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his father, William fitz Martin, had granted to them by his charter. William was lord of Cemais. The following is the gist of the charter: The burgesses shall have common pasture in the grantor's land and common in water from the ditch which encloses the vill towards the east as far as the sea, and easement of wood for their houses and buildings and for their fire under the supervision of the lord's forester. If a burgess die from any death whatsoever, unless he lose his life by judgment for felony, the lord will have nothing of his chattels, except the relief, viz. 12d. If a burgess deliver to any man his living plough cattle, and the latter lose his life or his cattle, being accused of felony or larceny, the burgess shall prove the cattle to be his by good and lawful [men], and shall have them. If a burgess hire land from any freeman, and the freeman wish to break the agreement, the lord is bound to distrain on the freeman to compel him to keep the agreement. In the same way he is bound to distrain the debtors of the burgesses of whom they have bail and witnesses, that they shall pay their debts to them. A burgess accused by any foreigner shall be bailed by his neighbours. The burgesses ought to have a reeve and catchpoll appointed by consultation with the lord. No foreign merchant shall buy or sell without the lords town of Newport. A burgess who is accused of felony or larceny and says 'I deny the felony or lar- ceny and whatever is charged against me' makes a good defence. The burgesses shall not go on ex- pedition, except as the burgesses of Pembroke go. And with the liberties aforesaid, the lord granted them the liberties and free customs of Pembroke. Nicholas fitz Martin granted another and supplementary charter (undated but circa 1273-81) to the burgesses of Newport.1 This is an important document inasmuch as it gives the bounds of the liberties and amplifies the clauses touching burgage tenure and rights of pasture: The lord granted to the burgesses in common all his land wet and dry, moors and turbaries, with- out their burgages and within, according to these boundaries: on the east part of the town of Newport from the chapel of Milburge as [the river] Cleudach [i.e. Clydach] holds its course as far as the boun- daries of the lands of the sons of William Dev towards Talleronnauc [i.e. Dol-rhanog]­·saving to the lord and his heirs the dry arable land in the place called Gvernrou and also saving whatever arable land there may be between Gwernrou and Carnengli within the bounds of Talleronnauc. And saving to the burgesses and their heirs and assigns all the pasture in the same land so long as it is not ploughed or bearing corn and Nicholas grants that that land shall not be sold to any foreigner but only to his burgesses of Newport-And from the bounds of the lands of the sons of William Deu as far as the boundaries of the land of Talleronnauc and thus encircling the hill called Carnengli [Carningli] as far as the bounds of the tenement of Nantmarchan [? Cwm Collen by Llannerch] and thence as far as the boundaries of Menithmelin and thence descending to the highway leading from Newport to Haver- ford to the river west of Makmareis [Park y Marriage] running towards Rogian [Rhigian] as far as the sea, saving the burgages and the lands of freeholders and the lands of burgesses within the aforesaid boundaries and saving the lands of those bearing a free rent [portantium liberum reditum) outside their burgages; and thence all the marshland on both sides of the river called Nevern as far as the bridge of the town of Newport over the Nevern and the small island which is between the said bridge and the mill of the lord called New Mill (novum molendinum). Moreover, he granted to the burgesses their heirs and assigns that they may collect fern through all his demesne, viz., at Birie [Bury], Ryvgyan and Makmareis, outside his corn in the time of summer and autumn. Because of the paucity of mediaeval records, it is not known how many burgesses were attracted to this seignorial borough by the privileges and customs set out by the lord in his charters, nor how much land went with each burgage. Apart from some stretches of demesne land, most of the parish seems to have been parcelled out in burgages and common land among the burgesses, although there were a number 1 Arch. Camb. Supplement (1862), 49-50, where it is printed (with errors) from the transcript in the 'Register Book of Kernes'. The original is lost.