Title: | Research paper: Boundary of the Manor of Ewyas Lacy |
Date: | 1566 - 1705 |
BOUNDARY OF THE MANOR OF EWYAS LACY
By Nina Wedell
March 2009
Introduction
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The map opposite shows the boundary of the Manor of Ewyas Lacy described in three manorial surveys made between the late16th and early 18th centuries. The manor encompassed nine of the ten parishes[1] in the Hundred of Ewyas Lacy (excluding Cusop) and two separate areas at the southwest called Fwthog and Bwlch. This paper reconstructs the boundary from landmarks and place names given in the surveys, many of which are identifiable today. A look at earlier and later records shows changes in the land area covered by the manor from the Norman conquest onwards. |
Manorial surveys were conducted by a local court, the Court Baron, which called upon a ‘jury’ of local landholders to investigate the customs and conditions of landholding. Sometimes the surveys included a number of Articles of Inquiry to be answered by the jury, one of which was to confirm the manorial boundary, as was the case in these surveys.
The description given was based on oral tradition handed down from each generation to the next and did not require literacy. In all three surveys it is formulaic, beginning at the same point on a circuit and recounting many of the same place names. The custom was to conduct a ‘perambulation’ along the boundary periodically, a group walk by men and boys (and it was considered important to include youngsters), to ensure that it remained in living memory. It is not known if perambulations were conducted specifically for any of the three surveys considered here. As the entire circuit was some 50 miles, sections were probably taken piecemeal from time to time, as was the case in two 19th century perambulations covering only part of the manor. Parish boundaries were also traditionally walked each year in the ceremony of ‘beating the bounds’, and as all the parishes in the manor bordered some section of the overall periphery, there would have been annual reinforcement of the landmarks in the collective memory. In fact, the manorial boundary closely, or even exactly, matches the outer parish boundaries of nine parishes.
Transcriptions of the boundary route
Below is a transcription of each of the three boundary routes, which will then be compared and discussed in detail before going on to a wider context of time and place. Briefly here, it can be noted that two of the descriptions refer to two sharing lords of the manor: in 1566, the Lord of Leicester and the Lord of Abergavenny; in 1667, Sir Trevor Williams and the Lord of Abergavenny. In 1705, reference to the shared lordship, between John Jeffreys and Lord Abergavenny, occurs elsewhere in the manorial survey, not in the boundary description[2] . These allusions point to the background and purpose of the surveys, in which the jury and all concerned would have been well aware that one share of the lordship had recently changed hands.
| Extract from the 1566 Survey |
| The bounder of the said Lordship or Manor of Ewias Lacy |
| Beginning at Moore Manor Simon Ap Harry’s house joining to Whitwall, east, from thence to the Lordship of Whoryshay, northeast, dividing the Lordship of Hinton and Ewias from thence to a place called Pen Fagwr, Northeast, dividing the mere between Snodell and Ewias from thence following to the mere of Pen Fagwr dividing there the Lordship of Dorston and Ewias, northwest from thence to a place called Mynydd Brith dividing the Lordship of Clifford and Ewias And so from thence following the mountain dividing the Lordship of Cusop and Ewias north north east from thence to a place called Fforest Iarll dividing the Lordship of the Hay and Ewias. And from thence to the mountain of Crib y Gath from the White stone to a place called Parc Bach dividing the counties thereof Hereford and Brecknock from thence which the said mountain of Crib y Gath by the height of the same divideth two forests there called Fforest Hen, being the Lord of Abergavenny’s the other forest called Olchon [?] Lord of Leicester’s, and from Parc Bach aforesaid to the height of the mountain called Hatterell dividing the Lordship of Llanthony (being Sir Nicolas Arnold’s) and Ewias Lacy West, and so following the said mountain of Haterhill by the height to the river of Hoddni, Southwest dividing there the counties of Hereford and Monmouth aforesaid to the forest or mountain called Cefn Coed Ewias, which said forest or mountain shooteth in with angle between the counties of Monmouth & Brecknock and nevertheless parcel of the Lordship of Ewias within the county of Hereford, Southwest which said forest or mountain containeth two miles in length and half a mile in breadth. And from the river of Hoddni, as afore, the mere of the Lordship of Ewias veereth to the point of Haterhill directly into the river or small stream called Grwgy, South dividing the counties of Monmouth of Hereford aforesaid. And so following the said river of Gwrgy into the river of Monow joining to the house of William Cecil gentleman to Llangiwa Bridge Southeast dividing there also the county of Hereford and Monmouth And so following to a place called Cae Newydd And from thence leading along the river of Dulas – New Court Northeast And so along the said river of Dulas by Nether Maes Coed and so along following the wood called Upper Maes Coed to Coed Poeth to Whitwell aforesaid East where the mere of the Lordship begineth. |
| Extract from the 1667 Survey |
