File:Besille (of Besselsleigh, Berkshire) arms.svg

Arms of Besille of Besil's Leigh (modern: Besselsleigh), Berkshire (now Oxfordshire): Argent, three torteaux (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.77 "Besille") ( Rylands, W. H., ed. (1907). The Four Visitations of Berkshire made and taken by Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux, Anno 1532; by William Harvey, Clarenceux, Anno 1566; by Henry Chitting, Chester Herald, and John Philipott, Rouge Dragon, for William Camden, Clarenceux, Anno 1623; and by Elias Ashmole, Windsor Herald, for Sir Edward Bysshe, Clarenceux, Anno 1665–66: Vol. I. Harleian Society, 1st ser. Vol. 56. London, 1623 Visit, p.90. [1]) Text from: 'Parishes: Bessels Leigh', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 393-398 [2]:

"William de Leigh was holding two knights' fees of the abbot in 1166. (fn. 51) A certain Richard of Warwickshire came south to transact some business with him and made a grant to the infirmary in return for the abbot's consent to the transaction. (fn. 52) William de Leigh is mentioned in Warwickshire in 1180. (fn. 53) His successor, who lived in the reign of John, was known as 'Robert de Kingeston. (fn. 54) Probably the Felice de Leigh who is the next tenant of the estate (fn. 55) was Robert's widow. She and her son William are mentioned in 1220. (fn. 56) William was still holding a knight's fee at Leigh and another at Kingston in the middle of the century. (fn. 57) He seems to have been succeeded by Thomas, who in 1251 granted to William de Leigh, perhaps a brother, a hide of land in Leigh to hold of him for life; at the same time William son and heir of William quitclaimed to Thomas any claim he might have on it after his father's death, and received in return an annuity. (fn. 58) William, the son of Thomas, was in possession in 1292, when he granted a messuage and 2 carucates here, with the advowson of the church, to one Thomas de Leigh for life, (fn. 59) with reversion to his own heirs. Thomas was the tenant in 1316, (fn. 60) but John de Leigh, evidently the heir of William, (fn. 61) was lord of the manor in 1327. (fn. 62) He had a grant of free warren here and in Kingston in 1332, (fn. 63) and was still living in 1348. (fn. 64) By the marriage of Katharine de Leigh, daughter and heir of this John de Leigh, with Thomas Bessels the manor (of Leigh, Berkshire) passed into the Bessels family"