Vol 1: The Bluets - Lackham Countryside Centre

The Bluets 111
In modern usage meadow and pasture are interchangeable. At Domesday
they had different meanings - Pasture was land where animals grazed all
year round. Meadow was much more valuable, as it was land bordering
streams and rivers, which was used both to produce hay and for grazing
477
The tithe rate appears to have been different for the two but what
that was in Wiltshire is unclear. This distinction is clearly made in a fine
of 1312 478 where 12 acres of meadow and 40 acres of feeding are
mentioned.
Sir John was can be placed in Wiltshire in 1314, when he was at Sheldon
Manor, near Lackham, to witness a quitclaim 479 .
In 1316 John granted lands and tenements in Weston to William Reygnade,
his wife Maud and their son 480 . This charter is of note as it is one of the
few that specifies that it was signed at Lackham, showing John was staying
there.
In the same year one John granted land to Gilbert de Fynamore his wife
and John and Elizabeth their children 481 . This grant was also written in
French, and in it he gave the piece of “land of the king‘s waste….. in the
Forest of Pewsham at Horselaperith for the sum of 2 1 /2 marks per
annum”. It may well be that this is part of 138 acres that John Bluet was
granted by Edward II “at Horslaperithe by the close of John de Roches”
477
http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/life.html Pasture, Livestock and Fisheries
478
Pugh, RB (1939) Abstracts of the Feet of Fines relating to Wiltshire Edw I and
Edw II Wilt. Rec. Soc. Devizes Vol 1, p 80 dated September 1312
479
Kirby, JL (ed) (1994) The Hungerford Cartulary : A calendar of the earl of
Radnor‘s cartulary of the Hungerford family WRS vol XLIX p84 no 328 dated
Sheldon Thursday before Easter [4th April] 1314
480
British Library Add. Ch. 7067 Written in French , dated 9 Edw III, Monday
before the feast of St. Stephen, which means this charter was signed on Sunday
Dec 20th, 1316 (the Feast of St. Stephen, December 26th, fell on a Sunday in
1316), calculation performed using day - date calculator at
http://www.calendarhome.com/tyc/download.html. which can be printed and used
offline; a good online facility that gives the same results is at
http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/dayofweek.html
481
W&SHC 1720 100 This is one of the very few Bluet documents held in Wiltshire
and Swindon Archives, Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Chippenham .