| Beginning at Whitewall near Coed poeth from there to the Top of Hay Wrey or Worrish Hay North East dividing the Top of Hindon [& Ewyas from thence to a place called pen Vagar North East dividing the mear between Snowdale & Ewyas from thence to a Place called Mynith breeth dividing the top of Clifford & Ewyas and so from thence following the Mountain dividing the Lordship of Cusop and Ewyas North West From thence to a place called Forrest Yeareth dividing the Lordship of the Hay & Ewyas And from thence to the Mountain called Creeb Gath from the White Stone to a place called park bach dividing there the Countys of Hereford & Brecon which sd Mountain of Creeb Gath by the heighth of the same Divideth two Forests the one called Forrest Hene being the Lord of Abergavennys the other called the Forrest of Olphon belonging unto the sd Sir Trevor Wms in the right of Dame Elizabeth his wife who was the only Daughter of Rachel eldest Sister of Ralph late Lord Hopton and unto Thomas Windham Esq in the right of his Mother Catherine third Sister of the sd late Ralph Lord Hopton And from Park bach aforesaid to the height of the Mountain of Hattrell Dividing the top of Lanthony being the Ldp of John Arnold Esq and Ewyas Lacy West and so following the sd Mountain of Hattrell by the height to the River of Honthy South West dividing there the counties of Hereford & Monmouth from the River of Hothney leading over a Bridge called Pont rees Powell through part of the County of Monmouth aforesaid to the Forrest or Mountain called there Keven Ewyas which sd Forrest or Mountain Shooteth in with angle between the sd Countys of Monmouth & Brecon and nevertheless is parcel of the Ldp of Ewyas in the County of Hereford South West which Forrest or Mountain containeth in length about two miles which is the Mear between the Ldp of Lanthony in the County of Monmouthsh on the one side & ye River Groney or Gronow which runs between the County of Brecon & the Ldp of Ewyas on the other side and from the River of Hothney as afsd the Mear of the Lordship of Ewyas joyneth to the point of Hattrel directs into the River or small stream called Grwgy South dividing the Countys of Hereford & Monmouth afsd And so following the sd River of Gwgy into the River of Monnow joining to the House where John Delahay Esq now dwelleth called Alterynnis And so along the said River of Monnow into Langua bridge South East dividing there also the Countys of Hereford & Monmouth And so following to a place called kae Newith & from there leading to a Place called Plash East dividing between the Ldp of Ewyas Harold and the Ldp of Ewyas from thence leading to the River of Dulass & new Ct North East & so up along the sd River Dulas by the Nether Mescoed & so to the upper end of Middle Mescoed & so along following the wood or common called Upper Mescoed to Coed poeth to Whitewall afsd East where the mear of ye Ldp beginneth. |
| Extract from the 1705 Survey |
| To the first article they say and upon their oaths present the Boundaries or Meare of the said Mannor of Ewyas Lacy to be as followeth (viz) beginning at Whitewace near Coed poth from thence to the Lordshippe of Hay urry or Urish hay North East dividing the Lordshippe of Hinton and Ewyas to a place called Penn-y-Vagor North East dividing the Meare between Snowdle and Ewyas by the meare between the parish of Michael Church Escly & the parish of Peterchurch and from thence by and along the meare dividing between the sd parish of Michael Escly and the parish of Dorston to a place called Close-y-Killoge there dividing the Meare between the parish of Clodocke and the parish of Cusop North West from thence to a place antiently called fforest Yearth to the Meare dividing the Lordship of the Hay and Ewyas thence to the Whitestone being the Meare dividing there the Counties of Hereff and Brecon and thence to a place called park back to the mear also dividing the said Counties of Hereford & Brecon & from the park back afd to the height of the Mountain of Hattrell dividing the Lordship of Lanthony and Ewyas by the fall of the water of the said Mountain West and so following the height of the said Mountain to and along the Meare dividing the parish of Oldcastle and the parish of Clodock to the River Monnow and so following the said River of Monnow down to a certain prill of water dividing or mearing between the said parish of Oldcastle and the parish of Cwmyoy & so leading to the top of the said Mountain of Hattrell to the Meare dividing there the Counties of Monmouth & Hereford afsd to the River of Hothney southwest & so along the said River of Hothney to the middle of a certain Bridge called Pont Rees Powell & from the middle of the said Bridge through part of the County of Monmouth afsd to the forest or Mountain called Keven Coed Ewyas and so along the top or height of the sd Mountain dividing there the Lordship of Lanthony afsd in the sd County of Monmouth on the one side Eastward to a certain place called Quarrell-y-van and thence along a certain prill of water called Nant-yr-Erith to the River of Growney or Gronew which runs there between the sd Counties of Hereford & Brecon westward & divides between the said County of Brecon & Manor of Ewyas on the other side to a certain place called Pontyskib southwest and from thence leading along the comb called Viggin-dee through a certain place called Coed-y-keving and to a certain place called Pen-y-gare dividing there the Counties of Monmouth & Hereford afsd which said fforest of Ewyas contain in length two Miles & half a Mile in breadth and further the said Lordship of Ewyas meareth from the said Bridge called Pont Rees Powell along the Meare dividing the Counties of Monmouth & Herff afsd to a little prill of water called Llwygee a Gwrgee and so following the said prill into the River Hothney afsd and thence along the meare dividing the land of James Springell Esq in the County of Monmouth & the lands of Thomas Delahay Gent in the County of Hereford into the said River of Hothney and from thence along the River of Hothney into the River of Monnow and from thence along the River of Monnow to a certain Bridge called Langua Bridge South east dividing there also the Counties of Hereford and Monmouth and from thence to a place called Cae Newith and from thence to a place called the Plash East dividing between the Lordship of Ewyas Harold & the said Lordship of Ewyas & from thence along the mears mearing between the parishes of Clodock & Dulas to the river called Dulas and so up along the River of Dulas to Nether Mescoed and from thence following the mear dividing between the Hundred of Webtree & the Hundred of Ewyas Lacy to Whitewace aforesaid where the Mear of the sd Lordship of Ewyas Lacy beginneth. |
Comparison between the boundary descriptions
The map shown here gives the locations of places identifiable in one or more of the surveys.
