Queen was hurried on her way to Caernarvon. At this date we find the whole of English Maelor included under the names "Manerium de Overton, et terra de Maelor Saesnek". We shall not attempt to describe the respective limits of these two at this time; nor, indeed, were they known or accurately defined for many years after.

In 7 Edward I Richard de Pyvylsdon restores to the King all the lands and tenements which he held of the King himself in Worthenbury. This is two years after Emma had been ejected by Llewelyn, and one year after the whole of Maelor Saesnek had been bestowed upon Robert de Crevecoeur (see Literæ Pat. of 6 Edward I, exhibited at the death of the said Robert, 9 Edward II, Cal. Rot. Pat.). Not only so, but, by deed without date, Worthenbury is bestowed upon a friend of his own, Baldwyn de Frivytt. Then "foresta domini Rogeri de Pyvelesdon" is mentioned in a deed of 1284. Elsewhere we find that a quarrel was going on between the bailiff of the manor and Roger l'Estrange, and with Llywelyn Vachan of Estwyc. It is plain that everything was in confusion; but finally the will of the King prevailed, that Emral should be given to the Shropshire family of Pyvelesdon, whom he favoured. The founder of this family is said to have "come over at the Conquest". This colloquial expression does not prove anything as to national descent. In Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. iii, p. 305, it is shown conclusively that "William invited volunteers from all parts; that the Conquest was not a national Norman enterprise; that great numbers of auxiliaries were from Brittany, for the

1 Placita Rolls, 14/19. Baro Rob. de Crevequer, who took writ v. Roger Extraneus, does not prosecute in Mia D'o, m. 35, 42. Pleas at Montgomery, Monday after St. Michael, a'o 10 Edw. I. Lewelin of Estwyc petit Rob. Crevequer manor of "Ov'ton cum pertinenciis", and say "certain of their ancestors served the King". Rob. "holds of King and by his feoffment, and proffers charter",

says

etc.

Celtic race has a long memory." It may, for instance, be quite a question whether Hugh d'Avranches, the future Earl of Chester, was not one of the Tudor Trevor family who held lands in Maelor under the Princes of Powys Fadog; and so, too, the ancestor of the John de Havering who appears so often in the writs of Edward I as "Joannes d'Avrancis". Some of those who "came over" with the Conqueror may therefore have "gone over" first to enlist themselves under his standard; and perhaps the ancestor of the Pyvelesdons may have been one of these, (1) because Pilson is not known as a name in Normandy by those who are acquainted with its history, and (2) because Pilsdon, Pulston, and Pilson (Pyvelesdon) are all of them names of well-known places in the counties of Dorset and Salop. Pulston is the name of a manor in the parish of Charminster, held, 7 Henry II, by Bernardus Poleyn, and so meaning perhaps "Poleyn's town". The other, Pilsdon Pen, is the highest point in the county of Dorset, standing some 943 feet above the sea, and about 7 miles north-west of Bridport, and the same distance from Crewkerne Station. The hill stands a mile northward from the village of Pilsdon; on its eastern limit is a large and strong encampment, encompassed with a triple rampart and ditches, excepting on the eastern side, where the natural ascent is so steep as to have rendered the camp inaccessible. The form of the camp is nearly oval, being adapted to the shape of the hill on which it stands. (Moule's English Counties, p. 349.)

The late W. Barnes, the Dorset antiquary, writes: Earthworks such as Pilsdon were formed before the back reach of any history, and, as I believe, by the free tribes or clans of Britain, each under its tribehead (pencenedl), long ere the time of any head king of Britain, such as Cassibelaunus or of Moelmud (Moelmeed), who lived 300 or 400 years before the Nativity; and I do not think that any Briton could have told the Romans, either from history or tradition, by

what clan Pilsdon was cast up." In Charles Warne's Ancient Dorset Pilez is said to be a Celtic word meaning bald, and that the name means the fortress of the bare hill-top.

In

There is a parish called Pylle, three miles south of Shepton Mallet, the situation of which is thus described by the Hon. H. F. B. Portman, its late rector: "Pylle' or Pull means a pool or harbour. times long gone by an arm of the Bristol Channel evidently extended beyond Glastonbury up the valley, past West Pennard on the south and Pilton on the north; then passing Pylle, Evercreech, and on to Milton Clevedon, where it was stopped by the semicircle of hills or cliffs. This is the tradition in the neighbourhood, and no doubt is accurate more or less."

