356 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



bably inherited the Manor of Newcastle from Gilbert Lord Segrave, 

 for in 1267 we find this Manor again in possession of the Crown, 

 and granted out to Hammon le Strange,* who was one of the Lords 

 Marchers of Wales. The Manor was shortly afterwards re-united 

 with the Castle and Borough, and became part of the possessions of 

 the House of Lancaster. 



The said Edmund Earl of Lancaster, &c. died seised of 

 this Castle and Manor, in 1295, f and they descended, with 

 his other vast estates, to his eldest son Thomas, who upon his 

 marriage with Alice, the heiress of Henry Lacy Earl of Lin- 

 coln, endowed her, ad ostium ecclesia,% with the Castle and Bo- 

 rough of Newcastle, and all the Hamlets belonging thereto. la 

 the Record called the " Nomina Villarum," returned into the Ex- 

 chequer in 1315, by the Sheriff of Staffordshire, in obedience to 

 the King's writ, the Earl of Lancaster is named as Lord of the 

 Town of New Castle, and it is stated that the said Earl had the 

 return of all writs there. This Thomas Earl of Lancaster, &c. 

 having been taken in arms against King Edward II. in 1322, 

 was condemned to death by a court-martial, and beheaded near 

 Pontefract. His estates were confiscated at that time, but after- 

 wards his widow had livery of part of them, comprising this Castle 

 and Borough, and the Hamlets belonging thereto. Henry Earl 

 of Lancaster, &c. the brother and heir of the said Thomas, (whose 

 attainder was reversed in 1326) died in the life-time of the Count- 

 ess Alice, leaving a son, Henry, created Duke of Lancaster, who 

 in time became possessed of all the estates of that great house. | 

 Duke Henry died of the plague at Leicester, in 1361, whereupon 

 this Castle and Manor, with their members and other appurte- 

 nances, were, upon a partition of his estates, between his two 

 daughters and co-heiresses, assigned to his eldest daughter Maud,|| 

 at that time the wife of William Duke of Zealand and Bavaria. 

 She died seised of these estates ^[ in the following year, without 

 issue, whereupon they became the property of John of Ghent, 

 (commonly called Gaunt) Earl of Richmond, the third son of King 

 Edward the 3d, in right of his wife Blanch, the surviving daughter 

 of the said Duke Henry. John of Ghent, on 13th November, 1362, 



* Calendarium Rotulorum in the Excheq. published 1803, p. 99. 



f Shaw's History of Staffords. vol. 1, p. 40. t Ibid. p. 41. 



Calendar. Inquis. post mort. published 1808, vol. 2, p. 236. 



Abbreviatio Rotulorum in the Excheq. published 1805, p. 263. 



If Calendar. Inquis. post mort. published 1809, vol. 2. p. 247. 



