Historical names: Alfertintune (Manor) | Attefortone (Manor) | Hattefordone (Manor)
Location: Leintwardine, Herefordshire
Places / associated places: Leintwardine, Herefordshire
Listed in Domesday Book: Yes
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 52.33643, -2.87465
Identity: confirmed — The registry record is securely identified with Adforton in the former Leintwardine area by the matching historical forms Alfertintune, Atfertone, Hattefordone and Attefortone. The Domesday place Alfertintune is identified with Adforton, and independent historical research places Adforton among the Mortimer demesne manors associated with Wigmore.
Representative point: 52.33643, -2.87465
Basis: supported_manorial_centre — The point is the documented Adforton Motte/ringwork site at OS grid reference SO 4037 7121, on a ridge overlooking Adforton. The site is not proven to be the manor house, but its strategic location, association with the Mortimer demesne manor, and position overlooking the settlement make it the best surviving candidate for a historical manorial or administrative focus.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period:
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence confirms Adforton's existence as a Mortimer demesne manor and indicates an extensive medieval common-field system, but no surviving public source located in this research supplies a reliable perimeter for the distinct Adforton manor. The civil-parish or township boundary cannot safely be substituted for the manorial extent, and the wider Wigmore Honour or Harley estate was substantially larger than Adforton manor.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Adforton manor record F279991: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F279991 — Registry authority record for the exact manor, with reference GB/NNAF/M303199 and the historical association with Leintwardine.
- Herefordshire Placenames A: Adforton: https://www.melocki.org.uk/places/A.html — Identifies Adforton in Leintwardine and records the historical forms 1086 Alfertintune, 1321 Atfertone, 1370 Hattefordone, 1377 Atfortone and 1393 Attefortone.
- Archaeologia Cambrensis: Domesday places associated with Ralph de Mortimer: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Archaeologia_cambrensis_%28IA_archaeologiacamb1867unse%29.pdf — Identifies Domesday Altertintune/Alfertintune with Adforton and places it among the lands granted to Ralph de Mortimer in the hundred of Leintwardine.
- Herefordshire Archaeology, Investigations at Mere Hill, Aymestrey / Wigmore Rolls: https://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/media/1069/ha52_16275_wigmorerolls.pdf — Records a medieval motte or ringwork on a spur overlooking Adforton, gives the feature's survey grid reference, and states that Adforton had an extensive medieval common-field system.
- Herefordshire Archaeological News, HAN 60: https://www.woolhopeclub.org.uk/system/files/documents/han/han-60-final.pdf — States that Adforton was a Mortimer demesne manor in 1086 and remained one afterwards; it also discusses the possible strategic role of an Adforton castle site in controlling the road north from Wigmore.
- Adforton Motte, Gatehouse Gazetteer: https://gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/1311.html — Provides the published coordinate 52.33643, -2.87465 for the Adforton Motte and describes the cropmark/slight earthwork site east of the village in relation to the Mortimer demesne manor.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative point is a probable historical focus, not a documented manor-house location.
- The Adforton Motte interpretation is uncertain: archaeological sources describe it variously as a possible motte, ringwork, lookout or beacon, and do not prove that it was the manor house.
- No defensible historical polygon for the distinct Adforton manor was established. Do not inject a boundary based on the modern Adforton civil parish, former township, Leintwardine parish, Wigmore Honour or later Harley estate.
About the Manor
Adforton was a medieval manor and settlement in the former Leintwardine area, historically associated with Wigmore and the Mortimer lordship. Domesday evidence places the estate in the hundred of Leintwardine, in the part of modern Herefordshire then recorded under Shropshire, with Ralph de Mortimer as tenant-in-chief in 1086. The manor was held in demesne by the Mortimers and formed part of the wider Wigmore estate or honour. The place is about 2 kilometres north of Wigmore Castle, the principal Mortimer seat, and a possible medieval motte has been identified on a ridge east of the village. Later records associate Adforton with the Wigmore Honour, the Wigmore Castle estate and the Harley estate. The documentary descent is incomplete, especially between the later medieval Mortimer period, Crown control and the acquisition of the Wigmore estate by the Harleys.
