Chelsea.—“Edward de Sarisberie holds Chelched or Cercehede (Chelsea) for two hides. There is land to five ploughs. One hide is in the demesne, and there are now two ploughs there. The villanes have one plough, and two ploughs might yet be made. There are two villanes of two virgates; and four villanes of half a virgate each; and three bordars of five acres each; and three bondmen. Meadow for two ploughs. Pasture for the cattle of the village. Pannage for sixty hogs, and fifty-two pence. Its whole value is nine pounds; the same when received, and always. Wluuene, a vassal of King Edward’s, held this manor; he might sell it to whom he would.”

Kensington.—“Aubrey de Ver holds Chenesit (Kensington) of the Bishop of Constance. It answered for ten hides. There is land to ten ploughs. There are four ploughs in the demesne there, and the villanes have five ploughs, and a sixth might be made. There are twelve villanes of one virgate each; and six villanes of three virgates. A priest has half a virgate; and there are seven bondmen. Meadow for two ploughs. Pasture for the cattle of the village. Pannage for two hundred hogs. And three arpents of vineyard. Its whole value is ten pounds; when received six pounds; in King Edward’s time ten pounds. Eduuin, a thane of King Edward’s, held this manor, and might sell it.”

NORMAN LONDON.

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Islington.—“Derman holds of the King half a hide in Iseldone (Islington). There is land to half a plough. There is one villane there. This land is and was worth ten shillings. Algar, a vassal of King Edward’s, held this land, and he might sell and give it.”

Lisson Green.—“Lilestone (Lilestone) answered for five hides. Eideua holds it of the King. There is land to three ploughs. Four hides and a half are in the demesne, and there are two ploughs there. The villanes have one plough. There are four villanes of half a virgate each; and three cottagers of two acres; and one bondman. Meadow for one plough. Pasture for the cattle of the village. Pannage for one hundred hogs. For herbage threepence. Its whole value is sixty shillings; the same when received; in King Edward’s time forty shillings.’ Edward, son of Suan, a vassal of King Edward’s, held this manor, and might sell it.”

According to the A.S. Chronicle, King William held a great Council, and had much discourse “as to how the land was holden and by what men. He sent over all England into every shire his men, and let them inquire how many hundred hides were in each shire, and what land and cattle the King himself had in the shire, and what rent he ought to receive yearly in each. He let them also inquire how much land his archbishops had, and his other bishops and his abbots, and each and what and how much every man had who held land within the kingdom, as well on land as on cattle, and how much each was worth.”

It must be remembered that the King under the Feudal system was the overlord of all estates, and there was no land which was not under the King as overlord. In the Survey of Middlesex there is no manor returned as belonging to the Crown. In Ossulston Hundred, the King held 12½ acres of “No man’s land”; he also had thirty cottagers in one place and two in another. Twenty-two owners of manors in Middlesex are entered in Domesday, of these the Church had by far the largest share, viz. the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Abbot of Westminster, the Abbot of the Holy Trinity at Rouen, the Abbess of Barking, and the Bishop and Canons of St. Paul. The last owned the principal part of Ossulston Hundred.

The largest manor round London was Stepney: at a very early period the hamlets of Shoreditch, Stratford Bow, Hackney, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, St. George’s in the East, Shadwell and Limehouse are supposed to have been carved out of the great manor and parish: in other words, the original parish of Stepney extended from the great north road of Bishopsgate Without to the River Lea. That a great part of Ossulston Hundred belonged to St. Paul’s is shown by the fact that Twyford, Willesden, Harlesden, Totehill, St. Pancras, Islington, Newington, Horton, Hoxton, and Drayton all belonged to this church. The Abbot of Westminster held the manor—only second in size to Stepney—of his church, that of Hampstead, that of Hendon, and another manor, probably Belsize. There were only eight lay proprietors of manors in the county.