands remaining in the king's hands were Hunstanton, which had probably 

 been detached from Snettisham, Methwold and Weeting, Croxton, Mileham 

 with Litcham, Great Dunham and Horstead, Wymondham and Tacolneston, 



' Dom. Bk. f. 210 ; cf. Dugdale, Moti. iii, 138, 'Prima vice qua ejus requisiverunt sufFragium.' 



' Ibid. f. 194. ' Or ' Blancar,' Dom. Bk. f. 243*. * Dom. Bk. f. 2 7 7/5. 



* The great extent of Stigand's possessions in Norfolk should be observed. Beyond the fact that he had 

 held, before his brother .^thclmasr, the old East Anglian bishopric, there seems to be nothing to account for them 

 or for those in Suffolk, which were similarly farmed in 1086 by William de Noyers. The point is of some 

 historical importance, owing to the part played by Stigand. His tenure of St. Michael's estate at Taverham 

 gives a hint of his dealings with church lands, which is well seen across the Suffolk border, at Mildenhall, which 

 he held of St. Edmund's Abbey, but which passed with his other lands to the crown (J. H. R.). 



' Dom. Bk. f 138. He held in chief in several counties. 



' Ibid. ff. 135*, 137. * Ibid, f 142. ' Ibid. f. 221^. 



13 



