Ælfrun 3

Ælfrun ‘of Lowman’ (Devon), fl. 1066
Female
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Ælfrun
Ælfrun 1
Ælfrun 4

Summary

Ælfrun 3 held five estates in north-central Devon TRE with a combined assessment of just over 2¼ hides and a probable value of 67s 6d.

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Devon 24,15 Canonsleigh Alueron Ælfrun 'of Lowman' - Walter de Claville - 0.38 0.38 0.38 C Map
Devon 24,6 Drayford Alueron Ælfrun 'of Lowman' - Walter de Claville - 0.72 0.50 0.75 C Map
Devon 24,7 Sydeham Alueron Ælfrun 'of Lowman' - Walter de Claville Osbern 'of Sydeham' 0.25 0.50 0.50 C Map
Devon 24,8 Craze Lowman Alueron Ælfrun 'of Lowman' - Walter de Claville - 0.75 1.50 1.50 B Map
Devon 24,8 Kidwell Alueron Ælfrun 'of Lowman' - Walter de Claville - 0.25 0.50 0.50 C Map
Totals

Profile

Ælfrun 3 is identified because her name was rare and therefore to find a cluster of five estates all held TRE by someone of that name, with no estate more than 18 miles from the furthest and none more than 7½ miles from its nearest neighbour and all five passing to the same post-Conquest successor, renders it probable that the same woman is meant in each instance.  Despite the rarity of the name, however, there is no reason to connect Ælfrun 3 with Ælfrun 4 because the latter’s estate in south-east Dorset was more than 60 miles away and passed to a different post-Conquest successor.

The largest of Ælfrun 3’s five estates was that at Craze Loman on a tributary of the River Exe in north-central Devon.  The estate was originally named solely from the tributary (the Loman) but the modern place-name includes a manorial prefix Craze that probably derives (through a corrupt form *Craviles) from the holder in 1086, Walter (Walter ) de Claville, or his descendants (Gover et al. 1931-2: 1 8; 2 542).  At some point after taking control of Ælfrun’s estates Walter combined that at Craze Loman with another, smaller one at nearby Kidwell, presumably in the interests of administrative or agricultural efficiency.  The DB and Terrae Occupatae (Exon 502b3) entries for Kidwell describe Ælfrun as having held it ‘freely’ (libere) or ‘jointly’ (pariter) respectively, which may indicate that she held the land with power of alienation (cf. Thorn and Thorn 1985: DB 1,15 Notes).

Of Ælfrun’s other three estates, one nearly as large as that at Craze Loman lay 12½ miles further west at Drayford on the Little Dart river.  The remaining two estates were at Sydeham, 6½ miles to the north-west of Drayford, and at Canonsleigh, 5½ miles to the north-west of Craze Loman. 

Taking the five estates together, it is notable that they were associated with three different river valleys and lay in three different hundreds in 1086, and there is no obvious reason for a connection between them prior to Ælfrun’s tenure.  How and when she came to hold them, however, and whether by grant, purchase, inheritance or marriage, is at present unknown.

Bibliography


Gover et al. 1931-2: J. E. B. Gover, A. Mawer and F. M. Stenton, The Place-Names of Devon, 2 vols, English Place-Name Society 8-9 (Cambridge, 1931-2)

Thorn and Thorn 1985: Domesday Book 9: Devon, ed. C. Thorn and F. Thorn (Chichester, 1985)