Siston
manor, Gloucestershire in 1273 and 1309
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Introduction
Siston is a small
village and parish at the southern end of the County of Gloucestershire which
contains 1,827 acres.[1] It
is situated about 7 miles east of Bristol Castle, ancient centre of Bristol. The
village lies at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a
tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages and
farms centred on St Anne's Church, and the grand Tudor manor house of Siston Court.
The early history of
Siston from 1086 to about 1220 was recorded in an earlier article = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2014/10/siston-gloucestershire-c1086-to-c1220.html
= follow the link. In this article we focus on two inquisitions taken in 1273
and 1309 in which we get a picture of the manor and some of the people living
and working within.
Siston
in 1273
On Thursday in Easter
week 1273 an inquisition post mortem was taken at Siston in Gloucestershire,
before Sir Robert de Kyngeston, sub-escheator of the county, into the lands
held by Robert Waleraund, lately deceased, in the manor of Siston. The jury of
twelve good men: Adam Malet, Nicholas Joy, Roger de Hildesle, Hugh de
Leytrinton, Richard Poyntel, John Woodcock, Reginald de la Leyegrave, Geoffrey
de Fraxino, Thomas de Doynton, William de Ston, Walter le Hope and John de
Werneleye found the following information:[2]
Robert Waleraund held
the manor of Siston from Lord Henry de Berkeley, Lord of Dursley by the service
of one knight’s fee. The manor had one capital messuage with a garden and
curtilage which was worth 1 mark. There was a dovecote worth 5 shillings.
Demesne
lands 1273
There was two carucates
of land in the old demesne worth 50 shillings per year and there was two carucates
of new land marled worth 100 shillings. There were 30 acres of meadow worth 60
shillings and several plots of pasture worth 20 shillings. There were two parks
and the pasture of same worth 20 shillings. The sale of underwood was worth 1
mark per year while pannage in the parks was worth ½ mark per year. Elsewhere
the common pasture of Kingswood and the surrounding area was worth 5 shillings.
There were three small vivaries worth 3 shillings.
Tenants
in 1273
The rent of the assizes
of the free tenants per year was 112 shillings 7½ pence. This was broken down
into 16 shillings 3¼ pence at Easter, £4 (80s) at the feast of St. John the
Baptist, and 16s 3¼ pence at Michaelmas along with one pound (lb) of pepper.
The rent of the customary tenants at Michaelmas was worth 40 shillings. There
were twelve customary tenants each holding half a virgate of land and each half
virgate was worth in customs and services 6 shillings 2 pence. There were
another fourteen customary tenants holding 1 farthindeal of land each and each
farthindeal was worth 2 shillings 8½ pence.
In addition to the
above there were five cottagers worth 7 shillings 8 pence in all customs and
services. The advowson of the church of Siston was worth 5 marks while the
pleas and perquisites of the manor court were worth half mark per year.[3] Attached
to Siston manor was the manor of Cobberleye which was held by Giles de Berkeley
for the service of one knight’s fee. The total value of the manor of Siston was
£28 15shillings 2½ pence and 1 lb of pepper.[4]
The inquisition post
mortem of 1273 does not give any names of the tenants and it is uncertain if
any of the jurymen were tenants. One of the jurymen, Hugh de Leytrinton, was
also on the jury in 1273 at Oldbury for the inquisition post mortem for Nicholas
Bordun.[5] Elsewhere
we learn that Miles de Langley received a messuage and a third of a ploughland
in Siston from Matthew de Bredenwick and Isabel his wife.[6]
Siston
manor heirs in 1273
Robert Waleraund left
no children by his wife, Matilda Russell, daughter of Ralph Russell, and thus
Siston became the inheritance of Robert Waleraund, son of Sir William
Waleraund, brother of the deceased Robert Waleraund.[7]
Church of St. Ann at Siston
Siston
in 1309
The Robert Waleraund
who inherited Siston and other lands in Gloucestershire in 1273 died in the
reign of Edward II without leaving any males heirs. Siston and the other lands
passed to his nephew, John Waleraund. But John Waleraund was declared an idiot
and so the king acquired control of the entire Waleraund property. In 1309 a
number of inquisitions were held across Gloucestershire and on various dates
into the Waleraund property. The inquisition for Siston was taken at Bristol on
20th March 1309 and its findings were retaken in the same form at
Wotton on 9th September 1309.[8]
Demesne
lands in 1309
The capital messuage
with the garden, curtilage and the dovecote was worth 10 shillings. There was
300 acres within the demesne worth 75 shillings or 3 pence per acre. There was
40 acres of meadow worth 40 shillings or 12 pence per acre. The several plots
of pasture (total of 40 acres) were worth 20 shillings or 6 pence per acre. The
sale of herbage and underwood of the two parks (containing 90 acres) was worth
20 shillings. Also attached to the demesne lands was a certain pasture at
Doynton worth 30 shillings. The total value of the demesne lands was £9 15
shillings.[9]
Tenants
in 1309
There was in 1309 five
free tenants at Siston holding various tenements and paying at the assizes of
Easter and Michaelmas 32 shillings 7½ pence in equal portions. There was £4
rent due from the land of Cobberleye in 1309 from Thomas le Botiler which gave
a total rent of the assizes of 112 shillings 7½ pence.[10]
This was the same total amount as collected in 1273.[11]
What is different about
the 1309 inquisition compared to that of 1273 is in the following details of
who holds what within the manor of Siston and what labour services they are
obliged to give to the lord of the manor.
