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Skræmir 1

Name

Summary

Skræmir 1 was a substantial landholder with three estates in north Wiltshire TRE with a combined assessment of about 25 hides and with a probable value of £11 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
Shire Wiltshire	Phil. ref. 24,19	Vill Bradenstoke	DB Spelling Stremius	Holder 1066 Skræmir 'of Bradenstoke'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Edward of Salisbury	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 16.25	1066 Value 6.00	1086 Value 10.00	Confidence B	Map
Shire Wiltshire	Phil. ref. 68,22	Vill Thornhill	DB Spelling Strami	Holder 1066 Skræmir 'of Bradenstoke'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William fitzAnsculf	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 7.50	1066 Value 5.00	1086 Value 5.00	Confidence B	Map
Shire Wiltshire	Phil. ref. 68,23	Vill Thornhill	DB Spelling -	Holder 1066 Skræmir 'of Bradenstoke'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William fitzAnsculf	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 0.50	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence C	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Skræmir 1’s largest estate was his manor of Bradenstoke, in the hills overlooking the Avon valley in north Wiltshire, which had passed to the sheriff, Edward 26, by 1086.  The only other estate that DB explicitly assigns to Skræmir was at Thornhill, 5 miles to the east of Bradenstoke and just below the western escarpment of the Marlborough Downs.

However, DB notes that appurtenant to Bradenstoke manor, and as ‘the English have proved’, were 1 hide and 1 virgate held by William de Picquigny (William) in 1086; and this land corresponds to a hide described in another entry as pertaining to Edward’s manor of Bradenstoke and held by a William in 1086.  This hide is identified by DB as ‘near the said 7 hides’, the reference [recte 7½ hides] being to the preceding entry, that for Skræmir’s estate at Thornhill and held by William in 1086.  It is therefore almost certain that this hide lay near Thornhill and was also held TRE by Skræmir 1.

Skræmir’s total holding of about 25 hides was substantial and he would have been an important local landholder before the Conquest.  His Old Norse name was sufficiently unfamiliar to the DB scribes to be misspelled (as Strami and Stremius), and this strongly suggests that he was not of insular birth.  Since Wiltshire was not in an area of Scandinavian settlement, the most likely explanation for his presence is that he was a follower of Cnut 3 who had been rewarded with lands in the area.