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EAST GRINSTEAD AND ITS MANORS. |
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CHAPTER VII.
The manorial history of East Grinstead is very vague and it is difficult to identify modern names with the Manors or pieces of Manors referred to in such ancient documents as are accessible to the student of archaeology. The old manors were by no means co-terminous with the parish, or even the county, neither did they comprise unbroken estates, but included lands scattered all over the Kingdom.
GRINSTEAD and SHEFFIELD GRINSTED.
The Manor of Grinstead is not mentioned in Domesday Book. On September 29th, 1284, Alexander ffoghell (Sergeant of Grensted) returned £2. 10s. 9|d. as Queen Eleanor's rents from the Manor of Grensted for one year. In 1346, Edward III. gave it to the Cobham family, it having been forfeited to the Crown by Sir Thomas de Arderne, who had been convicted of rape and murder. According to a return dated January 2nd, 1412, John Halsham had the Manor of Grenstede, and it was then worth £13. Galfredus de Say gave the Manor to the Knights Templars, but by 1468 it had got back again into Royal hands, for Edward IV. granted it to his Queen Consort for life.
In 1565 the Manor was greatly enlarged by the addition of lands in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, for on December 8th the Manor and demesnes of Wilmington and other possessions of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester in that neighbourhood were conveyed to the Queen that she might grant them to Sir Richard Sackville (Under Treasurer of the Exchequer) and his heirs for ever, the Manor and demesnes of Wilmington to be held of the Crown in capite by the service of the 20th part of a knight's fee and the residue in free socage, as of the |
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