FEUDAL TITLES - CATALOGUE RESEARCH A-M

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Lot #15 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parishes of Akenham, Claydon, Ipswich, etc.

According to Copinger (Vol. II, p. 227), there were in Saxon times four small Manors in Akenham. All were, by the time of the Domesday Survey, vested in Roger de Rheins "who had come in at the conquest and had had the honour of the Barony of Raines or Reynes, consisting of ten knights' fees in Essex, conferred upon him." Morant says that the name appears to be taken from Rayne or Little Rayne in Essex (Vol. II, p. 403). 

The history of Akenham Manor seems to have been much confused with that of Rous Hall. "It is conceived," says Copinger, "that the four Manors of Akenham in process of time came into two, and that at an early period this Manor was held by the Brewse family, but Rice Hall was held by the family of Rous." The confusion arose when, in the reign of  Henry III, Richard de Brewse married Alice, daughter of William le Rus, who then held Rice Hall, and a good deal of exchanging took place. 

The Manor is specifically mentioned in the inquisition p.m. of Sir Thomas Brewse in 1482. It passed in dower on the marriage of Amy, daughter of William Brewse, to Sir Roger Townsend whose descendant, Roger Townsend, sold it in 1586 to John Aylmer, Bishop of London. This Bishop, who was tutor to Lady Jane Grey, was said to have been a warm tempered and irritable man, "rather a man of business than a theologian, and died very rich." The estate was then thought to be worth £1,200 a year. The Manor was sold by Edward Aylmer to Thomas Arras, M.D., who was M.P. for St. Albans in 1646. It subsequently came to Charles Henry Capon and was sold by his Trustee to Joseph Beaumont, of Coggeshall.  

The custom of descent on intestacy was Borough-English, as evidence of which we find an entry in a Court held on 29th December, 1743, that Mileson Hingeston, Surgeon, "youngest son and heir according to the Custom of the Manor of Peter  Hingeston," was admitted to property of which his father died seised. 

The documents (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over comprise a rental dated 1622 and Court Books dated 1718-73 (including a rental dated 1721); 1775-1864; and 1868-1922. All the books are in vellum bindings.

The rentals mentioned above show that this Manor was very extensive, as holdings in Ipswich and many parishes around are recorded, vis. Whitton, Gosbeck, Ashebooking, Baylham, Hendley, Hemyngston, Claydon, Thurleston, etc.

The following documents, not in the possession of the Vendors and not included in the Sale are at the Public Record Office, where they can be inspected by anyone with a Readers' Ticket: 

Compotus VII to IX Ric. II 1384-85; Compotus XI to XII Ric. II, 1387-88; Compotus XVI to XVII, Ric II, 1392-93

Survey: 40 Eliz. 1597

Court Rolls Ed. III, 1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23...Period of Black Death...27, 28, and Ric II, 23 (1327-1400); 1651-78; 1680-1704; 1704-17.

Special attention is called to the interval of three years in the Court Rolls, viz., 24, 25, 26, Ed. III. This coincides with the Black Death, which swept over the continent from the East, and wrought great havoc in England. According to Green's History of England "of three or four millions who then formed the population of England, more than half were swept away in its repeated visitations...Nearly sixty thousand people perished at Norwich, while in Bristol, the living were hardly able to bury the dead." No wonder the Court Rolls were not kept up to date, if, in fact, any were held. 

At a Court held in 27 Ed. III (1354) it was presented that Olivia Sparrow did damage to the pasture of the Lord. At the foot of the membrane recoding a Court held in 23 Ed. III (1350) it was noted that an Inquisition was taken on the part of diverse tenants, after the death of the same, of all their lands and tenements. 

Lot #13 of Manorial Services Auction - July 2021 - Stephen Johnson

The course of the feudal system did not always run  smooth. In the case of the Manor of Aldenham, its early  history was riven by an acrimonious dispute between two  rivals owners. The Manor itself is of great age. The earliest  mention of it purports to be from 785 when it was granted  by King Offa of Mercia to Westminster Abbey (or Thorney  Abbey according to some). The grant included almost the  whole of the western part of the present parish and the  Roman road, Watling Street forms one of it boundaries.  

A further charter of 959, from the English King  Edgar, seems to reaffirm the early char ter and by the time of Domesday in 1086 the Manor is recorded as belonging  to the church of St Peter at Westminster. The monks of  the Abbey of St Albans claimed that Aldenham was in fact  granted to them by Offa in 793 on the foundation of their  Abbey. In the words of the the author of the Victoria County  History the whole of the early evidence regarding Aldenham  appears to be exceedingly unsatisfactory.  

The case for St Albans rested on a claim that they had leased the Manor to Westminster in 1064 for 20  years and that at the end of that period the Abbot of the latter had refused to give it back. This dispute then  ensued for 200 years. The authenticity of the various grants was called into question and it led to a number  of legal cases. In 1202 for instance a jury found in favour of St Albans despite no evidence being found that  Aldenham was mentioned in any of their own charters. In 1256 another action was brought by Westminster  to the King’s court and this time an agreement was reached which tried to pacify both sides but which led  to a fairly novel manorial compromise. Once a year the bailiff of the Abbot of St Albans would be allowed  to hold a view of frankpledge and that suit of court for the manor would be divided between the Hundred  of Cashio, which fell under Westminster’s control and the liberty of St Albans. The power to hang criminals  (infangthief) would also be shared. 

Even this very English settlement didn’t extinguish the dispute since as late of 1437 the Abbot of St  Albans entered into a dispute about his rights in Aldenham which was abandoned through lack of money. The  Dissolution of the religious houses in 1538 rendered these disputes academic and the Manor of Aldenham  was surrendered to the Crown. In 1546 Aldenham was granted in total to Ralph Stepneth for £980. Little  is recorded of Stepneth, he is described as a gentleman and was probably a London merchant since he is  also known as Ralph Stepney, or Ralph of Stepney. The Stepneth family retained Aldenham until 1589 when  it was sold to Edward Cary; master and treasurer of Queen Elizabeth’s jewels. Care’s family were stalwart  supporters of the Tudor’s, his father had been groom of the Privy Chamber of Henry VIII, and Cary was well  rewarded for his service. In addition to Aldenham he was granted Berkhamsted Castle.

The Manor of Aldenham passed to Henry Cary on the death of his father in 1617 and he was  subsequently created Viscount Falkland. On his death in 1633 it descended to his son Lucius, 2nd Viscount.  He was a staunch supported of Charles I and fought on the Royalist side at the battle of Edgehill in October  1642 and at the following siege of Gloucester. Despite the national crisis, and possibly as a way of raising funds  to continue the fight, Falkland sold Aldenham in later 1642 to Sir John Harby. A few months later Falkland was killed at the Battle of Newbury. The Manor remained in the Harby family until 1664 when it was sold  once more to Denzil Holles, first Baron Holles. It remained in this family, eventually passing to John Holles, Duke of Newcastle. In 1754 it was sold to Samual Vanderwall an extremely wealthy London merchant from  Lincoln’s Inn. On his death it was willed to Vanderwall’s stepson, Thomas Neate. 

In 1799 Aldenham was sold to George Woodford Thellusson. This family were considered rather  exotic by Eighteenth century standards. George’s father, Peter, had come to England in 1757 to complete his  eduction, his father being a minister at the French court. He found England to his liking and in 1761 married  Ann Woodford and established a merchant bank. he traded his way to a fortune and established himself  as a landed English gentleman at Plaistow in Kent, after becoming a naturalised citizen by Act of Parliament.  His son George continued in the family business after his father’s death in 1797 and invested his money in  land, such as Aldenham. Thellusson also entered the political world. Unfortunately he made something of  a false start. On standing for election to the seat of Southwark in 1796 he was elected but the result was  challenged by his rival and it was found that Thellusson had been guilty of the offence of Treating; that is giving  voters too much by way of an incentive to vote for him. Within months the contest was held again and this  time Thellusson won but, remarkably, was unseated several weeks later after yet another contest when the  result of the second ballot was successfully challenged. 

In 1805, Thellusson sold Aldenham to the trustees of his own father’s will and it duly passed to his  brother Peter who, a year later, was created Lord Rendlesham. The Manor remained in the hands of the  Lords Rendlesham until the end of the 20th century when it was purchased by the family of the present  owners.

Aldenham is a large parish of some 6000 acres in the south of the county and is the neighbour of  Elstree and Watford. Although within the bounds of the M25 it has remained almost entirely rural. As noted  above it is bounded on the East by Watling Street, one of the few features of English parochial boundaries  which is a straight line. 

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1200-1225: custumal, with other manors British Library 

1278-1507: reeve’s account rolls Westminster Abbey Library 

1511-1515: rent collector’s accounts 

1532-1532: court roll 

1314-1315: extent, with other manors Cambridge University Library 

1384-1394 account rolls, with other manors, Essex Record Office 

1394-1398: court roll, with other manors Hertfordshire Archives 

1779-1780: map 

1515-1540: minister’s accounts The National Archives 

1539-1541: estreats, with other manors 

1600-1700: valuation, with Wall Hall, Hatfield House Library and Archives  

1585-1800: terriers (various), Suffolk Record Office 

1655-1790: steward’s papers 

1622-1637: rental 

1681-1875: rentals 

1699-1699: list of surrenders 

1708-1714: court roll 

1708-1763: minutes 

1754-1937: court books (5 vols) 

1806-1806: valuation 

1864-1877: steward’s accounts (1 bundle) 

1875-1900: rental 

1917-1917: maps (with lists of copyhold tenants and admissions 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - February 2022 - Stephen Johnson

The earliest records for the Fief date from  the reign of William, Duke of Normandy, who held  the whole of the island of Guernsey as part of his  Duchy, before his conquest of England in 1066. In  1046 he faced a challenge to his throne from his  cousin, Guy of Burgundy, who received support  from several prominent lords on the island. With the  support of the king of France, Guy was defeated and  the Guernsey rebels forfeited their lands. A few years  later the island was ravaged by a wave of attacks from  pirates from southern France and William dispatched  Sampson D’Anneville, a noble from Anneville in the  Val des Saire region of Normandy. He was described  by the Norman poet Wace as forming a troop of  knights who entered battle fearing neither stake nor  fosse, and overthrowing and killing many a good horse  and man. The pirates had established themselves on the island and D’Anneville landed his troops at St Sampson’s in the north of the island and was quickly joined  by the islanders themselves who had sought refugee behind the walls of the Castle of the Vale. D’Anneville  made short work of the pirates and soon liberated Guernsey. As a reward for his actions William granted  his captain lands and estates on the island estimated to be around a quarter of the whole small realm. It is  described by one historian of the island as the noblest tenure in Guernsey. At the time of its creation it was  said to have included a quarter of the island. 

A proportion of D’Anneville’s grant lay in the parish of St Sampson and this was erected into a fief  or royalty known as the Fief D’Anneville. It remained with the descendants of Sampson D’Anneville for the  next 80 years until the death of its lord during the civil war between Stephen and Matilida which raged across  England and Normandy. In 1144 Matilda’s husband, Geoffrey Plantagenet, was crowned Duke of Normandy  and claimed the island. The fief was then escheated to the Crown. Henry II eventually gifted it to his younger  brother, William, Earl of Montaige but his tenure was a short one and it soon reverted back to the Crown.  It remained a possession of the king until 1190 when Richard I (1189-1199) granted it to his brother John.  When John ascended to the throne on 1199 he granted the Fief to Robert de Vere, ancestor of the Earls  of Oxford. This grant was for a set term and Henry III (1216-1272) then sold it to Guillaume de Chesney  in 1248. The Chesney or Cheney family were residents of the channel islands and remained there as Lords  of the Fief. They subsequently played a prominent role in the government of both Guernsey and Jersey.  Edmund de Cheney was governor of both islands from 1357 to 1367; he had inherited Fief D’Anneville  on the death of his father, Sir William in 1348. After Edmund’s death it appears that his Guernsey estate  devolved to his daughter, Agnes. In 1444 she married John Willoughby of Wiltshire and so the Fief passed to  this family. Their eldest son, Sir William was raised to the nobility as Baron Willoughby de Broke after fighting  for Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth in 1485. One of his first commissions was given to him by Edward  IV and it was to lead a force to capture John de Vere, earl of Oxford from his stronghold on St Michael’s  Mount in Cornwall. He later became sheriff of this county in 1479 and of Devon in the following year. With  the accession of Richard III in 1483, Willoughby involved himself in the abortive revolt led by the Duke of  Buckingham. After its failure he was forced to flee to France where he joined the retinue of another rebel,  Henry Tudor. Willoughby’s estates in England were seised by Richard whereas the Fief D’Anneville appears  to have remained untouched. This proved to be a temporary setback for Robert. In August 1485 he landed  with Tudor at Milford Haven and followed his rapid progress east. Two weeks later Henry’s army met and  defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth. Willoughby fought in the battle and was to be rewarded for his loyalty to the new king, Henry VII. He was made a knight of the body and was admitted to the king’s council  in 1486. A number of offices and positions were awarded to him culminating in his being admitted to the  Order of the Garter in 1489 and elevated to the nobility as Baron Willoughby de Broke. In the meantime,  as well as recovering his estates he was granted further lands in Somerset and Cornwall. However he was  not one of the king’s most prominent supporters which perhaps explains why he was not offered a higher  peerage and given only relatively minor administrative tasks in the Southwest. He spent much of the 1490s  as a largely ineffective naval commander. He died in 1502 and was succeeded by his son Robert.  

The Fief D’Anneville remained with this family until 1509 when it was offered for sale to Nicholas  Fachion a wealthy merchant living in Southampton and who served as the Gentleman Usher of Hampshire to  King Henry VIII (1509-1547). However, Fachion or Fouaschin never took personal possession of the manors  because they were granted in fee for the lifetime of John de Chesney of Devon. It was Nicholas’ grandson,  Thomas who took full possession in as late at 1548. His claim had involved an extremely lengthy litigation  with the heirs of the Lord Willoughby de Broke, who challenged the original sale. Fachion’s wealth enabled  him to fend off his opponents. He served as Mayor of Southampton in 1545 and was elected to Parliament  for the city in 1555. In 1597 six royal commissioners were appointed to examine the feudal tenures on the  island and Thomas Fachion made a claim to the Fief D’Anneville and it remained in the family for a number  of generations, eventually descending to the Andros family on the marriage of Alice Fachion and Charles  Andros in 1660. The Fief remained in the Andros family and their descendants until it was sold in 1964 by  Cyril Ralph Andros to Donald Wilson and to the present Vendor in 1997.  

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS MANOR lies at the organisational centre of the Barony of Westmorland and contains the ancestral seat of the Veteripont and Clifford families, Appleby Castle. The town itself is a borough, and contains the parishes of St Lawrence and St Michael. The river Eden runs through the borough and divides the two parishes, being crossed by ancient stone bridges. Evidently the town was of some importance before the Norman invasion of 1066, since it gave its name to a now forgotten division, Applebyshire. Since the Norman invasion of 1066 and the reorganisation of England's shire, Appleby has always been the capital of the county of Westmorland.

Appleby was a strategic centre in England’s defence of its northern borders and the castle at Appleby, although the seat of the Barony of Westmorland was a military garrison. Its position on the border marches of England and Scotland has rendered it historically vulnerable in times of warfare. In 1175 the whole town was destroyed by William of Scotland. At this time the Castle was in the custody of Gospatric of and the scene is described by the chronicler, Jordan Fantosme;

‘the king (William) very soon had the castle of Appleby, there were no people

in it, it was quite unguarded. Gospatric, son of Orme, an old grey haired

Englishman, was the constable ; he soon cried mercy’

William left a garrison in the castle under three constables and then proceeded to attack the nearby castle of Brough. Henry II (1154-1189) was angry at Gospatric’s weak attempt to defy the Scots and fined him 500 marks. Officers under him were also fined in accordance with their rank. 

This is the first evidence we have of the castles existence, though it very likely to have stood here in some form for many years previously. Some historians believe that Appleby may have been a Roman fortification and there is evidence to suggest that massive earthworks were thrown up by the Saxons. The original keep, known as Caesar’s Tower was constructed in the 12th century and was destroyed in 1388. It was rebuilt by Anne de Clifford in the 1650s and she used this as her home. Some of the original walls, constructed by Robert de Veteripont still remain at the south-east angle of the castle and the gate house was erected in 1418. The castle stands on a headland and the western bank of the river Eden, at the upper end of Broughgate. Its usefulness as a military force is in doubt since it was destroyed twice in the Middle Ages, but it was used during the Civil War. In 1641 a detachment of Royalist troops were garrisoned at the castle, commanded by Sir Philip Musgrave and it was held by him until the catastrophic defeat at Marston Moor, which lost King Charles the North. In 1648 it was again in the hands of the Royalists who were blockading Cockermouth but it was surrendered in October of that year. The castle was then demolished by Parliamentary forces under General Ashton. After it was restored by Anne Clifford she moved her family there in January 1662. After the Lordship had come into the hands of the earls of Thanet the castle was completely rebuilt and refurbished as a home by Thomas, the 6th earl of Thanet. 

The Lordship of Appleby has always been in the possession of the Barons of Westmorland. After the Norman Conquest it was held by Ralph Meschines and then the Morvilles. Later it came to the Verteripont family who held it until the beginning of the 14th century, when it passed to the Clifford. This eminent family, who became Earls of Cumberland, held Appleby until the death of Anne Clifford in 1675 when it passed to the Tuftons, the earls of Thanet. The current representative of that family, Lord Hothfield is the current Lord of the Manor of Appleby. 

The governance of the town however passed at a very early period to burgesses, since Appleby was incorporated in the 12th century, though the original charter has long since disappeared. Henry II (1154-1189) granted to the burgesses freedom from toll, stallage, pontage and lastage throughout England, except in the city of London and the grant was confirmed with renewal charters during the reigns of John (1199-1216), Henry III (1216-1272), Edward I (1272-1307), Edward II,(1307-1327), Edward III (1327-1377), Henry VIII (1509-1547), Elizabeth (1558-1603), James I (1603-1625), Charles I (1625-1649) and Charles II (1660-1685). During the short reign of James II the borough was newly incorporated. Despite this the Lords of the Manor have still held a considerable influence over the town once the rights of the burgesses had been confirmed by King John. The charter granted by James was a replacement of a restrictive charter imposed by Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth period and when the new corporation was enacted, Thomas Earl of Thanet and Lord of Appleby, was the town recorder. 

In the Middle Ages the population of Appleby reached upwards of 11,000, far higher than at any time until the 20th century. Evidence of the previous size of the town can be seen with the remnants of town walls at Burrells, a mile from the town centre and archeological evidence of suburbs up to two miles away. 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THE ORIGINAL name for this Lordship was Hermitage, and this name was derived from a hermit who was said to have lived in a secluded spot between the parish church and the River Trent. The parish of Armitage lies five miles north west of Lichfield and two miles from Rugeley. Before the Industrial Revolution the village was noted for the production of clay pipes, made from clay recovered from a nearby hill, Stile Cop.

