282 The Wiltshire Possessions of the Abbess of Shaftesbury. 



Thcro arc sovcral charters in which the gifts of land, &c, at 

 Dunheved to the Abbey of Shaftesbury are recited. First in order 

 comes a document, which, from its heading, — 'Testamentum Regis 

 iElfredi,' — purports to be the will of King Alfred, in which 40 hides 

 at Dunhevede and Oumtune are granted to her. All that is meant by 

 the expression may be that it is a copy or recital of the ' deed of gift ' 

 by Alfred of those estates to the abbey, because the estate is not 

 mentioned in the document known as King Alfred's will, and in the 

 Testa de Nevill 1 it is stated that the manor of Dunheved was the 

 gift of King Edgar. Moreover, the ' 80 mansse ' bestowed on the 

 abbess, in 956, by King Edwy, 2 are said to have comprised, amongst 

 other lands, some at Dunheved, and Estone (now Easton Basset), 

 in the parish of Donhead St. Andrew. At all events, in the begin- 

 ning of the 12th century, King Henry L, by a separate charter, 3 

 granted, or perhaps I should say, confirmed to the Abbess the 

 manor of Dunheved, to which he added the profits of the Hundred 

 of Dunworth, for 'the clothing of the nuns' (ad vestimenta monialium,) 

 with the view of securing their prayers " for the health of his soul, 

 and that of his wife Matilda." In 1205, King John confirmed 

 these grants by his predecessors of lands in Feme, and Essegrove 

 (Ashgrove), and of mills and land in Dunheved and Lodewell 

 (Ludwell). 



The Manor-house in which, in olden times, the Lady's Seneschal 

 or Steward, would hold his court, is still sufficiently indicated by 

 its name Berry-Court. This is a house built on rising ground, 

 situated at the point where the two parishes meet, one half being 

 in Donhead St. Mary, and the other in Donhead St. Andrew. The 

 notices concerning Donhead in the chartulary are very brief and 

 consist merely of the names of some four free-tenants, and the 

 account of the annual quit-rent which they paid to the Abbess. 

 Five hides, representing an acreage, including every thing, of some 

 600 acres, are described as 'Tain-land,' — land, that is, held by free 

 tenants, or by inheritance, and not subject to the services due from 

 the customary, or other tenants of the abbey. 



1 Testa de Nevill, p. 155b. 2 Kemble's Cod. Diplom., No. 447. 

 5 Harl. MS., 61, fol. 23. Printed in the New Monastioon, II., 482. 