Ownership / Holder Account
Before the Norman Conquest, the Domesday material records Adforton under Eadric, described in the relevant PASE entry as the pre-Conquest holder. In 1086 it was held by Ralph de Mortimer and was a demesne manor of the Mortimers. Adforton remained connected with the Mortimer lordship centred on Wigmore; the Wigmore estate continued in Mortimer hands until the death of Edmund Mortimer, fifth earl of March, in 1425, after which the estate descended through Richard, duke of York, to the Crown. The Crown later granted the Wigmore property to Henry Linley and Gelly Meyrick in the reign of Elizabeth I. In 1601 Henry Linley sold the Wigmore Castle estate to Thomas Harley of Brampton Bryan for £2,600, and the estate acquired in that transaction explicitly included lands in Adforton. A later seventeenth-century account states that, following the dissolution of Wigmore Abbey, the Harleys also acquired former abbey lands in Adforton and neighbouring places. By the eighteenth century Edward Harley, earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer, is documented as lord of the manor of Wigmore; this is relevant to Adforton because Adforton is expressly included among the lands of the Wigmore Castle and Harley estates, but the surviving public evidence does not establish every intervening conveyance of the distinct Adforton manor. A nineteenth-century directory records Robert William Dacre Harley and Andrew Johnes Rouse-Boughton-Knight as lords of the manors in the Leintwardine parish, but it does not identify which individual manor each held.
Records & References
Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.
36 records found · showing 9–16.
1681-1681: court rolls, with other manors (Wigmore Honour)
Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
1672-1672: presentment (in Wigmore Honour court file, pasted into vol)
Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
1669-1669: presentments, with other manors (Wigmore Honour)
Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
1669-1669: Lakers' presentments, with other manors (Wigmore Honour)
Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
1663-1663: rental, with other manors
Held by: Collection held privately: enquiries to The National Archives, Archives Sector Leadership
Further information: NRA 686 Harley
1660-1660: presentments, with other manors (Wigmore Honour)
Held by: Herefordshire Archive and Records Centre
1660-1661: survey and valuation, with other manors
Held by: Collection held privately: enquiries to The National Archives, Archives Sector Leadership
Further information: NRA 686 Harley
1660-1660: particular survey, with other manors
Held by: Collection held privately: enquiries to The National Archives, Archives Sector Leadership
Further information: NRA 686 Harley
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Eadric, described in PASE as Eadric the Wild
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 7 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Transfer: Pre-Conquest tenure; Adforton was reassigned into the post-Conquest tenurial structure before the Domesday assessment.
The PASE Domesday database identifies the Adforton entry as a vill held in 1066 by Eadric and held in 1086 by Ralph de Mortimer as tenant-in-chief. This establishes the pre-Conquest holder but does not preserve the legal instrument or precise date of the change.
Source: PASE, Domesday person record for Eadric, entry for Adforton, Herefordshire/Shropshire, Phil. ref. 6,13; Domesday Book database. — source link
Ralph de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, tenant-in-chief in Domesday Book
Transfer: Post-Conquest tenure recorded in Domesday Book; the estate was held by Ralph de Mortimer as tenant-in-chief and in demesne.
Shared holding: Mortimer lordship of Wigmore
Previous holder: Eadric, described as Eadric the Wild
The PASE Domesday entry identifies Adforton as held in 1086 by Ralph de Mortimer, with no subtenant recorded. Herefordshire Through Time specifically describes Adforton as a demesne manor of the Mortimers in 1086. This is the earliest securely evidenced Norman-period lordship of the manor.
Source: Herefordshire Through Time, Adforton possible motte, Historic Environment Record no. 10099; PASE Domesday database, Adforton entry. — source link
The Mortimer lords of Wigmore, later earls of March in the senior Mortimer line
Transfer: Continuing Mortimer lordship of the Wigmore estate; no separate conveyance of Adforton has been located for this period.
Shared holding: Honour of Wigmore
Previous holder: Ralph de Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore, tenant-in-chief in Domesday Book
Adforton is described as a Mortimer demesne manor in 1086 and as remaining one afterwards. The Wigmore Castle estate is described as remaining at the heart of the Mortimers' marcher lordship until the death of Edmund Mortimer, fifth earl of March, in 1425. The available public evidence supports continuity within the Mortimer estate, but does not identify each successive Mortimer holder of Adforton by name.