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A great many of the places named are common between the surveys, and most of the place names are identifiable today, as shown in Table 1: many can be found on OS 1:25,000 maps; others now obsolete are known from historical documents. Some now lost can be placed approximately by their sequence along the boundary route. The OS map at this scale also shows parish boundaries. (Grid references for these places are given in the Appendix below: click here to see)
| Table 1: Place names in the boundary descriptions, and existing names |
| 1566 | 1667 | 1705 | Existing name |
| Ewias Lacy | Ewyas | Ewyas Lacy | Ewyas Lacy [obsolete as place name] |
| Moore Manor |
|
| Whitehouse |
| Whitwall/Whitwell | Whitewall | Whitewace | Whitewall coppice |
| Coed Poeth | Coed poeth | Coed poth | Coed poeth |
| Whoryshay | Hay Wrey or Worrish Hay | Hay urry or Urish hay | Urishay |
| Hinton | Hindon | Hinton | Hinton |
| Pen Fagwr | pen Vagar | Penn-y-Vagor | Vagar Hill |
| Snodell | Snowdale | Snowdle | Snodhill |
|
|
| Michael Church Escly | Michaelchurch Escley |
|
|
| Peterchurch | Peterchurch |
| Dorston |
| Dorston | Dorstone |
| Mynydd Brith | Mynith breeth |
| Mynydd Brith |
| Clifford | Clifford |
| Clifford |
| Cusop | Cusop |
| Cusop |
| Hay | Hay |
| Hay |
|
|
| Close-y-Killoge |
|
| Forest Iarll | Forrest Yeareth | fforest Yearth |
|
| Crib y Gath | Creeb Gath |
| Crib y Garth/Black Hill |
| White stone | White stone | Whitestone |
|
| Parc Bach | park bach | park back | Park Bach |
| [County of] Hereford | [County of] Hereford | [County of] Hereford | Herefordshire |
| [County of] Brecknock | [County of] Brecon | [County of] Brecon | Breconshire [obsolete] |
| Fforest Hen | Forrest Hene |
| Forest Hene [obsolete] |
| Forest Olchon | Forrest Olphon |
| Olchon |
| Hatterell/Haterhill | Hatrell, Hattrell, Hattrel | Hattrell | Hatterrell |
| Llanthony | Lanthony | Lanthony | Llanthony |
|
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| Oldcastle | Oldcastle |
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| Clodocke, Clodock | Clodock |
|
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| Cwmyoy | Cwmyoy |
| Hoddni | Honthy, Hothney | Hothney | Honddu |
| [County of] Monmouth | [County of] Monmouth | [County of] Monmouth | Monmouthshire |
|
| Pont rees Powell | Pont Rees Powell | Pont Rhys Powell |
| Cefn Coed Ewias | Keven Ewyas | Keven Coed Ewyas | Cefn-coed |
|
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| Quarell-y-van | Chwarel y Fan |
|
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| Nant-yr-Erith |
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| River Groney or Gronow | Growney or Gronew | Grwyne Fawr |
|
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| Pontyskib | Pontyspig |
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| Viggin-dee |
|
|
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| Coed-y-keving | Cwm Coed-y-cerig |
|
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| Pen-y-Gare | Twyn y gaer |
| Gwrgy | Grwgy/Gwgy | Llwygee a [alias] Gwrgee | Llwygy |
| House of William Cecil | Alterynnis |
| Alltyrynys |
|
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| Lands of Thomas Delahay in county of Hereford |
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| Lands of James Springel in county of Monmouth |
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| Monnow | Monnow | Monnow | Monnow |
| Llangiwa Bridge | Langua bridge | Langua Bridge | Langua bridge |
| Cae Newydd | kae Newith | Cae Newith | Cae-newydd Wood |
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| Plash | Plash | Plash |
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| Ewyas Harold | Ewyas Harold | Ewyas Harold |
| Dulas | Dulass | Dulas | Dulas |
| Newcourt | new ct |
| Newcourt |
| Nether Maes Coed | Nether Mescoed | Nether Mescoed | Lower Maescoed |
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| Middle Mescoed |
| Middle Maescoed |
| Upper Maes Coed | Upper Mescoed |
| Upper Maescoed |
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| Webtree | Webtree |
The vocabulary of description
It is clear that certain presumptions were made about descriptive terms as part of a mental as well as a physical geography. Places were associated with people and property as well as with natural features, and administrative boundaries were also familiar, such as with neighbouring manors or counties. These choices of landmark can be looked at in three categories: those relating to the natural landscape, the locally managed landscape and the institutional landscape.
The natural landscape:
The boundary description very obviously follows natural features of rivers and streams, mountain ridges and uplands, valleys and forests, which provide some named sections of the route. On the map and on the ground, the permanent natural features demonstrate that the boundary today is essentially the same as the outer boundaries of modern civil parishes, which are marked on Ordnance Survey maps at the scale of 1.25,000. Table 2 below gives names of natural features, including some not actually on the boundary but mentioned in connection with purported land claims.
