TWO ancient Herefordshire titles fetched £12,500 last Thursday at National property specialist Strutt & Parker's Feudal Baronies and Lordships of the Manor auction.

The Lordships of the Manors of Bunshill and Lyde Prior were among 25 manorial lordships and five feudal baronies that went under the hammer at Ironmongers' Hall, London, fetching a total of £342,500.

The Lordship of the Manor of Bunshill is situated in the village of Mansel Lacy, seven miles north west of Hereford. The Domesday Book records it as held by Prince Griffin of South Wales, son of King Mariadoc. Its subsequent history is reminiscent of modern corporations' habit of of buying up assets: in 1241 it passed to a nunnery in Aconbury and in the mid-18th Century was sold by the Duke of Chandos to the governors of Guys Hospital, who sold it to the Prudential Assurance Company in 1982. It was offered with a guide price of £8,000 and sold for £6,000.

The Manor of Lyde Prior lies in the parish of Pipe cum Lyde, in the centre of the county. It was leased to St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, for nearly 500 years until the Dissolution. Later it too was sold by the Duke of Chandos to the governors of Guys Hospital, who sold it to the Prudential in 1982. It fetched £6,500 against a guide price of £8,500.