-243159024. Henry De Ferrieres
FACT: Henry became a major land holder and was granted 210 manors throughout England and Wales, but notably in Derbyshire and Leicestershire, by King William for his conspicuous bravery and support at Hastings.
He first served William I as castellan of Stafford, and in about 1066 or 1067 he was granted the lands in Berkshire and Wiltshire of Goderic, former sheriff of Berkshire, and, by the end of 1068 he also held the lands of Bondi the Staller in present day Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, and Essex. He is thought to have been appointed the first Anglo-Norman High Sheriff of Berkshire.
Following this, in 1070 was the Wapentake of Appletree, which covered a large part of south Derbyshire, granted to Henry on the promotion of Hugh d'Avranches to become Earl of Chester. At the centre of this was Tutbury Castle where he rebuilt and founded the priory in 1080.
His major landholdings, however, were those of the Anglo-Saxon Siward Barn, following a revolt in 1071, including more land in Berkshire and Essex and also Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
These included part of the wapentakes of Litchurch and Morleyston, which contained an area later to be known as Duffield Frith. To command an important crossing over the Derwent he built Duffield Castle. In the wapentake of Hamston was the west bank of the River Dove, where he built Pilsbury Castle. Both these were of typical Norman timber motte and bailey construction. The latter history of Pilsbury is unknown, but Duffield was rebuilt as a stone fortress sometime in the Twelfth century.
He was a key administrator in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and among the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates. In 1086 he was a legatus ('commissioner’) on the West Midland circuit of the Domesday survey.