Anciently this Lordship was associated with that of Handsacre, which also lies in this parish but was formerly of more importance. It is briefly noted in Domesday Book as ‘five carucates in Handsacre held by Robert’. This tenant held his land from the bishop of Chester and it seem likely that he was a member oÏf the Handsacre family who had been resident in the parish from before the Norman invasion of 1066. By the reign of Henry I (1100-1135) the Lordship was in the possession of Hubert de Handsacre. and in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) it was held by Sir William Handsacre who married Ada, the daughter and heiress of David, Earl of Huntingdon. Through this marriage Sir William became the brother-in-law of William, the King of Scotland. Armitage remained with this family until 1429 and for a great deal of this time they were involved in disputes and alliances with the Mavesyn family who owned the neighbouring Lordship of Mavesyn Ridware, on the opposite side of the Trent. 

During the 14th co-operation between the two families dwindled ¶and arguments over their respective manorial boundaries grew. The matter came to a head in a row over a Trentside Mill:

As early as 1382 Robert Mavesyn had leased to John Hammond, fisherman, his fishery in the Trent at Bryggewater, between Handsacre and Oxonhom Pool, and the miller, one Robert Mulner, got into dispute as to the boundary of the two parishes at the mill dam and floodgates. The dispute resulted in a fued and and affray, ending in a riot, in which the mill was burnt and Lawrence de Frodesley, of the Handsacre party was killed by the Mavesynians.

The fued evidently rumbled on and came to ahead in 1403 when both men who each had with them a contingent of armed men set off to fight on opposite sides of the conflict between the usurper King Henry IV and Earl of Northumberland, who had risen in defence of the previous king, Richard II. The two armies would meet at the Battle of Shrewsbury and it here that our´ two local bands were heading when then came across each other in Mavesyn Ridware. Handsacre supported Richard and Mavesyn, Henry. The meeting was briefly described by Dent and Hill in their ‘Historic Staffordshire’;

For many generation s the Handsacres and Mavesyns were not only neighbours but friendly allies. These friendly relations at length became changed, and a dispute as to a mill on the river between the two lordships was the apparent cause of a feud. The local animosities were but too surely the result of partisanship in the national struggles. 

After both sides had mustered their small force;

Handsacre did not take the road through Rugeley (as he had intended) for the deadly meeting with Mavesyn occurred on the north of the Trent. Pitt says that the fight took place just above High Bridge, by two ancient oak trees known as Gog and Magog. Both men being well accompanied with their servants and tenants when they Encountered each other they fought a battle or skirmish where Mavesyn had the victory and having slain his enemy went onto the battle (Shrewsbury) and was there slain himself.

The death of the two Lords of the Manor led to the swift end of the feud. and in true romantic fashion one of the Sir Robert Mavesyn’s daughters and co-heirs, married the son and heir of Handsacre. 

The family therefore continued in possession of Armitage until 1487 when it passed to the last of the family line, Johanna. She married into the Verdun family, who owned a small Lordship in the parish. From this marriage came two daughters, one of whom was Agnes, who who married Nicholas Westcote. This family held the Lordship until 1681 when it passed to the Bertie family. In the 19th century it was held by the Lane family before coming the Earls of Shrewsbury, who had long held most of the land here. The present and 14th earl of Shrewsbury is the current Lord of the Manor of Armitage.

Lot #12 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

LYING 4 miles north-west from Skipton, Eshton is a township in the parish of Gargrave. It measures around 1,100 acres and this includes Elso Hill, which rises to a height of 1,171 feet and affords an impressive view over the Aire Valley and the North Yorkshire Moors. Passing through it is Eshton Beck which runs into the river Aire.

Referred to as Eshtone in Domesday Book, an estate is recorded as belonging to Roger de Poitou:

In Eshtone, Arnnketil and Uhtraed had 6 carucates to the geld. 

This is a reference to the Saxon owners who had held this before the Norman invasion of 1066. Whether this is a reference to the Lordship of Eshton or an estate within it, or the township, is nor clear. The early history of Eshton is obscure but it would appear that it was at an early time in the hands of a Norman family which took its name from the village. The earliest reference to them comes in the marriage of one of them to Amesia, daughter of Cicely de Romille, who owned the Barony of Skipton. Eshton  then descended to the unnamed son of that union who married a woman by the name of Constance. This marriage produced a son, Ranulph de Eston, otherwise known as Raghunt, who was living during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) but of whom we know very little. His son and heir was his son John, who in Åturn was succeeded by his son John.

This John de Eshton catapulted the family’s name to prominence in 1281 when he came forward to claim the Barony of Skipton. In that year Eshton went to Westminster to plead with Edward I (1272-1307) that the Barony and all its lands should come to him by right of his descent from Amecia. He also claimed for himself the Earldom of Albermarle, which had been last in the possession of the rebellious William de Fortibus. Amecia had been the daughter of William le Gross, who had been the first Earl of Albermarle and had died in 1179. This title had passed to the husband of Amecia’s sister Hawise. Eshton’s claim was a bold one but a strong one and Edward was forced to concede. His claim over Skipton was tenuously based on the former possession of his brother Edmund, earl of Lancaster. The consideration given to Eshton’s claim shows that the powers of the law and property was by this time beginning its eventual eclipse of that of the Sovereign. 

Edward could not avoid the claim and condescended to come to come to some sort of agreement with Eshton. In return for £100, land and the Lordship of the Manor of Apletrewick, Eshton agreed to relinquish his claim and a deed was produced, legally transferring Skipton to the King. John continued as Lord of the Manor of Eshton but from here the family slide back into historic obscurity. 

Despite appearances it appears that the Lordship of Eshton was in fact part of the Barony of Skipton and the Eshton family must have held it from the Baron. We know this because when the latter was granted to Robert le Clifford in 1312 Eshton appears as a member of the Baronial lands under the bailiwick of Malghale. It is even mentioned in a definition of Skipton Forest, which belonged to the Barony and to which Eshton was evidently a part;

The whole may be estimated at an area of six miles by four or 15,360 acres,with

respect to a subdivision known as Elso, long since forgotten, but Ayleshow

or Elso, which means the Hill of Elsi, or Aylsi a well known personal name

in the Saxon times,was that portion of the forest now called Skirackes, divided

by Crookrise by aperture in the hills from Skipton to Rilston and stretching

then to boundaries of Flasby, Eshton and Holme - Crookrise means nothing

more that Crooked Rise.

The forest was an important recreational area for the Clifford family and the inhabitants of Eshton were involved in it upkeep. During the reign of Elizabeth I the Clifford came into conflict with the Norton family of Rilston over hunting rights in the forest(1553-1558) the following report was made;

Launcelot Marton of Eshton, Esq saith That he was a boy and together with

his father he did see the keepers of Skipton Forest hunt and chase deer out

of the grounds of Rilston and also myne old lady Clifford, divers time bring 

deer out of Rilston without any let: and this deponent saw old lady

Clifford, mother to my lord of Cumberland that now is, hound her greyhounds  

within the said grounds of Rilston, and chase deer, and have them away

at her leisure, both red and fallow, till now of late that master Norton hath 

walled his grounds of Rilston, where the Forests were wont to walk, and

to draw my lord of Cumberland’s deer into his ground, he hath made a 

wall on üa high rigge, beside a quagmire and at the end of the wall he hath

rayled the ground, so that it is a destruction to my lord’s deer so many

as come.

From this report it would seem that the Clifford’s were by now Lords of Eshton and it is very likely that the Lordship reverted to them when the whole Barony of Skipton was gifted to them in 1312 or after the Eshton family line had died out. The Cliffords retained it until the end of the 17th century when it passed the Earls of Thanet, the Tufton family. It has remained in the possession of this family ever since and Eshton currently resides with their present representative, Lord Hothfield, who is the Vendor.

Lot #23 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parishes of Ashwelthorpe, Wreningham, etc. 

Ashwelthorpe lies 3 1/2 miles south-eat of Wymondham. According to Kelly's Directory for Norfolk (1937) there is in the Church "a tomb with recumbent effigies to Sir Edmund de Thorpe Kt. and Joan his wife (c. 1446); he was envoy from  Henry V to the Duke of Burgundy and was slain at the siege of Lover's Castle, in Normandy, but was buried here:; in the north chapel are five sustained windows with the arms of Thorp, Bourchier, Knyvet and Wilson families, and a brass to Jane (Bouchier) daughter of John, 2nd Baron Berners, and a wife of Edmund Knyvet, Esq., of Ashwelthorpe, who died on February 17th, 1561; there are tables to Knyvet Wilson, died 1796, and to Mary his wife, who died 1772, and some modern memorials to the Wilson family; the font given by Lady Knyvet about 1660 is octagonal, with carved shields bearing the arms of the Knyvet family." 

According to Blomefield ("History of Norfolk," Vol. V, p. 141) Ashwelthorpe was anciently called Thorp only and Ashwell was a hamlet on Thorp, but there being so may Thorps in the County about King Stephen's time, it began for distinction's sake to b called Ashwell Thorp. The name of Ashwell (Note: It signified the well or spring by the ashes) does not once occur in the Domesday Book, though it seems to have been a well inhabited place.

To historians and antiquarians the interest in these Manors lies in the fact that the Court Rolls and other Manorial Documents throw mor light on the Knyvet Family, which is the subject of "The Knyvet Letters," compiled by Dr. Bertram Schofield, of the British Museum, and published in 1949 by Contable & Col, Ltd., in collaboration with the Norwich Record Society. This book contains many letters written by Sir Thomas Knyvett to his wife while a prisoner of the Roundheads, for he was a staunch Royalist. They are regarded by literary experts as being equal to, if they do not surpass, the Paston Letters in their value as material for the economic history of those turbulent days. 

The Manor was in the Knyvet family in 1660, when the Court Rolls to be handed over commence, and on failure of the male line it passed through Elizabeth, granddaughter of the writer of the letters, to the Wilson family: Robert Wilson held his last Court Baron in the Manor on 2nd November, 1831, while on the 26th September, 1862, the Court is that of the Right Hon. Robert Lord Berners. His last Court was held on the 3rd November ,1837, and the next was the General Customary Court of the Right Hon. and Reverend Henry Lord Berners held on 16th May, 1838. On the 12th May, 1851, the Court was that of the Right Hon. Henry William Lord Berners, whose last Court was held on the 3rd November, 1871, and the next was that of the Hon. Grenville Cholmondley and Sir Frederick Thomas Fowke, Bart., as Trustees of his will. The last Court of the Trustees was held in 1899 after which there were numerous "Out of Court" proceedings at the office at Norwich of Mr. W. E. Ripley, the Steward, the Trustees conveyed the Manor of Ashwelthorpe, Wreningham, and Fundenhall with Hapton to George Frederick Beaumont on 7th February, 1919, and he held  his first and only Court on 1st August, 1922, Ernest William Saunders being the Steward.

There are no customs of an unusual kind in these Manors. The Common Law rule of descent prevailed, i.e. primogeniture, and the Lord was entitled to a third fo the value of Timber on Tenants' copyhold property. 

Copies of the Knyvett Letters can be obtained from Mr. T. F. Barton No. 16 Albemarle Road, Norwich, Hon. Sec. of the Norfolk Record Society.

The Manorial documents (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court  Books: Ashwelthorpe 1660-1712; Ashwelthorpe with Wreningham 1728-58; 1759-90; 1791-1824; Ashwelthorpe 1825-64; 1865-1924; Wreningham 1819-41; 1841-1930.

Rental for the Two Manors: 1716-42. 

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2021 - Stephen Johnson

Suffolk has always been one of the wealthiest parts of England and one of the earliest areas to develop  sophisticated agriculture after the Roman Empire departed in the 5th century. Its rich, fertile lands ensured  that a good living could be made from relatively small holdings. This is why most parishes in the county have  a number of manors. The parish of Tunstall is no exception for this contains not just the named manor but  also that of Banyards, or Baynards. 

Tunstall is located a few miles East of Wickham Market and a five miles West of the North Sea coast. The manor of Banyards, or Baynards as it is sometimes referred, was centred on a farm of the same name and  a number of other parcels of freehold and copyhold land found both in the main village and in surrounding  parishes.

Little is recorded of the early history of the manor. It is likely that Banyards evolved from part of Tunstall  Manor The earliest known Lord of the Manor Richard de Holbroke, a wealthy Suffolk land owner but relatively  obscure for our purposes. In the following century the Manor passed to Richard Baynard, presumably from  whom the Manor is named and who was originally from Spexhall. The Baynard family laid claim to have  descended from Ralph Bainard, a powerful Norman lord who was award 44 Manors in Norfolk after the  invasion of 1066. At his death in 1428 Richard passed the Manor to his eldest son Robert. On his death it  passed to his daughter Margaret and in turn to her husband Thomas Bacon of Baconsthorpe who died in  1485. That these ladies and gentleman are rather scantily recorded in history is really a testament to the  wealth of Suffolk since these are families who began as villans, or free tenants, under noble lords who, over  the course of the 12th and 13th century could accrue land to become farmers and then minor landowners,  essentially the first expression of the English middle classes. There were wealthy enough to own manors but made little impression on the great historical moments of their day. It is through their property that there  are remembered.   

The descent of Banyards then become a complicated  affair of female heirs and marriages. Thomas Bacon  died in 1485 and the Manor remained with his wife  Margaret. She is thought to have married gentleman  of the name Wingfield. At her death in 1504 she left three granddaughters- Elizabeth, Eleanor and  Katherine. The Manor ultimately appears to have  passed to the former since it was her husband, Sir  John Glemham, of Glemham Hall who was holding  it at his death in 1537. Banyards passed to his son Sir  Henry Glemham who served as deputy-lieutenant  of Suffolk. 

He was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas in 1632. This scion of the family is perhaps its most celebrated  son. Born in 1594 he was educated at Oxford after which he betook himself to the German wars, serving  in various continental armies until 1617 when he was knighted by James I. He was elected a member of  Parliament for Reigate in 1621 and succeeded to the Glemham estate a year later though he continued his  military career through the 1630s. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 he rallied to the Royal cause  and was with Charles I at York and he was appointed Governor of the city a few months later. The city was  famously besieged by Parliamentary forces in 1643 and Glemham managed to organise a successful defence  until relieved by Prince Rupert. after the Prince’s sounding defeat at Marston Moor, Glemham was left with  a mere 1500 men to defend York but he held out for two months before being allowed to leave the city  with his men when his defeat became inevitable. He remained one of the king’s most important and trusted  officers. He was appointed as Commander in Chief of the four Northern Counties in 1644, and based himself in Carlisle. Later he was appointed Governor of Oxford and resisted a fierce siege at the hands of Sir  Thomas Fairfax before he was ordered to surrender  by Charles, who had been captured by the Scots.  Glemham remained loyal to the king to the bitter  end of the war and in 1648 he was a commander  of the Royalist remnant army which marched from  Scotland into Northern England hoping to spark a  royalist rebellion. At the Battle of Preston they were  finally defeated and Glemham fled into exile in the Netherlands. He never returned to England. 

After Glemham’s death in 1649, Banyards passed to  his son Sir Sackville Glemham and thence to his son,  Thomas who sold the Manor to Sir Dudley North.  Barnyards eventually became the property of the Earls  of Guildford, who retained it into the 20th century  before it was purchased by the Cobbold family who  held it until the 1980s when it was possessed by a  private buyer. 

Manorial Documents Associated With This Manor:

1575-1600: extent, with other manors British Library, Manuscript Collections 

1360-1604: court extracts (vol, compiled 17th cent) Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich Branch 

1603-1603: rental (in vol with other records) 

1619-1921: court books (4, indexed) 

1620-1708: steward’s papers, chiefly surrenders, admissions, verdicts and presentments, with other  manors (5 bundles) 

1653-1682: minute books, with other manors (2) 

1709-1763: court rolls (2) 

1710-1710: schedule of court books, surveys  and rentals, with other manors 

1761-1921: minute book 

1766-1779: quit rents, with other manors (14) 

1780-1785: rentals (6) 

1819-1833: rentals, with other manors (6) 

1819-1831: steward’s papers (1 bundle) 

1820-1820: rental, with other manors 

1832-1923: steward’s papers, chiefly admissions, surrenders and enfranchisements (1 bundle) 

1835-1941: papers relating to enfranchisement of  copyhold land and compensation of manorial  incidents, with other manors (7 bundles) 

1842: rental, with other manors 

1858-1858: rental, with other manors  (in bundle with other papers) 

1864-1870: steward’s papers (1 bundle) 

1876-1891: rentals, with Over Pistries (2) 

1903-1903: rental, with other manors 

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

This manor is of an ancient lineage. It is first mentioned as a possession of Bishop Aldun of Durham, in the early 11th century, when it was granted to Ughtred, Earl of Northumberland and the Danes, Ethred and Northman. The Lordship lies in the parish of Forcett and formed one of the berewicks within it but if  formed a detached part, to the north, on the south bank of the River Tees. 

The early history of the manor, after the Norman Invasion, is rather unclear but it appears to have  been essentially divided into two parcel of roughly three carucates each - this being a measurement which,  today, is hard to gauge but is thought to have been between 20 and 50 acres. Robert de Perham is noted as  holding three carucates in 1202 and three were held by William le Norris. The former seems to have passed  to Geoffrey Scales by 1212, and 20 years late was in the hands of “Master’ John de Popelint, who is noted  as holding half a knights fee in Barforth in 1233. In 1286 the Lord of these lands was Roald de Richmond,  whose tenants were the Barforth family who are confusingly recorded as the Lords of the Manor of Barforth  in 1224. It is therefore supposed that Roald de Richmond was in fact the over-lord and that this eventually  passed to the Scrope family of Bolton, before vanishing into irrelevance in the 16th century. 

Waldief de Barforth is the first named of the eponymous family. He is noted as owing Henry II one mark in 1156. His son, Rober t, is the first named Lord of Barfor th, and he left his granddaughter, Emma, as his heiress in around 1227. She married John de Barforth (presumably a cousin) and their son Robert was  Lord of Barforth in 1256. At his death in 1279 the estate passed to his sister Felise and her second husband,  Thomas de Cleasby, became Lord of Barforth. There seems to have been a rather limited pool of suitable  families in North Yorkshire, since Emma Barfor h had married Harsculph de Cleasby, who died in 1280 and she was returned as the sole tenant of the manor in 1286. The fate of Felise is noted recorded, but Emma is  said to have died in 1292 and Barforth then passed to her daughter in law, Amabel, Lady of Cleasby 

The Barforth estate passed through marriage to her son-in-law, Rober t de Hastings who, along with his wife Emma, obtained a grant of free warren here in around 1310. The couple had no children and after  the death of her husband, Emma married for a second time to Henry Fitz Hugh of Reavensworth. They then settled Barforth on their daughter, Christina, who married John de Layton, son of Sir Thomas. The couple  enjoyed possession of their manor until 1353 when they settled it on their male heirs with a remainder to  their daughter. Evidently she survived her brothers as she held the manor at the time of her marriage to  Henry Pudsey of Bolton in Craven. she died in 1424. 

