Born

 

Married

 

c 1355

Birth of a son

1^st August 1357

Birth of a son

1361

Died

1361 to 1375

History

At Herstmonceux there is a capital messuage

 

[William de Fienes] married Joan, daughter and heiress of Geoffrey, Lord Say, and died in 1361. At the inquisition held after his death the jury found that "at Herstmonceux there is a capital messuage with garden adjoining which is worth nothing a year, beyond the reprises; that there are 350 acres of arable land lying in marsh, of which two parts can be sowed yearly, and that an acre is worth 9d. a year, beyond the reprises, producing altogether £13. 2s. 6d.; there are 199 acres of arable land, two-thirds of which can be sowed every year, of which each acre is worth 4d. when sown, when not sown 3d., as pasturage for beasts; the other third is worth 2d. an acre as pasture; there are 10 acres of meadow, worth 10s. a year; the value of an acre is 12d. and no more, because it is often flooded, and cannot be mown except in a dry season; 20 acres of bush, worth 3s. 4d. a year, for pasturage of sheep and other beasts; 8 acres of bush called Bemsell, worth nothing because they are copse, and were cut down before William's death ; 80 acres of arable called Lewstrode, worth 20s. a year; the price of an acre is 3d. for pasture, because it cannot be sown and is overgrown with heath; 20 acres of bush called Bokage in Lewstrode, worth nothing because they are copse. Lewstrode and Bemsell are alienated to William de Batisford in fee. And they say that the rents from the free tenants and 'nativi' there amount to £17. 16s. 2d., and the labour of the bond-men in the autumn and winter is worth 58s.; the perquisites of the Court are 3s. 4d."
John de Fienes, who was not three years old at the time of his father's death, followed him to the tomb at the early age of seventeen, Marcg 24th 1375.