A.D. 1060.
At the Conquest, Whittington became the property of Pain Peverel, who having no issue, on his decease it was seized by Roger earl of Shrewsbury. This place was called in Doomsday Book, Wititone; and consisted at that time of eight corn farms, twelve ox-stalls, and a very extensive wood; the cows yielded five shillings per annum, and all Welsh residents were obliged to pay twenty shillings rent among them.
The castle and lordship of Whittington next passed into the hands of Hugh, and afterwards of his brother Robert, sons of the late earl of Shrewsbury. Upon the defeat and forfeiture of Robert by Henry I. it was restored to the Peverels in the person of Sir William, a sister’s son of Pain Peverel.—This Sir William is famed in history for his noble and valiant enterprizes, in one of which it is stated that he was mortally wounded, but was miraculously recovered by eating the shield of a wild boar; and that to testify his gratitude to Heaven for his preservation he built three churches.