If we revert briefly to the second estate of three carucates which had belonged to William le Norris, these passed to his son Hugh and in 1256, they were held by his son (or grandson) Geoffrey le Norris. He remained in possession of this land until 1290 when they seem to have reverted to their overlords, the Earls  Of Richmond. These remained with the Earls for sometime but at some point, likely in the latter half of the  14th century, they were granted or sold to the Pudsey family since they held the whole manor by the 1420s. 

The Pudsey family remained as Lords of Barforth for the next two and a half centuries. It was sold  in 1660 to Sir Barrington Bourchier of Beningbrough, who was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1658. Bourchier’s  father, John, had been a regicide in 1649 and the family estates had been forfeited. It is perhaps rather odd  that Sir Barrington would have been an official under the Commonwealth. Two years later, when Charles II was restored, Sir Barrington’s estates were returned and he purchased Barforth. The manor remained in  the hands of the Bourchier family until 1768 when the last of the male line Ralph died. It descended to his  daughter Margaret, wife of Giles Earle and the two subsequently sold Barforth to Francis Fawkes of Farmley  Hall in Forcett. Within a few years it had passed to his son, Walter. The family sold the manor in 1802 to Edward, Lord Harewood. In the 1920s the manor was purchased by Robert Edleston and passed to the family of the present owner. 

Lot #13 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

This manor is of an ancient lineage. It is first mentioned as a possession of Bishop Aldun of Durham,  in the early 11th century, when it was granted to Ughtred, Earl of Northumberland, and the Danes, Ethred  and Northman. The Lordship lies in the parish of Forcett and formed one of the berewicks within it but it  formed a detached part, to the north, on the south bank of the River Tees. 

The early history of the manor, after the Norman Invasion, is rather unclear but it appears to have  been essentially divided into two parcels of roughly three carucates each - this being a measurement which,  today, is hard to gauge but is thought to have been between 20 and 50 acres. This is a division of one manor  into two separate manors which ultimately descended to different owners after being reunited for a time in  the 15th century. This, our manor of Barforth, eventually passed to the Bowes family, and then to the family  of the present owner in the mid-twentieth century and this history will do its best to describe this descent.  The Bowes family are best remembered today in the person of the late Queen Mother, who died in 2002. 

The descent of the division of Barforth which passed to the Bowes’ until the 13th century is obscure,  to say the least. The earliest reference comes when the manor was granted to Agnes, the niece of Barnard  Balliol on her marriage to Sir John Trayne in around 1300. The gift also included the manors of Stainton,  Broomlaw and Streatlam. There is evidence to suggest that the Trayne family had been tenants of the Baliol  family, who held the barony extending from Barnard Castle, and may have even been Lords of the the manor  of Barforth. Their daughter and heiress (whose name is not recorded) married Sir Adam Bowes, captain of  Bowes castle and leader of 500 archers. The Bowes (and Bowes-Lyon) ownership of the manor would last  for the next 650 years. Sir Adam is thought to have descended from the Norman commander, Alan the Black,  who had come to England with The Conqueror. 

The Bowes were a martial family. Adam’s son, Sir William was created a knight banneret after the  battle of Poitiers in 1346. His son, Sir Robert, was killed at the Battle of Beaurge with the Duke of Clarence,  in 1421. His son, also Sir Robert, fought at the Battle of Verneuil in 1424 and on his return home from the  French Wars, oversaw the construction of Streatlam Castle. 

In 1540 Sir George Bowes granted the manor of Barforth  to his kinsman, Robert Bowes of Aske for a lease of 21 years. In  1603 it formed part of a legal case in the Court of Chancery  between William Ewre and his wife Katherine and George Bowes. This followed the death of Sir William Bowes, who had been Lord  of the Manor. Katherine was his daughter and George, his son. It  appears that George was the winner of the case since, on his death  in 1609, there was a further legal battle between his eldest son Sir  William Bowes and his brother, Talbot. Barforth was one of a number  of manors, including the Bowes home estate at Streatlam, included in  the action.  

In 1760 the Bowes estate passed to Mary Eleanor Bowes,  daughter and heiress of Sir George Bowes. At the time the vast  estate was estimated to be worth between £600,000 and £1,000,000  - between £100M and £200M today. She was easily the richest  woman in England at the time of her marriage, in 1767 (aged 18) to  John Lyon, the 9th Earl of Strathmore. Their son and heir, John, took  the surname Bowes-Lyon on inheriting the Earldom in 1776.  

He is widely remembered as having a long relationship with Mary Milner, the daughter of his gardener, and  they had a son, John Bowes, who was known as Lord Glamis. The Earl attempted to legitimise his son by  marrying Mary on his death bed in 1820, but the estate instead passed to his younger brother, Thomas. The  manor was ‘sold’ in 1801 by the Earl to his tenant, but this arrangement was a legal fiction in order to raise  money on the estate and to ‘bar the entail”. This was likely an attempt by the Earl to prevent the estate  passing to his brother.

The manor remained in the hands of the Earls of Strathmore until 1954 when it was sold to Mr R H  Edelston. It has since descended to the present owner. 

Lot #10 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

(In association with Strutt & Parker)

Beauchamps, pronounced “Beecham”, is one of two manors found in the village of Oakley. It sits on the southern banks of the river Waveney between Honxe and Scole.  

Though the manor is not recorded by name in Domesday Book there are three estates recorded  here and it is likely that it descended from that which was held by Robert Malet, who was Lord of the Honor  of Eye. 

 The first mention of the Manor by name occurs in the early 13th century when it is recorded as being vested in Arnold de Charnels. The death of this obscure figure likely occurred during the reign of King John and his son, John was recorded as Lord of the Manor here in 1234. By the reign of Edward I (1272- 1307) the manor was held by Goscelin de Lodne. After his death it descended to Alice, his eldest daughter  and coheir. The manor of Oakley was left to his fourth daughter, Emma. The first mention of the Manor by name occurs in the early 13th century when it is recorded as being vested in Arnold de Charnels. The death of this obscure figure likely occurred during the reign of King John and his son, John was recorded as Lord of the Manor here in 1234. By the reign of Edward I (1272- 1307) the manor was held by Goscelin de Lodne. After his death it descended to Alice, his eldest daughter  and coheir. The manor of Oakley was left to his fourth daughter, Emma. 

Alice was married to William de Beauchamp, the family from whom the manor then took its name.  This family hailed from Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire and had arrived with the Conqueror in 1066.  The Suffolk Beauchamps appear to be a cadet branch and retained the Lordship for several generations. In  1276 Matilda de Beauchamp is recorded as enforcing an action against one of her tenants in the manor, John  de Hoo and in 1299 it had passed to John de Beauchamp de Fifelude. In 1319 Beauchamps is noted as being  in the possession of Nicholas de Beaufoe but his relationship to the Beauchamps remains unrecorded.  

The descent of the Lordship from Beaufoe is uncertain but by the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) is had come into the possession of Sir John Heveningham who granted it to Sir Bartholemew Bacon and his  wife Joan. Bacon died in 1392 and left his estate, including the manor of Beauchamps to his sister, Isabel. She  was the wife of Sir Oliver Calthorpe of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk who had been High Sheriff of that county in 1376. Sir William Calthorpe succeeded to the manor in around 1411. He was married to Eleanor Mantley  and died in 1420. Beauchamps remained in the Calthorpe family for a number of succeeding generations but  in 1519 it was found to be the property of Sir John Cornwallis.  

Sir John was succeeded by his son, Thomas Cornwallis who was, famously, Governor of Calais which  fell to France during his tenure. Cornwallis later built a Suffolk home at Brome Hall. Some accused him of  treachery and one anonymous contemporary coined the phrase; 

Who built Brome Hall? 

Sir Thomas Cornwallis.

How did he build it? 

By selling of Calais. 

On his death in 1604, aged 86, a magnificent marble tomb was erected in his honour at the parish church in Brome, which is still on display. His heir was his eldest son, Sir William, who was a leading member  of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex’s colonial expedition to Ireland in 1599 He was knighted for his part in  this at Dublin in that same year. On his death Brome Hall passed to his younger son Frederick, who served in the household of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I and travelled with him to Spain. He was created a  baronet in 1627 and knighted in 1630, by which point he had succeeded to the entire Cornwallis estate on  the death of his elder brother, William. Being a staunch Royalist, Frederick fought for for Charles I during the  Civil War and distinguished himself at the Battle of Cropredy in June 1644 where he rescued Lord Wilmot  from capture. Unfortunately, after the Parliamentarian victory his estate was sequestered and he followed  Charles II into exile, only returning with the King in 1660. A year later, as a reward for his loyalty, he was  created Lord Cornwallis of Eye but died only a few weeks later.

Beauchamps remained in the possession of the Cornwallis family until 1823 when the it estate was sold to Mattias Kerrison of Oakley Park. The manor eventually passed with the Oakley estate to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains.

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1522-1532: minute book, Norfolk Record Office 

1471-1476 Court Roll, Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1546-1649: court rolls (3) 

1551-1551: rental 

1555-1558: bailiff ’s accounts, with other manors 

1556-1600: rentals (non-consecutive) 

1556-1577: account book (non-consecutive) 

1570-1573: minute book 

1575-1600: court extracts, surveys and rentals 

1575-1600: survey 

1597-1672: bailiff ’s views of accounts (non-consecutive) 

1601-1601: terrier 1612-1717: court books 

1641-1647: rentals 

1658-1671: rentals 

1740-1793: minute book 

1740-1740: estreats, with other manors 

1748-1763: steward’s papers (1 bundle) 

1750-1750: particulars of customs 

1757-1800: rentals (non-consecutive) 

1762-1925: court book (indexed) 

1783-1783: schedule of court records 

1793-1797: accounts of court profits 

1797-1797: court fees book 

1798-1799: surveys (49)

1823-1832: court fines received 

1835-1835: rental 

1884-1884: rental 

1887-1897: minute book 

Lot #16 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

Lindsey is a parish and village 4 1/2 miles north-west of Hadleigh. 

This was the Lordship of Godfrey de Bellemonte (the Latin name for Beaumont) in the time of Edward I and he had a grant of free warren here in 1291. 

"The Manor was given about 1474 to the College of Denston by Sir John Howard and John Broughton, and there it remained until the Dissolution" (Copinger, Vol. III, p. 195), when it became the property of the Crown. 

In 1548, Simon Sampson seems to have held a third part, but the Manor later became the property of Thomas Smith. In 1568 it was acquired by Anthony Cage, and in 1609 William Cage was the Lord. Later it belonged to Samuel Warner - who also owned the Manor of Callis at the same time - and like Callis the Lordship passed after his death to his daughters before being acquired by Job Hanmer, who purchased it in about 1787. It then passed to John Sparked by purchase in 1836 and was vested in the Reverend F. L. Hayward for a period before being purchased y Joseph Beaumont in 1881. 

The custom of descent, viz., Borough-English, is found in this Manor, for in the Court of 14th September, 1738, appears the entry: "Now at this Court cometh here into Court George Parsons youngest son and heir according to the custom of this Manor and putteth himself upon the favour of the Lord and Ladies of the Manor and humbly prayeth to the said Premisses of which his said father so dyed seized to be admitted Tenant."

The amercement of Defaulters in attendance at Court was threepence. 

The following Court Books (insured for £150, premium 7/6 per annum) will be handed over on Completion: 1737-1845 (two books in one volume); 1744-74 (duplicating part of 1737-1845); 1846-1918. 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - Summer 2020 - Stephen Johnson

Begbroke is an ancient village and parish lying a few miles north of Oxford on the main road to Woodstock.  Its boundaries, in part, predate the Norman invasion and include the Rowel Brook to the north and the  ancient Frogwelldown Lane to the south-west. It take’s its name from “Becca’s Brook”, a reference to its  Saxon founder and its position by the river.

At the time of the great Norman survey of 1086, Domesday Book, Begbroke it is recorded as belonging  to the fief of William FitzOsbern, earl of Hereford but in 1075 his son, Roger, rebelled against King William  and the FitzOsberns were stripped of their lands. Begbroke was regranted to Walter de Lacy. In 1086 it was  therefore in the possession of his son Roger. It was tenanted by Ralph and it was with his descent that the  manor eventually passed. The De Lacy family remained as overlords, as part of the honour of Ludlow, until  1356 when it passed to the Roger Mortimer, earl of March. The last mention of the overlordship occurs in  1428.

Little is recorded of the manor until the end of the 12th, which is not unusual in an era of few records. In the  1180s it was the property of the de Saussay family of Kiddington. The male line became extinct in the the  mid-13th century and the manor duly passed to Richard Williamscot, grandson of Sibyl de Saussay. Around  this time, or very soon afterwards, the manor of Begbroke appears to have been divided into two. One part  eventually passed to the dukes of Marlborough but our manor descended quite separately. By the end of  the 13th century it was held by the Lyons family of Duns Tew. This was an ancient clan who had arrived in  England with the Conqueror and became established at Warkworth in Northamptonshire. It was one of  the richest families in England who were not ennobled but money cannot buy everything and the male line  ended with Sir john Lyons who died in 1385. He was succeeded by his only daughter Elizabeth, who married  Sir John Chetwode, who in turn became Lord of Warkworth.   

Begbroke remained as one of the Chetwode  family’s outlying manors until 1599 when it was  sold to Sir William Spencer of Yarntom. His son,  who inherited the manor in 1622 was described  during the turbulent 1640s as a ‘great papist’ and  fought with the Royalist side during the Civil War  despite being investigated in 1636 by the king for  his supposed ‘scandalous living’. His son, Sir Thomas,  sat as MP for Woodstock after the wars from 1660  and died in 1685. Ten years later Begbroke was sold  once more, this time to Sir Robert Dashwood. He  was the son of a London merchant and built up  and was granted a baronetcy by Charles II in 1684  and sat as an MP for Banbury where he became  identified with the ermine Tories, or county party  within Parliament. At his death in 1734 the manor  passed to his son James, the 2nd Baronet who built  the family home at Kirtlington a few miles to the  north. This Dashwood was an avowed Tory and  even considered himself a Jacobite, refusing to join  the Oxfordshire Militia at the time of the 1745  Rebellion. He died in 1779 and Begbrooke passed  to his eldest son Henry. The manor remained in the  hands of the Dashwood family until the latter half  of the 20th century. 

Begbroke was one of the last villages in England to use an open field system in agriculture. This traditional  form of farming, using three or four huge open field divided into narrow strips was the common land form  in central England until the 18th century when almost all were divided up by the Acts of Enclosure. A few  survived into the 19th century and even fewer into the 20th. In 1910 it was reported that the meadows in  Begbroke remained divided in strips which were let annually by lot. This was conducted using thirteen balls  inscribed with the names of village families, most of whom had resided there since the 13th century. Each  ball was drawn to determine who held which strip for that year. It is believed that the area of meadow thus  allotted corresponds to the 4 and a half hides of meadow mentioned in Domesday Book as belonging to  the manor. The practise continued until after the Second World War. 

Manorial Documents Associated With This Manor:

1691-1692: rentals, with Yarnton (3) Oxfordshire History Centre 

1694-1694: rental and valuation, with Yarnton 

1694-1694: valuation and rental, with Yarnton 

Lot #13 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Belper lies in the heart of Derbyshire and owes its current size to the Industrial Reveloution of the  late 18th Century. The world’s second water-powered cotton mill was built here by Jedediah Strutt in 1784.  The town’s name is thought to be a corruption of Beaurepaire meaning a beautiful retreat and is linked to a  hunting lodge of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, who was Lord of Belper in the late 13th century. 

The earliest references to Belper appear to be in Domesday Book where it is referred to as Bradelei  and was formed as part of the great lordship or honour, of Duffield. This lordship was centred on Duffield  Castle, erected to protect the royal hunting ground of Duffield Frith. It was known as a fee because within its  control originally lay a number of manors comprising Duffield, Belper, Alderwasley, Biggin, Hazelwood, Heage,  Holbrook, Hulland, Idridgehay, Southwood, Turnditch and Windley. This history and descent of these manors  is the same as that of Duffield Fee.After the Norman invasion the whole area, known as the Amber Valley,  was granted to Henry de Ferrers, as part of the great Honor of Tutbury. Ferrers owned a huge amount of  land in Derbyshire estates, centred on nearby Duffield Castle which was erected to defend it. The original  castle was destroyed in 1173 after William De Ferrers took part in the rebellion of the sons of Prince Henry  against his father, Henry II. The family restored its position under the rule of John and a second castle was  built on the same site, to the north of the village centre, on a prominence above a bend in the river. 

In 1266 de Ferrers fought against Henry III in a rebellion against the king’s perceived favouritism  towards foreigners. After a rebel defeat at Chesterfield, Belper, as part of Duffield was seized and regranted  to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. Duffield castle was destroyed, this time permanently but the honour remained,  with Belper as part of it.  

Belper remained a possession of the Duchy, and after the succession of Henry IV, the Crown, until  1628 when it was sold by Charles I to the Corporation of the City of London. Within a year the Corporation  sold its interest to Sir Edward Leche, keeping the sub-manors of Heage and Holbrook. Leche was appointed  a Master in Chancery in 1619 and knighted in September 1621, and owned other properties in Derbyshire  such as Hathersage, Over Padley and Nether Padley as well as land in Suffolk and his main residence at  Squerries in Kent. During the Commonwealth period, Sir Edward seems to have benefited greatly as he  rapidly acquired the wool and lamb tithes for a number of his Derbyshire parishes and amassed considerable  wealth. He died in 1652. 

After the death of Sir William Leche or Leech in 1673 there was a period of some legal dispute with  Sir Ambrose Philips being Lord of the Manor from 1674 to 1678 and then Philip Jodrell. Sir William Leech  certainly had land in Belper, this is explicitly mentioned in his will of 1673;  

to son William, £3,000 at 21, out of manors, lands etc, prebend or rectories of Sawley and Wilne; to son  Philip, land near ‘Beaureper’ [Belper] called Bradley land, and £1,000 at 21, out of lands to be sold; if John, William  or Philip die before 21, the survivor 

However, Paul Jodrell is recorded as Lord of the Manor in 1696. The Jodrell family were members of  the Derbyshire landed gentry and could trace their lineage back to the 13th century. The Derbyshire Jodrells  were a cadet branch of the Cheshire family who lived at Yeardsley in Cheshire.

