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The
name Pembridge is likely to be derived
from an Anglo-Saxon personal name
– Pena. The place is Pena’s
bridge – Penebruge in Domesday.
In the reign of Edward the Confessor
the manor of Pembridge had been held
by Harold Godwinson. Harold
had been Earl of Hereford and had
many interests in the county, but
his right to Pembridge was a matter
of dispute.
Harold’s father, Earl Godwin
of Wessex had been notorious for seizing
church land. On one occasion his wife,
the pious Danish princess Gytha,
went on hunger strike rather than
eat the food grown on land which he
had taken from a monastic house.
Harold also took church property,
and King William had restored eight
Herefordshire manors which he had
held – Holme (Lacy), one hide
at Ledbury, Colwall, Coddington, Hampton
(Bishop), Sugwas, Bridge (Sollers)
and Collington – to the Church
of Hereford.
The monks of St Guthlac’s in
Hereford claimed that Pembridge was
their manor and that Harold had taken
it unjustly. They were not as
successful in their claim as the Church
of Hereford: twenty years after Harold’s
death Domesday recorded that Pembridge
was held by Alfred of Marlborough,
a Norman who had been in the service
of Edward the Confessor. In
the Confessor’s reign Alfred
had held only one manor, this was
unnamed in Domesday, but was probably
Pencombe. Earl William fitz Osbern
granted the castle of Ewyas Harold
to Alfred, and this was re-granted
to him by the king. Other manors held
by Alfred in 1086 included Burghill,
Brinsop, Monnington, Bredwardine,
(Hill of) Eaton and Stretford.
Domesday records that at Pembridge
there were 20 villeins, 7 bordars
and a radman with 12 ploughs. There
were also 3 ploughs in lordship.
There were 3 slaves and a mill with
a value of 10 shillings. There
was enough woodland for 160 pigs.
By Stephen’s reign (1135-53)
the manor was held by a family which,
like the Cliffords at Clifford,
took their name from their chief manor
and in 1240 a charter of Henry de
Pembridge is addressed to his burgesses
there.
The 1240 charter is the earliest reference
to the borough status of Pembridge.
Archaeological records from Pembridge
are held by Historic
Herefordshire On Line |
