Can someone explain to me what this means in plain English.
The sore sparrowhawk is just a token payment for the transfer of land, like a peppercorn, or a red rose.
John de Cameys is conveying the Manor of North Denchworth to Sir Philip Fettiplace and giving up any claim to it (1290-1291). As token payment Sir Philip was to hand over a sore sparrowhawk. It might just as well have been a rose, or a gillyflower, or something else.
The transaction was in the form of a 'final concord', dressed up as a fictitious court case, which is why no real money-payment was recorded here. A final concord was essentially a device to get around restrictions for buying and selling land.
The agreement (or 'fine') would be written out three times on the same sheet, and cut into three, with wavy lines (indented). One part would be given to each of the two parties to the agreement, and the third part, written at the foot of the sheet, would be kept with the court records known as ‘feet of fines’. The different parts could then theoretically be matched up exactly by their cut edges, in case a disagreement arose.
Illustration here …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet_of_fines#/media/File:Final_concord_on_land_in_Lincoln_31_Edw._I.jpg