The manor remained with the Jodrell family for the next 200 years when it was sold to Sir Timothy  White in 1891. Sir Timothy was the founder of the chemist chain “Timothy Whites” which was a high street  staple until the 1980s. In 1976 Sir John White sold the manor which was then sold again in 1998 to the family  of the present holder.

The manor of Belper was one of the administrative centres of the Honour, and courts would often  meet here. There was a manor house which no longer remains, but Manor Farm House, situated on New  Breck Road, in the town, still stands and is a Grade II listed building.  

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1278-1611: court roll (non consecutive) The National Archives 

1326-1328: reeve’s accounts 

1333-1334: court roll 

1333-1340: court rolls 

1357-1363: reeve’s accounts 

1370-1378: ministers’ accounts 

1399-1401: valors 

1400-1402: ministers’ accounts, with other manors 

1409-1414: court rolls, with other manors 

1414-1415: rental 

1416-1421: ministers’ accounts 

1419-1444: ministers’ accounts, with other manors 

1428-1442: court rolls, with other manors 

1439-1547: ministers’ accounts (non consecutive) 

1536-1537: list of bondholders Derbyshire Record Office 

1588-1676: book of extracts on copyhold estates from court rolls 

1596-1607: court book 

1613-1628: court books 

1616-1626: court rolls 

1640-1790: court books, including drafts (Duffield Fee) 

1746-1775: verdicts (bundle) 

1824-1925: court books, including drafts (Duffield Fee) 

1608-1610: court book Norfolk Record Office 

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

(Among 2-3% of manors which are registered with HM's Land Registry - Title #: BK385159)

The manor of Benham Lovell is one of several estates in the large parish of Speen and is part of the township  of Benham. It lies a mile or two from Newbury on lowland formed by the River Kennet. The area is perhaps  most famous for the introduction of the “Speenhamland” poor relief system after the failed harvest of 1795. 

The Lordship of the Manor of Benham Lovell is first mentioned in 1198 when Osber t Lovell is documented as receiving a grant of land worth 100 shillings. He was succeeded by his son William who died  before 1213. His widow, Emma, paid the king (Henry III) 60 shillings to receive custody of the lands of her  deceased husband. She remarried Anger the Hunter on whom information is sadly scant. His young son,  William, was made a ward of his uncle Robert, who was a chaplain to the king. Emma appealed to Henry  and she was able to claim her son back, and after she died he became Lord of the Manor of Benham Lovell.  In 1242 William was recorded as being a royal huntsmen, which was a court position and was rewarded  with blue and green robes. According to some sources, the manor was held from the king by the Serjeanty of seeing a kennel of harriers at the Kings Croft, though in other records it is bloodhounds. On his death in 1275, William’s son, William, was a minor, and for a time the manor was held by the king’s serjeant, Robert le  Pestur. By 1284,William had taken control of his lands but died sometime before 1306. 

William’s son, John became Lord of the Manor and held Benham Lovell as half a knight; fee from the  king and also by dint of having to provide one man and one horse in armour to the king whenever he was  a fighting a war in the British Isles. He was also the hereditary King’s Master of Buckhounds, a title which had been held by his father. He role was to provide the king with suitable dogs whenever the king was hunting  deer. He lived only until 1316 when the estate passed to Thomas and Margaret de Borhunte. Borhunte must  have been a relative of Lovell’s since he became Master of Buckhounds after 1316.  

Thomas died in 1340 and Benham Lovell (as is had became known) eventually passed to his son,  John who did not inherit his father’s court position, only his property. His mother is noted as settling the  Queen Katherine of Aragon  6 lordship on him and his wife Mary, in 1341. She had married William  Danvers and he is recorded as Lord in 1349. The fate of John and  Mary’s ownership is not recorded. Danvers appears to have ignored  his wife’s deed of settlement and sold Benham Valence to Edward III  in 1354.  

Together with the royal manor of Hampstead Marshall,  Benham Lovell was granted to the king’s daughter Isabella, in advance  of her marriage to the wealthy French nobleman, Enguerrand VII,  Lord of Courcy (later Earl of Bedford). In 1382, Isabella’s trustees granted the manor to one her maids, a Frenchwoman called Isabel  de Feye on condition that she survived her mistress. This she duly  did and she took livery of the manor, with her husband, Richard  Herfeld, in 1392. He inherited the property when his wife died in  1408. On his death, a few years later it reverted to the Crown and in 1443 Henry VI granted it to his serjeant, John Norreys. In 1465  it was granted again, this time to the benefit of Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV, who had seized the throne from Henry VI. In 1471, when Edward was crowned for a second time, the rents of  Benham Lovell were granted to the king’s brother, George Duke of Clarence but the manor remained the proper ty of Elizabeth until Henry VII took the throne in 1485. 

With the rise of the Tudor dynasty, the manor remained a property of the Crown but was leased  out, or granted, firstly to Roger Cheyne in 1487 and then, in dower, to Queen Katherine of Aragon in 1509. She retained the property even after her divorce from Henry, but on her death in 1536, Henry passed the  manor to his third Queen, Jane Seymour. After her death a year later, Benham Lovell returned to the Crown  for almost for ty years before being finally granted as a freehold to a wealthy clothier, John Yate, in 1574. Five years later his son, Edward, sold the manor to Thomas Parry, who had also purchased the nearby manor of  Welford. Parry was the son of a notable courtier and sat as a Member of Parliament for Bridport in Dorset  throughout the 1570s and 1580s. In 1593 he was made Sheriff of Berkshire. He was knighted by Elizabeth in 1601 and was persuaded to become the English ambassador to France for four years. His wife, Dorothy  Brooke, had been a maid of honour to the Queen. On his death in 1616, the manor passed to his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Knyvett but a year later the estate was sold to Sir Francis Jones, an alderman of Aldgate in the  Haberdashers’ Company. He had served as sheriff for the City of London in 1610 and lord mayor in 1620  and died at Welford (which he had also purchased). In 1622 he had settled this estate upon his son Abraham  Jones of the Middle Temple and Susan his wife and after his death Benham Lovell passed to them. The manor  remained in the Jones family until the marriage of Mary to John Archer in 1680. After both Mary and John died in 1702 the estate passed to William Eyre, John’s brother-in-law. He took the name Archer and when he died in 1729 the manor passed to his son, John. On his death in 1800 it descended to his daughter, Eleanora, the wife of Jacob Houblon of Great Hallingbury in Essex. 

  Jacob Houblon was a classic member of the 18th century Landed Gentry. He sat in Parliament for over thirty years for Colchester and then Hertford and represented the Tory faction after becoming a  ‘country squire’. Indeed, when he married Mary Hyde Cotton in 1735 he became connected to the ‘Jacobite’  faction of which her father, Sir John Hyne Cotton, was a leading light. He later joined the Cocoa Tree Club,  the headquarters of the Jacobite Tory faction. After the failed rebellion led by Prince Charles Stuart in 1745  the Jacobite cause was dealt a near fatal blow and it is perhaps unsurprising that he did not stand at the next  election in 1747. He did return to Parliament in the 1760s as an independent.  

The Houblon family, later Archer-Houblon, remained as Lords of the Manor of Benham Lovell until the late 20th century when their descendant, Mrs. Puxley, sold it to a private buyer. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1437-1437: valor, Surrey History Centre 

1441-1445: court roll, The National Archive 

1502-1504: court roll 1517-1517: court roll 

1441-1660: extracts from court rolls Royal Berkshire Archives 

1537-1541: court roll 

1547: survey 

1547/1550: rental 1517-1519: court roll 

1554-1556: bailiff ’s receipts from the Exchequer 

1558-1731: court rolls (non-consecutive) 

1615-1615: rental 

1671-1763: stewards papers (non-consecutive) 

1680-1680: particular 

1730-1732: letters and papers 

1735-1763: presentments (bundle) 

1743-1744: survey 

Lot #3 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

with historic rights to fair

THIS IS A VERY extensive parish, covering over 8,000 acres. It lies six miles north of Wareham and 11 miles from Poole. It derives its name from the Saxon Byri, or Byrig, which means a town or fort and there is good reason to suppose that there was Roman station here. On Woodbury hill is a large earthen encampment, which overlooked the Roman road which ran to Dorchester. Though the fort itself was the Roman the earth works were ancient British. The hill was the scene of an annual fair which began on September 18 and ran for five days. The right to hold the fair was purchased by the eventual owners of the Lordship, the Drax family and it was considered to be on of the most important of its kind in Western England. In its 18th century heyday it attracted traders from the both London and the Midlands who traded in hops, cheese, cloth and horses.

Bere Regis received its royal appendage from its ownership of King Edward the Martyr. After the Norman invasion of 1066 it was taken as part of the royal demesne and is recorded as belonging to William, along with Burton Bradstock and Colber. Little is known of the Lordship from this time, though there is a local tradition that King John had a castle here, though this is probably a reference to a manor house here which may have occasionally houses this wandering monarch. There are a few references to this house and John appears to have visited Bere in 1204, 1205, 1206, 1207, 1213 and 1215.

During reign of Henry III (1216-1272) Bere Re!gis was granted out to Simon De Montfort, one of the most ‘inspiring’ men of the Middle Ages, in the sense that he inspired absolute loyalty and admiration from some and total hatred from his opponents. His father had led the Albigesian Crusade and Simon came to England with his father in 1230. In the following year he made a claim for the Earldom of Leicester, which was upheld by Henry. His first action was to expel all the Jews from that city, a pogrom which was typical of the period and would culminate in their total expulsion from England under Edward I. Cementing his growing power in 1538, de Montfort, married the king’s sister, Eleanor. He then followed in his father’s footsteps and embarked an a Crusade to the holy Land in 1240. Two years later he returned to Western Europe and becaôme seneshal of Gascony for four years from 1248. Though he had gained a reputation as both a loyal soldier and efficient bureaucrat, Montfort began to gestate a number of financial grudges against Henry and a increasing contempt for the monarch’s administration. The king was seen to favour foreign interests at court, at the expense of the English nobles. After his misguided and disasterously expensive campaign to install his son, Edmund as King of Sicily, the Henry was forced by them to except a number of reforms, granting them more power. Montfort helped to draw up what became known as the Provisions of Oxford and the king spent the next few years in trying to wrench himself free of their constraints. This led to war and Montfort was a natural leader of the opposition. Initially Henry was successful in defending his position and Montfort was forced to leave for France in 1261. However the acquiescence of the Barons was short lived and in 1263 trouble again broke out between them and the King. Montfort came back to England and amassed an army to force the issue. The short war which followed culminated with Montfort’s decisive victory at the Battle of Lewes in May 1264. After the battle Montfort gained custody of both the King and his heir Edward, the Prince of Wales. This made Simon the de facto head of government and he immediately put into operation policies design to appease the native aristocracy and gentry; summoning a Parliament, in January 1265. His rule was short lived. Edward escaped and drew an up an army and confronted Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in August of that year where the rebel was beaten. He was slaughtered and dismembered on the Battlefield.

After Edward’s victory his father, now restored, granted Bere Regis to his brother Edmund who then granted it out to Tarent Abbey. A record of 1273 shows that the abbess held ‘her manor of B»ere, a fair, market, free warren and the whole forest of Bere.’ The whole estate was valued in 1291 at £16.

Tarent Abbey continued as Lords of the Manor of Bere Regis until the house was dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII in 1339. Seven years later the King granted it out to Robert Turberville in return for £608. This family were of ancient lineage and could trace their ancestry back to Paynede Turberville, who came to England with the Conqueror and who appears on the Battle Abbey Roll. The family were established in the area, especially at Sherborne, which was held by Henry de Turberville in 1217. In 1297 there is record of a Brian de Turberville as holding an estate in Somerset and Dorset. The family held a Lordship in Bere and this was being held by William Turberville at his death in 1461. This descended to his son, Richard who was also a tenant of the abbess of Tarent for land held in the Lordship of Bere Regis. His son and heir was John who held the office of Constable of Corfe Castle, a few miles to the south and was range of Purbeck Forest. In 1486, he was sheriff of Dorset, appointed by the new Tudor King, Henry VII (1485-1509).

John Turberville died in 1534 and by his will ordered that his body be buried in the parish church at Bere Regis, in the same tomb of his father. One of John’s sons was James, who became bishop of Exeter. Born at Bere Regis the the 1490s, he was educated at New College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1516. In 1541, after a number of years as a administrator of the university, Turberville then became rector of Hartfield in Sussex. Little is known of his subsequent career until he was consecrated as bishop in 1555. He was a Catholic by belief and on the accession of Elizabeth in 1558 opposed a number of anti-catholic measures introduced into the first Parliament of her reign. In 1559 he declined to take the oath of supremacy which placed the Queen at the head of the Church of England and was committed to the Tower for a short period. He spent the next four years under house arrest, but died a free man in 1570.

Meanwhile, after the death of John Turberville the family estates passed to his son George, from whom they passed to Robert, who, as mentioned above, was granted Bere Regis by Henry VIII. Robert died in 1559 and the Lordship then passed to his son Thomas. He died childless in 1587 so the estate then descended to his nephew, John. His son and heir, Thomas, died before him in 1628, son, when John died, in 1633, Bere passed to his grandson, Sir John Turberville. He sat as a Member of Parliament under the Commonwealth and was sheriff of Dorset in 1652. It is thought that he was knighted on the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. He had no children so at his death in 1666 Bere Regis came to his brother, Thomas, who lived until 1701. His son and heir was Thomas, who was married to Mary, the daughter of Thomas Trenchard. He died very soon afterwards, in 1704 and the Lordship then came to his daughter Mary, who was married to Grenville Eliot. 

After this point Bere Regis came to the Erle family. How this happened is rather obscure but it possible that it was purchased by Walter Erle, who was Thomas Trenchard’s son-in-law and consequently Mary’s brother-in-law. The Erle family held the Lordship after this date and their descendants, the Plunckett Ernle Erle Drax family, continue to hold it at the present day.

Documents associated with this Manor:

Compotus 1548-1549 Dorset Record Office

Survey 1619 Duchy of Cornwall

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - March 2023 - Stephen Johnson

A mile to the south of the Shropshire town of Ellesmere lies the Manor of Birch and Lyth. This was one of a  number of manorial sub-infeudations within the large manor of Ellesmere, which, until the end of the 20th Century,  was held by the Earls Brownlow.

Ellesmere was an important border manor, held before the Norman Conquest by the Earls of Mercia. In 1086  it was held by Rainald the Sheriff before being bestowed by Henry I on William Peverel of Dover. During the period  of civil war during the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) known as The Arnarchy, Ellesmere returned to the possession of  the Crown. In 1177 Henry II conferred it on a Welsh nobleman, David Fitz Owen who was married to the king’s sister,  Emma. By the end of the 12th century Emma was in sole charge of the estate since her husband had been imprisoned  by Prince Llewelyn. However, after he was released a year later it seems that King John had returned Ellesmere to his  own possession. Llewelyn was used as something of an English pawn in their dealings with the Welsh and he fell in and  out of favour with John depending whether matters were going the king’s way. After Henry came to the throne in 1216,  Ellesmere was restored to Llewelyn. The estate was centred on Ellesmere Castle and could be considered more or less  a barony in terms of administration.  

Ellesmere remained in the hands of the Crown for the next century but was leased out to a variety of nobles  such as John le Strange and Thomas Corbet who were charged with the defence of the English border from the North  Welsh. In 1280 Ellesmere Castle was settled on Sir Roger le Strange together with various sub-manors. This is the first  occasion when Birch and Lyth is mentioned. It is recorded in the grant that le Strange was granted 10 acres of assart  in Biche. Furthermore, William Smith of Birche held half a virgate by service of doing the shoeing and ironwork of teams and  mills in the Manor and in wartime in the Castle and forge all necessary implements.  

In 1309 Roger le Strange was was required by Edward II to undertake a commission on the extent of the  Ellesmere lordship. It was valued at £96 17s 7d per year and this had shown a marked increase since the Welsh had  been defeated by Edward’s father. It was noted in the survey for the first time the various sub-manors within the whole  lordship. These include Berche and Lythe as well as others such as Crikott and Grenhulle. The tenants of the various submanors paid £5 6s 8d in annual rent but in times of war this was commuted to the obligation to victual the Castle-guards. In 1330 the Lordship of Ellesmere, with Birch and Lyth, was granted by Edward III to Eubolo le Strange. From  him it passed to his cousin Roger le Strange de Knockin. From him it passed to his son Richard. He died leaving the  Lordship to his daughter, Elizabeth who was married to Roger Kynaston. John Kynaston died in 1477 leaving a daughter  Joan who was married to George Stanley, the son and heir of the 1st Earl of Derby. Birch and Lyth then descended  with Ellesmere for four generations of the Earls of Derby. In 1535 under a statute of Henry VIII Ellesmere cum members (and members) was unified with Pimhill Hundred.

During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558- 1603) William, 4th Earl of Derby, was allowed to sell Ellesmere and  its sub-manors, including Birch and Lyth, to Richard Spencer and Edward Savage. In the following year he received  permissions from the Queen to alienate the estate to Thomas Egerton, who served as Lord Chancellor under James  I and was was created Earl of Bridgewater in 1617. The fourth Earl, Scroop Egerton, was raised to the Dukedom of  Bridgwater in 1720. Birch and Lyth remained in the Egerton family until 1829. Under the will of the seventh and final  earl (the Dukedom having become extinct) the Manor was left in the hands of his widow, Charlotte, until her death in  1849 when it descended to her great-nephew John Home Cust, Viscount Alford, father of the second Earl Brownlow.  The Manor remained in the hands of the Earls Brownlow until the end of the 20th century.

The hamlet of Lyth, which forms part of the manor, is centred on a large house known as ‘The Lyth’. This lay  within 140 wooded acres and was home, in the 19th century, to the Jebb family. At the beginning of the 20th century  it was the home of Eglantyne Jebb, who was recently awarded the honour of Most Influential Salopian of the 20th  Century. She lived at Lyth during the early years of the century and was shocked by poverty among children on a visit  to London before the First World War. She was a co-founder of the charity, Save the Children and drafted the first  “Children’s Charter “ in 1923, a forerunner of the 1991 United Nations convention on the rights of children.  

Lot #14 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Tucked away in the far north of the county of Sussex lies the Manor and village of Blackham. It lies four miles  from Hever Castle, the home of Anne Boleyn, and five miles from Royal Tunbridge Wells in the neigbouring county of Kent. It forms part of the large parish of Withyham.  

