276 



History of the Wiltshire Manors 



12. Burbetc, Burbage. — Held of Hunfridus by Blacheman. 

 The Feoda speaks of one knight's fee in Burbeche, as held by Walter 

 de Dunstanville "of the Honor of Wallingford." From this state- 

 ment, and also because I find no mention of Burbage in the Court 

 Rolls of Castle Combe, I infer that the superiority of this manor 

 was transferred at an early period from the Barony of Combe to 

 that of Wallingford, to the chief seat of which it lies more con- 

 venient. Such an exchange was very likely to occur during the 

 civil wars, in the reign of Stephen, when Brian Fitz Count, Lord 

 of Wallingford, and the De Dunstanvilles, Barons of Castle Combe, 

 were holding their several castles, garrisoned with all the muster 

 of their retainers, in the same cause — namely, for the rights of the 

 Empress Maud to the throne of England. It is possible that a 

 near relationship existed between Brien, who is sometimes called 

 Brientius de Insula and"FiliusComitis,"and the heirs of Humphrey 

 de l'lsle, from which the transfer in question may have in part 

 arisen. 



13. Cumbrewell. — Held temp. Domesday by Pagen. This is 

 the small Manor of Cumberwell to the north of Bradford. It was 

 held as a knight's fee, by Philip de Comb' well, of Walter de Dun- 

 stanville, ( Lib. Feod.) A portion of it was probably granted by one 

 of the De Dunstanvilles to the adjoining priory of Monkton Farley, 

 as the prior of that house frequently appears on the Court Bolls as 

 owing suit and service for it ; and that these barons were benefactors 

 of this priory would appear from the handsome monumental slab 

 recently dug up there, bearing the effigy of a knight in chain 

 armour upon it in low relief, his shield having the Dunstanville coat 

 of arms. 1 But as one of the knight's fees in Compton belonged, 

 in the thirteenth century, to the same Philip of Comberwell (thence 

 obtaining its additional name), there may be some confusion in the 

 entries of the Court Bolls between these two distinct manors, which 

 for some time descended together. I suspect Cumberwell to have 

 been one of the fees owned by Reginald Darell, circa 1340, and by 

 Roger Berlegh in 1370, as I find Cumberwell, near Bradford, 



1 See engraving, p. 139. 



