Piers De Valognes

  General Notes:

Piers was also known as Peter and appears on some records using this name.

Between 1070 and 1076 Peter de Valognes was granted lands in the six counties of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Lincolnshire. In 1086 when the Domesday book was completed, Peter was sheriff of the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire and he farmed the boroughs of Havering and Hertford. Although Peter de Valognes made his caput in Benington in Hertfordshire, his most valuable lands were in Norfolk, the latter being a later grant at the forfeiture of Ralph de Guader after the revolt of the Earls in 1075.

Peter de Valognes was the founder of Binham Priory in North Norfolk in 1091, which was built on land given to him by William the Conqueror. The land on which the priory stands was, according to the Domesday Book, originally the property of a freeman named Esket.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Marriage: to Audrey de Rye, 1076, Ponthieu, Picardie, France.

Piers married Aubrey de Rye, daughter of Hubert de Rye and Unknown, in 1076 in Ponthieu, Picardie, France. (Aubrey de Rye was born in 1056 in Ryes, Calvados, France.)