chamberlain and George Neville of Abergavenny (George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny), barons. Thomas Lovell, treasurer of our household and Edward Poynings, comptroller of our household, knights, and many others. Given by our hand at Westminster on the 5th day of June in the 3rd year of our reign" (1511). From the size of the present park it appears that only about 250 acres were ultimately enclosed. High Sheriff Sir William served as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1518 and 1526, continuing the tradition of the Denys family which would hold that post on more occasions than any other family. Second marriage William married 2ndly in about 1508 Anne Berkeley, daughter of Maurice Berkeley (died 1506), de jure 3rd Baron Berkeley, from the leading Gloucestershire family. This marriage accorded to William a considerable status in the county gentry. The marriage took place about two years after the death of Anne's father, so it appears the marriage was arranged between William and Anne's brother Maurice Berkeley (died 1526), de jure 4th Baron Berkeley. Since 1492 the Berkeleys had been dispossessed of their ancestral lands including Berkeley Castle , following the death of William Berkeley (died 1492), 1st Marquis Berkeley, Anne's uncle, who had bequeathed all his paternal lands to King Henry VII and his heirs male, either in exchange for his new marquessate or because he disapproved of his brother Maurice having married beneath the nobility to Isabel Mead, the daughter of Philip Meade, alderman & mayor of Bristol. Anne's father Maurice, during this Berkeley exile, had therefore been living at Thornbury, close to the Denys manors of Alveston and Earthcott Green. It may have been from this proximity that the marriage was proposed. Marriage settlement The Inquisition post mortem of Sir William Denys, taken at Marshfield on 7 January 1534/5 makes reference to the marriage settlement, and details the manors which William settled on Anne's feoffees at that time: “The jurors say that he held no lands of the king in the county of Gloucester, but that some time before his death he was seized of the manor of Alveston, of the manor of Erdecote (i.e. Earthcott Green) also of the park of Alveston, together with the hundred of Langley in his demesne as of fee. And so being seized by charter dated 12th September 1508 confirmed a grant to Maurice Berkeley & others of the said manors. They further say