| Table 2: Named natural features |
| Rivers and streams | Grwnye Vawr, Honddu, Nant Erith, Llwygy, Monnow and Dulas |
| Mountains and uplands | Vagar Hill, Mynydd Brith, Crib y Garth, Hatterrall Hill, Cefn coed, Chwarel y Fan, Twyn y Gaer, |
| Valleys | Cwm Viggin-dee , and valleys of rivers named above |
| Forests [woodland or scrub] | Forest Yeareth, Coed-y-cerig, Forest Hene, Forest Olchon, Upper Maescoed |
The locally managed landscape:
Roads, tracks, and common land. No thoroughfare of any kind is named in any of the surveys. The 1840s tithe maps suggest that very few roads defined the outside perimeter of the manor of Ewyas Lacy, although within the manor there were a number of roads or tracks between parishes. However, it can be assumed that well recognised tracks and rights of way were commonly used at the periphery in earlier centuries, some since time immemorial such as the track lined with prehistoric earthworks on Hatterrall Hill (now part of Offa’s Dyke path); and along the ridges of Vagar Hill and the Fwthog[3] . The location of a ‘forest’ on the perimeter uplands with the lost name of Forest Yearth is not now identifiable, but its general location in the northwest uplands suggests an area of scrub with tracks or a network of tracks. The same was probably the case at Mynydd Brith, another generalised area of upland further east.
An area at the eastern edge of St Margarets has a number of features shown on the 1840s tithe map[4] suggesting a lost track between fragmented sections of once continuous woodland. The boundary takes a straight line through woodland (named on the tithe map, and now, as Chanstone Wood and Haybrook’s Wood). Further south are three fields crossed by the boundary which then enters another area of woodland. This pattern suggests that the fields represent a later enclosure for farming intruding into an ancient woodland.
Common land would certainly have been a feature of major local significance. The reference to Urishay in the surveys could mean Urishay Common, as distinct from Urishay castle or court. Urishay Common is identified as such in the 1840s tithe map at the northeastern edge of Michaelchurch Escley and would have existed at least at the same size during the previous three centuries: judging from the tithe map the manorial boundary would probably have crossed the common on an established track. The 1705 survey refers to Upper Maescoed as a ‘wood or common’. The name Maescoed means ‘meadows in the wood’, and the three Maescoeds (all mentioned variously in the surveys) were ancient commons which were progressively encroached and probably much reduced in size during the period of time covered by these surveys[5] .
The open mountain slopes above about 400 metres would have been moorland, scrub and woodland interspersed with commons grazing. These areas were, however, protected as exclusive hunting grounds for the lord of the manor, as is vividly illustrated by a perambulation in 1884 of that part of the manor in the uplands of Vagar Hill, Hatterall Hill and Fwthog, the purpose of which was to clarify hunting areas.
Specific properties . A few named properties suggest their local prominence. Of these, Whitewall has been demolished, Moore Manor has since become Whitehouse, while Coed Poeth, Alltyrynys and Newcourt still exist as named. It is apparent that lands of these properties edged on to the boundary, not necessarily the house itself, as Coed Poeth, Whitewall and Newcourt houses were placed some distance away.
| Table 3: Named properties in the three surveys |
| 1566 | 1667 | 1705 |
| Coed Poeth | Coed poeth | Coed poth |
| Moore Manor, Simon ap Harry’s house |
|
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| Whitwall | Whitewall | Whitewace |
| House of William Cecil | Alterynnis, house of John Delahay | Lands of Thomas Delahay in county of Hereford |
|
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| Land of James Springell in county of Monmouth |
| Newcourt | New court |
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Bridges. Three bridges are named: Pontyspig (pont = bridge) crossing the Grwyne Fawr, Pont Rhys Powell crossing the Honddu, and Langua Bridge crossing the Monnow. Bridges still exist at or near the same locations. (There are two bridges close to each other at Pontyspig, and Llangua Bridge is part of a modern main road.)
Marker stones. A ‘White Stone’ was apparently on Crib y Garth, also known as the Blackhill. Other documents as well as archaeological evidence confirm that stone boundary markers were frequent features of the landscape, as they had been since prehistoric times. It is perhaps surprising that these surveys do not make more note of such stones: another survey, of the Manor of Craswall in 1847[6] , gives 15 ‘meer stones’ as markers in the course of a perambulation; and the OS 1:25000 notes a stone (at SO 281/399) on the Michaelchurch Escley boundary which is not specified in the routes considered here.
Quarry . One quarry is mentioned; Quarell-y-van (chwarel = quarry) on the ridge of Fwthog. This may have been an ancient stone quarry or earthwork.
The institutional landscape:
The term ‘institutional landscape’ is taken to refer to a perception of the social fabric which is managed by recognised customs, rules, expectations and interests. This is essentially an invisible mental landscape overlying the geographical, where there is a sense of places and people belonging to a specific geographical area as well as demarcations from others. The terms lordship, parish, hundred and county convey the ways in which the management of communities is implied in these surveys, serving both to enclose and to separate. The institutional landscape in all these spheres was concerned variously with such things as keeping the peace, mustering troops, making property deals, and collecting rents and taxes. Below is a breakdown of terms used for the institutional landscape.
| Table 4: Terms used for the institutional landscape |
| 1566 | 1667 | 1705 |
References to ‘ the Lordship of....’
| Whoryshay |
| Hay Urry or Urish hay |
| Hinton |
| Hinton |
| Ewias | Ewyas | Ewyas Lacy |
| Dorston |
|
|
| Clifford |
|
|
| Cusop | Cusop |
|
| Hay | Hay |
|
| Llanthony | Lanthony | Lanthony |
|
| Ewyas Harold | Ewyas Harold |
References to ‘the parish of...’
| [none] | [none] | Michael Church Escly |
|
|
| Peterchurch |
|
|
| Dorston |
|
|
| Clodock |
|
|
| Cusop |
|
|
| Oldcastle |
|
|
| Cwmyoy |
|
|
| Dulas |
References to ‘the Hundred of...’
| [none] | [none] | Ewyas Lacy |
|
|
| Webtree |
References to ‘the County of...’
| Hereford | Hereford | Hereford |
| Brecknock | Brecon | Brecon |
| Monmouth | Monmouth | Monmouth |
The terms used illustrate the demarcations that were thought significant: for instance, while all the surveys refer to ‘lordship’ and ‘county’, only the 1705 survey refers to ‘parish’ and ‘hundred’. What do these terms convey about a commonly held understanding of local identity and governance? This question raises issues about the historical development of the manor, which eventually took on the shape traced in the three surveys, apparently the same shape in all of them. There are no ready answers, but some hints about the processes involved when the institutional landscape of Ewyas Lacy is looked at in a wider time scale.
