Sheffield under De Busli
At the time of the Domesday survey the whole wapentake of Strafford (except a few mentioned below) was under seven proprietors who had accompanied the Duke of Normandy in his invasion of England:
- Earl of Warren - Conisbrough and its dependencies
- Walter D'eincourt - Wombwell and Rawmarsh
- Aubrey de Coci - Hickleton and Cadeby
- Geoffrey Alselyn (Hansekyn) - Brampton and Cantley
- William de Percy had several Manors, the largest portion included in the fees of the Earl of Morton and Roger de Busli
Grimesthorpe, Hallam, Attercliffe and Sheffield are described as being Terra Rogerii de Busli; but Hallam, Attercliffe and Sheffield were held as of the Countess Judith.
The important manor of Hallam with 16 berewicks was in the possession of Earl Waltheof at the Conquest and probably until 1076, when the Earl lost his life for conspiring against the king. His widow, Judith the countess, who was niece to William I, was permitted to retain the manor, and at the time of the Survey it was held of her by Roger de Busli, who also held the manor of Ecclesfield, where at the Conquest 6 thegns had owned as many manors. One of these thegns was Elsi, whose land was not incorporated in the later honor of Hallam, but in that of Tickhill. The land of one or more of the other 5 thegns seems to have been included in the first-named honor. The following table indicates the component parts of Hallamshire, including that part of Ecclesfield which belonged to the honor of Tickhill.
The 16 berewicks in Hallam comprised most of the following: Midhope, Wightwizle, Waldershelfe, Bolsterstone, Oughtibridge, Onesacre, Worrall, Holdsworth, Ughill, Bradfield, Wadsley, Owlerton, Stannington, Upperthorpe, Ecclesall, Heeley, Grimsthorpe, Osgerthorpe, Skinnerthorpe, Brightside, Birley, Aldwark and Walkley.
In the vicinity of Sheffield de Busli had:
- In Yorkshire - Orgrave
- Brinsford
- Tinsley
- Greasborough
- Kimberworth
- Ecclesfield - given to the abbey of St. Wandrille by the countess Judith
- Wadsley
- Haldworth
- Ughill and in Derbyshire -
- Beighton
- Norton
- Dore
Sheffield, Rotherham, Hansworth, Treeton and Whiston were the Earl of Morton's , who was uncle to Countess Judith.
Dronfield was Terra Regis and Hathersage with its hamlets were part of the posessions of Ralph Fitzhubert, who also held Eckington and Barlborough.
Laughton was the first of De Busli's possessions, and he then built another residence at Tickhill on a site which had formerly been occupied as a Brigantian stronghold. The castle of De Busli soon rose to such importance as to give a new name, that of Tickhill, i.e. The Wick Hill or Castle Hill, to the vill, to which it was adjacent, which had previously been called Dadesley, under which it appears in the Domesday survey. Roger died in A.D. 1099 leaving a son of the same name, who did not long survive him, and died without offspring. After the death of the latter, the extensive fee which they had enjoyed was, for some time, either in the hands of the crown, or of persons to whom it was temporarily assigned by the sovereign, until it was restored to a descendant of the house of De Busli - Alicia, Countess of Augi or Eu, who held it in the reign of Henry III.
Maltby, in which the Abbey of Roche was mainly seated, before the conquest, had been the property of Elsi, but at the Domesday survey it was held, in part, in demesne by Roger himself, and the rest was cultivated by his villeins and borderers. Roger subinfeuded his brother Ernaldus here, as also at Kimberworth and other places, where his family held, as much as six knight's fees.
At Kimberworth the descendants of Ernaldus had a mansion and a park ; they also possessed Sandbeck, adjoining Roche Abbey, where Idonea, the widow of Robert de Vipont endowed the brotherhood of Roche. Richard de Busli, the co-founder of the Abbey, was grandson of Ernaldus. He was a benefactor to Kirkstead, in Lincolnshire, the monks of which had already gained a footing on the confines of his estate at Kimberworth, where they had a small establishment and some property - Thundercliffe Grange.
About 1160, he granted land for the erection of four ironworks, two for smelting the ore and two for forming it into bars, together with liberty to dig for ore in any part of his Kimberworth manor. This was situated close to Keppel's Column.
The other estates of this branch of the De Busli family, continued in the hands of De Busli until the reign of King John, when they passed by the marriage of Idonea, the heiress, with Robert Vipont, where they continued for three generations, until by the marriage of Isabel and Idonea, passed into other families. John de Crumbewell, had in her right the manor of Kimberworth. Long before this Sheffield and other areas had become the property of the De Lovetots.
Pedigree of De Busli
Robert de Vipont (d. 1227) , Lord of Appleby married Idonea Busli (daughter of John Busli)
John de Vipont of Appleby, Sheriff of Westmoreland (d 25.07.1241) married the daughter of William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby.
Isabel de Vipont (1254-1292), Lady of Appleby elder of the two daughters and co heirs, married in 1269, Roger(d.1285), son and heir of Roger Lord Clifford, who held in her right, large parts of Strafforth and Tickhill.
Idonea de Vipont, younger of the two daughters and co heirs, married first Roger de Leyburne about 1266, and secondly John de Cromwell (d before 1335), who had in her right the Manor of Kimberworth.
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