Welsh Journals

was denounced by Honorius II in 1128 for plundering the church of Llandaff and robbing the people. Having married the heiress of Bernard de Neufmarche, conqueror of Brecon, he became earl of Hereford, and with Robert Consul was a devoted supporter of the Empress Matilda. It does not appear, however, what piecise relation the Wrinstone lords bore to him. Hugh de Gloucestria gave two-thirds of the tithes of Wrenchestun to Tewkesbury Abbey as recorded in Bishop Nicholas' confirmation charter of 1173-1183, and the abbey continued to draw some revenue from it up to the dissolution of the monasteries. Roger of Gloucester was almost certainly its lord about 1200, and Walter de Gloucester held it in 1262. The last-named as well as Henry de Gloucester were witnesses to de Reigny charters. The de Gloucester family seem to disappear from Glamorgan, as far as records exist, in the late 13th century, and their association with Wrinstone ceased.* The next mention of it is in 1306, on the death of the countess Joan, when John de Raleigh held it, passing to him, it is supposed, through a de Reigny heiress. How this came about is not quite clear. It is generally assumed that the de Reignys were long in possession of Wrenchestun, but, if in fact a member of that family ever held it, it could only have been for a short time. In Clarke's Genealogies of Glamorgan" it is stated that Milo de Reigny had Wrenchestun, and his daughter Joan carried it to a Raleigh, and that the manors of Michaelston, with the advowson of the church, and Wrenchestun now united, as well as other Welsh pro- perties, became merged in the Raleigh family. They were of Nettlecombe, Devon. After six generations the manors passed, from the marriages of heiresses, first to the Welles- boroughs and then to the Trevelyans. In the 15th century John de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, wrongfully held the manors for thirty years, during which time the name Michaelston- le-Pole was in use, and eventually restored them in 1488. An interesting sequel is that they were given by the Parliament after the battle of St. Fagan's to Horton's brigade, who sold .Walter de Gloucester had charge of Chepstow Castle and town for the king as escheator in 1302.