A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



ploughs, and (there are) 5 villeins and 4 bor- 

 dars with 2 ploughs. There are 5 acres of 

 meadow. It was and is worth 40 shillings. 

 Elmer held (it) and afterwards became a monk. 

 The Bishop received his land. 



The same Urse holds 4 hides at Westmone- 

 COTE [Westmancot],^ where he has 3 ploughs, 

 and (there are) i villein and 2 bordars with i 

 plough. There are 14 serfs and 12 acres of 

 meadow. It was worth 50 shillings ; now 60 

 shillings. Brictuine held it, and did service 

 (deserviebat) for it to the Bishop (on such terms) 

 as could be obtained {deprecari). 



Of the same manor Durand holds 2 hides 

 at NoRTUNE [Bredons Norton], where he has 

 I plough, and (there are) 2 bordars with i 

 plough, and 6 acres of meadow. Leofwine 

 {Lewinus) held it and served [fuit) for it as 

 Bishop's ' radman.' 



Of this same manor Brictic son of Algar ^ 

 held of the Bishop i hide at Biselege [Bush- 

 ley]^ and paid rent for it to the Bishop {inde 

 firmabat ipsum episcopum) every year ; and yet 

 he rendered to the Bishop {ad mam episcopt) 

 whatever he owed to the King's service. It 

 is now in the hands of king William.* It 

 is and was worth 40 shillings. There are 

 20 acres of meadow and wood(land) half a 

 league (Jewa) long and 3 furlongs wide. 



In the aforesaid Hundred the same Bishop 

 holds RiPPEL [Ripple] with one (appurtenant) 

 member, Uptun [Upton-on-Severn]. There 

 are 25 hides that (pay) geld. Of these, 13 

 are in demesne, where are 4 ploughs ; and 

 there are 2 priests who have i\ hides with 2 

 ploughs; and (there are) 40 villeins and 16 

 bordars with 36 ploughs. There are 8 serfs 

 and I bondwoman and a mill and 30 acres of 

 meadow. The wood(land) is half a league 

 [lewa] long and 3 furlongs wide, (and is) in 

 Malferna [Malvern] ; from it (the Bishop) had 

 the honey and the hunting and all profits 

 {quicguid exibat), and 10 shillings over and 

 above ; it is now in (the King's) forest ; but 

 the Bishop has its pannage,* and (wood for) 



* A hamlet in Bredon. 



* This was the great English thegn, Brih- 

 tric son of jElfgar, whose connection with 

 Worcestershire is alluded to in the Introduction. 



^ Formerly Bysseley. It is confused with 

 Bisley (Gloucestershire) in the Index to the 

 Red Book of the Exchequer (Rolls Series), 

 and is oddly spoken of by Nash as a ' name 

 now lost' (I. 557). 



* See further for this estate, Domesday fo. 

 i8oi (p. 321 below), and the Introduction. 



* Payment for feeding swine on the mast. 



firing and repairs [domorum emendationem). It 

 was and is worth 10 pounds. 



Of this manor Ordric holds I hide at 

 Crumbe [Earl's Crombe] where he has 3 

 ploughs and 3 villeins and 5 bordars with 3 

 ploughs. There are 24 acres of meadow and 

 3 ' quarentenes ' of wood. It was worth 20 

 shillings ; now 40. Godric held (it) and 

 performed (his) service to the Bishop [de eph- 

 copo deservivit). Archbishop Ealdred {Eldre- 

 dus) received it rightfully (Jure) from him.' 



There also at Crumbe [Crombe d'Abitot] 

 Siward holds 5 hides, where he has 1 plough, 

 and (there are) 6 villeins and 4 bordars with 4 

 ploughs. This land was held of the Bishop, 

 T.R.E., by Sirof, on whose death the Bishop 

 gave his daughter, with this land, to a certain 

 knight of his, who was to support (pasceret) 

 her mother and to render the Bishop service 

 {serviret) for the land. It was and is worth 

 40 shillings. 



Of this same manor Roger de Laci holds 4 

 hides at Hilcrumbe [Hill Crombe], where he 

 has I plough, and (there are) 8 villeins and 4 

 bordars with 4 ploughs. There are 30 acres 

 of meadow. The wood(land) is half a league 

 {lewa) long and 2 furlongs wide. It was 

 worth 3 pounds ; now 4 pounds. 



Of the same manor Urse holds i hide at 

 HoLEFEST [Holefast],' where he has i plough 



^ There has evidently, and naturally, been 

 some confusion between the Crombes. Nash 

 makes the one hide held by Ordric to be Crombe 

 d'Abitot {alias Crombe Osbern) and the 5 

 hides held by Siward to be Earl's Crombe 

 {alias Crombe Simon). So far as Domesday 

 is concerned, the Crombes are treated as one. 

 There is, however, sufficient evidence even in 

 Nash's pages that Crombe Simon (which took 

 its name from a tenant about a century later) 

 was reckoned at i hide, and was not held of 

 the Bishop by the Beauchamps, though it was 

 subsequently obtained by the earls of War- 

 wick, whence it is named Earl's Crombe. On 

 the other hand Crombe d'Abitot (named from 

 Osbern d'Abitot, who held it under the 

 Beauchamps) must have been 5 hides, for the 

 survey temp. Henry I. shows us Walter de 

 Beauchamp holding 6 hides 'in Rippel et 

 Uptune.' One of these was at Holefast, for 

 Urse had held it as above, and the other 5 

 would be at Crombe d'Abitot. This identi- 

 fication, which is the opposite to that of Nash, 

 is in harmony with the feodary temp. John, 

 which shows us one Crombe held of the 

 Bishop by Beauchamp, and the other by Adam 

 * de Crumba' {Testa de Nevill, p. 41). 



' Now ' Holdfast.' A chapelry in Ripple. 



292 



