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In 1342 Oct 6, William Lengleys, dilectus vallettus noster (William le Angleys; William le Engleys) was granted, by Edward III, (In year 16 of his reign) a Royal licence to crenellate Heyheved (High Head Castle)
Licence for the king's yeoman, William Lengleys, to crenellate his manor of Heyheved. By p.s. (CPR)

William Lengleys, "dilectus vallettus noster" ... manerium ... Heyheved. (Turner and Parker)

Granted at Eastry. Grant by privy seal.

Comments

A grant 2 days later reads "that whereas he holds the lawn of Ivetonfeld within the forest of lnglewode by demise of the keeper of the forest beyond Trent at a certain farm, he shall hold the same for life for the farm aforesaid. Licence also for him to assart 15 acres of land by the forest perch within the lawn, and enclose the same with a little dyke and a low hedge, according to the assize of the forest, and hold the same for his life."
High Head Castle is on the River Ive and 'Ivetonfeld' can be safely assumed to be in the near area.
The title of 'king's yeoman' implies direct royal service.
Parker identifies this as a High Head Castle, Essex.

Original source is;

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Significant later sources are;

William Lengleys (1295-1344)
William Lengleys (1295-1344); apparently a relatively minor Westmoreland family.

In 1342 William L'Angleys, or English, had the king's licence to fortify his mansion at Hegheved, yet it appears that there had been a castle there before, belonging to the crown, for in the year 1326 Ralph Dacre had a grant of the custody of the castle of Hegheved for ten years, and the next year the custody was granted for life to William L'Angles, or L'Engles, who possessed himself of it under that grant, whereupon Ralph Dacre in 1330 petitioned parliament to be reinstated during the remainder of his term. In 1358 the son of William above-mentioned, had a licence from the bishop to build a chapel there, and to have a chaplain to officiate in it. (Lysons, Magna Britannia)

More information about licences to crenellate can be found here.

Please do inform Gatehouse if you see any errors, can add information or can otherwise help to improve this resource. Please contact Gatehouse.

Record created by Philip Davis. This record last updated on Sunday, October 4, 2015.


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