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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE the subject of four and twenty sections, and Herefordshire, where five suffice, is very great,"' even allowing for the sub-tenancy of the monks of Conches at Monkland and a few others. But the actual extent of the church lands would have been, as we shall see, far greater but for the recent suppression of the great abbey of Leominster. Even as it was, the church of Hereford was reckoned to possess no fewer than 300 hides in the county, though (we are informed in a special note) its ' men ' had omitted to account for thirty-two of these. One is here reminded of the ancient patrimony, also of 300 hides, which was held in the adjoining county by the church of Worcester."* The diocese of Hereford then extended north and south into Shropshire and Gloucestershire, and the bishop had lands in both, his great Gloucestershire manor of Prestbury with Sevenhampton being assessed at 30 hides, a figure which implies its ancient possession. In Worcestershire also he held some lands, including the manor of Inkberrow, of which Harold, as in Hereford- shire, is charged with despoiling his church. The Conqueror, however, had restored it to the bishop, whose see had actually gained by the Conquest, having only parted with its small Gloucestershire manor of Lydney in exchange for one in Herefordshire. Nor does it seem to have suffered as much as the church of Worcester and other religious houses from the compulsory enfeoffment of Norman knights to provide for its knight-service. The ' service ' due from the see was but fifteen knights, as against fifty or sixty from that of Worcester ; "^ and Domesday reveals a marked difference in the surveys of their respective lands. On those of the church of Hereford the knights have but small hold- ings, and are not mentioned by name, while the number of ' clerks ' who held estates under the bishop is notable."* Less fortunate was the other old English house which is entered in this county among the ecclesiastical holders of lands. St. Guthlac's of Hereford, with its secular canons, had still several small estates, but three of them were held of it by lay magnates. At least three other estates had passed into the hands of Nigel the physician, a tenant who is entered in the Survey among clerical holders, and who had also secured St. Guthlac's lands in the Worcester- shire ' salt ' district at Droitwich and Dunclent. In all these cases (except Droitwich) he had effected this by placing himself in the shoes of those who had held the lands from St. Guthlac's T.R.E. The canons also entered a claim to a small estate in the hands of William de Scohies. But the house's chief loss was the valuable manor of Pembridge — worth nearly as much as all the land it had retained — which its canons alleged to have been wrong- fully seized by God wine and Harold, and which Alvred of Marlborough was holding in 1086. Walter de Laci had divided his benefactions between the two houses of St. Peter which are entered in the survey of our county. One manor he bestowed on St. Peter's of Gloucester, where he himself found burial, and of which his son became abbot, and one, which was also of small account, he gave to his own foundation (which proved the cause of his death) St. Peter of "' With the exception of the church of Hereford's estates, the ecclesiastical lands occupy under a column. '" ' Ecclesia Sancte Mariae de Wirecestre habet unum hundret quod vocatur Oswaldeslaw in qua jacent ccc hidae' {Dom. Bk. i, 1721^). '" Feud. Engl. 249. "* There would seem to be at least ten entries of such holdings in addition to those of priests and villeins. 282