Evolution of the Manor of Ewyas Lacy
The manor and the lordship
Since the feudal concept of a manor is now obsolete, some explanation is in order. The term relates to notions of land ownership and to a system of governance which are interconnected in ways now difficult to unravel. In feudalism, there was a hierarchy of land ownership whereby at the highest level all land belonged to the crown. At the next tier down, manors were substantial areas of land granted to ‘tenants-in-chief’. From time to time manorial lands could be sequestrated by the crown (as happened several times in Ewyas Lacy) but apart from such interruptions they were held as of right by inheritance. A tenant-in-chief could also make subordinate land grants, originally with obligations for ‘knight’s service’ as required, and although these are confusingly also called manors, they can be recognised by the payment of dues to the tenant-in-chief as a relic of feudalism. Several sub-manors in Ewyas Lacy at the time of the surveys are included in the inventory of properties and revenues but will not come into discussion here except where they are relevant to the overall manorial boundary. The concern here is with the tenancy-in-chief, which had been granted to Walter de Lacy at the Norman Conquest and covered part of the formerly Welsh territory of Ewyas. However, several neighbouring (and perhaps rival?) tenancies-in-chief did apparently have an impact on the Ewyas Lacy boundary, as noted below. Reflecting the survival of such ancient divisions, adjoining lands are referred to as ‘meering’ on to Ewyas Lacy. An important implication is that neighbouring place names may cover a wide area and should not be understood as lying directly on the boundary.
At the level of tenant-in-chief, feudal manors were administered by manorial courts which had overall responsibility for governance: the Court Baron concerned primarily with property interests and collecting revenues, and the Court Leet with civil issues such as keeping the peace, overseeing the use of common grazing and other community-wide matters. The Court Baron in particular, with its emphasis on property exchanges, rents and taxes, effectively defined the geographical area of the manor as the area of its remit: hence its name from the ‘barony’ held by the tenant-in-chief. In the Manor of Ewyas Lacy, the Court Baron covered the land area under discussion here.
The term ‘Lordship of Ewyas Lacy’ is frequently used in court records and other documents apparently as a synonym for the manor, as in the 1566 survey’s reference to ‘the Manor or Lordship of Ewyas Lacy’. Both terms will be used here as approximate synonyms, although this sidesteps some problems of interpretation: since the Lordship of Ewyas Lacy was split in the mid 13th century and from then on was shared between two lineages, the meaning of the term lordship when used in the singular is difficult to understand. The sharing was not a division into two geographically discrete blocks, and although in certain areas claims were made for exclusive land rights by one or other party, these areas were scattered piecemeal and by no means covered all the manorial lands. The surveys themselves encompass the entire manor and apparently make note of many, if not most, of the same properties. Another difficulty is that there was only one Court Baron in Ewyas Lacy, implying that arrangements for property exchanges and revenues from both shares were handled by this court though the details of management are as yet unknown. These are matters for ongoing research.
Neighbouring manors and lordships
Facing east and north. In the run-up to the Norman Conquest, the Welsh territory of Ewyas had already been partially eroded by Anglo-Saxon settlement in the Dore valley, then called Stradel (and now the Golden Valley). The Domesday Survey of 1086 shows how lands were allocated to Norman retainers after the conquest. An analysis of these holdings by George Marshall notes the emergence of seven tenancies-in-chief in the general area of the Golden Valley, Ewyas and Clifford: these are identified as Ewyas Harold; Ewyas Lacy; Poston; Snodhill; Dorstone; Bach, Middlewood and Harewood; and Clifford[7] .
Of these, Ewyas Lacy was held by Roger de Lacy in 1086, apparently as the rump of the formerly Welsh Ewyas, including what are now the parishes of Craswall, Llanveynoe, Longtown, Newton, Michaelchurch Escley and St Margarets. To this had recently been added Rowlestone, Llancillo and Walterstone which were apparently split off from Ewyas Harold. The Domesday Survey also shows Roger holding lands in Stradel in the vicinity of Bacton, Newcourt, Turnastone and Snodhill although these lands were later acquired by other tenants-in-chief in the 13th to 14th centuries. Cusop was also held by Roger, but it is not clear whether this was a tenancy-in-chief. From Marshall’s analysis it would thus appear that the Manor of Ewyas Lacy had shrunk somewhat on the east during the medieval period to exclude some lands in the Golden Valley, and at the north Cusop was possibly never fully incorporated.
