It has been stated that the manor of Horncastle was conferred upon Queen Editha by her husband, Edward the Confessor. In confirmation of this we find the following: In the reign of Charles I. the Vicar of Horncastle, Thomas Gibson, presented a petition claiming tithe for certain mills called “Hall Mills,” with a close adjoining called “Mill Holmes,” as belonging to the glebe. The tenant, William Davidson, resisted, arguing that he had paid no tithes to the previous vicar, Robert Holingshed, that the mills were erected before the conquest and were part of the jointure of Queen Editha, as stated in _Domesday Book_, and were therefore part of the manor, not of the vicar’s glebe. The result is not recorded, but doubtless the tenant was right. {13a} The passage here quoted from _Domesday Book_ is the following: “In Horncastre Queen Editha had 3 carucates of land, free of gelt. This land is now 4 carucates. The King has there 2 carucates in demesne (_i.e._ as his manor), with 29 villeins and 12 bordars, who have (among them) 3 carucates. There are 2 mills worth 26s. yearly, and 100 acres of meadow. In King Edward’s time the annual value was £20, now it is £44.” {13b} These two mills and the meadow were doubtless those in dispute between the vicar and tenant in the reign of Charles I., the date of _Domesday_ being about 1085, or 540 years earlier. They were plainly part of the royal manor and not at all connected with the glebe. All this, however, proves that the manor of Horncastle belonged to King Edward the Confessor before the conquest, and 360 acres of it were assigned to his consort, Queen Editha. The expansion of the 3 carucates into 4, mentioned in _Domesday Book_, was probably (as in many other recorded cases) due to the reclamation of land hitherto waste in flood or forest. On the death of King Edward in 1066 the royal demesnes naturally passed to his successor and kinsman, William the Conqueror, and in due course to the successive Norman kings of his line.