The Dene family
of Mitcheldean
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
The town and parish of Mitcheldean is situated in Gloucestershire and
lies about one mile east of the county boundary with Herefordshire. The
place-name come from the word ‘mickle’ which means great and ‘dean’ from its
location within the Forest of Dean.[1] Up
until the mid-fourteenth century the place was usually referred to as Magna
Dene. The village and parish (one of the smallest in Gloucestershire) of
Littledean is located about 10 miles WSW of Gloucester on the old Newenham to
Mitcheldean road. In medieval times Littledean was known as Parva Dene.[2]
King Edward, Domesday and after
In the time of King Edward, pre 1066, the manor of Dene was held of the
king by three Saxon lords called Godric, Elric and Ernui.[3] In
1086 the manor of Dene which included Mitcheldean (Magna Dean), Littledean (Parva
Dean) and Abenhall was held by William Fitz Norman. By 1130 the estate had
passed to William’s son, Hugh and later to Milo, Earl of Gloucester, who passed
it to his son, Roger, Earl of Hereford.[4]
William de Dene I
Sometime between 1141 and 1143 William de Dene acquired tenements in
Mitcheldean from Milo, Earl of Hereford in return 20s per year and doing
military service in the three counties of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester.[5] The civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda made the provision of military service of more importance than receiving rent in money terms. Subsequently between 1143 and 1155 Roger, Earl of Hereford, made a lease of
Mitcheldean to William de Dene for 20s rent. William de Dene was for a time
known as the king’s forester in the Forest of Dean.[6] It
is not known if Reginald de Dene (who settled in County Wexford in the 1180s
and was the ancestor of the Dene family in Ireland) was a son of William de
Dene I.[7]
Geoffrey de Dene
William de Dene was succeeded by his son, Geoffrey de Dene, by the last
decade of the twelfth century. In 1199 Geoffrey de Dene held the bailiwick of
Mitcheldean.[8]
William de Dene II
Geoffrey de Dene was succeeded sometime before 1255 by his son, William
de Dene. In 1255 William de Dene held fishery rights at Hawecumbe which
included the river bed of the Severn.[9] These
fishery rights were not recorded in later inquisition into the Dene family
property and so may have been just held on a lease.
An inquisition post mortem taken in September 1259 found that William de
Dene held two carucates of land (worth 40s) and 6 marks of rent at Magna Dene
(Great Dean). For this he rendered 10s yearly to the king. William held a
bailiwick in the Forest
of Dean
William’s winter wheat was
held within the cemetery
of Dean
Henry de Dene
William’s son and heir, Henry
de Dene, was of full age.[13]
Sometime before July 1261 Henry married Agatha (b.1241), only daughter and heir
of William de Lasseberge. They were neighbours in the Forest of Dean
In January 1268 Henry de Dene was at Gloucester as a member of the jury
to decide what rights the abbot of Tintern had in the Forest of Dene and if
some men of Bristol stole a boat belonging to the abbot on the Wye and did
Philip Wither divert the course of the Couer which water marks the boundary
between the Forest of Dene and the estate of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.[17] In
1280 Henry de Dene made the first of his family’s presentations to the rectory
of Mitcheldean.[18] In
1286-7 Henry de Dene paid 10s 6d for the relief of his father’s lands at Great
Dean and Risflete in Little Dean.[19]
In April 1292 an inquisition
post mortem was held into the property of Henry de Dene who had lately died. It
found that he held one carucate of land at Great Dean with the homage to the
king in chief and the service of 11s per year, payable to the constable of St.
Briavells. This carucate was worth £9.[20]
At Parva Dene (Little Dean),
Henry de Dene held 2 virgates of land, called Rysfletum, in fee farm for which
he paid 6d per year to the exchequer. These virgates were worth 1 mark clear of
costs. Also at Parva Dene Henry held a certain assart worth a half mark per
year for which he paid to the king’s castle
of St .
Briavells
Henry de Dene further held the
homage at St. Briavells of finding one man on foot with a bow and arrows to
keep the Forest
of Dean
William de Dene III
William de Dene began his inheritance with debt troubles. On 24th
September 1293 William de Dene came before the king at Bristol to seek the
restoration of his property at Mitcheldean which was taken into the king’s hand
because of money owed to Roger son of Payn de Burghull. The justices were to
make enquires.[26] In 1303-4
William de Dene paid 10s 6d to have relief of his father’s lands at Great Dene
and Risflete.[27] William
de Dene died and was succeeded by his son, also called William de Dene.
