THE 



WILTSHIRE MAGAZINE. 



* 1 MULTORTJM MANIBUS GRANDE LEVATUE ONUS." — Ovid. 



Ktatttrtj nf tjjt Wiltsjmt ftlnnnrs snlinriiinntf to 

 f Jjr Storoinj nf Cnstlf Cnmk 



By Gr. Poulett Sceope, Esq., M.P. 



In the Domesday Survey a certain Hunfridus de Insula, or 

 Humphrey de l'lsle, is represented as holding of the king in Capite 

 or honour, a Seignory consisting of twenty- seven vills or manors in 

 "Wiltshire. He was, no doubt, one of the Norman followers of the 

 Conqueror, probably the Liele of the Battle Abbey Roll, and re- 

 warded for his aid in subduing the Saxon, by this portion of the 

 booty. Of these twenty- seven manors, Hunfridus himself held of the 

 king, in Capite or in his own hand, ten — viz., Broctone, Sterte, 



WlLI, WlLRENONE, CoLERNE, WlNTREBURNE, PoLTON, HaRDICOTE, 



Fistesberie, and Come ; while the remaining seventeen were held of 

 him, as their feudal lord, by various mesne lords or sub-tenants. 

 These were Contone, Burbetc, Cumbrewelle, Kusteselle, "Wee- 

 tune, Salteharpe, Clive, Sum'reford, Smitecote, Bluntesdon, 



GrRENDEWELLE, ScHETONE, HANTONE, BeDESTONE, HeORTHAM, SoRE- 



stone, and Meleford. The entire seignory descended, by marriage 

 of Adeliza, heiress of De Insula, to the Dunstanvilles, powerful 

 barons for several generations throughout the twelfth and thirteenth 

 centuries ; one of whom, in or about the reign of Henry I., having 

 built a Castle at Come, or Combe, this became, as was the custom 

 of the time, 1 "Caput Honoris, sive Baronise," the head seat of the 



1 Madox Baronia Anglia. 



VOL. II. NO. W. 



