Mediaeval deeds of the Herstmonceux Castle Estate from the Barrett-Lennard archive

Table of Contents

Revised introduction

Original introduction

List of deeds of the Sussex estate of Joan Brenchley at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone.

Title deeds and other documents

The Lowey of Pevensey 1-3

Westham 4-24

Pevensey parish 25-28

Manxey in Pevensey 29-35

Horse Eye in Pevensey 26-40

Magham in Hailsham, and Hellingly 41-45

Herstmonceux 46-55

Wartling 56-82

Hastings and Bexhill (Salerne interest) 83-86

Peasmarsh, Westfield and Winchelsea (Stonacre interest) 87-90

Brede 91

Billingshurst, Rye and Tangmere (de Pageham interests) 92-99

Battle 100

Mayfield and Heathfield 101-102

Rotherfield 103

Hurstpierpoint 104-106

Warbleton 107

East Angmering 108

Hampnett, Warnham, etc. 109

Hampshire: Cumbton 110

Suffolk: Benacre 111

Surrey: Stoke d'Abernon 112

Manumission 113

Presentment at Coroner's Inquest 114

<span class="wrapper"><p>The following deeds in the Barrett-Lennard archive at the Centre for Kentish Studies relate to the Sussex estate of the Brenchley family; Joan, daughter of William de Batsford and sister of Elizabeth Fiennes, married Sir William Brenchley (d 14 May 1406) justice of the court of common pleas. By her will of 1453, Joan founded the Batsford Chantry in Bexhill Church, for which see Sussex Archaeological Collections 53 (1910) 79-92.</p> <p>U1384/T12/1 Feoffment of unspecified land; Thomas Chiche, Thomas Wallere, John Broke and Thomas Broke, draper, to Richard Brenchesle and his wife Ann; 1406</p> <p>U1384/T12/2 Feoffment by Thomas Brenchesle of Brenchley [in Kent], brother of Sir William Brenchesle, to WB's widow Joan; 1408</p> <p>three messuages, 200a land, 4a meadow, 100a pasture, 100a wood and 10d rent in Frant, Wadhurst and Mayfield and also one messuage, 100a land, 16a meadow, 50a pasture, 32a wood and rents in Frant and Pembury</p> <p>U1384/T12/3 John Brenchesle of Benenden [in Kent] to William Cheyne, kt, chief justice of king's bench, Williamm Cheyne of Sheppey [in Kent], Richard Wakehurst, Vincent Fynch, William Fynch, Robert Oxebregge, Adam Ywode and Thomas Benden; 1427</p> <p>Couperes land (18a) in Wartling</p></span>

Documents deposited, via Kent Archives Office, 13 February 1969 (ACC 968)

Revised introduction

These documents were transferred to the East Sussex Record Office by the Kent Archives Office on 13 February 1969 described as part of the Barrett-Lennard archive, at least one accession of which, CKS U1384, had been deposited at CKS from Chevening in Kent in 1968. A handful of similar deeds, relating to the same estates, remains in the four Barrett-Lennard deposits at CKS - U1000/4, 1385, 1450 and 1590 - as well as in the substantive Barrett-Lennard archive at Essex Record Office (D/DL). This list contains cross-references to the related deeds at Maidstone, but not to those at Chelmsford. A copy of the Essex Record Office list is available in the searchroom.

The deeds were elaborately calendared on their arrival at Lewes by the county archivist Cedric Holland, who completed the task after his move to the Guildhall Library, London, in 1970.

Holland's introduction is reproduced here, but it is difficult, given the provenance of the documents, to understand his reluctance to attribute them to the Barrett-Lennard estate and thus to their predecessors, the Fiennes family of Herstmonceux Castle. Holland alludes to the connection of many of the deeds to the Batsford family, but was unaware of the marriage of William Fiennes to Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William de Batsford, at the end of the 14th century. Elizabeth was survived by her mother Margery, on whose death on 21 January 1407 the Batsford estate descended to her grandson Roger Fiennes, the builder of Herstmonceux Castle (PRO C137/58/24). Holland also draws attention to a five-pointed star endorsed on several of the deeds, and that others show signs of having been exposed to a fire. The same mark, together with signs of scorching, also appears in many Fiennes deeds in the Barrett-Leonard collection at Chelmsford (D/DL).

A brief list of a group of three deeds relating to the Sussex estate of Elizabeth Fiennes's sister Joan (d1453), wife of Sir William Brenchley (d1406), Centre for Kentish Studies U1384, appears at the end of this list.

CHCW 14 v 2004

Original introduction

The previous history of this collection is uncertain, and any tentative conclusions must therefore be based on internal evidence. An examination of the documents from this point of view, both of contents and externals, shows that they exhibit in part the nature of an artificial collection and in part a genuine, though fragmentary, archive. In view of the incomplete nature of the whole collection as it now exists, and the indications of territorial connections outside Sussex known from other sources to be genuine, it would seem safest to conclude that one is dealing with a fragment of an original archive; it must always be borne in mind that documents no longer present may well have established connections which cannot now even be guessed, and in this instance the obvious dangers of such a line of reasoning are outweighed by the fact that so many of the landed connections which are tentatively suggested here are securely established independently.

The 114 documents which form the collection are, with two exceptions, title deeds or documents associated therewith, such as letters of attorney and bonds. Although the bonds sometimes concern transactions recorded in the deeds, not a few refer to independent transactions. One of the most interesting of these is AMS 5592/84, which probably owes its survival in this context to the interest of John Salerne of Winchelsea in lands at Southye (in Bexhill). His name occurs in various Rye documents (see Catalogue of Records of Rye Corporation, 1962). Alternatively, but less likely, its survival in this context may in some way be connected with the Stonacre interests in Winchelsea and elsewhere.