William de Dene IV
In 1311-12 William de Dene paid 10s 6d to have seisin of his father’s
lands at Great Dean and Risflete.[28] William
de Dene died in 1319 leaving two daughters, Joan (aged 5) and Isabella (one
month) as his successors. The inquisition post mortem into William’s estate was
held on 28th May 1319 at Magna Dene (Great Dene). William de Dene
held one messuage with a garden (worth in total 7s) and one carucate at Great
Dean by the service of 10s to the constable of Briavell castle. This land
consisted of 80 arable acres (worth 13s 4d), 3 acres of meadow (2s) along with
two watermills worth 22s and 30 free tenants who paid £4 4s per year. A further
18 natives paid 29s along with 3 days of winter work (worth 1d per day). The
pleas and perquisites of the court were worth 7s. a further 4 acres were held
at Bradele from the constable of Briavell for which William de Dene paid 12d.[29]
In 1776 the agriculturist Arthur Young said that the area around Mitcheldean
was good for growing beans, wheat and barley.[30]
At Little Dean the property of William de Dene consisted of one messuage
with a garden (worth in total 3s) and one virgate (held by the service of 6d to
the Exchequer). The land was divided into 48 arable acres worth 8s and 3 acres
of meadow worth 2s. William de Dene further had 8 acres at Little Dean from the
king by the service of 2s per year paid at Newenham. Also at Little Dean there were
18 free tenants paying £3 17s 5d and 2 natives paying 3s 3d while giving 3 days
of winter work (worth 1d). The court pleas at Little Dean were worth 6s.[31]
In addition to these properties William de Dene held 90 acres from the
king by the service of paying 18s 10d to the sheriff of Gloucester.[32]
Elsewhere William de Dene held the manor of Lasselegh from Hugh le Despenser by
one knight’s fee as of the manor of Somerford.[33]
Laselegh manor consisted of a capital messuage with a garden (worth in total
6s), 300 arable acres (worth 50s), 3 acres of meadow (worth 3s) and 5 acres of
pasture (worth 2s 6d) along with 4 acres of wood (worth nothing). The manor had
4 villeins holding 4 virgates while paying 24s rent of assize and giving one
bederipp in autumn (worth 1d). The pleas and perquisites of Lasselegh were
worth 2s.[34] After
the death of William de Dene, Hugh le Despenser entered Lasselegh manor and on
10th May 1319 granted it to Geoffrey de Weston who was to hold the
manor until Joan and Isabella de Dene were of lawful age (15). In November 1325
Geoffrey de Weston dismissed Lasselegh to Robert de Goldhull who held the manor
until 22nd July 1327 when the king’s escheator entered the manor
mainly because of the forfeiture of Hugh le Despenser.[35]
On 28th April 1328 the escheator was instructed to restore Lasselegh
to Robert de Goldhull.[36]
In the manor of Rodleye William de Dene rented one virgate of land
(worth 6s) with 2 acres of meadow (worth 5s) and 6 erections for fishing on the
Severn (worth 6s) from Thomas le Blount by the service of 12s.
Another inquisition post mortem was held in June 1319 at Gloucester into
the estate of William de Dene. This second inquisition found that William held
certain tenements of the king at Great Dean and Little Dean by the service of
keeping the bailiwick of the woods at both places within the Forest of Dene.
this was extra to the 10s service due on tenements in Great Dean and 6d due on
Little Dene. The tenements also carried a fee of 10s 6d for military service
along with providing 3 days of active military service in the king’s army in
the Counties of Gloucester, Herford and Worcester. Although the inquisition
conducted by the twelve jurymen found the tenements were within the Forest of
Dene the jury said they didn’t know if such was the case.[37]
It is possible that the jury members just were not sure where the bounds of the
Forest of Dene existed. Historians are also not sure of the Forest boundary.
