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EDRIC [* OF ELHAM *]. Edric of Elham is named as predecessor of the bishop of Bayeux at Ewell and Tickenhurst in Kent, and is almost certainly the Edric who preceded him on the very valuable manor of Elham itself . There is little reason to doubt that he is the Edric who preceded the bishop on other manors in the county since these, too, were valuable and the few other Edrics in the county have associations with the bishop and are probably the same man. Edric's Canterbury manor of Garrington was previously held by the bishop of Bayeux , and those Hugh de Montfort acquired from Edric at Newington and Ewell were part of manors he held as a tenant of the bishop . Dr Williams suggests he 'perhaps' held Solton , which follows Ewell and West Cliffe and where no pre-Conquest lord is named: World before Domesday, pp. 49, 172-73 and notes 28-30. The manor was valued at £15 in 1066; but the valuation is so disproportionate to the manor's resources that a scribal error for 15 shillings seems likely. The identity of the one remaining Edric, on a modest property at 'Stokenbury' , is less certain; but even here there is an indirect association with Odo: Domesday Monachorum, p. 94. Edric may also have held the valuable manor of Dorking in Surrey , where the bishop of Bayeux had an interest; this Edric is one of two in the county, the only one of substance. Dorking was 'held' by Queen Edith, so Edric was her man or may have preceded or succeeded her, in which latter case he survived the Conquest by a decade; but the text of the entry is ambiguous. There are similar high-status manors held by Edrics in Berkshire and Hampshire, but no tenurial associations to connect them to Edric of Elham. A list of his manors is given by Clarke, English nobility, pp. 304-305, which does not include 'Stokenbury', Dorking or Solton. Dr Clarke ranks him fifty-sixth in wealth among untitled laymen; the addition of Dorking would place him comfortably among the top forty.
edocs.hull.ac.uk
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Owner of Elham Manor
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