The two exceptions noted above are a manumission of 1395, and a presentment at a coroner's inquest on a homicide at Hellingly in 1398. These are placed separately at the end of the catalogue.

The physical condition of the documents is good, with one or two exceptions. A detail of some interest is that some documents show evidence of proximity to fire, either in the scorching of the parchment or the running of the seal wax. This occurs notably in deeds relating to Herstmonceux, ranging in date between 1329 and 1435, but also in deeds relating to about half the other places represented in the collection and dating from the earliest, undated specimens to 1478. The fire may have been of comparatively recent date; may possibly account to a certain extent for the fragmentary nature of the material. But regrettably it does not seem possible to deduce anything of significance for the history of the documents, or of the properties concerned and their ownership. The deeds could hardly have been arranged either by date or by properties when this accident occurred.

The fragmentary nature of the collection is also emphasised by the variety of the endorsements which are to be found. Some are in a more or less contemporary hand, many were added in the 16th century, a few later. For the most part they only give a brief description of the document and add nothing to our knowledge of the transaction concerned. In the few cases where additional information can be gleaned from this source, for example in the identification of the property, a note is made in the catalogue. One of the most interesting examples, unfortunately difficult to read, is to be found in AMS 5592/98.

In some cases identifying numbers occur on the dorse and these too confirm the much larger size of the bundles to which some of these documents at one time must have belonged, and make one wonder what role may have been played by an antiquarian collector in the formation of the corpus as it survives. The most frequent identification mark amongst the endorsements is in the form of a crudely drawn five-pointed star. This seems to be associated with the Fiennes interest and particularly with properties once owned by William Batsford. Its existence has accordingly been noted in the catalogue by an asterisk.

It would have been satisfactory to have been able to replace a purely chronological arrangement of the documents by one revealing the descent of ownership of the various properties, shedding light on the process of acquisition over the two centuries and more involved. A grouping by parishes goes some way towards this ideal: the developing interests of the Colkyn and Mabley families in Herstmonceux and Magham, and of Gardener in Westham and Pevensey become immediately apparent. The Stonacre interest provides a link between deeds relating to properties in Peasmarsh, Westfield and Winchelsea, while de Pagham interests connect Billingshurst, Tangmere, Leasam in Rye Foreign, and Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey. Another landed interest which fleetingly reveals its extent is that of the families of Pierpoint and Poynings, both of whom had property in the parish of Wrentham and elsewhere in Suffolk, as well as in Sussex, thus accounting for the presence of AMS 5592/105 and 111.

However, the central connecting link among the diverse properties seems to lie in the acquisitions of John Batsford who figures as a property owner in the Liberty of Pevensey in 1356, in Horse Eye and Pevensey in 1355, and in Wartling in 1343, and of William Batsford who appears in Borham in Wartling in 1352, in the Liberty of Pevensey in 1375, and in Horse Eye in 1379. The latter is shown to have owned land at Southye in Bexhill by a later conveyance of the same dated 1403. John Iwode occurs in the transaction of 1379, and Adam Iwode occurs in several transactions in Wartling, while he and John appear in a conveyance dated 1402 from Sir William Fiennes of property held by grant of William Batsford's widow, Margery. There is clearly a connection between the interests of Batsford, Fiennes and the Iwodes, but its exact nature is not clear. The occurrence of Sir Roger Fiennes and Adam Iwode as joint grantees of lands in Hellingly in 1429 may indicate trusteeship connections, but this remains merely a speculation. It is tempting to see in the Fiennes interest the explanation of the presence of AMS 5592/110, and to identify this property with the manor of Compton Monceux, mentioned in the Dacre Cartulary (DAN 1126).

Accordingly, the arrangement adopted in this catalogue has been one primarily of topography, parishes being grouped together where established connections make this desirable, but out-county documents being reserved for a separate section. Within these topographical groupings the arrangement is chronological.

The period covered by the deeds is an interesting one for the emergence of true surnames in the eastern division of Sussex. In most cases by the beginning of the 14th century the surnames would seem to have become already fixed, but instances occur, even well on into that century, where alternative names were in use; an interesting example of about 1340 being of John Gardiner of Westham, who is the same as John ate Stone, and also appears as John le Gardiner. There are, of course, a few cases where one cannot be certain whether one is dealing with a true surname or a man's trade. Undoubted instances of a trade being given are rare, and have accordingly been indexed.

Bailiffs of Pevensey occur quite often as witnesses, and the common seal was sometimes affixed to strengthen the authenticity of a deed. In the case of AMS 5592/12, dating from 1355, the impression happily survives. Details of a more personal domestic nature occasionally are revealed, as in AMS 5592/99 and 100, and notably in AMS 5592/23.

The earliest dated document is of 1293 (AMS 5592/37), and nine deeds are undated (AMS 5592/25, 30, 36, 41, 56, 57, 58, 92 and 111). Of these, the majority no doubt are of late 13th or early 14th century date, but a few are, on palaeographical grounds, undoubtedly earlier. In this catalogue they have been placed before dated examples within the topographical group.

The sigillographer will find in this collection one or two specimens worthy of note, and many examples of no more than average interest. A quantity of unrecorded field names are yielded by the documents. Perhaps one of the most interesting deeds (alongside the manumission and the coroner's presentment) is the early and undated agreement of William de St Leger concerning the drainage of lands in Wartling, which is a reminder of the continuous process which has created the flats of Pevensey Levels out of the shallow inlets of the English Channel which surrounded Pevensey Castle in the time of the Conqueror.

Cedric G Holland, 1971