Hemming 7

Hemming ‘of Exceat’ (Suss.), fl. 1066x1086
Male
CPL
4 of 5

Name

Hemming
Hemming 6
Hemming 8

Summary

Hemming 7 had a compact estate of five manors (15½ hides worth £12 10s. TRE) on and around the eastern end of the South Downs in Sussex, held partly as a king’s thegn and partly from Earl Godwine. He survived to 1086 as tenant of the four manors which passed to Robert, count of Mortain, as lord of the rape of Pevensey, with 13½ hides now worth £7 10s.

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
Sussex 10,19 Sherrington Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 5.00 3.00 2.00 A Map
Sussex 10,29 Exceat Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 4.50 4.00 3.00 A Map
Sussex 10,46 Frog Firle Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Godwine, earl Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 2.00 1.50 1.00 A Map
Sussex 10,6 Chollington Haiminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 2.00 2.00 1.50 A Map
Sussex 12,10 Rottingdean Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Godwine, earl William de Warenne Hugh fitzRanulph 2.00 2.00 3.00 A Map
Totals

Subtenant in 1086

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
Sussex 10,19 Sherrington Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 5.00 3.00 2.00 A Map
Sussex 10,29 Exceat Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 4.50 4.00 3.00 A Map
Sussex 10,46 Frog Firle Haminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Godwine, earl Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 2.00 1.50 1.00 A Map
Sussex 10,6 Chollington Haiminc Hemming 'of Exceat' Edward, king Robert, count of Mortain Hemming 2.00 2.00 1.50 A Map
Totals

Profile

This cluster of five manors, on and around the South Downs in east Sussex, clearly all belonged to a single owner, as von Feilitzen recognized (1937: 283). It is extremely implausible that two men of the same rare name should occur so close together.

The most valuable of the manors, and probably the centre of the estate, was Exceat, wedged into the lower Cuckmere valley just before the river breaks through the South Downs to the sea. Chollington was 5 miles over the Downs to the east, on the edge of the Pevesney Levels; Frog Firle 2 miles up the Cuckmere, centred in the valley but including downland rising to over 400 ft on the west bank; Sherrington 5 miles further north beyond Frog Firle, below the north-facing scarp of the Downs; and Rottingdean 10 miles west of the Cuckmere, extending inland from the cliffs beyond the Ouse up on to the downs.

There were also outliers in the Weald: ½ hide of Sherrington was detached after the Conquest because it lay in the rape of Hastings; it can be identified with one or both of the two small holdings (of ½ hide and 1 virgate) in Shoyswell hundred which in DB carried the name of Sherrington. Shoyswell hundred was in the High Weald some 15 miles NE of Sherrington. Apart from those outliers, the whole of Hemming’s estate was no more than 15 miles across. He held Exceat, Chollington, and Sherrington from King Edward and Frog Firle with Rottingdean from Earl Godwine.

Four of Hemming’s five manors, the ones east of the river Ouse, were in the territory assigned after 1066 to the king’s brother Robert, count of Mortain. Hemming remained their tenant under Count Robert in 1086, and must be counted among the more significant English survivors in south-east England, all the more remarkable as Exceat was barely 20 miles from the battlefield of Hastings. The westernmost holding, Rottingdean, was detached from its parent manor of Frog Firle after 1066 and became part of the rape of Lewes and William de Warenne’s fief. He made Hugh son of Golda his tenant in place of Hemming, though it is conceivable that Hemming retained some interest under Hugh, since there is later evidence of various sub-holdings within the manor (VCH Suss. VII, 234–5). Otherwise, Hemming in 1086 had all 4½ hides of Sherrington, all 2 hides of Chollington, 4½ hides of the 10 hides of Exceat, and 2 hides of the 15 hides of Frog Firle. He had 4 demesne ploughs altogether and his dependent peasants (7 villans and 15 bordars) another 2 ploughs. The largest number of peasants and the solitary slave on his fief were at Exceat, probably where he lived.

Bibliography


VCH Suss. VII: The Victoria History of the Counties of England: The Victoria History of the County of Sussex, VII, ed. L. F. Salzman (London: Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research, 1940)