Work
services of the tenants
Richard de Wurmelegh
held one messuage and twenty acres of land in villeinage. If Richard paid rent
for this land it was not stated. Instead something more important than money
rent was stated and that was the work service due to the lord of the manor. In
an agricultural environment, in the days before modern machinery, having people
to do the work was most important.
Services
of Richard de Wurmelegh and his group of tenants
The labour service of
Richard de Wurmelegh to the manor was to give 66 manual works between the feast
of St. Michael (29th September) and the feast of St. John the
Baptist (24th June). These works were worth 2 shillings 9 pence or ½
pence per work.[12]
The heavier demand on tenant work service was made in the autumn to spring time
with thrashing of the corn. There was also work with sowing and harrowing. Timber
was also cut at this time for building or firewood.[13] Another
task was hedge planting and removal. The hedges were removed to allow the
cattle to walk across the stubble fields and fertilize the said fields. In May
and June the third field would be prepared for a period of fallow.[14]
Between the feasts of
St. John the Baptist and that of St. Michael, Richard de Wurmelegh was to give
26 manual works, valued at 2 shilling 2 pence or 1 penny per work.[15] This
was the important time of the year with haymaking and cutting the corn. Hay was
the principal winter feed.[16] Furthermore
Richard de Wurmelegh was to give 3 days’ ploughing for winter sowing and 3 days
ploughing for spring sowing during Lent along with another 3 days ploughing of
fallow land. The full value of this ploughing was 18 pence or 2 pence per day.[17]
Wheat was the usual
crop planted at wintertime with oats and barley at springtime. The inquisition
does not say if Richard de Wurmelegh provided a plough team, or part of a team,
for the work. A full plough team would be of six or eight oxen. It is possible
that Richard provided the team as he would need the plough team for his own
work. His neighbours would help Richard with his own ploughing and he would
help them.[18]
Richard de Wurmelegh
was to give one day sowing beans on the lord’s land and this work was worth a
half pence. Beans were a popular food and were mixed with pork or other meat at
cooking time to make a good sustenance meal. Richard de Wurmelegh was also to
spend one day carrying hay and this work was worth 2 pence. Finally at
Christmas time Richard de Wurmelegh was to give the lord a hen worth one penny
and this was called Wodehen. There were eleven other customars who held the
same amount of property and performed the same work duties as Richard.[19]
Ploughing and harvesting on a medieval manor
Services
of John Barry and his group of tenants
Another group of ten
customars, led by John Barry, held ten acres of land each in villeinage. They
gave the following labour services: 98 manual works from the feast of St.
Michael to the feast of St. Michael and these were worth 5 shillings 2 pence.
