A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



ploughs in (the) demesne, and (there are) 7 

 villeins and I bordar and i Frenchman 

 {Jrancigena) ' with 6 ploughs. There are 4 

 serfs and 2 bondwomen and meadow . . .* 

 The wood(land) is 2 furlongs long and 2 fur- 

 longs wide. It was and is worth 4 pounds. 

 Godric held (it) doing (such) service for it to 

 the bishop (on such terms) as he could ob- 

 tain {deprecari). 



The same Urse holds 7 hides at Biscopes- 

 LENG [Rous Lench] ^ and Alvred holds (them) 

 of him. He has there in (the) demesne 3^ 

 ploughs, and (there are) a priest and 5 villeins 

 and 8 bordars with 5^ ploughs. There are 

 2 serfs and 2 bondwomen and a mill worth 

 {de) 4 shillings and 6 acres of meadow. It 

 was worth 6 pounds ; now 7 pounds. Frane 

 held 5 hides performing all the service (due), 

 and the Bishop had 2 hides in demesne. 



Of this same manor Robert the Despencer 

 {dispensator) holds 5 hides at Pidele and 

 More and Hylle [Piddle, Moor, and Hill].* 

 In (the) demesne are 4 ploughs and (there 

 are) 4 villeins and i bordar with i plough. 

 There are 3 serfs and 24 acres of meadow. 

 It was and is worth 60 shillings. Keneward 

 held (it) in the same manner as the preceding 

 {al'iam supradictam). 



Of this same manor JSAfnc {Alricus) the 

 Archdeacon holds i hide at Bradelege [Brad- 

 ley] where he has i plough in (the) demesne, 

 and there are 3 villeins and 3 bordars, with 

 if ploughs, and i serf. It was and is worth 

 20 shillings. Archbishop Ealdred {Eldredus) 

 leased it {prastitit) to his reeve T.R.E. and 

 took it from him justly when he would. 



Of the same manor Roger de Laci holds 

 10 hides at Bisantune [Bishampton] and two 



* Compare Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 

 46. 



» A blank in the MS. 



^ It would seem desirable to deal here with 

 the whole question of the Lenches, on which 

 there has been much confusion. As to 

 ' Abeleng ' there is no question, for it became 

 ' Habbe Lench ' and then ' Hob Lench.' (It 

 has latterly been converted into 'Abbot's 

 Lench,' presumably because it never belonged 

 to an abbot !) ' Biscopesleng ' is positively 

 asserted by Nash to be Church Lench (II. 80), 

 although the latter name appears below, under 

 Evesham Abbey, as ' Circelenz.' I hesitated 

 to reject Nash's identification, not knowing 

 what grounds he might have for it, until I 

 traced his assertion as probably derived from 

 a guess by Habington (I. 324), who wrote, 

 under Church Lench, ' This Biscopesleng I 

 thincke was Churchlench.' Oddly enough, 

 it is Habington's work which supplies us with 

 evidence to the contrary. For he elsewhere 

 (I. 317) notes, under Rous Lench, 'that 

 William de Beauchamp, in the Red book of 

 the Bishopricke of Worcester healde seavne 

 Hydes heere of our Byshop,' and again (I. 

 319) that 'Roger de Lench heald of William 

 Beauchamp seeaune hydes of Land in Lench ' 

 (so also II. 171). It is quite clear that these 

 were the ' seven hides ' at ' Biscopesleng' held 

 of the Bishop by Urse, whose heirs the 

 Beauchamps were. From Randolf de Lench 

 (compare Heming, p. 291), who held it under 

 them, it took the name of Lench Randolf, 

 and, on passing from his descendants, the 

 Lenches, to the family of Rous, it became 

 Rous Lench. 



Church Lench ' (Circelenz) will now 



present no difficulty,' nor will Atch Lench 

 (' Achelenz '). Both of these were held in 

 Domesday, by Evesham Abbey ; and I 

 suspect that Atch Lench was the Lench 

 ' sacriste ' that occasionally appears. There 

 remains only the 'Lenche' which Urse had 

 got into his hands as of the bishop of Bayeux' 

 fee (fo. 1 76). Habington inserted the Domes- 

 day entry of it under Rous Lench (I. 316), to 

 which he clearly thought it related. But its 

 subject was evidently the ' Lenz (or Leinch) 

 Bernardi' of the Evesham MS. (Vesp. B. 

 XXIV. fos. 6, lo-ii), and I identify it with 

 Sheriffs Lench, of which we read under 

 Edward I. ' Comes Warrewic tenet Shyrreve- 

 lench pro dimidio feodo. Set quia est in manu 

 potentis nichil Abbati facit nisi homagium, et 

 homines de Lench sectam apud Blakehurst,' 

 (Harl MS. 3,763, fo. 168^). Habington 

 observes that ' the Earles of Warwick, de- 

 scending from the Beauchamps, had within 

 the paryshe of Churchlench a manor called 

 Shreulensh (II. 252). I conclude that the 

 Beauchamps (who inherited the hereditary 

 shrievalty from Urse) kept the above four 

 hides in their own hands, and that this Lench, 

 therefore, took its name from their office. 



Among the Lyttelton charters is one, 

 temp. Henry III., which brings together the 

 names of Chirchelench, Habbelench, Lench 

 Ranulf and Achelench. 



It is perhaps significant that, when Lench- 

 wich is excluded, the Lenches, added together, 

 amount to 25 hides exactly. Lenchwick 

 itself is entered at 10 hides in an early 

 Evesham Survey (Vesp. B. XXIV. fo. 49). 



* Hill and Moor are a chapelry of Flad- 

 bury. 



290 



