Page:VCH Worcestershire 1.djvu/364

 A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE ploughs in (the) demesne, and (there are) 7 villeins and I bordar and i Frenchman {Jrancigena) ' with 6 ploughs. There are 4 serfs and 2 bondwomen and meadow . . .* The wood(land) is 2 furlongs long and 2 fur- longs wide. It was and is worth 4 pounds. Godric held (it) doing (such) service for it to the bishop (on such terms) as he could ob- tain {deprecari). The same Urse holds 7 hides at Biscopes- LENG [Rous Lench] ^ and Alvred holds (them) of him. He has there in (the) demesne 3^ ploughs, and (there are) a priest and 5 villeins and 8 bordars with 5^ ploughs. There are 2 serfs and 2 bondwomen and a mill worth {de) 4 shillings and 6 acres of meadow. It was worth 6 pounds ; now 7 pounds. Frane held 5 hides performing all the service (due), and the Bishop had 2 hides in demesne. Of this same manor Robert the Despencer {dispensator) holds 5 hides at Pidele and More and Hylle [Piddle, Moor, and Hill].* In (the) demesne are 4 ploughs and (there are) 4 villeins and i bordar with i plough. There are 3 serfs and 24 acres of meadow. It was and is worth 60 shillings. Keneward held (it) in the same manner as the preceding {al'iam supradictam). Of this same manor JSAfnc {Alricus) the Archdeacon holds i hide at Bradelege [Brad- ley] where he has i plough in (the) demesne, and there are 3 villeins and 3 bordars, with if ploughs, and i serf. It was and is worth 20 shillings. Archbishop Ealdred {Eldredus) leased it {prastitit) to his reeve T.R.E. and took it from him justly when he would. Of the same manor Roger de Laci holds 10 hides at Bisantune [Bishampton] and two 46. » A blank in the MS. ^ It would seem desirable to deal here with the whole question of the Lenches, on which there has been much confusion. As to ' Abeleng ' there is no question, for it became ' Habbe Lench ' and then ' Hob Lench.' (It has latterly been converted into 'Abbot's Lench,' presumably because it never belonged to an abbot !) ' Biscopesleng ' is positively asserted by Nash to be Church Lench (II. 80), although the latter name appears below, under Evesham Abbey, as ' Circelenz.' I hesitated to reject Nash's identification, not knowing what grounds he might have for it, until I traced his assertion as probably derived from a guess by Habington (I. 324), who wrote, under Church Lench, ' This Biscopesleng I thincke was Churchlench.' Oddly enough, it is Habington's work which supplies us with evidence to the contrary. For he elsewhere (I. 317) notes, under Rous Lench, 'that William de Beauchamp, in the Red book of the Bishopricke of Worcester healde seavne Hydes heere of our Byshop,' and again (I. 319) that 'Roger de Lench heald of William Beauchamp seeaune hydes of Land in Lench ' (so also II. 171). It is quite clear that these were the ' seven hides ' at ' Biscopesleng' held of the Bishop by Urse, whose heirs the Beauchamps were. From Randolf de Lench (compare Heming, p. 291), who held it under them, it took the name of Lench Randolf, and, on passing from his descendants, the Lenches, to the family of Rous, it became Rous Lench. Church Lench ' (Circelenz) will now present no difficulty,' nor will Atch Lench (' Achelenz '). Both of these were held in Domesday, by Evesham Abbey ; and I suspect that Atch Lench was the Lench ' sacriste ' that occasionally appears. There remains only the 'Lenche' which Urse had got into his hands as of the bishop of Bayeux' fee (fo. 1 76). Habington inserted the Domes- day entry of it under Rous Lench (I. 316), to which he clearly thought it related. But its subject was evidently the ' Lenz (or Leinch) Bernardi' of the Evesham MS. (Vesp. B. XXIV. fos. 6, lo-ii), and I identify it with Sheriffs Lench, of which we read under Edward I. ' Comes Warrewic tenet Shyrreve- lench pro dimidio feodo. Set quia est in manu potentis nichil Abbati facit nisi homagium, et homines de Lench sectam apud Blakehurst,' (Harl MS. 3,763, fo. 168^). Habington observes that ' the Earles of Warwick, de- scending from the Beauchamps, had within the paryshe of Churchlench a manor called Shreulensh (II. 252). I conclude that the Beauchamps (who inherited the hereditary shrievalty from Urse) kept the above four hides in their own hands, and that this Lench, therefore, took its name from their office. Among the Lyttelton charters is one, temp. Henry III., which brings together the names of Chirchelench, Habbelench, Lench Ranulf and Achelench. It is perhaps significant that, when Lench- wich is excluded, the Lenches, added together, amount to 25 hides exactly. Lenchwick itself is entered at 10 hides in an early Evesham Survey (Vesp. B. XXIV. fo. 49). bury. 290
 * Compare Domesday Book and Beyond, p.
 * Hill and Moor are a chapelry of Flad-