Grants of Land, etc., in the Taunton district.

The land at Nynehead was granted for three generations to Wulfhere Cidding, on condition that whoever possessed the estate should give twenty shillings to Taunton every year: and on the understanding that (his descendants), as long as they were able to possess the estate, should be followers of the lord of the church, whoever that might be at the time. And Bishop Esne granted the estates at Stoke and Ruishton out of Taunton to his kinsman Dêorhêah and his kinswoman Denethrÿth, on the understanding that they gave each year two days' provisions to that place for Bishop Esne's soul; and if they did not fulfil that agreement, the estates must revert to the place where they belong. And Bishop Esne leased the estate at Hestercombe to his kinsman Wynsige, on condition that all the dues went to the place to which the land belongs, that is Taunton.

The passage generally may be compared with KCD 897, a record of dues pertaining to Taunton shortly after the death of Edward the Confessor, v. further A. J. Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters, pp. 236-9, 485-90. (æt) Nigon Hidum is Nynehead near Wellington; (æt) Stoce is Stoke St. Mary, Rysctune is Ruishton ; Hegstealdcumbe (Hægelstalcumb in lines 72 and 77 of the text) is Hestercombe in the parish of Cheddon Fitzpaine.

Wulfhere cidding occurs as a witness in BCS 599 (KCD 1079), a charter of Bishop Denewulf, dated 902. Bishop Esne is mentioned in King Alfred's Will (BCS 553). His see is unknown, but bearing in mind his connections with Taunton, it is possible that he was a suffragan in the undivided diocese of Winchester or Sherborne. Such appointments were not unknown in ninth century Wessex. cf. F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 433.

[From the Somerset Archeol. Soc. vol. 98 p. 123.
The accented ê in Dêorhêah and ÿ in Denethrÿth are ANSI approximations of the original.]