The value of the works was broken into 72 works worth half pence and 26 works
worth 1 penny. John Barry gave one day planting beans (worth half pence) and
one day of weeding with one man (worth half pence) and another one day putting
the lord’s hay into cocks (worth 1 penny).[20]
On monastic estates it is sometimes noted that tenants were to receive food and
drink as an allowance for their work. Tenants of the Abbot of Titchfield got
bread and beer with flesh or fish for haymaking. On secular estates it appears
that no such food allowance was given except may be at the corn harvest.[21]
Services
of Roger Tegelyn and his group of tenants
Roger Tegelyn led
another group of three customars who held one cottage and one acre of land for
which they paid rent of 12 pence per year (3 pence on 4 separate days) and gave
a hen worth one penny to the lord at Christmas. The labour services of this
group were to give 3 days’ raising the lord’s hay (worth half pence per day)
and 2 days tossing the hay (worth one penny per day).[22]
It is interesting that
tenants within the group of Richard de Wurmelegh provided the heavy work like
ploughing while those in the groups of John Barry and Roger Tegelyn gave work services
that didn’t need oxen as they didn’t have the land to keep the oxen. Another
task needing oxen was the carrying obligations. This involved transporting the
produce of the manor to market and also returning with goods that the manor
could not produce itself.[23]
In addition to these
services each customar was to give 3 bedripes in autumn, 75 in total (worth 9
shillings 4½ pence or 1½ pence per work). The same customars were to give a
certain tallage at the feast of St. Martin to the lord’s larder, worth 34
shillings.
As the fourteenth
century progressed, the work services of tenants was increasing changed to work
service in return for pay rather than work service to pay the lord rent for
their holding. The scarcity of labour after the Black Death caused an increase
in the wages of agricultural labourers which the government tried to suppress. Many
lord’s tried to hold onto to the customary services but the increasing
opportunities for work with a rising middle class of farmers kept up
competition for labour and the increasing use of wages in exchange for work.[24]
Cottages
and the manor court
At Siston in 1309 were
a further twenty-four people who held one cottage each and paid 28 shillings 8
pence in total rent per year. It is possible that some of the people living in
these cottages were the permanent workers on the demesne lands. There were also
forty-four acres of land newly given to eleven free tenants for a rent of 15
shillings per year, paid over the four feast days of St. Thomas the Apostle,
the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary, the Nativity of St. John the Baptist and
the feast of St. Michael. The pleas and perquisites of the manor court were
worth 13 shillings 4 pence which gave a sum total of 57 shillings. The value of
the entire manor was given as £27 5shillings 11½ pence.[25]
The total value of
Siston manor in 1309 is less than in 1273 but the 1309 inquisition makes no
mention and gives no value for the advowson of Siston church which, in 1273,
was worth 5 marks or £3 7shillings. Excluding the advowson and adding other
values such as the pleas of the manor court, which doubled in value, the value
of Siston had increased over the thirty-six years. The bad years were still to
come in the near and distant future. These included the three years of wet
weather (1315-1318) which caused widespread famine and the Black Death of
1349-1351. Thankfully the people of Siston were kept too busy with farm work
and other work like carpentry, blacksmithing, tailoring, etc., to find time to
think of such days.
Ownership
of Siston in 1309
In 1309 the manor of
Siston was in a state of double wardship. Not only did the crown hold it
because John Waleraund was an idiot but the chief lord of the manor, William de
Berkeley, was under age and thus his property was in wardship.[26]
Having stated the above
facts the jury went on to declare that the manor of Siston should passed to
Alan, son of Alan Plokenet. This Alan Plokenet was grandson of Alice, daughter
of Isabella, daughter of Thomas de Rocheford and his wife, Agatha because
Thomas de Berkeley gave Siston to Thomas and Agatha on their marriage. Alice,
the daughter of Isabella, had granted Siston to Robert Waleraund for a term of
years and thus Robert Waleraund had no title to the manor after his death.[27]
The families of Rocheford and Waleraund were connected with each other and with
the Berkeley family of Dursley (chief owners of Siston) since about 1210.
Isabel, daughter of Roger IV de Berkeley of Dursley first married Thomas de
Rocheford about 1205 and later married William Waleraund.[28]
When Joan Plokenet,
wife of Alan Plokenet, senior, and mother of Alan Plokenet, died in July 1318
it was said that Alan junior was thirty years of age.[29] Alan
Plokenet, junior, died on 10th September 1326 leaving land in
Berkshire, Herefordshire and Staffordshire but no land in Gloucestershire.[30]
The Plokenet estate had greatly decreased since his father’s death in 1299.
