• A Swell Day in Somerset

When I collected Rondo near Heathrow Airport, our first stop was Taunton. We had reserved time in the Somerset Heritage Center. I was making good time and drove right by a sign that pointed south down a tiny driveway. I remembered it but didn’t think to pull in because the day was getting late.

After we were leaving Taunton 2 days later, we passed the sign again and this time I pulled in…thankfully. It turned out to be The Church of St. Catherine, Swell. The town of Swell is a parish in Somerset about 11 miles east of Taunton.

This place is of great interest to our research.

Enter the south porch and you’ll walk through a Norman chevron arch – photo below. There is no electricity, the church is lit only by candlelight or sunlight.

The interior includes a Norman font.

The church has a three-bay nave and two bay chancel. The vane is supported by buttresses.

The churchyard has two chest tombs, one dated 1619.

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If you read the photocopied pamphlet at St. Catherine’s Church, you might think the church has nothing to do with the Saint-Clairs.

The writer of this one clearly had looked at the Domesday survey and mentions Robert de Mortain as the tenant-in-chief of the lands. Then it focused on Sir Walter de Essele (Ashley). The writer completely skipped over any relationship with Bretel St. Clair who held Swelle, a piece of Churi, a piece of Bruton in Redlynch, Asshe (brittle), Stoke (Trister), Cucklington, and more lands – but those are the ones of interest in this report.

The vast bulk of Bretel’s land holdings were thanks to Robert de Mortain, half-brother of William the Conqueror and the founder of Montacute priory.

Swell was, at the time, a relatively large settlement in Domesday Book in the hundred of Abdick, county Somerset. It had 32.5 households in 1086, putting it in the largest 40% of settlements recorded in Domesday, and was listed under 2 tenants-in-chief – Count Robert of Mortain and King William. It’s certainly not large now. There are barely 15 homes in the area. Curry (Rivel), 2 miles to the east of Swell, is mentioned on the same Domesday page. In 1086, it had 13.5 households. It now has a population of 2,148. King William took a virgate – approximately 30 acres – in Curry (Rivel) and Bretel de St. Clair held it of the Count of Mortain.

The lord in 1066 was King Edward. In 1086 it was Bretel (de Sancto Claro). OD 1 The Bruton Cartulary states that Sir Walter de Essele (Ashley) gave his church at Swell to Bruton Priory “for the good of his soul”, along with sufficient property in 1221/22. The small church is dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, with a ground plan which, with the exception of the chancel, is as it was in 1150 when it was built. JRH 1.

This is key – Walter De Esselega gave this church and some of his land at Swell to the Augustinian priory of Bruton. Bru – 1

As you can see, Keats-Rohan considered that the most likely reason Bretel St. Clair’s lands passed to the de Esselega family was because Walter de Esselega used land he lived on as his second name, something common at that time.

Keep the above in mind as I show you another opinion. This one from E.H. Bates who was exploring the family of De Urtaico and how they acquired the lands of St. Clare, (Curry) Rivel, and Ashleigh.

Why the Augustinian priory of Bruton is so interesting

Bruton is about 20 miles northeast of Montacute. The Tenant-in-Chiefs at Bruton were Count Robert of Mortain, Robert Son of Gerald, Serlo of Curcy, and King William.

The lords in 1086 were Bretel (de Sancto Claro), Jocelyn (of Rivers), Serlo of Burcy, and King William.

Was this Jocelyn (of Rivers) the same as Jocelyn Bishop of Bath and Wells who later was consecrated to the See on May 28, 1206? (Som-2, p.104)

The choice of which larger religious institution to donate one’s lands and smaller churches to was a very big decision. So the choice of Bruton by William de Esselega provides us further evidence of affinity families.

Bruton was founded in 1142 by William de Moion Earl of Somerset.

Also donating in 1175, John FitzHamon gave the priory at Bruton his church and manor of Charlton Adam. The FitzHamon name is of particular interest.

In one entry in the Hundred Rolls, Walter de Esseleigh’s name was written “Walter de Estoke” because he briefly held Stoke (Trister). That second name was first added in the 13th century and some think it comes from the word tristra, a gathering place for a hunt. This makes sense given its proximity to Selwood forest.

Bates got it right

In the late 1800s, the Reverend E.H. Bates contributed a paper to the “Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society” entitled “The Family of De Urtaico.”

He pointed out the Bruton Cartulary mention of Walter de Esselega and his wife Felicia (no maiden name mentioned) who gave to the canons of Bruton all the land which they had at Montacute, Bruton, and Langport, and more…and here’s the kicker – “all of which pertained to the inheritance of the said Felicia.”

It’s difficult to argue with a cartulary. This makes it almost certain that Felicia was Bretel St. Clair’s daughter. And that Walter de Ashleigh benefited from her inheritance. And it makes it likely that Ashley won’t turn up to be an affinity family in our DNA study.

This is backed up by the fact that almost all of Britel de St. Clair’s Domesday estates descended to the De Esselegh (Ashley) family. But Stoke Trister was an exception, passing instead to the Del Estra family. This Del Estra / de Lestra family were listed in the Somerset and Dorset Domesday as Feoffe [ Fa-FEE ] of Count Robert of Moretain.

Background of Walter de Esselega

So where was Walter de Ashleigh from? In the Domesday Survey, the best bet is Ashley in the hundred of Cicementone, mentioned in the chapters for Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. It had a recorded population of 13 households in 1086.

Bates backs me up on Esselega’s origins – Wilts and Gloucestershire where he held Ashley, near Malmesbury, and Sutton, near Heytesbury. In Domesday, it was held by Durand of Gloucester – no mention of an Ashley or Esselega. The lord in 1066 was Aldred.

Sources –

Ber 1
Berkeley, James de, F. J. B. Winchester, John de Grandison, Buckfast Abbey, “The Register of John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, (A. D. 1327-1369): 1360-1369, together with the register of institutions” B. Bell & sons, 1899

BHO 1

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol2/pp134-139

Bru 1 – – Bruton Abbey, “Two Cartularies of the Augustinian Priory of Bruton and the Cluniac Priory of Montacute in the County of Somerset.” Published by Creative Media Partners, LLC ISBN: 9780344254482, 0344254488.

JRH – “JRH 1997” is the only attribution on the small brochure from the church.

KR 1
Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. V-2, “Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 II: Pipe Rolls to `Cartae Baronum’ “ (Vol 2) (Hardcover), by K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Boydell Press (April 15, 2002) ISBN-10: 0851158633, ISBN-13: 978-0851158631

KR-2 – p. 686

OD – Open Domesday by Anna Powell-Smith. Accessed April 10, 2021. https://opendomesday.org/place/ST3623/swell/

Som 1
Somerset Record Society Vol. VIII “Two Cartularies of the Augustinian priory of Bruton and the Cluniac priory of Montacute in the country of Somerset,” Harrison and Sons Printers, London 1894

Som 2
Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society, “Proceedings during the Year 1882, Volume 28.” Taunton.

FitzHamon – https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol6/pp185-188