250 Collections for a History of West Dean. 



Before leaving the subject I may mention that all the foundations 

 unearthed by myself have been carefully re-covered, and remain in 

 the ground. It was found impossible to leave them open — the 

 action of the air and frost having a destructive effect upon the floors 

 and walls, and the heaps of soil removed from them, and quickly 

 covered with charlock and other weeds, being unsightly and ob- 

 structive. 



History of the Manors op West Dean and East Grimstead. 



There are four entries in Domesday Book under the headings of 

 " Duene " and " Dene " respectively, of which one relates to the 

 Wiltshire and one to the Hampshire portion of the parish, while 

 the two others refer, it is supposed, to the adjoining hamlet of East 

 Dean- — then, as now, a tything and chapelry of the parish of 

 Mottisfont, in the latter county. 



The Wiltshire entry referring to West Dean is as follows : — 



" Ipse Walerannus tenet Duene. Godric tenuifc tempore Regis Edwardi, et 

 geldabat pro 2 hidis et una virgata terrse. Terra est 3 carueatse. De ea est in 

 dominio 1 hida, et ibi carucata et dimidiuni, et 2 servi ; et unus villanus, et 10 

 coscez. cum carucata et dimidio. Ibi molinus et dimidium reddens 16 solidos, et 

 5 acrsB prati. Silva 1 quarentena inter longitudinem et latitudinem. Yaluit et 

 valet 60 solidos." 



" Waleran himself holds Duene. Godric held it in the time of King Edward, 

 and it paid geld for two hides and one virgate of land. The land is three caru- 

 cates. Of this there is in demesne one hide, and there is a carucate and a half 

 and two serfs ; and there are one villan and ten coscets with a carucate and a 

 half . There is a mill and a half paying sixteen shillings, and five acres of 

 meadow. The wood is one furlong between length and breadth. It was and is 

 worth sixty shillings." 



From this it would appear that no variation in value had occurred 

 during the forty years preceding the compilation of Domesday, and 

 that the arable land in Wiltshire amounted to some one hundred 

 and fifty acres. 



There is nothing in the entry to account for the large tract of 

 woodland, more than sixteen hundred acres in extent, which, under 

 the name of Bentley wood, occupies the central area of the parish, 

 and which is conjectured to have once formed part of the Saxon 