William Rees’s reconstruction map of the 14th century agrees with this interpretation of the eastern boundary, showing a string of lordships along the Dore valley as being outside the boundary of Ewyas Lacy. These were at Bacton, Chanestone, Turnastone, Urishay, Hinton, Snodhill and Dorstone. At the north, Rees includes Cusop within Ewyas Lacy, but in the other records there is some ambiguity about the status of Cusop. The 1566 survey specifically excludes it by referring to ‘the mountain dividing the Lordship of Cusop and Ewias’. While the 1667 and 1701 surveys both note Cusop as a sub-manor they add, ‘but by what rents and services it doth not appear’. Since the route on the ground excludes Cusop in all three surveys, taking the manorial boundary across the northern end of Michaelchurch Escley and Craswall, it would appear that the manorial claim to Cusop from Ewyas Lacy had perhaps entirely lapsed sometime between the 14th and 16th centuries. All these hints are confirmed from a map and particulars for the sale of the Manor of Cusop by Sir George Cornewall of Moccas in 1815, where the land area to be sold included almost all the parish of Cusop[8] .
Facing west and south. The two areas, Fwthog and Bwlch, can be seen as relics of an originally larger Welsh Ewyas which crossed the Honddu valley and came under Norman control after the conquest of 1066. Soon after Llanthony Priory was founded in the Honddu valley in about 1108-18, the monastery was granted substantial lands surrounding it. George Roberts, in his history of Llanthony[9] , notes that this included ‘all the valley with all its appurtenances...to wit, on one side of Kenentesset, and Askareswy, and by Ruggewey to Antefin; and on the side of Hatterell from the land of Seisil, the son of Gilbert, by Ruggewey to the bounds of Talgarth’. Although some of these place names are lost, it is clear that the land grant spanned two ‘ruggeweys’ from the Fwthog ridge to the Hatterall ridge, reaching the head of the valley , perhaps at the escarpment marking a boundary with Talgarth lands. The Honddu valley thus effectively bisected the manorial lands in this area. (Llanthony Priory had other land grants beyond the Honddu valley including some pockets in Ewyas Lacy, as well as income from churches and tithes, which will not be considered here.) After the dissolution of Llanthony Priory in 1538, its lands were sold to Nicholas Arnold and the Honddu valley continued to form a wedge. In the 1566 survey Llanthony had become a lordship crossing the valley, from ‘...the height of the mountain called Hatterell dividing the Lordship of Llanthony (being Sir Nicholas Arnold’s) and Ewias Lacy West...’.
The area referred to here as Bwlch (meaning mountain pass) included the ancient property of Trewyn, named as a sub-manor of Ewyas Lacy in the 1667 and 1705 surveys, and in both being held by John Delahay. A family association between Trewyn and nearby Alltyrynys through the Cecil and Delahay families may account for this area being retained in Ewyas Lacy[10] , lying between a stream identifiable as the Llwygy on the south, and the lands of Oldcastle on the north. Rees’s map shows this area as being separate from Llanthony’s lands in the 14th century. The quote from Roberts supports his reconstruction, that the ‘land of Seisel’ was excluded from Llanthony’s lands.
On the south the river Monnow, which apart from vagaries of its course was a naturally defining boundary, formed an unchanging route from the confluence of the Honddu towards the Dulas. Interestingly, the boundary apparently did not reach the Dulas itself, but turned northwest about half a mile short of that confluence, to continue across higher ground indicated by the landmarks Cae Newydd and Plash. This route would have skirted Ewyas Harold for some 4 miles until the Ewyas Lacy boundary met the Dulas further upstream, and suggests a political accommodation, perhaps when Rowlestone was split off from the Norman stronghold of Ewyas Harold and added to Ewyas Lacy soon after the conquest.
The county and the hundred
Each of the three surveys refers to the counties of Hereford, Brecon and Monmouth, but only the last to the hundreds of Ewyas Lacy and Webtree. What do these units of administration have to tell about institutions of governance?
The Act of Union in 1536 abolished the Marches of Wales and transferred the Marcher lordships, of which Ewyas Lacy was one, to either England or Wales. At that time, the Manor of Ewyas Lacy was brought into England and the county of Hereford and was designated a hundred (a local district in the county). This change would have caused a huge upheaval in the traditional sense of place and created two anomalies: one that the fragment of Fwthog was effectively an English island surrounded by Wales with Bwlch surrounded on three sides; and the other anomaly that Cusop was made part of the Hundred of Ewyas Lacy though its association with the manor had apparently lapsed long before.
Looking first at the fragmented areas, reference to counties in the surveys seems to stress awareness of a contorted geography, such as in 1566 where ‘the forest or mountain called Cefn Coed Ewias...shooteth in with angle between the counties of Monmouth & Brecknock and nevertheless [is] parcel of the Lordship of Ewias within the County of Hereford’. A further complication was that the manorial fragments belonged to the parish of Cwmyoy, though unlike parishes in the main body of Ewyas Lacy, did not comprise the whole of the parish. This arrangement suggests a planning dilemma and compromise solution which would have contributed to some confusion between manorial, parish and county administration and remained unresolved until these areas were transferred to Monmouthshire in 1893. It is interesting to note that in the 1536 Act, the manorial interests appear to have held sway as the priority consideration over the county or even the England/Wales boundary.
Turning to Cusop, its allocation to the hundred of Ewyas Lacy also seems contrived in view of its tenuous association. The surveys make no mention of its new status in the hundred. Might this silence be significant, perhaps reflecting that the manorial system had no meaningful link with the hundredal system?
The manor and the parish
Only the last survey, of 1705, refers to parishes: Michaelchurch Escley, Peterchurch, Dorstone, Clodock, Cusop, Oldcastle, Cwmyoy and Dulas are all noted as parishes. Although this change of terminology could reflect no more than a different style of presentation, it does suggest a stronger perception of the parish in the mental landscape.
