Add MS 40886

CUSTOMARY of Milton (al. Middleton) Abbey, co. Dorset; Michaelmas 1317-25 June 15 Edw. II [1322] and n. d. Latin. Owing to mutilation (f. 6 is pasted to the stub of a lost leaf, and leaves are missing after ff. 6, 12, 15, 17, 22), part of the text (f. 6) has not been identified. Customs of the following manors appear (some fragmentarily):- Whitcombe (f. 8), Osmington (f. 9), Holworth in Milton-Abbas (f. 14 b), Knowle in Buckland-Newton (f. 16), Holway in Cattistock (f. 18), Hilfield in Sydling St. Nicholas (f. 20 b), Sydling St. Nicholas, including Chalmington and Blakemore in Cattistock, etc. (f. 22), Lyscombe in Milton-Abbas (ff. 27 b, 37), Woolland (f. 28), Milton-Abbas (f. 31), [La] Lee in Winterborne- Whitchurch (f. 35 b). Appended, in two 15th century hands, are (a) A customary of Winterborne-Stickland [the manor was mortgaged by the Dean and Chapter of Coutances to Milton Abbey], 21 Oct. 1334. f. 37;-(b) An extent of the manor of Bedhurst in Fontmell Magna presented by the homage at the court held on 19 May 1395. f. 39 b. At the beginning (ff. 1-5) are descriptive notes in an 18th century band. The MS. is described in J. Hutchins's Hist. of Dorset (3rd ed.), iv, p. 389, where the contents are referred to severally under most of the manors mentioned above. Vellum (except ff. 1-5, paper) ; ff. 40. 12.3/8 in. x 8.1/4 in. Written in England. xiv cent., with later additions. In the margins of ff. 21 b, 22, 35, 36 b, 37 are weird pen-and-ink drawings of the second half of the 16th cent.; others (e.g. f. 7) have been excised. Belonged to the Rev. John Bayly, rector of South Cadbury, co. Som., afterwards (1733) canon of Wells.