The early history of Blackham is rather obscure but it is almost certain that at some point before  1086 the Manor was granted by Robert, Count Mortain to a small priory of Withyham. In 1100 Mortain’s  son, William, reconfirmed this grant. There does not appear to have been an actual priory building in the village since the house consisted of a single monk who was given the title of Prior of Withyham. In actual  fact the monk was attached to the priory of Marmoutier in Tours.

In 1296 the Subsidy rolls of Edward I note a return for the borough of Blackham but details of how  and when it was established as such are not forthcoming. Another return was made in 1327 listing 25 tenants.  It appears that Blackham remained a possession of the religious house until it was suppressed as an alien  (or foreign) house and the Manor appears to have been granted with that of Withyham to King’s College,  Cambridge. During the early par t of the reign of Elizabeth (1558-1603) the college sold Blackham to the Crown. 

In 1570 Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, was granted a rent of 110 shillings in fee simple from the  manor of Blakenham or Blackham. This suggest that the manor had remained in the hands of the Crown  after the Dissolution. It was finally granted to Lord Buckhust in 1592. This purchase was par t of a larger scheme to eventually secure 17 manors in this part of the county, all forming an estate around his house at  Buckhurst, Five years after the manor came into his possession it was surveyed in an estate document which  became know as the Buckhurst Terrier. The map is reproduced in this history and shows the demesne land  of the Lord of the Manor. This was the land which was owned and farmed by and on behalf of the lords and  on which his tenants would be required to undertake service. To the north is Blackham Common. This can  be seen, before its enclosure, on a map of Sussex surveyed by the Greenwood brothers in 1825. A good  portion of the rest of the Manor was made up of the freehold of John Ewridge. The field names for Blackham are particularly interesting; Riddle Field, Great Robbins and Coachman’s Rooms are especially evocative. This  is a very early example of an estate survey and was an extremely expensive business. Lord Buckhurst could  afford it after a career as one of the successful administrators of the reign of Elizabeth I.

Born in 1536,Thomas Sackville was the son of Sir Richard Sackville, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn and a privy councillor to Edward VI. Thomas excelled in public finance but was also a poet of some repute. His play, Gordoduc, was first performed in 1560 and was a source of inspiration for Shakespeare’s King  Lear. His literary career went hand in hand with his political. He sat as a MP for Westmorland in the 1550s and a diplomat in the 1560s. In 1566 he was appointed to negotiate a marriage between the Queen and  Archduke Charles of Austria but this came to nought. He remained a favourite of Elizabeth (often a perilous occupation) and she was said to enjoy his company, described by a contemporary as judicious but yet wittie  and delightful. In 1567 he was knighted and then created Baron Buckhurst. He was rich, handsome, intelligent and talented, all attributes which endeared him to the Queen. At this point he began to buy land in his native  Sussex. Like many cour tiers his relationship with Elizabeth waxed and waned but he proved himself a steady hand in organising the defence of the vulnerable Sussex coast against the Spanish Armada in 1588.  

Lord Buckhurst took his title from his estate at Buckhurst Park in Withyham just a couple of miles  south of Blackham and, as has already been noted, his added the manor to this estate in 1592. By the end  of the 16th century this had become too small for Sackville and when he was created 1st Earl of Dorset in 1604 he had moved to Knole. Blackham however remained as part of the family estate, eventually passing to  to Earls De La Warr who held it until the end of the 20th century. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1440-1440: rental, with Muncklow King’s College Archive Centre 

1659-1659: particular of Lodgefield Land, Kent History and Library Centre 

1704-1704: list of heriots, with other manors 

1732-1732: schedule of court books, with other manors 

1524-1570: court book, with other manors, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove 

Record Office (ESBHRO) 

1597-1598: survey, with other manors 

1613-1613: list of tenants (in court book) 

1618-1619: rental of demesne leases, with other manors 

1620-1620: book of heriots, with other manors 

1621-1639: court book, with other manors 

1640-1660: rental, with other manors 

1640-1640: rental, with other manors 

1680-1680: rental, with other manors 

1687-1687: court book, with other manors 

1690-1888: index to court books, with other manors 

1700-1700: court book, with other manors 

1715-1715: rental, with other manors 

1827-1902: court book, with other manors (indexed) 

1829-1829: rental, with other manors 

1843-1857: custumal, with other manors 

1843-1857: rental, with other manors 

1856-1861: account books, with other manors (5) 

Lot #11 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Two miles from the market town of Whitchurch lies  the Lordship of the Manor and township of Black Park. This  rural estate of over 1,300 acres is noted for being the site of  a Medieval castle belonging to the Earl of Shrewsbury. The  township contains two small lakes, Osmere and Blakemere. In recent times Black Park has become a division, sub-manor and  township within the Manor and parish of Whitchurch though  it was a manor in its own right whilst being a possession of the  famous Talbot family.  

The manor, sometimes known as Blackmere, after the  lake, was the site of a manor house held by the Le Strange  family as early as the 11th century. It was on this site that the  later castle was built when the manor passed to the Talbot family in the 14th century. There is some evidence of a moated platform and it is likely that the castle was  more of a family home than a military building. The manor passed through the marriage of Ankeret Le  Strange to Richard Talbot, in and around 1377. 

In 1418 Sir Gilber tTalbot died and at his Inquisition Post Mor tem, it was found that he had been Lord of Black Park. Further, it notes that jointly with his wife he held the manors of Black Park and Whitchurch with the  advowsons of Whitchurch and Ightfield, by the grant of Roger Thresk. parson of Whitchurch, Edward Sprynghouse  and John Camvyle, esquire to them and his heirs and assigns., by their charter shown to the jurors and dated Black  Park on 23 October 1413. Black Park manor is held go Gerald Isflet, knight, Elizabeth, duchess of Norfolk, Joan  Beauchamp, Lady Abergavenny, Roland Lanthale, Knight and his wife Margaret, service unknown, annual value  £100. 

Later, Black Park was the seat of Gilbert’s grandson, John, first Earl of Shrewsbury, and ancestor of the present Earl. Born at the castle in 1388,Talbot was the 4th Baron Talbot and on his marriage to Joan Funivall, that family’s heiress, became the Lord of Bittesby, in 1404. Talbot’s life was one of battle; he fought in Wales  as teenager and by 1413 he had been made Lieutenant of Ireland by Henry V. In 1419 Talbot travelled to  France, fighting at the sieges of Melun and Meaux, and later, after warring with his adversary in Ireland, the Earl of Ormonde, he returned to France where he took par t in the siege of Orleans. His fame and repute as a warrior was such that Joan of Arc was said to have believed that Talbot led the English forces. He  was later captured by the French at Patay where he had fought against overwhelming odds. He remained a  prisoner until 1433 when, on his release, he joined forces with the Duke of Burgundy. He remained in France  and is considered to have done much to keep Normandy in English hands. In 1442 he was created Earl of  Shrewsbury and made Constable of France. The next year he finally returned to England and was made, for the third time, Governor of Ireland, as well as receiving the Earldom of Waterford and the Hereditary  Lord Stewardship of Ireland. In 1452, as the French threatened Calais, Shrewsbury was sent to France as  Lieutenant of Aquitaine, with almost regal powers. After a bloody campaign Shrewsbury made a stand with  his English and Gascon troops at Castillon. Despite a brave charge from his men, to cries of ‘Talbot, Talbot, St  George’ the battle was lost and Shrewsbury killed. Despite this loss Shrewsbury remained one of the most  famous warriors of his age, on both sides of the channel. 

Black Park was the site of Talbot’s castle of which there are no remains. It is now a sub-manor and township of the manor and parish of Whitchurch. The manor was sold in 1590 and the castle soon fell  into ruins. The purchaser was Sir Thomas Egerton, a successful and wealthy lawyer, who made his fortune  during the reign of Elizabeth. Born in 1540, he was the illegitimate son of Sir Richard Eger ton of Ridley in Cheshire and a local unmarried woman, Alice Sparks. Unusually he was acknowledged by his father’s family and he received an excellent education at Oxford, and later took the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn. His legal career was remarkable and he was able to take advantage of the more tolerant Tudor attitude to those from  ‘unfortunate’ backgrounds. In 1581 he was appointed Solicitor General. As such, Eger ton played a major role in the prosecution of Mary, Queen of Scots and also of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, who was accused of  treason. In 1592, Eger ton was knighted and became Master of the Rolls. On the accession of James I in 1603, Egerton was created Baron Ellesmere and became Lord Chancellor. After his death, his estates, including the  manor of Black Park, passed to his son John, who was created Earl of Bridgewater; a title promised to his  father, but who had died before receiving it. The fourth Earl, Scroop Egerton was raised to the Dukedom of  Bridgwater in 1720 by which time the family were extremely wealthy. They famously used this wealth to pay  for the construction of the Bridgewater Canal between Runcorn and Leigh in Cheshire, the first great canal to be built in the 18th century. Black Park remained in the Eger ton family until 1829. Under the will of the seventh and final earl (the Dukedom having become extinct) the Manor was left in the hands of his widow, Charlotte, until her death in 1849 when it descended to her great-nephew John Home Cust, Viscount Alford, father of the second Earl Brownlow. The Manor remained in the hands of the Earls Brownlow until the end  of the 20th century.  

Lot #13 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Great Easton, Near Dunmow

Great Easton lies between Bishops Stortford and Braintree and the name of this Manor, According to Morant, is derived from the family of Blammster, and was vulgarly called Blamsted-Hall. He says that "Beatrix, daughter of WIlliam de Blammster, who died about 1280, held two carucates of land in the village of Estegnes ad Montem." 

George Pikenham, who died in 1499, is recorded as having held the Manor of "Blomesters" and we find it next in the Jennings family, "for George Mead, who died on the 22nde of May, 1602, held lands, called Great Ickley, in Eyston-Magna, of Richard Jennings, Gent., as of his Manor of Blauncetors-Hall." 

After passing into the Kendall family of Bassingbourns in Takeley, the Manor was acquired by John Tayleure, who as Remembrancer of the Exchequer. 

A Grange here, called Croys, belonged to Tiltey Abbey. The 63 acre of land in Great Easton, given to Tiltey Abbey by John de Ashe and John de Newport, were probably part of this farm. King Henry VIII on the suppression granted it to James Gunter and William Lewis tho sold it to Thomas Everard. The latter sold it in 1550 to William Pitch who sold it to John Meade of Henham in 1554. His son John gave Duton-Hill in this parish to his son, John. After remaining in the Meade family for at least two hundred years, the Manor eventually cam into the hands of Henry Dixon. 

At a General Court Baron or Customary Court, held for Henry Dixon on the 12th July, 1830, a license was granted to William Watson to fell certain fir trees on hi s copyhold land and a fine was paid to the Lord of one-third of their value, viz., £6 1s. 4d. At the same Court the Right  Honourable Henry Viscount Maynard acknowledged that he held as a free tenant a messuage and land called Crows at a yearly rent of one capon. 

At the Court Baron held on 11h August, 1862, the Homage "being sworn to do on their oaths present that the Rt. Hon. Henry viscount Maynard and others being respectively freehold tenants of this Manor, have neglected to appear to perform the suit and service which they owe to this Court and the said James Pomeroy and Robert Savill being sufficiently excused the remainder are respectively in mercy." At the Customary Court which followed the Court Baron absentee copyhold tenants except Eliza Tottman, who was sufficiently excused, were fined 6d. each. At the same Court there were grants of waste-land to John Mott Richardson and Joseph Smith of strips of land opposite or near Blamsters  Hall. Plans showing the pieces of land which were the subject of these grants, are drawn in the Court Book. 

In 1883, the Reverend Robert Collett held a Court and in 1841 Frances Mayler Collett Widow was Lady of the Manor. From 1859 to 1869 the Lord of the Manor was Thomas Oliver. On 5th December, 1872, was held the only General Court Baron and Customary Court of Joseph Beaumont, of Coggeshall, who had purchased the Manor from Thomas Oliver. Only two further entries appear in the Court Book after that Court. The first is a receipt given by Joseph Beaumont to  Henry Gibson and the Reverend George Edward Symonds of Thaxted, as Trustees of the Will of the Rt. Hon. Viscount Maynard for 9/4d. in full discharge of an annual free rent of one capon. 

The Following records (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Rolls: 1509 to 1830 (with a few omissions)

Court Books: 1830-1911

Index: 15 Court Rolls and Books, etc. 1509-1897

The conveyance of this Manor to Mr. Joseph Beaumont cannot be found, but if and when it is found it will be handed to the purchaser. As per Condition 4 of the Conditions of Sale and the Will of the late G.F. Beaumont is the root of title but the absence of the conveyance is mentioned here to avoid any query being raised by the purchaser or his solicitors. 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

At the time of Domesday Book, the parish of Blaxhall was divided amongst three landowners, all of whom who powerful Norman Lords; Robert Malet, Alan, Earl of Richmond and Roger Bigot. It appears that  there were only 250 acres of land under cultivation at this time and it is likely that over the next centuries  land was reclaimed from the marshes in the vicinity of the river Alder, a miles or so to the north.  

The manor of Blaxhall itself appears to have coalesced in the next century but it is not mentioned  in the public record until around 1280 when Sir Thomas de Weyland received a grant of free warren from  Edward I. Weyland also held the manor of Dunningworth, which seems to have been subsumed into Blaxhall and was previously held by the Bigots, so this provides some clue perhaps as to the origin of Blaxhall.  Weyland was a judge and in some accounts his is referred to as Edward I’s Chief Justice but in 1288 he was  found guilty of bribery and corruption; his whole estate was confiscated and he was banished from England. The details of Weyland’s actual crime sadly go unrecorded but he is mentioned as having initially avoided his  banishment and  

being convicted, and fearing to yield himself to the King’s mercy, he went to the Friars-minor at Babwell in  Suffolk, took on him the habit of a gray-friar, but being discovered by some of his servants, he was watched and  guarded, and after two month’s siege, went out, forsaking his friar’s coole and was taken and sent to the Tower.  Blaxhall, and his other estates, was seized by the King but was later returned to Weyland’s son, John. 

Thomas received another grant of free warren in 1304 which enabled him to enclose some of his  land to keep game animals. He died a few years later in 1313 and Blaxhall passed to his brother, Richard. He was also the Lord of the Manors of Wantisden, Middleton and Cockfield. The king issued an order, recorded in the Close Rolls, that Richard should not be ‘molested’ in his ownership of Blaxhall, which would indicate  that other parties were trying to wrest them from his grasp. The order proved effective and on his death  some years later the manor passed to his daughter, Cecily and hence to her husband, Baron Bartholomew  Burghersh. He obtained a third grant of free warren here in 1349.When his only child, Elizabeth, married Sir Edward le Despencer, Blaxhall passed into this famous, or infamous family. Sir Edward was par t of the retinue of Edward, the Black Prince, and fought with him at the battle of Poitiers in 1356. He was made a baron and a Knight of the Garter the following year as a reward for his valour. There is a spectacular memorial to  Despencer at Tewkesbury Abbey, known as the ‘Kneeling Knight”. 

 On Sir Edward’s death Blaxhall passed to his widow Elizabeth. From her it descended to her daughter Anne who died, seized of the manor in 1426. It passed to her daughter Isabel, who first married Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Gloucester and then Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick. When Warwick died, in  1438, the manor passed to his son Henry, the 14th Earl of Warwick he who was created Duke of Warwick by Henry VI his childhood friend. He died in 1446 and the Dukedom became extinct. The Earldom and the manor of Blaxhall, passed to his two-year old daughter, Anne. She was only five years old when she died in 1449 and the whole estate passed to her Aunt, Anne Beauchamp who became the 16th Earl of Warwick in  her own right. Her two daughters and heirs were Isabelle, who married the Duke of Clarence, the brother of Edward IV and Anne, who married Richard III and became Queen Consort of the infamous king. There  then followed a lengthy and costly legal battle over Anne Beauchamp’s estate between various factions of  her daughters husbands and it is rather difficult to describe to whom Blaxhall was granted. The historian of Suffolk manors, Alfred Copinger skips ahead to 1638 when it was in the hands of William Saunders. It appears  that Blaxhall was one of the manors which was put into a trust until 1487 and enfeoffed (held in service) to  John Verney, Dean of Lichfield. Its descent from 1487 unto 1638 therefore remains somewhat opaque. 

William Saunders was likely the son of another William, who is buried in the parish church of St Peters.  On his death in 1638 the manor passed to Valentine Saunders. Later, whether after the death of Valentine or  by sale, the Lord of Blaxhall was Robert Warryn, who in turn sold the manor to John Bence. He was recorded as Lord in 1705 and by 1729 had sold it to Dudley Nor th, son of a London merchant of the same name, and the owner of nearly Glenham Hall. North was Member of Parliament for Thetford and Ordford and died a year later in 1730. His son and heir was also Dudley and he married Lady Barbara Herbert, daughter of the Earl of Pembroke. On his death in 1764 his estate was divided between his two sisters, Anne and Mary  with Blaxhall passing to Anne and her husband, Nicholas Herbert, the youngest son of the Earl of Pembroke. Nicholas was MP for Newport and Wilton for many years and died in 1775. Once more the Manor passed  to a daughter, Barbara, who became the Countess of Aldborough on her marriage to Edward Stratford. She  remained as Lord of Blaxhall until her death in 1785 when it passed back to Barbara’s mother, Anne until her  death four years later when she bequeathed it to her nephew, Dudley Long, requesting that he adopt the surname, North. In 1802 he married the Hon Sophia Pelham, daughter of the Earl of Yarborough but at his death in 1839 there were no heirs. Blaxhall therefore became the property of his wife. It appears that the  manor then passed, on her death to the North family, who were the Earls of Guildford in whom the manor  descended in the 20th century.  

The village of Blaxhall is located in an area of heathland known as the Suffolk Sandlings, a few miles  from the coast in the East of the county. It was home after the War to the historian George Ewart Evans  who based his rural history on the characters and practices he encountered in the village. In his book, The  Crooked Scythe, he wrote of Blaxhall countrymen; 

His knowledge is not a personal knowledge but has been available to him through oral tradition which is  the unselfconscious medium of transmission. It is in his bones, you could say, and nonetheless valuable for that....It  was here at this time, and with the dressing and elaborating on it later, that I transposed the Blaxhall community in  my own mind into its true place in an ancient historical sequence, keeping the continuity that was for ever changing,  and for ever remaining the same, until an irreparable break substituted the machines for animal power, and put an  end to a period that had lasted well over two thousand years. 

The village is also noted for its famous Blaxhall Stone, a large boulder which stands outside Stone  Farm. This was was said to have been found in a field in the 19th century and was then only the size of two fists but which has grown over the years and is now well over a metre wide.

