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 164 CHESHAM Family Estates. — These, in 1883, consisted of 2,868 acres in Bucks (valued at ;/^4,203 a year); 3,787 in co. Huntingdon; 2,365 in co. Lancaster; 1,688 in co. Lincoln and 775 in Herts; besides 3 acres in Northants and i in Sussex. Total, 11,487 acres valued at ;Ci5,625 a year. Principal Residence. — Latimers,(^) in Chesham, Bucks. CHESTER (County of) Observations. — "The county of Chester is the best known example of a Palatine Earldom in England. The Palatine Earldom of Lancaster was not cr. till 1351, while the case of Durham is anomalous, though its Palatine organization remained complete till transferred to the Crown in 1836. The Earldom of Shropshire and the Earldom of Kent (under the Conqueror) have been claimed as Palatine Honours, one for Roger de Montgomery, and the other for Eudes, Bishop of Bayeux: even Hereford and Northumber- land were quasi Palatinates, at that early period, and Cumberland may have been a Palatine Honour {temp. Hen. I), when in the hands of Ranulf le Meschin. It will be observed that all these counties are border districts forming a defence against Wales, Scotland, or France." C") According to Betham " In England there were two Counties Palatine, of which the Lords were Earls, Chester and Lancaster, and one in Wales, Pembroke. — Durham, although made a County afterwards, strictly speaking, was not a County Palatine, but a Palatine Honour of which the Bishop was [not Comes, the Earl, but only Dominus] the Lord."('^) EARLDOM. Gherbod, a Fleming, Avou6 of the Abbey of T St. Bertin, received, on the dismemberment of Mercia, ' ■ early in 1070, a large portion of that district, together with the city of Chester, the said portion being formed into a County Palatine (under the name of Cheshire) whereby he became EARL OF CHESTER. He returned, shortly afterwards, to his native country, where he was taken prisoner at the battle of Cassel, 107 1, and kept captive for a long period, never coming back to England. II. 1071. I. Hugh d'Avranches, j^j/i?^ by his contemporaries " Vras," or " le Gros " and, in after ages (from his rapacity) "Lupus," was s. and h. of Richard (le Goz), Vicomte d'Avranches, fcfc, in Normandy (s. of Thurstan le Goz), by Emma, da. of Herluin de Conteville and Herleve (or Harlotte) his wife, who (^) Latimers, a hamlet of Chesham, which belonged originally to the family of Latimer, and of Nevill, Lords Latimer, and subsequently to that of Greville and Sandys, was in possession of the family of Cavendish before 1628, when it was part of the dower of Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire. Charles I lodged here, on his way from Holdenby House to Hampton Court, in 1647. ('') ex inform. J. Horace Round. (■=) See an article by Sir W. Betham, Ulster, on "Palatine Honours in Ireland."