A shift to the parish as a unit of administration had been ongoing since the early 17th century, such as by the Poor Law Acts of 1597 and 1601: these provided for local rates collected and administered by parish ‘vestries’ through appointed Overseers of the Poor. The parish also increasingly took over a range of functions previously under the purview of the Court Leet, such as referring crime to Justices of the Peace and dealing with civil matters such as the maintenance of roads and bridges. The role of the Court Baron eventually dwindled to managing the property interests of the Lord of the Manor, and by the 19th century business was often conducted in the offices of land agents and solicitors. The 1705 survey with its repeated use of parish names appears to give a snapshot in the process of this transformation in Ewyas Lacy.
Why were these surveys made?
All three surveys were commissioned when a lordship had changed hands, and all were made by new owners of one of the two moieties, or shares, of the lordship, namely the moiety devolved originally from Maud de Lacy and held by the crown from Edward IV to Elizabeth 1. The other moiety, devolved from Margery de Lacy, had been held by the Neville family, Lords of Abergavenny, since 1476[11] . There are a number of terriers, or property inventories, on the Abergavenny side[12] which include partial sections of the manorial boundary. But the surveys considered here are the only ones as yet found which give a description of the complete circuit.
The 1566 survey, for Robert Dudley
The survey of 1566 was carried out for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to whom Queen Elizabeth 1 had recently granted the moiety of Ewyas Lacy held by the crown, which Elizabeth had inherited by right of descent from the Mortimers, not from sequestration. It was customary for a new owner (bearing in mind that ownership still had feudal overtones, in this case of tenancy-in-chief) to conduct a full survey of the manorial property, including rights and obligations concerning tenure and the use of natural resources as well as confirmation of the manorial boundary.
Although the boundary encompasses the whole manor, that is both moieties of the lordship, what emerges in this survey is that Dudley claimed exclusive land rights in a particular area. The boundary description takes a digression, as it were, inwards from the perimeter to the Black Hill which was said to separate Dudley’s exclusive land in the Forest of Olchon from Forest Hene pertaining to Lord Abergavenny. It would thus appear that the survey involved an issue of property claims between the two parties, which were focused on undeveloped land. Whether such an interest was directed towards protection of hunting grounds or the potential for settlement and cultivation is not clear. However, this survey gives a hint of some rivalry between the two lords of the manor.
Robert Dudley was quick to sell his share of the Ewyas Lacy estate, which was bought by Sir Robert Hopton in 1567. As far as is known, no new survey was undertaken by Hopton, but this is not surprising given that only a year had passed since that conducted by Dudley.
The 1667 survey, for Trevor Williams
Momentous political changes took place before the next survey one hundred years later. Ewyas Lacy was dramatically affected by the Civil War and its sequel, as the manor was sequestrated by the Commonwealth in about 1643 and later ‘sold’ to the Parliamentarian Thomas Harrison for five shillings[13] . When the lordship was reinstated at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, there were rival claims over inheritance from the previous Hopton owner, Sir Ralph Hopton who had died in 1652 without issue[14] . In the event, the Hopton moiety seems to have been somewhat split up: though much of the property together with the title Lord of the Manor was claimed by Sir Trevor Williams by right of his wife Elizabeth, some properties in Ewyas Lacy were owned by other inheriting members of the extended Hopton family. The 1667 survey was conducted for Trevor Williams. It shows that the breakup of the manor did not affect the manorial boundary which in this survey follows an apparently identical route to that of 1566, and again covers both moieties of the lordship. This survey however, makes further claims for exclusive rights to land separate from Lord Abergavenny’s lands: not only for the Forest of Olchon, but also for commons at Middle Maescoed, Keven bach (thought to be Cefn and Vagar hills together) and Coed Gravel (Walterstone)[15] .
The 1705 survey, for John Jeffreys
The survey of 1705 was made in the next generation. Sir Trevor Williams was succeeded by his son Sir John Williams, who sold his share of the Lordship in about 1693 or soon after to John Jeffreys. The Jeffreys survey, begun in 1701 and completed in 1705, follows the same boundary route as the two previous, and spells out in yet more detail the lands held jointly and separately. Of the areas shared jointly it says: ‘the Mountain of Hattrell the Forest Yeareth and Keven-y-Vagor do jointly belong to unto the Lord of this Manor & the Lord of Abergavenny’. Areas specified as being exclusive are: ‘the Forest of Olchon the Common called Middle Mescoed, the Lower part of the Comon called Coed Gravell and the North part of the said Forest Foothooge do particularly belong to the Lord of this Manor’. Keven Bach apparently is also an exclusive area, though the yearly sum of two shillings and sixpence is paid to Lord Abergavenny.
In all three surveys the claim to exclusive land affects only uncultivated land. The 1705 survey indicates some concern to protect all wastes and commons from encroachments: it notes that some encroachers had been given leases (perhaps with an implied criticism of Abergavenny’s permissive attitude to encroachment?), and recommends that encroachers should not have right of pasture.
As noted above, a new element is the naming of parishes, which is entirely absent from the earlier surveys. While this change of wording may be coincidental, it is consistent with the fact of changing structures of governance, whereby the archaic role of the manor was being supplemented and even replaced by the newer role of the parish.