Source: Herefordshire Through Time, Adforton possible motte; Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Herefordshire News Sheet no. 60, discussion of Adforton as a Mortimer demesne manor; Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Wigmore Fairs 1669-1710, historical summary of the Wigmore estate. — source link
The Crown, following the extinction of the direct Mortimer earldom of March, Royal lord of the Wigmore estate
Transfer: The Wigmore estate descended through Richard, duke of York, to the Crown after the death of Edmund Mortimer, fifth earl of March, in 1425; the precise treatment of Adforton during this period is not separately documented in the sources consulted.
Shared holding: Wigmore Castle estate
Co-holder: Henry Linley and Gelly Meyrick
Previous holder: The Mortimer lords of Wigmore, later earls of March in the senior Mortimer line
The published history of the Wigmore Castle estate states that after Edmund Mortimer's death in 1425 the estate descended through Richard, duke of York, to the Crown. Because Adforton is explicitly identified as part of the Wigmore estate in the later 1601 acquisition account, Crown control is a reasonable estate-level phase in the descent, but no separate Crown grant or account naming the Adforton manor alone has been located for the intervening period.
Source: Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Wigmore Fairs 1669-1710, historical summary of the Wigmore Castle estate and its descent after 1425. — source link
Henry Linley and Gelly Meyrick, Stewards associated with Robert Devereux, earl of Essex
Transfer: Granted the Wigmore property by Elizabeth I; the exact date and terms of the grant have not been established in the sources consulted.
Holding arrangement: Joint
Shared holding: Wigmore Castle estate
Co-holder: The Crown, following the extinction of the direct Mortimer earldom of March
Previous holder: The Crown
The historical summary of the Wigmore Castle estate states that Elizabeth I granted it to Henry Linley and Gelly Meyrick, described as stewards of Robert Devereux, earl of Essex. The source does not separately name Adforton in the grant, but the subsequent 1601 sale identifies Adforton as included in the Wigmore Castle estate acquired from Linley. The exact legal extent of Meyrick's interest and the precise grant date remain uncertain.
Source: Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Wigmore Fairs 1669-1710, historical summary of the Wigmore Castle estate. — source link
Thomas Harley of Brampton Bryan, Esquire of Brampton Bryan
Transfer: Purchased the Wigmore Castle estate from Henry Linley for £2,600; the estate acquired in the transaction explicitly included lands in Adforton.
Shared holding: Wigmore Castle estate and later Harley estate
Previous holder: Henry Linley and Gelly Meyrick, Stewards associated with Robert Devereux, earl of Essex
In 1601 Henry Linley sold the Wigmore Castle estate to Thomas Harley of Brampton Bryan for £2,600. The estate acquired in that transaction included lands in Adforton, together with lands in Wigmore, Birtley, Brampton Bryan, Burrington, Limebrook and Lower Lye. The source does not state whether the transaction conveyed the whole manor of Adforton as a separate unit or only the Adforton lands attached to the Wigmore estate; it therefore supports Thomas Harley as holder of the relevant Adforton estate interest, but not a more precise legal characterization.
Source: Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Wigmore Fairs 1669-1710, historical summary of the 1601 purchase of the Wigmore Castle estate. — source link
Edward Harley, earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
Transfer: Later appearance as lord of the manor of Wigmore in the 1772 enclosure award; no direct intervening conveyance of Adforton has been located.
Shared holding: Harley estate and Wigmore Honour
The 1772 Wigmore enclosure award names Edward, earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer, as lord of the manor of Wigmore and grants him a one-fifteenth share for his lordship and right of soil. Other historical accounts place Adforton within the Wigmore and Harley estate complex. This evidence supports a later Harley lordship connected with the Adforton estate, but it does not by itself prove that every parcel of the separately catalogued Adforton manor was held by Edward Harley at that date. The intervening conveyance from the earlier Harley holders is therefore left unspecified.
Source: Muriel Tonkin, The Wigmore Enclosure Act and Award 1772-74, Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club Transactions, vol. XLI, 1975, especially the award naming Edward, earl of Oxford and earl Mortimer as lord of the manor of Wigmore. — source link
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