BROADWATER HUNDRED watton-at-stone 



conveyed it in 1 813 to Samuel Smith, lord of the 

 matior of Woodhall, with which manor it has since 

 been united. 19 



The manor of Watton possessed a mill in 1086,™ 

 which in 1324 was valued at 131. 41/,™ It is men- 

 tioned in a conveyance in i6;i, 61 and is still working. 

 Robert Aguillon obtained a grant of free warren in 



1248." The right to hold a fair yearly on the vigil, 



feast and morrow of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin 



(7-9 September) was granted to Robert Aguillon in 



I248. M 



King Edgar gave 4^ hides in Watton to the abbey 



of Westminster," which grant was 



confirmed by Edward the Con- | 



fessor. 6 * Of this land, which is safe, 



reckoned in the Domesday Book as 



5 hides, I hide was held by the 



abbot himself 66 ; 2 hides were held 



of the abbot by Aluric Blac, together 



with half a hide held by Almar, a 



man of Aluric (which was perhaps 



the added half-hide) « ; and i£ 



hides were held by Goduin of the 



abbot. 68 Before 1086 this West- 

 minster estate had become broken 



up. The hide held by the abbot 



remained in his possession, 69 and 



was afterwards united to the manor 



of Stevenage, 70 the chief manor of 



the Abbot of Westminster in Hert- 

 fordshire. Goduin's 1 £ hides should 



have reverted to the abbey after his 



death, but his widow put herself by 



force under Eddeva the Fair, who 



was in possession of the land ' on 



the day when King Edward was 



living and died.' It was granted 



by William the Conqueror to 



Count Alan," who was also lord of 



Great Munden, and hence seems to 



have become permanently attached 



to that manor." Aluric Blac, al- 

 though he held his land in Watton 



of the Abbot of Westminster, was 



Alexander de Balliol, lord of Benington, claimed 

 liberties in his manor of Watton. 7 * 



In the 12th century the sub-tenants of the manor 

 appear to have been a family of Watton. There was 

 a Ralph de Watton, whose son Robert succeeded, and 

 settled his 'vill of Wattun' on his wife Katherine 

 in dower, some time before 1158." 1 'Selidus' de 

 Watton is mentioned in 1166" and Gilbert de 

 Watton in 1 207," both of whom were perhaps sub- 

 tenants. After this the manor passed to John de 

 Tuwe or Teu, who was holding it in 1248, and was 

 in that year accused of obstructing a way in Watton 



the 



the 



of 



Archbishop Stigand, and h 

 happened, as in Datch worth, that 

 Archbishop Lanfranc annexed his 

 z\ hides in Watton and was hold- 

 ing them in 1086, with Anschitil 

 de Ros as tenant under him.' s 



It seems impossible to trace any 

 connexion between these holdings 

 and the manor of WOODHALL. 

 This seems to have been held of the lords of thi 

 neighbouring manor of Benington u (q.v.). In 1 278 



M Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), ccxcyii, 

 149 i ccccii, 144; Ct. of Wards, Feed. 

 Sun. 17 ; Close, 1 Anne, pt. ix, no. 8 ; 

 Recov. R. Mich. I Anne, rot. 1 20 ; Hil. 

 1 ; Geo. Ill, rot. 387 ; Mich. 20 Geo. Ill, 

 tot. 4S7. i9 V.C H. Hens, i, 342. 



60 Chan. Inq. p.m. 17 Edw. II, no. 39 ; 

 see ibid. 14 Edw. I, no. 16 ; 3 Edw. Ill, 

 no. 66. 



Watton Place : Back View 



by making 



itch where the road was accus- 

 He was succeeded before 1 303 



Recov. R. East. 1651, no. 66. 

 a Cat. dan. S. 1226-57, P- 3 2 9- 



