Robert de Muschamp, 4th of Wooler

ROBERT de MUSCHAMP (aka ROBERT de MUSCAMPIS alias MUSCHAUMP)

Lord of the Barony of Wooler in Northumberland

Evidence from Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem

[16 September 1251]: Robert de Muscampis alias de Muschaump. Writ 16 Sept. [? 34] Hen. III (fragment). (undated and defective) He had three daughters of whom he married Cecily, the eldest, to a son of Sir Odenel de la Ford, who of her begat one Isabel who survives, he and his wife being dead. The said Isabel, who is 15, is married to a boy named Adam de Wyginton, age 13 or 14, and they are in the wardship of Sir William de Huntercumbe. Margery, the second daughter, . . . . . aged 24 . . . . . The third daughter, . . . . . age 20 (?) . . . . . married . . . . . are his heirs] Northumberland. Wlour borough and advowson (extent given) with the free forest of Chyviot. Beleford . . . . . (extent given) with 4l.. rent of assize of the town and mill of Dichend. Hethpol, 11 cottars and other tenants. Louwyk', 354a. arable, 18a. meadow, 16l. 18s. rent from bondmen, works worth 7l. 9s. 6d. a mill, herbage, turbary, wood, etc. Bollisdun town, 68s. 6d. rent and 5s. works. Brankeston town, 16s. rent. Ross town (extent given) held of the bishop of Durham and within the limits of the bishopric, excepting part of the fields and some salt pits which are within co. Northumberland; and the bishop holds two bovates by a farm of 10d. and 1 arrow yearly. Knight's Fees rendering scutage: - Odelin de Ford 1 fee, Lady Rametta de Vestcuntesse 1 fee, William de Akyld 1 fee, Robert de Ulcestre 1 fee, Robert de Manerio one half fee, William de Stainesby one half fee, James de Houburn one quarter fee, William de Muschaump one quarter fee, Henry de Dichend one quarter and one sixteenth fee, Richard the Marshal one fifth fee, Robert de Heddon one quarter fee ? (4 partem), Sampson son of Stephen on sixteenth fee, William de Herdhil and Maud Sarp one thirtieth fee, Walter de Extildisham one thirtieth fee, Adam Sarp one thirtieth fee, Carinus de Beleford, one twelfth fee, and William Hunter one twenty-fourth fee in Wilour. C. Hen. III. File 10. (18.) Inquisitions I: 202

Published Sources

Calendar of inquisitions post mortem and other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office. Vol. I. Henry III. (HMSO., London, 1904), 432 pp. including indexes

Wooler in Northumberland

Wooler may be from Old English wella "well, spring" and ofer (ridge, hill). A record of the name as Welnfver in 1186 seems to suggest this origin. The well or spring referred to is the River Till. The Wooler Water, part of which is also known as Happy Valley, is a tributary of the River Till and is formed by a confluence of the Harthope and Carey Burns which rise in the Cheviot Hills, to the south of Wooler. Another possible origin is "Wulfa's hillside", from the Old English personal name Wulfa "wolf" and őra "hillside, slope", although this word in place-names usually means "river mouth, shore". A record of the name as Wulloir in 1232 may suggest this origin. It is not certain which is the actual origin.