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St
Mary Magdelene Church, Eardisley
by Mark White
There
are three Domesday entries for Eardisley.
Listed under the lands of the king
in Elsdon hundred is the entry ‘Harold
also held Herdeslege. 2½ hides
waste’. Harold is Harold
Godwinson, King of England in 1066,
who had held the land in the reign
of Edward the Confessor. Harold’s
right to the crown was never accepted
by William the Conqueror and when
mentioned in Domesday he is always
‘comes’ - count,
the Norman-French equivalent of the
English title, earl.
Another part of Eardisley was held
by Roger de Lacy who had subinfeudated
it to Robert de Baskerville.
This land was not in any hundred and
lay in the middle of a wood and there
was a fortified house, ‘dom
una defensabil’ there. This
fortified house was presumably the
origin of Eardisley
castle and the status of this
land as a ‘castlery’ could
explain its extra-hundred status.
The third entry for
Eardisley is under the lands of Hugh
d’Asne. This was half a hide
in Elsdon hundred which had also been
held by Harold.
Eardisley seems to
have become a borough in the early 13th
century. The right to hold an annual fair
there was granted to Walter de Baskerville
by Henry III in 1225.
Overgrown Eardisley Castle above
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