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

 1272-1327: minister’s accounts The National Archives 

1480-1482: bailiff’s accounts 

1500-1600: surveys (2) 

1575-1600: extent, with other manors British Library, Manuscript Collections 

1577-1577: survey, with Ash Biggotts, Suffolk Record Office - Ipswich 

1578-1610: court book (indexed) 

1619-1928: court books 

1693-1693: rental, with Ash Biggotts 

1713-1764: court rolls (2) 

1751-1751: rental 

1763-1928: minute books (2) 

1766-1779: quit rents received, with other manors (14) 

1780-1785: rentals (6) 

1809-1917: steward’s papers (2 bundles) 

1816-1858: steward’s papers, chiefly verdicts and surrenders (1 bundle) 

1819-1833: rentals, with other manors (6) 1820-1820: rental, with other manors 

1842-1842: rental, with other manors 

1858-1858: rental, with other manors (in bundle with other papers) 1889-1889: rental, with Ash Biggotts 1903-1903: rental, with other manors 

1913-1935: rentals 

Lot #3 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Bodmin is the country town of Cornwall, lying in the centre of the county. Historically it was divided into several manors, including the Honour and Borough, East Por t, Bodmin Priory Bodmin Francis and several manors simply known as Bodmin. The town was founded as early as the 6th Century when St Pretroc  founded a monastery here. The name Bodmin derives from the Cornish Bod-meneghy, meaning dwelling of  monks. The land and manors of Bodmin were held by the monks from an early time and they are recorded  as the owners in Domesday Book, where the town is the only large settlement recorded in the county. The town reached its peak size in the 14th century but went into decline after the advent of the Black Death in the 1350s.  

At the end of the 11th Century the monastery was forcibly dissolved on the orders of Robert, Count  Moreton, Earl of Cornwall who seized its lands and granted them to his son William. William fell out with the king, Henry I and they had been bitter enemies since childhood. With Henry ignoring his claims for the Earldom of Kent, William joined forces with Robert, Earl of Shrewsbury and proclaimed Robert Curthose,  the Conqueror’s eldest son a and Duke of Normandy, as the King of England. The rebellion culminated in the Battle of Tinchebrai in 1066 where they were crushed by Henry’s forces. William estates, including Bodmin, were seized by the Crown. Henry I granted Bodmin to William Walewast, Bishop of Exeter and he redounded Bodmin Abbey under Austin Cannons and our manor of Bodmin descended with the Abbey until  it was dissolved in 1536. 

It is likely that the Robartes family became Lords of Bodmin during this period but the records  are opaque. The first notable member of the family was Richard, a merchant from Truro who amassed a considerable for tune during the reign of HenryVIII. He was succeeded by his son John but Bodmin appears to have passed to his younger son, Richard. He was the father of Sir Josias Robar tes. His son, Sir Francis Robartes, is recorded as Lord of Bodmin in Burke’s Peerage but on his death in the early 17th century  his estates passed to his grandfather, John. His son and heir, Richard served as Sheriff of Cornwall and was knighted by Charles I at Whitehall in 1616. Five years he was created a baronet (an inheritable knighthood)  and in 1625, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Robartes of Truro. His son, and the 2nd Baron, John inherited his father’s estates, including their Lordship in Bodmin, in 1634. Despite being an early supporter of the monarchy, on the outbreak of the Civil War John became a supporter of Parliament after violently  disagreeing with Charles’ policies on religion. He fought under the Earl of Essex at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642 and at Newbury a year later.

In September John accompanied the Earl on a march to Cornwall but their army was attacked and  destroyed at Fowey. Robartes was able to return to Plymouth and was made governor of the city. He was ousted by the officers of the New Model Army in 1645 and was subsequently sidelined. He retired from public life to live at the family estate at Lanhydrock. He returned to politics on the restoration in 1660 and served as Lord Privy Seal in 1673. In 1679 he was created Viscount Bodmin and Earl of Radnor. He died in 1685.  

The Notitia Parliamentaria, published in 1716, notes that the 2nd Earl of Radnor was Lord of the  manor of Bodmin. Charles Bodvile Robar tes was the grandson of the first Earl, his father having died in Denmark in 1682 as the Ambassador to the cour t at Copenhagen. He married the heiress, Elizabeth Cutler and although it was a love match, made against her father’s wishes, the couple had no children. He was described by Jonathan Swift as a scoundrel but this judgement seems harsh by modern standards. When  Charles died, in 1723, the title and estates, including his Lordship of Bodmin, passed to his nephew, Henry Robar tes. He died, unmarried, in 1741 having wasted much of the family for tune on excessive living and an extended ‘Grand Tour’ of the Continent. He left most of his estates to his sister Mary Vere who in turn passed it to her son, George Hunt. The estate, including Bodmin, then passed to his niece Anna Maria Agar, who held the estate for a considerable time and brought stability and prosperity. She is described as a tough,  but fair, business woman and landlord. She inherited in 1798 as a young woman when her estate was mired in  debt, plagued with none paying renters. With her son, Thomas Agar-Robartes, the situation was transformed.  Thomas was created Lord Robartes of Truro in 1869 and was succeeded by his son, Thomas in 1882. As  well as the Barony, Thomas also succeeded to the title of Viscount Clifden, from a kinsman. He oversaw the restoration of Lanhydrock House in the 1880s after a devastating fire in 1882.

 The last male heir to the family estates was Victor Aga-Robartes, who died in 1974. The Lordship of  Bodmin, with other titles, was vested in a company, the Lanhydrock Estate Company, which sold the title to  the present owners in 2007.   

When the conveyance was made in 2007 the manor was erroneously referred to as Bodmin Francis.  The manor is simply known as the Lordship of Bodmin. 

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - November 2023 - Stephen Johnson

This is a unique opportunity to acquire one of the great ancient feudal lordships of England.  

The Lordship Today: 

First recorded in the C11th, the Lordship of Bowland was administered as part of the Duchy of  Lancaster up until the late fourteenth century. In 1399, the Duke of Lancaster was crowned Henry IV and  became Lord King of Bowland.  

The Lord King was no mere lord of the manor. He held sway over a Forest and a Liberty of 10  manors spanning 8 townships and 4 parishes (Slaidburn, Newton, West Bradford, Grindleton, Knowlmere,  Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill /Crook, Leagram, Dunnow/Battersby, Hammerton).  

Since 1399, the title has been held by eight dukes, three earls, a baron and sixteen monarchs. The  current Lord of the Forest of Bowland is a Scottish nobleman. 

Ownership of the Liberty – known formally as the Lordship of the Manor and Liberty of Slaidburn, West  Bradford and Grindleton - was split from the Forest in 1955. This title is now held by the family of the 2nd Lord  Clitheroe.  

Lords of the Forest of Bowland bear their own subsidiary title, Lord of the Fells. It is a title comparable  to the Lordship of Mann held by His Majesty The King and the Lordship of the Isles held by HRH The Duke  of Rothesay. This subsidiary title is thought to have become customary during the high medieval period as  a description of the Lords’ rugged upland demesne. Bowland Fells, more widely known as the Forest of  Bowland, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire,  England. A small part lies in North Yorkshire, and much of the area was historically part of the West Riding of  Yorkshire. 

The area has strong associations with the Pendle Witches who in 1612 were transported by bullock  cart through Bowland to their trial and execution at Lancaster:

The present Lord of the Forest of Bowland has spent 15 years restoring the dignity of Lordship since  his succession to the title in 2008. He retains a number of ancient rights. These include the right to appoint a  Chief Steward (known formerly as a Master Forester) and to appoint one or more Bowbearers, a ceremonial  attendant who by tradition accompanied the Lord of Bowland during hunting but in later centuries became  an officer of the Lord’s Forest Courts.  

These Forest Courts were held at Whitewell in the ancient courthouse now known as the Inn at  Whitewell and famed for its gourmet dining. The swainmote was held at what is now known as the he Inn  before the verderers of the Forest and dealt with minor infractions of forest law and the woodmote passed  judgment on more serious transgressions. These courts lasted beyond the rule of the Lord Kings into the first  half of the 19th century.

In 2010, Robert Parker of Browsholme Hall was appointed the first Bowbearer of the Forest of  Bowland in almost 150 years. Robert is the eighth generation of his family to hold the office since 1660. The  current Chief Steward of the Forest is Michael Pugh, a former local government official who lives and works  in the Forest. The former Chief Steward was Michael Parkinson, land agent to Sir Simon Towneley and Lord  Clitheroe. 

The Lord of Bowland’s activities in the Forest are supported by officials from Lancashire County  Council who administer the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The current Lord –  known informally as William Bowland - has played an active ceremonial role in Forest life, dedicating himself  to good causes, including support for the Slaidburn Archive, schools visits, public lectures, official openings,  charitable fundraising and sponsorship.  

Launched in 2011, the Lord of Bowland Annual Lecture takes place in early October each year and has  proven hugely popular with local history enthusiasts. In 2015, William Bowland commissioned acclaimed  Lakeland composer Christopher Gibbs to produce The Music of the Forest, a four-part song cycle celebrating the history of Bowland, which had its world premiere in the Forest in June 2017. The Lord also hosts the  Perambulation of the Forest, an annual fundraising charity walk. He is a trustee of Champion Bowland, a charity  dedicated to supporting community activities in the Forest which is chaired by his Chief Steward. More  information can be found at https://www.forestofbowland.com/lordship-bowland.  

The purchaser of this title should expect to play an active role in Forest life. The title will also come  with a significant archive of material relating to the lordship. Slaidburn Archive also holds its own substantial  collection of materials. While the current Lord of Bowland is armigerous, please note that his arms are  personal and cannot be transferred. 

A History of the Lordship:

It is often presumed that Bowland received its name from the practice of archery which was anciently  performed as a custom of the forest. In fact, it is likely to derive from the Old English word boga or Old Norse  bogi, meaning ‘a bend in the river’. This describes the basin of the meandering River Hodder which rises at  White Hill and flows for approximately 23 miles to Great Mitton on the Ribble, of which it is the largest  tributary. 

Although less extensive than today’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Lordship of Bowland  once covered an area of almost 300 square miles. It comprised a Forest and a Liberty of ten manors  spanning eight townships and four parishes (Slaidburn, Newton, West Bradford, Grindleton, Knowlmere,  Waddington, Easington, Bashall, Mitton, Withgill /Crook, Leagram, Dunnow/ Battersby, Hammerton). It lies in  a rough triangle of moorland and valleys between Lancaster, Settle and Clitheroe.

The Forest of Bowland was created by William II sometime after the Domesday survey of 1086  although it is thought to have been based on a pre-Norman upland estate.  

It was granted to Roger de Poitou in 1092 but his lordship lasted a brief two years before he fell  foul of the King and was stripped of his estates. In the same year, the Honor of Clitheroe was created,  absorbing the Lordship of Bowland and was granted to the powerful De Lacy family. Robert was its Lord at  the beginning of the 12th century and he was succeeded by his son, Ilbert, who was loyal to King Stephen  (1135-1154) during that king’s chaotic and violent rule – a period known as the Anarchy. He died childless  and Bowland then passed to his brother Henry and then to his son Robert, who is thought to have founded Clitheroe Castle in the 1190s. While Clitheroe Castle remains seat to the Lordship to this day, Robert died  childless and his estates eventually passed through his sister, Aubreye to his cousin Roger de Lacy.

This branch of the family were powerful magnates. Roger was Constable of Chester Castle in 1191.  He was at first opposed to Prince John whilst Richard I was crusading abroad. Once John became King, Lacy  swore loyalty to him and remained a favourite. In the first few years of the 13th century, Lacy was sent to  France to help defend England’s interests. In 1203, he was famously besieged at Chateau Gaillard by King  Philip of France. The siege lasted several months and Lacy was only forced to surrender when he and his  garrison were threatened with starvation. He was eventually allowed to return to England on payment of  £1000 and King John made Lacy Sheriff of Cumberland and Yorkshire. His presence was required since the  North was seething with rebellious intent and Lacy remained loyal to the King, becoming, in the process a  close friend. He spent the next few years on almost constant military duty as John was threatened by the  Welsh, Scots and French as well as by his English enemies. Lacy was particularly active against the Welsh. His  harsh and brutal tactics earned him the name ‘Roger of Hell’. He died in 1211. 

The Lordship then descended to his eldest son John, who became 1st Earl of Lincoln and from him  to his son, Edmund, who did not appear to have assumed this dignity. He died in 1228 and the Lordship  then passed down to his son Henry, 3rd Earl of Lincoln. He was one of the great barons of the 13th century  and was one of Edward I’s most trusted and reliable aides. He served the King in France, where he became  Lieutenant of Aquitaine in 1295. On his return to England in 1258, he fought extensively in Scotland. After  Edward’s death, Henry quickly became disillusioned with the intemperate and ill-advised rule of Edward II.  He died in 1311 at the residence in London which still bears his name: 

After Henry’s death, the vast wealth of the De Lacy estates passed to his only daughter Alice and  in turn to her husband, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. The Lordship of Bowland thus became part of the vast  Lancaster estates which, with the accession of Henry, Duke of Lancaster to the throne as Henry IV in 1399,  became the property and right of the Crown. At this time, the Lords of Bowland became known as Lord Kings  of Bowland. This appellation continued until the Lordship, as part of the Honor of Clitheroe, was granted to  General George Monck on his creation as the 1st Duke of Albermarle.  

Born the second son of a Devon gentleman, George Monck was required to seek employment and  chose a military career. He sailed in the English fleet which attacked Cadiz as a sixteen-year old in 1625. In  1627, he was forced to flee England after accidentally killing an under-sheriff, who had arrested his father for debt. He joined the Royal Navy and was part of the failed attempt to relieve La Rochelle in the following  year. Throughout the 1630s, Monck remained a military man, slowly working his way up the ranks and gaining  a reputation as a brave and efficient soldier.  

By the time of Charles I’s campaign against the Scottish Covenanters in 1639, Monck had been  raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. When the Civil War broke out in 1642, Monck was serving under  the Earl of Leicester trying to suppress a rebellion in Ireland. Monck urged Leicester not to take an oath to  support either Parliament or the King but after an agreement was reached with the rebels in September  1643 the Irish army returned to England to bolster the royal forces. A few weeks later, Monck was captured  by Parliamentarians at the siege of Nantwich on January 1644. He spent the next few months as a prisoner  in the Tower. He was eventually freed after promising not to fight against Parliament but to help suppress the  continuing rebellion in Ireland. In September 1647, he was appointed as Major-General of the Parliamentary  forces in eastern Ulster and he remained here after the King’s execution in 1649. 

In 1650, the Commonwealth launched a war against the Royalist rump in Scotland and its leaders  appointed Cromwell to lead it. Cromwell had been impressed with Monck and gave him a command. His  subsequent successes in capturing a number of key posts led to his appointment as Governor of Edinburgh  in 1651. When Charles II made a dash for England, Cromwell followed and left Monck in charge to mop up  any resistance, which he accomplished with remarkable speed. His talents, especially in his use of artillery,  were now considered precious by the Commonwealth and Monck was deployed at sea to fight the Dutch  in 1652-53.  

The General professed to be a soldier, not a politician and that his loyalty was to his men. This  served him well after Cromwell abolished the Regicide Parliament in April 1653. Monck issued a statement  to the effect that he was too busy fighting the Dutch to be able to intervene in the domestic situation. The  powers granted to him enabled him to become the virtual dictator north of the border for a time. When  Cromwell died in 1658, Monck immediately offered his support to his successor, Richard Cromwell but felt  ill at ease with the new regime and in turn, it looked upon him with some degree of suspicion. At this point,  representatives of Charles II began to make overtures towards the General to garner his possible support  for a restoration of the monarchy. As the Parliamentary regime collapsed into disarray at the beginning of  1660, Monck marched his army south. He was instructed to protect Parliament but he could see that the  tide had turned against the Republic and when he was contacted by representatives of Charles once more  Monck assured him of his loyalty. His military control of London ensured that the Throne could be restored  peacefully. When Charles landed at Dover in May 1660, Monck was the first to embrace him. Within weeks,  his loyalty was rewarded with his elevation to the Dukedom of Albermarle. The lands and estates of the  Lordship of Bowland were granted to him as part of the Honor of Clitheroe in 1661.  

The Duke remained a loyal officer of the King until his death in 1670 when his title and estates  passed to his son Christopher. Christopher, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, died childless in 1687.  Bowland passed, with the rest of his possessions to his wife who survived to the age of 95, dying in 1734.  From her, it passed to her second husband, Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu. He was succeeded by his son, John,  2nd Duke of Montagu who had no sons and passed his estates to his daughters Isabella, wife of Edward  Hussey, Earl of Beaulieu and Mary who married George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (great-grandfather  of Cardigan of the Charge of the Light Brigade fame). In 1801, an inquiry was made into the estate of  Edward, Earl of Beaulieu, who had been declared a lunatic. 

The Lordship consequently passed to Mary’s daughter, Lady Elizabeth Montagu, 3rd Duchess of  Buccleuch. It then remained in the hands of the Dukes of Buccleuch until the death of the 5th Duke in 1827. 

In 1835, Francis, 6th Duke of Buccleuch sold a huge portion of his Lancashire estates to Peregrine  Towneley for £99,000, an astonishing amount at the time. The Towneleys were at that time one of Lancashire’s  most powerful Catholic gentry families whose seat in Burnley is now an important regional museum. This  sale included the Forest of Bowland otherwise Bolland in the Counties of Lancaster and York or one of them with  all the rights royalties franchises offices hereditaments and appurtenances thereto belonging . . . included in the  Offices of Master Forester and Collector of Rents.

The Lordship remained in the possession of the Towneley family until 2008 when the present Lord of Bowland succeeded to the title by private treaty. 

Lot #3 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

There are two manors known as Boylands which belong to the Vendors, one is known as Boylands  or Boylands in Stuston, the other, Boylands in Scole. These two villages neighbour each other across the  boundary of Suffolk and Norfolk. This manor, is the former of the two and lies in Stuston; a few miles from  the market town of Diss. 

In the early 13th century the manor of Boylands was granted by the Crown to Ranulph de Blondeville,  6th Earl of Chester who consolidated the family’s position as one of the greatest landowning clan in England.  His status and power naturally gave him a place at the very highest levels of the state and he proved a loyal  servant to Richard I. After the king’s death in 1189, he backed Prince John to succeed to the throne. Though Ranulph’s relationship with King John was soured by huge losses of land in Normandy when the English were  evicted in 1204, the king rewarded his earl’s loyalty with a swathe of estates in England, including the manor  of Boylands which he was granted for life. Over the next ten years Ranulph became an unstinting supporter of the king despite John’s often abhorrent behaviour. He survived the tumultuous final years of John’s reign and died in 1232.  

