MANORS AND LESSER ESTATES
In 1086 Wilton was in the custody of Hervey, a
royal official, who apparently did not farm the
borough, but accounted ut custos to the Crown for
all dues. The borough yielded £50, and had yielded
£22 when Hervey took it over. (fn. 1) Whether the
increase in the rent was due to an increase in
Wilton's prosperity, or to Hervey's efficiency, or his
severity, can only be a matter for speculation.
In 1194–5 the borough appears to have been held
by Queen Berengaria. (fn. 2) After the death of Richard I
it formed part of Berengaria's dower, but evidently
she did not obtain full enjoyment of her rights for
this was the subject of a papal letter to John in
1209. (fn. 3) In May 1204 John had actually granted the
borough to Queen Isabel; (fn. 4) and in 1224 it was
amongst the lands held by Isabel and Hugh of la
Marche. (fn. 5) At the death of Isabel the borough
reverted to the king. In 1230 Henry III granted it
to his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, on the
occasion of his marriage, (fn. 6) and at Richard's death
in 1272 it passed to his son Edmund, Earl of Cornwall. (fn. 7) On the death of the Earl of Cornwall in 1300
Wilton again reverted to the Crown, and Edward I
then granted it in 1302 to his daughter, Mary, a nun
of Amesbury. (fn. 8) In 1307 Mary gave the borough
back to her brother, Edward II, who granted it to
his favourite Piers Gaveston to be held as Edmund,
Earl of Cornwall, had held it. (fn. 9) Gaveston was
banished in 1308, but after his return in the following year, a further grant of the borough was made
to him and his wife Margaret, in fee. (fn. 10) After the fall
of Gaveston in 1311 the borough was presumably
again in the king's hands. The king granted it to his
sister Mary before 1313, when Nicholas of Kingston
held it of her; (fn. 11) in 1315 Mary held it as she had done
of her father, Edward I. (fn. 12)
In 1332 the borough came again into the king's
hands, (fn. 13) and in 1336 Edward III granted it in tail
male to William Fitz Warin, 'le frere', for services
he had rendered to Queen Philippa. (fn. 14) It remained
with the Fitz Warin family until the 15th century.
In 1403 Henry IV granted the reversion of Wilton
at the death of Ivo Fitz Warin, if Ivo should die
without male heirs, to his son John, later Duke of
Bedford. (fn. 15) The duke held the borough until his
death in 1435, when it reverted to the Crown for a
short while, (fn. 16) but it was then assigned as the dower
of his widow Jacquetta. In May 1439 certain castles
and lordships, including the remainder of the town
of Wilton, were granted to a group of feoffees to the
use of Henry Beaufort. (fn. 17) Cardinal Beaufort, engaged
in the reform of St. Cross Hospital, Winchester,
included the issues Wilton in the endowment of an
almshouse within the foundation: the conveyance
was made early in 1446, but the cardinal died before
his plans were fulfilled, and the hospital parted with
the lands to his successor. The Act of Resumption
in 1461 invalidated Henry VI's grants, and in the
same year Wilton was regranted to Jacquetta and
her husband Richard Woodville for her life. (fn. 18) The
borough then passed to George, Duke of Clarence,
brother of Edward IV, and his wife Isabel, granddaughter of the Countess of Salisbury, who were
jointly seised of it, (fn. 19) but after the death of the Duke
of Clarence, and during the minority of his son
Edward, it was held by the Crown. In 1513
Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George
and Isabel, was restored to the forfeited lands of her
father, but she was imprisoned in 1538, and
executed three years later. Already by the beginning
of 1541 the borough had been granted to Sir William
Herbert, who by 1544 had also acquired Wilton
Abbey and the bulk of its estates. (fn. 20) From thence
onwards the borough remained in the family of
Herbert, Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery.
Three estates in the immediate neighbourhood of
Wilton were held by the abbey at the time of
Domesday, and were retained by the nuns until the
Dissolution: they were Washern, Ugford, and part
of Ditchampton. (fn. 21) Before 1086 Washern paid geld
for 8½ hides and Ugford for 4 hides; while the abbey
estate of Ditchampton consisted of only ½ hide since
the Bishop of Bayeux had unjustly abstracted 2
hides. These estates, together with many other
properties formerly belonging to the abbey, were
granted to Sir William Herbert, later Earl of
Pembroke, in 1541. (fn. 22) The grant was confirmed in
1544 and the properties have remained in the
Pembroke family ever since.
The 2 hides at Ditchampton, which the Bishop of
Bayeux had taken from the nuns, were held by Azor
before 1086; under William I they were held by
Robert the dispenser as under-tenant of the bishop. (fn. 23)
This was probably the estate which in 1242–3 was
held by Richard of Camville as ¼ knight's fee of
Philip Marmion. (fn. 24) In 1321 Henry of Camville,
whose relationship to Richard is not known, and
two others, conveyed an estate at Ditchampton to
Robert Burdet and Elizabeth, his wife. (fn. 25) Elizabeth
was the only child of Geoffrey of Camville. (fn. 26) Three
years later more land at Ditchampton was conveyed
to Robert and Elizabeth by Henry Burdet, brother
of Robert. (fn. 27) The estate descended in the Burdet
family until the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter and
heir of John Burdet, to Sir Humphrey Stafford
(d. 1419). (fn. 28) It then remained in the hands of the
Stafford family until it was sold to Sir William
Herbert in 1547 for 500 marks. (fn. 29) Thus the two parts
of Ditchampton were united as one manor under a
single owner.
The manor of Bulbridge in Wilton was also acquired by Sir William Herbert, who bought it from
Sir Giles Poole. The early history of this manor is
obscure, but it may have been among the properties
of Wilton Abbey in the 13th century, because when
William of Wilton granted his land in Bulbridge to
Salisbury Cathedral, he was said to hold it of the
abbey. (fn. 30) At the Dissolution the abbey held rents in
Bulbridge. (fn. 31) Later in the 16th century Bulbridge
Manor House was occupied by Thomas Mouffet
(d. 1604), a learned physician. Aubrey described it
as a 'fair old-built house'. (fn. 32)