page_title: Burghfield
section_title: Norman Era
hierarchical_section_title: Burghfield / History / Norman Era
caption_attribution_description: English: Burghfield Domesday entry 2
context_page_description: Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas and Sheffield. Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of many new housing estates, dependent for its employment on, for instance, Reading, Newbury and Basingstoke and M4 corridor which bisects the edge of the area.
  Most of the formerly sparsely inhabited fields of the hamlet or locality of Pingewood, in the north of the parish, are divided by the M4 motorway and have been converted after gravel extraction in the mid to late 20th century into lakes and their shores mostly used for water sports, fishing, and other leisure activities. They are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher pits/quarries in this area have been drained, clay-lined and used as landfill.
  Burghfield has many amenities — the majority are sports clubs and facilities, including a leisure centre, educational or religious.
context_section_description: There is evidence that early Burghfield was divided into two equal portions, or manors, and is referenced twice in the Domesday Book as follows:
  Berchefelde, or Borgefel. Lands of Ralph de Mortemar. The same Ralph holds Burghfield, and a certain (knight) holds of him. Abbot Elsi held it of the old monastery of the Church at Winchester, by witness of the shire in the time of King Edward, and afterwards until he was outlawed.
  Burghfield under Ralph of Mortimer
  Taxable value 1½ geld units. Taxed on 1½ Payments of 0.28 fisheries. 
  Value to lord in 1066 £2. Value to lord in 1086 £2½. 
  Households: 6 villagers. 8 smallholders. 
  Ploughland: 6 ploughlands (land for). 1 lord's plough teams 5 men's plough teams. 
  Other resources: Meadow 43 acres. Woodland 15 swine render. One-half of a mill, value 0.29. 1 fishery. 1 church. 
  Lord in 1066: Abbey of Ramsey St Benedict. 
  Overlord in 1066: Abbey off Winchester St Peter. 
  Lord in 1086: One man-at-arms
  Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Ralph of Mortimer.
  Burghfield under Henry of Ferrers
  Taxable value 1½ geld units. Taxed on 1½ hides. Payments of 0.28 fisheries. 
  Value to lord in 1066 £2. Value to lord in 1086 £2½. 
  Households: 2 villagers. 2 smallholders. 
  Ploughland: 6 ploughlands (land for). 2 lord's plough teams and 1 men's plough teams. 
  Other resources: Meadow 40 acres. Woodland 15 swine render. 1 mill, value 0.29. 1 fishery. 
  Lord in 1066: Two freeholders. 
  Overlord in 1066: Bondi the constable. 
  Lord in 1086: Two freeholders. 
  Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Henry of Ferrers. 
  These manors formerly belonging to Queen Emma of Normandy, until her death in 1052. One half of the lands appear to have been transferred to Ralph de Mortemar around 1070, and they remained in that family until the death of Edmund, the last Earl of March in 1425. The heir to the lands was his nephew, a minor, Richard Duke of York, but on his attainder in 1459 the land passed to the crown. The other half of Burghfield was awarded to Henry de Ferrers, a Norman soldier from a noble family who took part in the conquest of England.
  Additionally Sir Nicholas De La Beche (1291–1345) is known to have owned Burghfield at some time. The De La Beche family were powerful landowners and knights in the 14th century. Many of them were retainers to the king, warders to the Tower of London, and Sheriffs of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The family were influential during the reign of Edward II and Edward III, and were embroiled in the royal intrigue of the time.
  There were two manors in Burghfield; Burghfield Regis, and Burghfield Abbas, although the current Parish of Burghfield now includes for the former manor of Sheffield (or Soefeld). King Edward IV, gave the Burghfield manor its Royal title of 'Regis'. Its manor house, alias Nether Court, stood on the site now occupied by the Rectory in Burghfield village. This manner was sub-tenanted to the family of Thomas de Burghfield, who proudly took his name from the village, sometime before 1175. The De Burghfields were also sub-tenants of Burghfield Abbas, which had been owned by Reading Abbey from about the same time. The original Burghfield Bridge was commissioned by Matthew De Burghfield, being the lord of the latter manor in the early 13th century, but later on the family had arguments with King Edward I over who should repair it. There was a minor skirmish there after the First Battle of Newbury in 1643.
  Sheffield Manor (originally Sewelle) was located at what is now Sheffield Bottom, at the junction of Jaques's Lane and Station Road. The manor of Sheffield was granted by the Count of Évreux to St Martin-de-Noyon, Charleval, in circa 1086, as an alien Benedictine cell, and was leased privately after 1166-7. Reading Abbey gained possession in 1270. Although known locally as the Priory, it was only a manor and later a grange with a chapel and mill. It is a scheduled ancient monument number 1302719.
caption: Second entry for Burghfield
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