Rev. H.G. Nicholls suggested that the Forest extended from the Severn and Wye
to Newent and Gloucester while C.S. Taylor believed that the Forest didn’t
extend so much on its eastern and southern sides.[38]
It may also be the case that the jury didn’t want to be too exact as living
under Forest law was harder that life outside and so the jury may have hopes
that confusion could confuse the government and the locals would be a designed
accident fall outside the Forest law.
Meanwhile a charter of the Earl of Hereford was produced. The charter was
made by Roger, Earl of Hereford, in which it was said that William de Dene I held
his tenements as freely and quietly as he did under Milo, Earl of Hereford
(Roger’s father), in the ministry of the Forest of Dene while paying 20s per
year for all services and going on military service in the three Counties of
Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester under the Earl of Hereford for a period of
three days at William’s own cost.[39]
Roger was Earl of Hereford from 1143 until 1155 after surrendering the earldom
to the king.[40]
On 18th November 1319 a further inquisition was held at
Gloucester before a new jury (many of whom came from the Forest of Dene). They
found the tenements at Great Dean were held of the king by the service of 10s
payable yearly at Newenham to the constable of Briavel castle.[41]
In 1341-2 Robert de Abbehale (Abenhall) held the manor of Abbehale (just south
of Mitcheldean) by also paying 30s at Newenham to the constable of St.
Briavell.[42] The Dene
property at Little Dean was also held of the king by the service of 6d payable
to the Exchequer by way of the sheriff of Gloucester. In contradiction to the
earlier inquisition, the new jury said the property was not held by keeping the
bailiwick of the king’s woods at Great and Little Dean and that the 3 days of
military service didn’t exist.[43]
These two inquisitions didn’t settle the Forest of Dene issue and
further enquiries were made. Rennand de Habehale came forward with a charter
that said that the wardship of property holders at Bykenore, Ruardyn, Blakenie
and Staunton within the Forest of Dene were vested in the crown and Great and
Little Dean followed the same tenure.[44]
The 1327 inheritance of Joan and
Isabella de Dene
In 1327 further inquisition was made at Gloucester into the estate of
William de Dene as his eldest daughter Joan (15) approached her coming of age
and Isabella was 11. The inquisition of 1327 found that William had one
messuage with a garden and curtilage (worth 6s) and one carucate (13s 4d) in
Great Dean held of the king by the service of 10s yearly rent payable to the
constable of Briavell castle. At Little Dean the inquisition found that William
de Dene had one messuage with a garden (worth 3s) and two virgates of arable
land (48 acres worth 8s or 2d per acre) by the service of 6d payable to the
king’s exchequer. William de Dene also had property at Lassebergh (held from
Sir Hugh le Despenser, Earl of Winchester, by one knight’s fee) consisting of a
certain capital messuage with a garden (worth 4s), 300 arable acres (worth 50s
or 2d per acre), 3 acres of meadow (3s or 12d per acre) and 4 acres of wood
worth nothing because there was no underwood. There were also 4 natives paying
24s while the pleas and perquisites of the court earned 2s per year.[45]
Shortly after a search of the escheator records found that in the time
of Master Richard de Clare, escheator on this side of the Trent, that William
de Dene did die in 1319. At that time (1319) Richard de Clare noted that
William held his tenements at Great Dene and Little Dean in chief of the king
by the service of 10s 6d but the jury at the time didn’t know if some of the
service related to a certain part of the Forest of Dene. in February 1328 King
Edward II wrote to the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer to investigate if
William de Dene held any property within the Forest of Dene that ought to
belong to the crown.[46] The
jury of June 1319 couldn’t agree if the Dene property was inside or outside the
Forest of Dene.