Alan Plokenet, senior, held land in the Counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire,
Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Southampton and Hereford. Some of the manors held
in Wiltshire and Dorset were held of the heir of Robert Waleraund. The manor of
Salterton in Wiltshire was held for the sustenance of the idiot, John Waleraund.[31]
The inquisition post mortem of Robert Waleraund in 1273 for the manor of
Langford in Wiltshire stated that Alan Plokenet, senior, was a nephew of Robert
Waleraund.[32]
The only
Gloucestershire land held by Alan Plokenet was Little Teynton in 1307 and
leased to Bevis de Knovill for the service of a pair of gloves.[33] The
acquisition of Siston therefore gave the servants of Alan Plokenet much more
work to do after their long travel to Gloucestershire. Alan Plokenet took over
Siston by 1313 and may have been earlier. We learn elsewhere that he was to
give Sir Nicholas de Kingston two robes a year from Siston but he ceased this
payment in 1313 and 1320 when Sir Nicholas took him to court for payment but
was unsuccessful.[34]
Conclusion
The two inquisitions
for Siston in 1273 and 1309 give us a view into the life and conditions on this
Gloucestershire manor. Of course the differences in information contained in
the two inquisitions tell us that we only got a glimpse of life. There is much
about Siston that we don’t know about and may never find out such as what was
the story of Thomas of Siston, living in Bristol in 1273, who had an interest
in a tenement and shop in Gloucester.[35]
===========
End of post
===========
[1]
Charles S. Taylor, An analysis of the
Domesday Survey of Gloucestershire (Bristol & Gloucestershire
Archaeological Society, 1889), p. 305
[2]
Sidney J. Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 20 Henry III to 29
Edward I, 1236-1300 (British Record Society, London, 1903), p. 59
[3]
Sidney Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 1236-1300, p. 59
[4]
Sidney Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 1236-1300, p. 60
[5]
Sidney Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 1236-1300, p. 73
[6]
C.R. Elrington (ed.), Abstracts of Feet
of Fines relating to Gloucestershire, 1199-1299 (Gloucestershire Record
Society, vol. 16, 2003), no. 775
[7]
Sidney Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 1236-1300, pp. 60,
61
[8]
Edward Alexander Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 30 Edward I to 32 Edward
III, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, London, 1910), pp. 106, 107, 108,
109, 110, 111
[9] Edward
A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions
Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[10]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[11]
Sidney Madge (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part IV, 1236-1300, p. 59
[12]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[13]
T.J. Hunt (ed.), The medieval customs of
the Manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone (Somerset Record Society, vol.
66, 1962), pp. xxx, xxxii
[14] Nathaniel
J. Hone, The manor and manorial records (Methuen, London, 1925), p. 90
[15]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[16]
Nathaniel J. Hone, The manor and manorial records, pp. 83, 87
[17] Edward
A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions
Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[18]
T.J. Hunt (ed.), The medieval customs of
the Manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone, p. xxviii
[19]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 110
[20]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 110
[21]
Nathaniel J. Hone, The manor and manorial records, pp. 106, 107
[22]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 110
[23]
T.J. Hunt (ed.), The medieval customs of
the Manors of Taunton and Bradford on Tone, p. xxxiv
[24]
May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century
1307-1399 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997), pp. 334, 335
[25]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 110
[26]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, p. 109
[27]
Edward A. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of
Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire, part V, 1302-1358, pp. 110-11
[28]
Bridget Wells-Furby (ed.), A catalogue of
the medieval muniments at Berkeley Castle (2 vols. Gloucestershire Record
Society, vol. 18, 2004), Vol. 2, p. 865
[29]
J. E. E. S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem, Vol. 5, Edward II (Kraus reprint, Liechtenstein, 1973), no.
546
[30]
J. E. E. S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem, Vol. 6, Edward II (Kraus reprint, Liechtenstein, 1973), nos.
678, 688
[31]
J. E. E. S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem, Vol. 3, Edward I (Kraus reprint, Liechtenstein, 1973), no. 543
[32]
J. E. E. S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem, Vol. 2, Edward I (Kraus reprint, Liechtenstein, 1973), p. 7
[33]
J. E. E. S. Sharp (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions
Post Mortem, Vol. 4, Edward I (Kraus reprint, Liechtenstein, 1973), no. 446
[34] Bridget
Wells-Furby (ed.), A catalogue of the medieval
muniments at Berkeley Castle (2 vols. Gloucestershire Record Society, vol.
17, 2004), Vol. 1, p. 554
[35]
W.H. Stevenson (ed.), Calendar of the
Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (Gloucester, 1893), no. 637
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