The manor of Pillesdon consisted of only three hides. It had belonged in Saxon times to Sauuinus. At the time of the Domesday Survey, Edric, one of the King's Thanes, held it (Eyton's Key to Domesday, Dorset, pp. 141-2). Afterwards it was the property of a family who took their name from the place, one of whom, Eudo de Pillesdon, was living in 15 Henry II. Two of this family were Crusaders. Warresius de Pillesdon was living in the time of Richard I, and died on his journey to Jerusalem. Jordan' de Pyvelsdon or Pyllesdon had letters of protection from the Crown, 25 Henry III, on going to the Holy Land. From the Pillesdons this manor passed hereditarily, in the time of Edward III, to the family of Le Jeu, by the marriage of Alice, daughter and heiress of John de Pyllesdon, with John Le Jeu. The present proprietor and patron of the church3 is the Rev. H. T. Bower.

1

Major Thoyts writes, "in the Kennet Valley the pools formed by the sluices for watering the meadows are called pills."

2 Hutchin's History of Dorset, i, 317.

3 In Hutchin's History of Dorset, i, 319, we find, " Pilsdon Church is a small but very ancient building. Under the chancel is a large

Turning now to Salop, we find a place called Pilson near Newport, which is thus described in the Domesday Survey: "Turold holds Plivesdone. Earl Edwin held it. Here is one hide that pays the gelt; there is land for 4 ox teams; in the time of King Edw. the manor was worth 8s. per ann. Turold found it waste, and so it remains." In J. C. Anderson's Salopia we find "Pilson once belonged to Turold de Verley, and, like his other manors, afterwards became part of the fee of Chetwynd". It is now (1888) a township of that parish, and there is a modern farm, which may have superseded the manor-house; several houses were pulled down at the beginning of this century. Chetwynd Church also is only twenty-one years old, having been removed from a very old site to suit the convenience of the patron. No Pyvelesdon memorials, therefore, are forthcoming. A family with the local name is found in the eleventh century, and exercised, it is plain, great influence on the Welsh border. The name occurs frequently in connection with those of Audley and L'Estrange, and it may have been owing to friendship with the Audleys that Roger de Pyvelesdon was chosen to succeed Emma at Emral. Each one of the family, it is plain to see, was the King of England's man; and, though the name does not occur on the Roll of Battle Abbey, yet we shall find them associated with many Norman families. In the Salesbury MSS. Puleston and Hanmer are mentioned as English Settlers" in Maelor, all the other families being of British descent. Owing to the repetition of the same Christian names-Roger, Richard, Agnes, John-in each branch of the family, and the absence of dates in public and private records, there is

vault, the burial place of the Hodys and the Wyndhams; but no tomb or inscription here or elsewhere. In the windows have been much painted glass, but mostly defaced by age. There still remain in a south window, I. A. a chevron between 3 black moors' heads, S. II. G. a pair of wings, over it a bend, az. III. G. a chevron, A. In the east window, A. a lion rampant, G., and a bendy of 6, A. and G."

more than usual difficulty in assigning the proper place to each individual; but, having compared the various MSS. Cae Cyriog, Salesbury, Lewis Dwnn, with Emral papers, lent me by the Rector of Worthenbury, the following pedigree may be suggested:

4 |

5 |

6 |

2

Richard surrenders Embrall,7 Edw. I, to the King; described as de Flotesbrook, co. Staff. His descendants took the name of Jordan

Isabell Sir William Philip Hugh David Edmond Sir Roger Robert = Philip o. s. p.

de Chetwind

Nicholas

(Salesbury MS.) (Salesbury MS.) Batebruggemor

In 1191 Hamo de Pivelesdon is "Recognozer" in the Chesswell trials, was living A.D. 1200, and had an office usually assigned to knights only. (Placita Trin. Term, 2 John, m. 20, Eyton's Salop.) In the same month he was a visor, to ascertain the validity of an esscrign de malo lecti, whereby the Abbot of Lilleshall was avoiding the necessity of appearing in the