Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/445

 DOMESDAY SURVEY Lowy, or ' Leuga ' of Battle,' and all the lands within it were freed for ever from the payment of geld and other services. One result of thus drawing a circle was that the Liberty contained only one complete pre- Conquest manor or estate — ' Bocheham ' — and portions of twelve other manors, of which the main body was surveyed under the lands of the Count of Eu. These lands were assessed at 6 hides — with an extra unassessed half-hide according to the survey, or half-virgate according to the Abbey Chronicle, which in two cases complains that ' the king's book ' has attributed more to the monks than they really held. We have seen that the king exempted the lands of the Liberty from Danegeld and all other payments to the Crown, but as it is expressly stated in Domesday that the 2^ hides which the abbot held in demesne ' have not paid geld in the rape,' it is clear that the remaining 3^ hides must have paid it, in which case the only conclusion is that the abbot collected the geld but did not hand it over to the king. In addition to this grant of land round the site of the church the abbey also received the valuable manor of Alciston in Pevensey rape, which had been rated at 50 hides, but was now reduced to 44I hides, as outlying portions of the manor had been annexed to the rapes of Lewes and Hastings, in which they were situated. A charter of Henry L^ relates that the abbot and convent of Battle had complained that they were charged for 50 hides for their manor of Alciston, although 7 (sic) hides had been taken away from it ; in granting relief the king states that these hides lay at Ovingdean, Codingele (Coding in Hooe), Betelesford (Batsford in Warbleton .?), Wivenham, Daningawurde, Scoweswelle (Shoyswell), Baresselle (Borzell), Wertesc, Brembreseboc and Seure- deswelle. The abbey of Westminster held Parham by grant of King Edward, the abbey of Hyde,^ Southease and Donnington, and the nuns of St. Edward of Shaftesbury held Felpham in west Sussex. Of Norman monasteries the only one that appears as tenant-in-chief is the abbey of Fecamp, to which the Confessor had given the two valuable manors of ' Rameslie ' in the extreme east of the county, including Rye and Winchelsea and at least part of Hastings, and Steyning. This latter in King Edward's time was worth £S6, and had consequently attracted the attention of Harold, who seized it from the abbey and held it ' in fine Regis Edwardi.' William is said to have particularly pledged himself before setting out on the invasion of England to restore this manor to the abbey ; but while doing so he found it advisable to deprive the monks of certain tenements in Hastings — possibly including the site ' These lands are described in Domesday Book as held hy the abbot ' in suo rapo,' but after careful consideration of all the evidence in and outside Domesday, Mr. Round is of opinion that these words need not imply a ' rape of Battle,' but may only mean ' in the rape of Hastings in which his abbey stands,' as opposed to the rape of Pevensey, in which the rest of the endowment lay. = Harl. ch. 43 C. 12. 3 Hyde Abbey also claimed Treyford, and the hundred court found that it had been held of the abbot by a tenant who had only held it for his life. A virgate in Riston Hundred had also belonged to Newminster, as the abbey was then called. 375