Conclusion
As the manorial boundary reconstructed here follows the outward facing boundaries of nine modern parishes, it could be said that tracing the route from the parishes on a modern map is a self-fulfilling prophecy. This criticism, however, is not justified in the light of various sources of independent evidence. Natural features in the survey descriptions can be closely matched on the ground. The expression ‘meering on’ makes sense of neighbouring lands as reaching the boundary, whether as individual properties or larger land units; the names of most of these properties and lands are still current in the vicinity and some, particularly neighbouring parishes, border on the same natural features described. Taken together these are reasonable indicators that the outline of the ‘main’ part of Ewyas Lacy in the manorial surveys is accurately traced in the existing outer parish boundaries.
There are also signs of long continuity: some evidence of parish boundaries overlying earlier land uses; an ancient separation of Fwthog and Bwlch from Llanthony Priory lands; and the long history of governance by the manorial courts before the parish took on a more active role. These suggest a greater time depth, whereby the manorial boundary predates the parish boundaries.
The place name Ewyas Lacy survived the transfer from the manor to the hundred, but as local government developed in the 19th century, both these systems of administration declined and the name is now lost. Today manorial lordships hold no rights over private property and have no role in local government (though surviving as titles with a thriving market value), and functions of the hundred have been overtaken at county and national level. Even so, the name of Ewyas Lacy is embedded in countless numbers of documents, and is an essential key to the history of this place.
Appendix : Map references
| Ordnance Survey grid references |
| Whitehouse | SO 34/35 | Oldcastle | SO 32/24 |
| Whitewall coppice | SO 33/36 | Cefn-coed | SO26/26 |
| Coed poeth farm | SO 32/35 | Chwarel y Fan | SO 25/29 |
| Urishay | SO 31/37 | Grwyne Fawr | SO 27/24 |
| Hinton | SO 33/38 | Pontyspig | SO 28/21 |
| Vagar Hill | SO 29/38-39 | Cwm Coed-y-cerig | SO 29-30/21 |
| Snodhill | SO 32/40 | Twyn y gaer | SO 29/21 |
| Dorstone | SO 31/41 | Llwygee | SO 31/22 |
| Mynydd Brith | SO 27/40 | Alltyrynys | SO 33/23 |
| Clifford | SO 25/45 | Langua bridge | SO 39/26 |
| Cusop | SO 24/41 | Cae-newydd Wood | SO 38/27 |
| Hay | SO 22/41 | Plash farm | SO 36/28 |
| Crib y Garth/Black Hill | SO 27/34 | Newcourt farm | SO 37/33 |
| Park Bach | SO 24/34 | Lower Maescoed | SO 34/33 |
| Llanthony | SO 28/27 | Middle Maescoed | SO 33-4/33 |
| Pont Rhys Powell | SO 31/22 | Upper Maescoed | SO 33/34 |
References:
Ellis, Mary (1994). Using Manorial Records , Public Record Office publications, Readers’ Guide No. 6.
Hey, David (ed) (1996). Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, Oxford.
Marshall, George (1938) ‘The Norman occupation of the lands in the Golden Valley, Ewyas, and Clifford and their motte and bailey castles’, Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists Field Club , 1938, p141-158.
Ordnance Survey Explorer Map OL13: Brecon Beacons National Park, Eastern Area, 2005 edition.
Rees, William (1932) Map of South Wales and the Border in the Fourteenth Century . Ordnance Survey
Roberts, George (1846). ‘Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire’, Archaeologia Cambrensis Vol 1, p201-245.
Primary documents:
Rental of Ewias Lacy on the behalf of Robert Dudley , Earl of Leicester, 1566. Longleat: DU/Vol XVII.
Survey of the Manor of Ewyas Lacy for Sir Trevor Williams , 1667. Gwent Record Office: Man/A/151/0023. For a transcription of the Articles of Inquiry click here ; for a digital image of the property survey click here .
Survey of the Manor of Ewyas Lacy for John Jeffreys , 1705. Herefordshire Record Office: J91/4. For a full transcription click here .
Tithe maps of Ewyas Lacy parishes, 1840s: redrawings of Ewyas Lacy parishes by Geoff Gwatkin. Click here to see.
[1] . ‘Parish’ is used as a term of convenience, since at the time of the surveys there were 4 townships of Clodock which later became parishes: Craswall, Lllanveynoe, Longtown and Newton.
[2] . Click here to see a reference to the shared lordship in 1705: in Section 1, Article 3.
[3] . Frank Olding (2000). The Prehistoric Landscapes of the Eastern Black Mountains, British Archaeological Report, British Series 297, Oxford
[4] . The tithe maps of all Ewyas Lacy parishes can be seen on this website. Click here for the cover page and follow the links.
[5] . Click here to see a history of the Maescoeds.
[6] . National Library of Wales: Perambulation of the Boundaries of the Manor; Maybery 5223
[7] . Marshall, op cit in references
[8] .Herefordshire Record Office: F10/154/3 Map of the Manor of Cusop 1815; F/10/154/4 Plan of the same 1815.
[9] . Roberts, op cit in references, p231-2.
[10] . For histories of the Cecil and Delahay families, click here for John Duncumb’s account (selecting Walterstone from the cover page), and click here for Richard Baker Gabb’s account.
[11] . For genealogies of the lordship click here .
[12] . For manorial surveys on this website click here and follow the links.
[13] . For the theme paper ‘Ewyas Lacy in the English civil war’ click here .
[14] . For Chancery proceedings, Richard Hopton V Trevor Williams, 1665, click here .
[15] . For claimed exclusive land rights in 1667, click here and go to the sixth Article of Inquiry.
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