By John Wat son- Taylor. 



301 



my father Stephen who died near the road to Jerusalem (inpcinctu 

 trie jerosolimitanc) . . . my mill of Erlestokes with the ad- 

 jacent land and the man of the mill with all his progeny and the 

 grinding of my men of the same town at the same mill." 1 



There were two mills at Erlestoke at this period or a little later. One 

 called Marsh Mill (Pat. Roll, 117, 26 Edw. L, m. 30), must, to judge from 

 its name, be that which stood until comparatively recent times, in the park 

 opposite the first house in " Lower Street," and the other, the subject of this 

 charter, that which tradition states to have been situated by the " Island " 

 Pond of the present day. The history of this mill can be traced for many 

 years. In 1534-5 it was still in the possession of Montacute Priory, and its 

 annual rent was 20*. (Valor Ecclesiasticus). After the suppression of the 

 monasteries William Brown, collector of rents, accounted to the Exchequer 

 for 20*., the amount of rent of a mill in Erlestoke, lately the property of the 

 priory, of which Robert Newman was the tenant (Exch. Min. Ace, 30 — 31 

 Hen. VIII., Wiltshire, No. 128, m. 33), and in 1559-60 the water-mill in 

 Erlestoke, then or lately in the tenure of Robert Newman or his assigns and 

 parcel of the possession of Montacute Priory, was sold to Robert Davye, and 

 Henry Dynne (Pat. Roll 949, 2 Eliz., part 2, m. 8). 



This grant is confirmed by the King for the first time in the 

 first charter of Henry II. 2 the date of which is considered by a 

 high authority to be 1155. 3 In this year, also, died Earl Baldwin 

 de Keclvers, 4 with whom Stephen de Mandeville's journey to 

 Jerusalem was made. 5 The statement by Leland is that these 

 two, from motives of piety, made a journey over sea, on which 

 journey Stephen died while Baldwin got home with difficulty 

 {cegre domum reversus est), and it may be concluded that Baldwin's 

 death followed soon after his return, while the reference to the 

 journey seems rather to suggest a private pilgrimage than a 

 participation in the Crusade of 1147. 



Of the bearers of the name " de Mandeville " there were in 

 England two families that may be distinguished as of the East and 

 of the West of England. Whether or no the two were descended 

 from a common ancestor it seems impossible to state positively. 



Mr. Stapleton, in his observations on the Norman Exchequer, 

 connects the Erlestoke with the Essex family, and derives them 



1 MS. 85, Trim Coll., Oxon., fols. 75 and 76. 



2 MS. 85, Trin. Coll., Oxon., fols. 7 and 8. 



3 Somerset Record Society, vol. 8, p. 247. 



4 Dugdale, Baronage, I., 255. 



5 Leland, Collectanea, L, 446. 



