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Birth:          ABT 1044 La Quesnay, Normandy
Death:          AFT 1086 Rudham, Norfolk, England

Notes
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I11266
Fought in the Battle of Hastings

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Manor of Fulking, Sussex:

The early history of the manor of Fulking is so closely intertwined with that of 
Perching, also in Edburton parish, that it seems impossible to disentangle it. In 1086 
Fulking was held as 3 hides and 1 virgate by Tezelin, the cook, of Earl Warenne, and 
with it as one manor 2 hides in Perching. William de Watevile held of Earl Warenne 5½ 
hides at Perching that were held by two men of Azor before the Conquest, while 
Osward continued in occupation of the 3 hides at Perching that he had held of King 
Edward.

The overlordship of half a knight's fee, variously ascribed to Fulking and Perching, 
descended with the rape and was assigned in 1439 to Elizabeth, Lady Bergavenny. In 
the 16th century the Crown resumed the overlordship. This half-fee descended in the 
Say family, at least until 1428, and this connexion gives grounds for linking the half-
fee with the 5½ hides in Perching of William de Watevile, which probably came into 
the hands of the Chesney family through the marriage of Ralph de Chesney, living in 
1086, with Maud daughter of William de Watevile. Possessions of the Chesney family 
subsequently descended by marriage to Geoffrey de Say, early in the 13th century. 
[Victoria County History, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, L. F. Salzman 
(editor), 1940, Pages 202-4, www.british-history.ac.uk]

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Manor of Hamsey, Sussex:

In 1086 Ralph de Chesney held Hamsey of William de Warenne as 14 hides, though it 
paid geld for 13 hides. Of this land Hugh and Ralph, possibly his sons, held 
respectively 1 hide and ½ hide. The overlordship descended with the rape but since, 
in 1439, the 14 fees once held by William de Say were divided between John, Duke of 
Norfolk, and Edmund Lenthall, it is uncertain with which portion of the barony this 
manor was subsequently held.

The Domesday 'Hame' formed the caput of the 14 fees that descended through the 
Chesney to the Say family, from whom the manor derived its name of HAMSEY. Thus, 
in 1242-3, William de Say was holding 14 knights' fees dependent on 'Hammes'; in 
1295 and 1322 Hamsey was held by the service of 13½ knights' fees. In 1439 the 14 
fees were said to be held in Hamsey, Barcombe, Streat, and Newtimber.

Hamsey descended with Streat (q.v.), passing from the Chesneys and the Says to 
William, Lord Clinton. Unlike Streat, however, it was not subjected to subinfeudation 
by William de Say c. 1296, nor was it bequeathed in 1359 to a younger son. At that 
time it was held as 1 knight's fee.

John, son of William, Lord Clinton, settled the manor on his wife Margaret St. Leger, 
and died in 1464. His heir, another John, in 1484 conveyed the manor, then called 
HAMMES and HEYNSTRETE, to Sir Henry Willoughby. This was perhaps a mortgage, 
as his son John, Lord Clinton, appealed to the Court of Chancery for possession of the 
deeds of the manor, of which he declared himself seised. He appears subsequently to 
have sold the manor to Edmund Dudley, who was holding it in 1503-4 and in 
December 1507 made a grant of £20 a year from it to the Free School of Southover. 
His son Sir John, in 1526, conveyed the manor to Thomas West. [Victoria County 
History, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, L. F. Salzman (editor), 1940, 
Pages 83-7, www.british-history.ac.uk]

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Manor of Brighton-Lewes, Sussex:

In the time of Edward the Confessor, Brighton was divided into three holdings, two of 
which belonged to the king and the third to Earl Godwin. Each part was in the hands 
of sub-tenants. The largest holding, 6 hides and 1 virgate, was held by three alodial 
tenants, of whom one had a hall, the other two holdings being in the hands of villeins. 
The second of the king's holdings was held by Ulward, whose land was assessed at 
5½ hides. Earl Godwin's holding was also assessed at 5½ hides and he gave it to a 
tenant named Brictric. By 1086 all three holdings were in the hands of William de 
Warenne, as part of his barony of Lewes. The earl had given each holding to a 
Norman sub-tenant; the largest was held as one manor by Widard, and four haws in 
Lewes were attached to it; Ulward's land was held by William de Wateville and the 
church was on his holding; Brictric had been succeeded by Ralph, and from this 
holding a rent of 4,000 herrings was paid.

One holding evidently escheated to the overlords, since in 1284 the chief manor in 
Brighton, subsequently known as the manor of BRIGHTON-LEWES, was held in 
demesne by John, Earl Warenne. It was probably identical with Earl Godwin's holding, 
since the herring rent of 1086 suggests a fishing community, and a toll of 6 mackerel 
per boat was due as late as 1862 from the Brighton fishermen, each time they came in 
from mackerel fishing. The Domesday tenant Ralph was probably Ralph de Caisneto 
(Chesney), with whom he has been identified on the somewhat illogical ground that 
Ralph de Chesney gave to Lewes Priory the church of Brighton, which actually was on 
William de Wateville's land. Chesney succeeded to many of Wateville's holdings in 
Sussex and certainly in Brighton, since besides his gift of the church his descendants 
were mesne lords there for several centuries. Possibly Ralph de Chesney's grandson 
John surrendered Earl Godwin's holding, when he succeeded his father about 1147. 
He obviously found himself in difficulties over paying to the earl the relief due for his 
lands. Certainly in 1175 Earl William III was able to grant land in Brighton to the priory 
of Lewes, which suggests that he was already holding the manor of Brighton-Lewes in 
demesne. [Victoria County History, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7, L. F. 
Salzman (editor), 1940, Pages 244-63, www.british-history.ac.uk]


Marriage To DE WATEVILLE Maud (ABT 1048 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
DE WATEVILLE William (ABT 1022 - )
----- ----- ()

Children by DE WATEVILLE Maud ABT 1048 - 
DE CHESNEY Ralph II (ABT 1066 - BEF 1147)
DE CAISNETO Philip (ABT 1080 - )

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