Boylands returned to the Crown and it was granted by Henry III to the obscure Ingerand de Fane for  his life, which proved not to last much beyond the grant. Boylands was then granted to another Frenchman,  SirWilliam de Synagon. After his death it was granted for a third time to Sir Aylmer de Beziles. After his death in 1279 the manor rever ted to the Crown and five years later Edward I granted it to Sir Richard de Boyland and his heirs. The entry of the grant on the Patent Rolls notes that the lands had been late of Amaric Bezill,  deceased, tenant in chief of Stuston. It if from Sir Richard and his family that the name of the manor is derived  and as a division of the larger manor of Stuston, it being subsequently described as Boylands Fee. 

On the death of Sir Richard de Boyland in 1295 the manor passed to his son and heir John. Sir Richard was a very rich man and held numerous manors in both Suffolk and Norfolk. He sat as a judge for the  county and when Edward I was absent from England, Boyland was made a commissioner to governor in his  absence. Whilst the king was away, Boyland ‘helped himself’ to a number of estates. When the king returned,  Boyland was found gully of manifest corruption in the administration of justice and fined four thousand marks for  his intolerable extortions. However, despite this, Boyland seems to have kept most of his estates and was able  to pass Boylands to his son. During the 14th century the manor passed to the Lowdham family. John of that name was its Lord in 1355. His wife, Joan, succeeded him and lived until 1371. His son and heir, John, lived for  only four years after her death at which time Boyland passed to his brother Sir Thomas de Lowdham who  died in 1385. His son, John was succeeded by a daughter, Jane, who firstly married Thomas Heveringham and then Ralph Blenerhasset of Frenze in Norfolk. She lived to the age of 97 and died in 1501. Her son, John, was 77 when he inherited Boylands and he died eight years later. The Manor remained in the possession of this  Anglo-Irish family until 1548 when it was sold to Sir Thomas Cornwallis of Brome Hall.  

Sir Thomas died in 1604, aged 86, and a magnificent marble tomb was erected in his honour at the parish church in Brome, which is still on display. His heir was his eldest son, Sir William, who was a leading  member of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex’s colonial expedition to Ireland in 1599. He was knighted for his  par t in this at Dublin in the same year. On his death the manor passed to his younger son Frederick, who served in the household of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I, and he travelled with him to Spain. He was  created a baronet in 1627 and knighted in 1630, by which point he had succeeded to the entire Cornwallis  estate on the death of his elder brother, William. Being a staunch Royalist, Frederick fought for Charles I  during the Civil War and distinguished himself at the Battle of Cropredy in June 1644 where he rescued Lord  Wilmot from capture. Unfortunately, after the Parliamentarian victory his estate was sequestered and he  followed Charles II into exile, only returning with the King in 1660. A year later, as a reward for his loyalty, he  was created Lord Cornwallis of Eye but died only a few weeks later.

Boylands remained in the possession of the Cornwallis family until 1823 when it was sold to Mattias Kerrison of Oakley Park. It eventually passed with the Oakley estate to the Maskell family and their descendants with whom it presently resides. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1336-1439: estreats of court rolls, Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1400-1600: rental (fragment) 

1451-1572: copy extents 

1500-1600: extents 

1500-1600: court extracts (2) 

1553-1559: court roll 

1555-1672: bailiff ’s accounts (non-consecutive) 

1560-1574: court rolls 

1563-1563: rental 

1569-1573: minute book 

1570-1570: particulars of lands 

1575-1600: steward’s writ of summons for appearance in court 

1575-1600: survey 

1592-1593: rental 

1592-1592: ministers’ accounts 

1603-1685: court roll (non-consecutive) 

1641-1671: rentals (non-consecutive) 

1665-1665: estreats 

1700-1800: rentals (non-consecutive) 

1740-1740: estreats, with other manors 

1750-1750: particulars of customs 

1783-1783: schedule of court records 

1794-1794: survey, incl list of customs 

1823-1832: court fines received 

1835-1835: rental 

1884-1884: rental 

1887-1897: minute book, with other manors 

1887-1887: schedules of court records 

Lot #10 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2022 - Stephen Johnson

Bracken on the Wolds is a manor and township  located in the parish of Kilnwick in the Wolds of the East  Riding of Yorkshire, some 10 miles north of Beverley.  Bracken, or Bracken on the Wolds, is a township to the  east of the main village, centred on Bracken lane. It is  assumed to derive its name from an abundance of bracken  which was cleared to form a tun, or small settlement which  became Bracken farm and manor. There is some evidence  to suggest that it was formerly a village of greater size with  a chapel and a burial ground. When and how this village  became ‘lost’ is unclear.  

The early history of the Manor is rather obscure  though it is mentioned briefly in Domesday Book, where  it simply written - In Bracken, Erneis 6 carucates. This was  Erneis of Buron, who came to England with the Conqueror  and was eventually granted 72 manors and estates in  Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He is widely considered to  be an ancestor of Lord Byron. He died in 1106 and it is  thought that his estates passed to his son Ralph. Bracken  itself appears in a series of Yorkshire Charters of 1194  when it was recorded as a Knight’s Fee, allotted to Agatha  Trussebut.  

In the first year of the reign of Edward III, Henry Tyes died seized of the Manor. He may have been the tenant  of the de Ros’ since the manor was held by a knights fee from William de Ros, who was the Manor’s overlord. 

By the end of the 14th century Bracken appears to have been acquired the Scrope family (pronounced  Scroop) of Castle Bolton in Wensleydale. Richard le Scrope, who was raised to the Baronage in 1371 was known in  his lifetime as a gallant soldier and was knighted by Edward III at the Battle of Durham, where the Scots were defeated.  The Scrope family were of ancient linege and had come to England with the Conqueror. The family had traditionally  served the King as military knights and Sir Richard was no exception. In 1346 he accompanied Edward to Calais and  is said to have taken part in almost every major battle in which the English fought over the next 40 years: in England,  France, Scotland, Spain and Portugal. His reputation as a soldier was only outweighed by that of his statesmanship.  He served as Lord High Treasurer of England to Edward III and twice to Richard II, both of whom held him in the  highest regard. During the reign of the latter, Scrope was said to have held firm and not placed the Treasurer’s seal  on appointments and gifts made to the king’s favourites unless he felt them worthy. Richard became incensed with  this and sent messenger after messenger to Scrope desiring him forthwith to return the great seal. He refused to deliver it to  any other person than the king himself. Scrope spent much of his political life attending Parliament and is said to have  aided in Richard’s deposition in 1399. After his death in 1403 his estates passed to his son Richard but he died very  soon afterwards and these then passed to his brother Roger. In 1403 there is record of a grant of £20 from Roger le  Scrope, Lord of Bolton, to Thomas Kesteven from his manors of Bracken and Sledmer for life. Several years later, in 1415  Roger’s wife was noted as holding Bracken by a Knight’s Fee from the Roa Fee. 

Bracken descended with the Lords of Bolton for the next century. During the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547)  a record of the estate of John Scrope, 8th Baron of Bolton, notes that he received rental for Bracken in 1535 and 1536.  Bracken upon the Wolde, was among a number of manors involved in a legal case between Henry Scrope and Henry  Tyrell and Nicholas Lockwood in 1573.

The Manor remained in the hands of the Barons of Bolton until the death of Emanuel Scrope, the 11th Baron,  who was raised to the Earldom of Sunderland. On his death in 1630 his lands and titles were divided amongst his three  daughters. the eldest, Mary, inherited Bracken. In 1655 she married Charles Paulet, the 6th Marquess of Winchester  who was raised to the Dukedom of Bolton in 1689. By this time Mary had died and Paulet was the owner of the  Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton The Lordship of the The Manor of Bracken on the Wolds, Yorkshire 34 Scrope’s Yorkshire estates. On Bolton’s death in 1694 Bracken was inherited by John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater,  who had married Bolton’s eldest daughter, Jane.

In 1748 the steward of the Bridgewater Estate in Durham and Yorkshire was Mr Hammond. He reported to  the Earl and collected the rentals from properties in Winston, Caldwell, Brachs, Skeeby, Bracken, York, Williamsfield, Sutton,  Dishforth, Norton, Ovington, Whitwell and Markenfield. At Michaelmas in that year the whole of this extensive estate  yielded £1,554 6s and 8d in rentals. In 1798 the estate of Bracken and Caldwell was surveyed by Ralph Burton for  £16 and found to contain some 660 acres of demesne land.  

In 1863, as part of the inheritance of the estate of John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford, the manor of Bracken  on the Wolds was passed to John, Earl Brownlow. In 1923 it was purchased by R H Edelston and has descended to  the family of the present Vendor.

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

Account Roll 1535-1536 North Yorkshire Record Office  

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

IN THE PARISH of Marton lies the Lordship of the Manor of Brampton. This is centred on the long village of the same name. It is an extensive manor, and lies 2 miles north of Appleby and the land here is used mainly for pasture and for arable production. The extent of the Lordship includes both Brampton and the Hamlet of Brampton Croft.

The early history of this Lordship is obscure but it formed part of the Barony of Westmoreland and may have been held by the early owners of this estate, namely the Stuteville, Morvilles and Veteriponts. The first record of the Lordship occurs in 1310 when it is recorded as being held by Ralph Gre ystock from the Clifford family. It may have been that this ancient family held Brampton before this time, but there is no evidence to confirm this. The family had originated in the figure of Lyolf, who may have arrived with William the Conqueror, in 1066. He was evidently a feudal vassal of Ranulph Meschines, Earl of Chester, since this nobleman gave Lyolf land at Greystock in Cumberland. 

The family continued to act as loyal servants of the Barons of Westmoreland and during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) Thomas de Greystock married Christian, the daughter of Roger de Veteripont. Thomas was succeeded by his son Robert, who in turn was succeeded in the family estates by his brother, William. This Greystock fought the Welsh in 1258 and was married to the daughter of the powerful Roger de Merlay. This union brought him the Lordship of the Manor of Morpeth in Northumberland. William’s son, John was an advisor to Edward I and distinguished himself in battle against the French in Gascony. He was twice summoned to Parliament as a baron and fought the Scots in numerous campaigns. At his death, in 1305 his estates were settled on his cousin, Ralph, whose father had been Lord of Grimthorpe in Yorkshire.

This Ralph is the first mentioned Lord of the Manor of Brampton. In 1283 he married Margery Corbet, a wealthy heiress. He fought in several campaigns against the Socts, including Edward II’s disastrous war which ended in defeat at Bannockburn. For these northern nobles, the war with Scotland was a constant fight to preserve their lands and wealth. In 1314 Ralph was appointed governor of Berwick Castle and was a warden of the Marches. The next year he was governor of Carlisle and founded a chantry at Tynemouth for his kinsman John and all his ancestors. Ralph died in 1316 and was succeeded by his son Robert who enjoyed his estates for only 12 months. Brampton then descended to his son Ralph, who had been born in 1298. Ralph was also summoned to Parliament as a Baron in 1321 and 1322. By a special dispensation from the Pope, Ralph married the daughter of Lord Audley, the enemy of Edward II’s favourite Hugh Despencer. When Sir Roger Mortimer and Edward’s Queen, Isabella, invaded England and deposed the King, in 1327, Greystock appears to have aided the rebellion. He had arrested Sir Gilbert de Middleton at his castle at Mitford, the prisoner somehow arranged for his captor to be poisoned.

After his death, Brampton passed to Ralph’s eldest son, William, who was summoned to Parliament as a baron in 1357. This Greystock fought with the Black Prince, Edward, in France and from Edward III was granted permission to crenelate his mansion at Greystock. Greystock was then made governor of Berwick Castle but after being summoned to attend the King in France, the castle was taken by the Scots. This was said to have greatly offended Edward, but since Berwick’ governor had been absent at his bequest, Greystock was pardoned for the loss. Brampton passed to William’s eldest son, Ralph, known as the 5th Baron Greystock. He was a warden of the Marches, a position granted to him by Richard II (1377-1399). In 1378 he headed a forced which evicted the Scots form Warwick Castle and two years later was commanded by Richard to take an army north to confront the old enemy. However he was taken a prisoner by George, Earl of Dunbar at Horseridge, in Glendall. He was ransomed form an impressive 3,000 marks and his brother, William went to Dunbar to be taken hostage in his place. This act of brotherly love cost William his life as he died of plague whilst imprisoned. Ralph was married to the daughter of Roger Lord Clifford. 

On Ralph’s death, in 1417, the Lordship of Brampton passed to his son Sir John, the 6th Baron Greystock. This nobleman was again appointed to help protect England from its northern neighbour, this time as governor of the Scottish castle of Roxborough. He held this position for 4 years and was paid the enormous some of £1,000 per year to do this, a payment which rose to £2,000 if there was war. On the accession of Henry IV in 1422, Greystock was appointed to the commission established to treat for peace with King James of Scotland. Two more commissions followed, each failing and Greystock was then summoned to relieve the siege of Berwick in 1435.

After Greystock’s death it appears that Brampton passed into the possession of the Lancaster family. John de Lancaster is found to hold the Lordship during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483). It then passed to his son, John, who was holding it during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). From John it descended to his son, or grandson, Edward Lancaster. It continued in this family’s possession until the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) when the line ended with three daughters. The Lordship was then divided into three portions until being reunited in the possession of the Tufton family, who were the Earls of Thanet. The current descendent of this family, Lord Hothfield is the present Lord of the Manor of Brampton.

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

Lying in the district of South Kesteven in the South-East of Lincolnshire is situated the manor of  Brandon. It is parcel of the parish of Hough-on-the-Hill and takes its name from the local River Brant which  runs nearby. It is situated between the larger villages of Caythorpe and Claypole, a few miles south-east of  Newark-on-Trent. 

Brandon has two entries in Domesday book and appears to have been divided between two Norman  owners. Robert de Vessey is recorded as holding 

In Brandon, seven bovates of land taxable 

Land for eleven oxen 

Eight freeman have two ploughs and two oxen. 

 Gilbert de Ghent held; 

In Hough and Brandon three carucates of land and three bovates taxable 

Land for five ploughs 

Thirteen freemen have six ploughs and meadow, six acres 

Dering holds the whole of this from Gilbert and has half a plough in Lordship 

Value 40 Shillings 

It appears that during the Medieval period Brandon was absorbed into the larger manor of Hough-on-the-Hill and became part of its administrative area as a member. It is likely therefore that it shared the  descent of Hough for most of this period. In 1164 Hough was granted by Henry II to the Abbey of St Mary  de Voto in Cherburg, Normandy, which had been founded by his mother, the Empress Matilda. During the  reign of Richard II (1377-1399) the manor was seized from what was now considered an ‘alien priory’ and  re-granted to the Priory of Spittle on the Street for a short while, before being again granted, this time to St  Ann’s Carthusian Priory in Coventry. During the reign of Henry IV, the estate was once more reunited with  the monks of St Mary de Voto. So called ‘alien’ priories and religious houses were once more suppressed  in England during the reign of Henry V, and St Mary’s English possessions were granted to the Priory of  Mountgrace, in Yorkshire. When this house was dissolved in 1539 its Lincolnshire estates, including Brandon,  were granted to John, Lord Russell, Earl of Bedford. Russell was one the most prominent gentleman of his  time, being a member of the Privy Chamber of Henry VII in 1507 and then serving his successor, Henry VIII  after 1509. He carried out a number of diplomatic and military missions for Henry, losing an eye in active  service and being an observer at the great European Battle of Pavia in 1525. Though most of his estates were found in the West of England he did have other estates, and Brandon was granted to him by Henry  personally. He was with the King when discussing the prospects of Ann of Cleves. When Henry asked him  if he though Ann was fair? Russell diplomatically replied that though she was not to be fair, but of a brown  complexion, Henry seemed satisfied.  

Later Brandon passed, or was purchased, by the Payne family who remained as Lords of the Manor  of Brandon for 200 years and have a number of memorials in the parish church of All Saints. The first Payne  of note was Ralph, who came to local prominence during the English Civil War as an early adherent of the  Royalist cause. He supported King Charles throughout the war and was recorded as fighting with his son,  Charles II at the last desperate bid to defeat Parliament at the Battle of Worcester in 1650. His son Charles  was created a Baronet. The family remained as Lords of the Manor until the 18th century, when Sir Richard  Cust, 2nd baronet (1680-1734), married Anne Brownlow, sister of Sir John Brownlow, 5th baronet, who was  created Viscount Tyrconnel in 1718. 

In 1849 John Home Cust, Viscount Alford and father of the second Earl Brownlow inherited the huge  estates of the Duke of Bridgewater, a distant relative. The Manor of Brandon remained in the hands of the  Earls Brownlow until the end of the 20th century. 

Lot #25 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Bressingham

According to Blomefield (Vol. I, p. 63) the Manors in this Parish were Brisingham, Boyland, Middletons, Filbies and the Priory. He writes of the Priory Manor that "It was taken out of the Great Manor in the beginning of the reign on Edward II, when Sir John de Verdon granted to the Prior of St. James the Apostle, of Old Bokenham, and the convent there, divers lands, tenements, rents and services of the fee of the said John in the town of Brisingham, all of which the King licensed the prior, the convent and canons there, to purchase of him, after which he confirmed them to that house, together with an acre of turf-land in the Fen, which Richard, son of Robert de Scinges, gave them." 

"The value of this Manor in 1479 was 31s. 5d. in quit rents besides the demeans; the whole temporality of the Priory here was taxed at 26s. as appears by the taxation of the revenues of the religious (1425)." 

"It continued in this house until its dissolution; from which time it remained int he Crown till 1557, when Philip and Mary, by their letters patent, granted it to Thomas Guybon of Lynn Regis, Esq., and William Maynne of London, Gent., to be held by fealty only in free socage, as of the Manor of East Greenwich in Kent. In a few years they sold it to Robert Francis Buxton of Tybbenham, in Norfolk; and they, in 1560, to Edmund Hoare of Palgrave in Suffolk. He, in 1561, sold to Thomas Howard of Burston, who in 1604, left it to Robert Howard of Burston, his son, who with his feofee, Thomas Harvey, of London, conveyed it to Robert Howard of Tyham, his son and heir. Then, Robert, August 24th 1613, sold it to Thomas Burston, his brother, whose daughter and heiress married Mr. Dowe; she in her widowhood passed it to Mr. Biringloes. Mr. John Bringloes being the last male of that family that enjoyed it, whose daughter married Mr. Robert Onge, of Henninghall, the present Lord, who now (1736) hath the whole Manor and part of the demeans; the other part called Priors Lands, lying at Crosgate in Fersfield, and Brisinghame, were held from the Manor by the Buxtons and are now divided into parcels, some being held by Mr. John Edwards of Winfarthing, and others by divers persons." By the second half of the last century this Manor had come into the hands f Henry Rushmere Upton, of the Hamlet of Eaton, i the City of Norwich who conveyed it on 22nd September, 1855, to Matthew Sallit Emerson, also of Norwich. The latter conveyed it in 1887 to Joseph Beaumont of Great Coggeshall. 

