Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 107
Sir John was appointed Warden of the forests of Chippenham and
Melksham, his deputy was John de Montsorel 457 .
According to a much later Visitation of Wiltshire there was another
generation of Bluets at Lackham, with John being the son of another John
Bluet who married Margaret or Margery Bigod, presumably a daughter of
his overlord. There is some problem with this as no such marriage is seen in
the pedigree of the Bigod family. There is no direct evidence, from
charters etc, that there were two John Bluets at this time, and the dates
do not require another generation, although if they were short-lived it
would just be possible. It is taken that the Sir John who is said to have
been married to Margaret Bigod is a confusion of later date and that Sir
John married first Margery and then Eleanor 458 .
There is documentary evidence for Margery; in 1300 Alice of Calne ,
daughter of Thomas Boret granted land in Helmerton (Hilmarton) to Sir
John Bluet and his wife Margery 459 . In 1308 she is given as John‘s wife in
an agreement 460 with John‘s brother, Ralph VI.
The latest record found of Margery is in September 1309, when she
and John took back land in Melksham and Beanacre they had allowed
Fox-Talbot‘s early photographs.
457
Victoria County History Wiltshire IV p437
458
The Bluet pedigree in Fig. 18 shows this arrangement, not the one depicted in
Visitations. This lineage remains speculative, but is considered to be as probable as
the more widely accepted one.
459
Badminton Estate Records D2700/NR11/1/4
460
Calendar Patent Roll Edw II vol 1 1307 – 1313 dated Nov 1st 1308 p145. This is
possibly the grant that is recorded in Rot. Orig. in Curia Scacarii (1805) p163 not
dated which shows John held in chief – “Johes Bluet finem fecit cum R p decem
marcas p licentia feoffandi Radm Bluet de manio de Helmerton qd de R tenet in
capite”.
(An aside, and nothing at all to do with Lackham or the Bluets; the next entry in
this Roll is “Nov 5th 1308 Notification that Roger atte Mershe had accidentally
lost part of his left ear by the bite of a horse” - it is not clear why this appears in
a Patent but it was too good to omit!)