A search was dually made and it was found that in the 5th
Edward II (1311-12) that William de Dene, son of William de Dene, held the land
and tenements at Great Dene by the service of 10s to Briavell castle and two
virgates at Risflete by the service of 6d to the Exchequer.[47]
The successors of Joan and
Isabella de Dene
As Joan and Isabella were two female heirs to the estate of William de
Dene, the property was divided in two. Joan, the eldest daughter had originally
married John Esger but had no children by him. By 1334 Joan had married Ralph
Baynam (d.1366) and was the mother of Thomas Baynam and the grandmother of John
Baynam of Mitcheldean. John Baynam was succeeded sometime before 1418 by Robert
Baynam.[48] On
1st June1422 Thomas Baynam, son and heir of Robert Baynam (d.1436),
was born at Mitcheldean and was baptised that day at the parish church by the
rector, Robert Wethyr.[49]
The Baynam family held their half of the manor of Mitcheldean until 1619 when
Alexander Baynam sold the property to Nicholas Roberts.[50]
Isabella de Dene married into the Greyndour family. In 1443 Sir Robert
Greyndour held half the manor of Mitcheldean with every third presentation to
the church of St. Michael from Ralph Boteler and John Beauchamp of St. Briavells
castle by a quarter knight’s fee.[51]
Sir Robert Greyndour was married to the daughter and heir of Katherine de
Bitton and her husband Thomas Rugge.[52]
Thus we come to the end of our 500 year tour of the Dene family history
in Mitcheldean and Littledean and the Forest of Dean.
===========
End of post
===========
[1] John Marius Wilson, Imperial
Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72); http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/991340
[accessed on 14th December 2018]
[2] https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp159-173
[accessed on 14th December 2018]
[5] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 171
[7] Brooks, E. St. J., Knight’s fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow
and Kilkenny, 13th-15th Century (Dublin, 1950), p. 45
[9] Elrington, C.R. (ed.),
Abstracts of feet of fines relating to Gloucestershire,
1199-1299 (Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 16, 2003), no. 542
[10] Madge, S.J. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300 (British Record Society, 1903), p. 24; Sharp, J.E.E.S.
(ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post
Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (Kraus Reprint, 1973), vol. 1,
no. 435
[11] Taylor, C.S., An analysis of the Domesday Survey of
Gloucestershire (Bristol, 1889), pp. 49, 65
[12] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, p. 24
[13] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, p. 24
[15] Elrington, C.R. (ed.),
Abstracts of feet of fines relating to Gloucestershire,
1199-1299 (Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 16, 2003), no. 722
[16] Madge, S.J. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300 (British Record Society, 1903), pp. 24, 25
[17] Madge, S.J. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300 (British Record Society, 1903), p. 39
[19] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 206
[20] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, p. 160; Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.), Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record
Office (Kraus Reprint, 1973), vol. III, no. 46 [accessed on 24th
May 2013]
[21] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, p. 160
[22] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, pp. 160-1
[23] Madge (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part IV, 1236-1300, p. 160
[25] Wells-Furby, B. (ed.),
A catalogue of the medieval muniments at
Berkeley Castle (Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 18, 2004), p. 859
[27] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 205
[28] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 205
[29] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 172
[30] http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/travellers/Young/1#pn_53
[accessed on 14th December 2018]
[31] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 172, 173
[32] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 173
[33] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.),
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem
preserved in the Public Record Office (Kraus Reprint, 1973), vol. 7, no.
178
[34] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 173
[35] Sharp, J.E.E.S. (ed.),
Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem
preserved in the Public Record Office (Kraus Reprint, 1973), vol. 7, no.
178
[37] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 169, 170, 173
[38] Taylor, C.S., An analysis of the Domesday Survey of
Gloucestershire (Bristol, 1889), pp. 25, 26
[39] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 171
[41] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 170, 171
[42] Sharp, J.E.E.S. &
Atkinson, E.G. (eds.), Calendar of
Inquisitions Post Mortem preserved in the Public Record Office (Kraus
Reprint, 1973), vol. 8, no. 325; https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp173-195
[accessed on 14th December 2018]. By 1471 Alice Walwyn, heiress of Abenhall had
married Thomas Baynam, heir of half the Dene property at Mitcheldean.
[43] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 170, 171
[44] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 171
[45] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), p. 204
[46] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 204, 205
[47] Fry, E.A. (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitions Post Mortem for Gloucestershire,
part V, 1302-1358 (British Record Society, 1910), pp. 169, 173
[49] Holford, M.L. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, 21 to 25 Henry VI, 1442-1447 (Woodbridge,
2009), no. 145
[51] Holford, M.L. (ed.), Calendar
of Inquisitions Post Mortem, 21 to 25 Henry VI, 1442-1447 (Woodbridge,
2009), no. 228
[52] Wells-Furby, B. (ed.),
A catalogue of the medieval muniments at
Berkeley Castle (Gloucestershire Record Series, Vol. 18, 2004), p. 836
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