The customs in this and other Manors in the Parish were that the eldest son inherited on intestacy of the father; the tenants had liberty to pull down and waste their copyhold houses, to fell and cut down wood and timber on their copyholds without license "to plant and cut down all manner of wood and timber against their own lands, by the names of freebord or outrun, and to dig clay and turf and cut furse and bushes, on all the commons." They were unusually free from the normal tiresome incidents of copyhold tenure. 

There is only one Court Book covering the years 1839 to 1931 (insured for £50, premium 2/6 per annum), marked "D" on the spine, to be handed over.  The Vendors have not been able to trace any earlier book sor Court Rolls, but they are making inquiries as to the location of the other records and if any information is obtained it will be announced in the Auction Room.

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Located in the large parish of Hartfield, the Manor of Broome formed par t of the Sackville family’s original estate centred on Bolebroke House. It lies on the Sussex/Kent borders a few miles from East  Grinstead and part of the Manor lay in the Forest of Ashdown. 

The early history of the Manor is fairly obscure. It is likely that after the Norman conquest it formed  par t of the larger manor of Har tfield, which was held by the Count Mor tain. By the 13th century it appears to have been detached from the principal manor as a possession of the de Brom family, from whom it  derived its name. The earliest holder was Matilda, who died in 1295 and was found seized of a message and  curtilage in Hartfield, holden of the honor of the Eagle, then in the King’s hands. She was required to do suit  at the Honor court at Pevensey Castle. The Manor then passed to her son Robert who died in 1317. At his  death it was found that the estate was held by a knights service from the King. It then passed to his son John  de Brom. From John the descent is much less clear but it is likely that it descended, or was purchased by,  the Dallindridge family who had inherited another manor in Hartfield, that of Bolebroke. In 1425 Bolebroke, which was the site of a castle, passed through the marriage of Margaret Dallindridge to Sir Thomas Sackville  and it is at this point that Broome was likely to have passed to this family. Bolebroke became the home estate  and Broome likely passed with it.  

The Sackville family built a house at Bolebroke which was one of the first brick built private houses in England and replaced a much earlier castle. Completed in 1480 it was a favourite hunting lodge of Henry VIII and it is said that he used it as a base when courting Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle. Henry stayed  at Bolebroke, ostensibly to hunt wild boar in the Ashdown Forest but really to pursue Anne who was playing  a long game of seduction by retreating to Hever Castle, knowing that the king would follow. The house still  stands and is now a private residence. 

Whatever the precise method of transmission the Brome was certainly a part of the Sackville Estate  by the end of the 16th century. A Survey of the Manor is found in the Buckhurst Terrier, a detailed account  of the Sackville Estate in Sussex, produced in 1597. It gives details of all the freeholders and their properties.  We therefore find that John Bridger held a messuage called Strode, in Hartfield village. The heirs of John Charlewood held a number of parcels around the church. The main demesne, Broome Place, was held  by Henry Burgis, who is described as a yeoman and who paid £3 per year for his 40 year lease. Another  considerable tenant was Thomas Bowyer, who farmed Knighton Hall. In total the Manor was worth £48 19s per year. The present day Anchor Inn was the manor house for Broome. Built in 1465 it was originally known  as Broome Place.  

The Manor of Broome remained in the hands of the Sackville family until the end of the 20th century  and by the end of 19th century was in the hands of Gilbert George Reginald Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr. In 1899 it is recorded as providing a rent charge of £3 13s 6d toward the income of Sackville College in nearby East Grinstead. The college was founded by an endowment made by Thomas Sackville, the 2nd  Earl of Dorset, on his death in 1609. He gifted the sum of £1000 and yearly rent charges on his manors in  Sussex of £300. A charge on lands in Broome was included in this behest. The college is actually a complex  of Jacobean alms-houses which are still in use today. It was intended to house twenty-one poor men and ten poor women of the area. In 1624 it received a charter from Charles I. Philanthropy in the 17th century  usually came with moralising provisions and this was the case at Sackville College. There were numerous  ‘statutes’ which the residents were required to follow under in order to avoid being evicted. For instance,  ‘inmates’ were not allowed to lodge or receive any person in the house, or secretly entertain any stranger. They  were not allowed to be out of the house for more than twelve hours without the permission of the warden  nor could they indulge in any dicing, carding or unlawful games for any money apart from at Christmas, and  even then these games were not allowed in noe sort of corners or private rooms. Fines were often imposed  on secret feasting, excessive drinking, swearing and frequenting taverns.  

Despite some legal disputes with the heirs of Lord Dorset, the Sackville family continue their patronage  to today and the building was restored under the auspices of Elizabeth, Countess De La Warr in the mid-19th century. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1275-1300: survey, West Sussex Record Office 

1552-1552: rental 

1379-1379: court roll, British Library 

1606-1622: court book, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record 

Office (ESBHRO) 

1624-1652: court book  

1664-1664: court book  

1668-1689: court book  

1686-1686: rental 

1731-1743: court book  

1691-1925: court books 

1829-1829: rental 

1856-1861: account books 

1613-1613: estreats, Kent History and Library Centre 

1656-1656: list of tenants 

1704-1704: estreats  

1711-1720: estreats  

1738-1738: minutes

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

With historic rights to market

OTHERWISE KNOWN as Brough under Stainmore, this manor formed an important parcel of the Barony of Westmorland. Brough is a small market town and lies amid some of the highest peaks in England. The parish includes a large part of the forest of Stainmore and is one of the few wildernesses in England. Brough lies four miles from Kirby Stephen and six miles from Appleby and covers over 24,000 acres. Brough was formerly a town of some importance since its position on the road to Scotland meant that it handled a great deal of the coaching trade. When London to Glasgow railway was opened in the 1840s this trade declined rapidly, as did the town.

At Brough are the remains of a castle which belonged to the Barons of Westmoreland and formed part of the strategic defences of the area. Brough Castle lies on an eminence near to the parish church of St Michael the original fortification dates back to the Roman period when it formed a station named Verterae. Brough was known for the abundance of its Roman remains and the antiquarian Leland wrote in his 17th century, ‘Itinerary’; ‘Brow, now a vyllage set in Lunesdale a vi miles beneath the foot of Dentdale. The plough menne find there yn éreng lapidres quadrotos, and many other straung things; and this place is much spoken of the inhabitants there’. A great quantitiy of coins have been found in the river Eden here. After the Romans left Britain Verterae became a Celtic settlement, who named it Brough, which meant fortification. 

When the Saxons overran the area they renamed it Brough under Stainmore.

After the Norman invasion of 1066 the manor and castle of Brough came into the hands of the Meschines family and from him to the Morvilles, the Cliffords and finally, in the 17th century, the Tuftons, who were Earls of Thanet. The present Lord of the Manor is Lord Hothfield, the current representative of the Tufton family. The castle at Brough formed the centre piece of the manor and the Meschines appear to have built a tower early in the 12th century and it was known as Caesar’s Tower or the Round Tower. In 1174 the Scots, led by their king, William the Lion invaded northern England and attacked the area. A description of the action against Brough castle was recorded by Jordan Fantosme in his Chronicle of the War Between the English and the Scots. He wrote;

They (the Scots) want to go to Brough; the resolution was soon taken.

If it is not surrendered to them, not a single living being shall go out of it.

The castle was very soon attacked on all sides.

And the Flemings and the Border men shall make a violent assault 

upon them,

And have the first day taken from them the portcullis;

And soon they left it and placed themselves in he tower.

Already the fire is lighted: now they will be burnt here...

For they cannot hold out longer; they have surrendered to the king.

That is well done which they do now.

They have surrendered to the king; they have great sorrow in their hearts.

But a new knight has come to them that day.

Now hear of his deeds and great vitues:

When his companion shad all surrendered,

He remained in the tower and seized two shields;

He hung them on the battlements. He stayed there long,

And threw at the Scots three sharp javelins.

With each javelin he struck a man dead.

When those fail him he takes up sharp stakes

And hurled them at the Scots, and confused some of them,

And ever keep shouting ‘You shall soon be vanquished!’

Never by a single vassal was strife better maintained.

When the fire deprived him of the defence of his shield,

He is not to blame if he then surrendered.

Now is Brough overthrown, and the best of the tower.

Once the Scots had been driven back over the border the castle was repaired under supervision of Thomas de Wyrkington. In 1203 the castle and Lordship were granted to Robert de Veteripont, who continued the restoration. However the castle seems not have remained operational because in 1245, the warden of the young Robert de Veteripont, Walter, prior of Carlisle appears to have neglected it severely; ‘the tower of Burgh is much decayed, the joists are rotten and the most part of the house is brought to nought by default of Walter.” More repairs were required and evidently they were of some quality since Edward I was entertained heÅre in 1300. Fourteen year later, during Edward II’s reign Brough was against destroyed by the Scots and the manorial land in Brough was devastated. Once more, now under the direction of the Clifford family, the castle was repaired once more. It survived in tact until 1521 when ‘it was sett on fire by a casual mischance...so as all the timber an dlead was utterly consumed and nothing left but bare walls an dit remained waste...going to ruin more and more.’ It remained a ruin until the Lordship of Anne Clifford, who carried out a systematic rebuilding of Brough in order to make it a place of residence. In 1695, one of her successors as Lord of the Manor, Thomas, the 6th earl of Thanet, had most of it demolished and sold the timber.

In 1330 the Lord of the Manor of Brough, Robert, Lord Clifford, was granted a weekly market on a Thursday. The charter, from Edward III, also made provisi”on for a four-day annual fair around the festival of St Michael (September 21). This charter was later confirmed by Edward VI in 1549. The fair was held until the 19th century on Brough Hill, two miles from the centre of town and was considered to be the most important fair in the area.

There are a number of mediaeval reference to the Lordships. During the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) it was found that the manorial land was tenanted by Adam de Slegill, a forester of Stainmore. On the death of Robert de Clifford in 1315 the following was recorded for Brough; Robert de Clifford..held the castle of Burgh under Staynemore...with the precinct of the trenches thereof, the herbage of which was worth 6s 8d yearly. Two hundred acres of demesne land, 22 whereof at the least were worth 9d each a year. A hundred and ten acres of meadow, each of which is worth by the year 12d...Also the constableship of the castle worth yearly 40s. Also the profits of the fair worth 10s.

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS LORDSHIP lies within the parish of the same name, which is about 2 miles from Penrith. Brougham is very ancient. it is referred to in the Itinerary of Antonious as being a Roman station, bearing the name Brocavium, from which the modern name is thought to be derived. There are traces of this station near to Brougham Hall and coins and an alter have been found here. The alter bore the description;

DEABVCS MATRIBUS TRAMAR VEX GERMA NORUM PRO

SALVTE RP S L M

This translates as;

To the goddess mothers transmarine, the vexillation of the Germans, for

the safety of the state, perform a vow willingly and dutifully.

After the Romans departed the castle was captured by the Celts who in turn were forced to hand it over to the Saxons, who gave it is modern name. There is a Norman castle at Brougham and a description of this can be found in the entry in this catalogue for the Lordship of Oglebird and Whinfell.

The Lordship of the Manor of Brougham was, after the Conquest , in the hands of the Burgham, or Brougham family. The first recorded was Walter, who was recorded as being Lord of the Manor here in 1086. From him Brougham passed to his son Wilfrid, who was living during the reign of Henry I (1110-1135). His son, Sir Udard de Broham was, during the 1150s, in custody of Appleby castle and was fined 20 marks for surrendering it to the Scots. From him the Lordship passed to his son Gilbert, and then to his son Henry. The family it by the tenure of drengage, a tenure of military servic:e, from their overlord, the Barons of Westmoreland. It then appears that the Lordship was divided into three moieties with the division between the Broughams, the Bird family and the Flemings. 

During the reign of Edward III (1327-1372) the Lord of the Brougham, moiety was John de Brougham, who entered into a protracted dispute with Lord Clifford over the boundaries of the his land which was only settled after a number of years and a great expense to both parties. Sir John was a knight of the shire for Cumberland at the Parliament of 1383 and resided at Brougham Hall, a fortified residence. From him the hall and lands passed to his son John, who was a Member of Parliament for Carlisle in 1394 and 1396. His son and heir was Thomas. He was knight of the shire in 1436 and is the first member of the family to dr/op the de from before his surname. He was one of Henry IV’s justices for the northern counties. From him Brougham Hall passed to John, who was landowner during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483). The next several generations, Gilbert, Thomas, Henry appear to have been reduced in status. Henry’s son Thomas however was a member of the Commission of the Peace for Cumberland. He died in 1607 without issue and the Brougham estate passed to his wife Agnes for the duration of her life. At her death it passed to her husbands Uncle, Peter Brougham.

During the 17th century the entire Lordship of Brougham was reunited in the hands of the Bird family. These had originated in Burd Oswald, near to Gillsland in Northumberland. The last owner of the Lordship in this family was James Bird, who was steward to the Earls of Thanet. He was a keen scholar of topography and made a study of a number manors in the area and collected deeds relating to them, which he deposited at Appleby Castle. On his death, despite having had nine sons, he had no male heir and the whole estate was sold to the Brougham family. This family continued in possession of the Lordship until the 19th century when it was purchased by the Tufton family, the earls of Thanet, who also possessed Brougham Castle. The current representative of the that family, Lord Hothfield is the present Lord of the Manor of Brougham.

Brougham Hall, the seat of the the Brougham family stands on an eminence near the river Lowther, a mile and a quarter from the centre of Penrith. Its size and impressive position have earned it t2he name ‘The Windsor of the North’. It is half mansion and half castle, much of it dating from the 13th or 14th centuries, with the oldest part thought to be the western side of the great hall. Some parts of the fortified walls are several yards thick and the presence of an armoury indicates the former defensive nature of the house. In one of the bedrooms is a bed, dating from 1571 that was brought from Sheffield Castle. This was the bed slept in by Mary Queen of Scots during her confinement there. The chapel in also mediaeval, though underwent extensive renovations in 1659. It is built on the site of a well, which used to rise up though a hole bored in the centre of the ancient font. 

Brougham itself is an extensive parish, covering some 6,000 acres. It is bounded by the Eden, Lowther and Eamont rivers. 

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

The Lordship of Bunshill can be traced back to Domesday Book where it is recorded as being a possession of Gruffydd ap Maredud. It was among several manors that the Welshman held in the area,  including two other manorial estates in the parish of Mansell Lacy, to which Bunshill belonged. In fact Bunshill, here recorded as Bunesulle, formed a detached part of that parish, surrounded by the lands of Kentchester.  The Domesday record reads; 

The same Gruffydd holds Bunesulle. Godric held it 

and could go where he would. 

There is one hide paying geld. 

There are three villans

and 1 bordar with 1 plough and 

there could be 3 ploughs. 

It was and is worth 3s. 

Gruffydd was a Prince of South Wales, and son of King Mariadoc and his ownership of the manor  appears to have been allowed as part of a policy of conciliation between the Normans and the Welsh. It  appears that Bunshill had been granted specifically to Gruffydd’s father, King Mariadoc after 1066, having taken it from the free Saxon, Godric. It seems that Bunshill may have passed eventually to Gruffydd ap Rhys  and then followed this familial line to his son, Anarawd ap Gruffydd (1136-1143) then to his brother, Cadell  ap Gruffydd (1143-1151). It then descended to his brother, Maredudd ap Gruffydd (1151-1155) and finally to his brother, The Lord Rhys (Rhys ap Gruffydd) (1155-1197), though this is open to some uncertainty. 

At the beginning of the 13th century, the Lordship became the possession of Sir Walter de Lacy, a  Marcher Lord. By the time of his death the Manor had been gifted to the nuns of Aconbury, a religious house  founded by Walter’s wife, Margaret. Evidently though the Manor was tenanted on behalf of the Priory during  this period and this method continued after the estate had been taken by the Crown after the suppression  of the religious houses. Aconbury Priory itself was dissolved in 1536. 

It was only in 1571 that the Crown gave up its interests in Bunshill and it was purchased by William  Barroll, a clerk to the Earl of Essex, and his brother Thomas. Evidently the manor descended to the former  since, after his death in 1600, Bunshill passed to the Traunter family. Thomas’ daughter Bridget was married  to Simon Traunter and her sister and coheir, Joanna had married Simon’s brother, William. In the National  archives there is a record of a legal dispute between Simon Traunter and Richard Savacre which took place  in 1608 and concerned a messuage or parcel of the manor known as Looffes. Simon Traunter, who died in  1630, was succeeded by his eldest son Francis. A record held at Herefordshire RO ( AW28/22/3 ) records that the manor was granted in trust to Francis on his marriage to Eleanor Evans, by his mother, Bridget.  

Francis was succeeded by his only son, Simon who sold Bunshill to the Hon. James Brydges, for £,2,250 in 1712. Brydges, who had been born in nearby Dewsall and was created the first Duke of Chandos in 1719, when he was already Lord of Bunshill. Though Chandos was not a politician of the first rank, he held a number posts in various Governments of the early 18th century whereby he was able to accrue  vast wealth. As paymaster-general in 1705 he organised provisions for the British forces involved in the War  of the Spanish Succession. He was later commissioner for taking subscriptions to the South Sea Company, whose over-inflated stock values led to its infamous collapse. He is chiefly remembered as a patron of arts and architecture. He used his wealth to build the magnificent mansion known as Cannons in Edgeware (demolished in 1747). Perhaps his most lasting memorial was his patronage of George Frederick Handel. Handel lived at Cannons between 1717 and 1718 where he composed his oratorio Esther and the opera Acis and Galatea. In return for this largess, Handel composed the Chando Anthems, which the composer  himself played on the (still existing) organ at the church of St Lawrence, Great Stanmore. 

In 1731, facing bankruptcy after vast overspending, Chandos sold the bulk of his Herefordshire estates, including Bunshill, to Guy’s Hospital for £60,000 and it remained a possession of the Hospital and its state successor bodies until 2007 when it was sold to the present owner. Thomas Guy (1645-1724), founder  of Guy’s Hospital in London, ended his life a very rich man, but star ted his commercial life by selling Bibles on the black market, it being the law in England that the Bible be only printed and sold by authority (ie in return  for a royalty). Guy profited immeasurably from the South Sea Stock, multiplying his original investment of £45,400 sixfold before the stock crashed with the widest possible implications for company investment until  the 1840s. Guy founded the hospital in 1721 after serving as a governor of St Thomas’ and after his death in  1724 was buried in the hospital chapel.  

Bunshill forms par t of the parish of Mansel Lacey which lies several miles west of Hereford. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

 1325-1338: reeve’s accounts The National Archives 

1339-1351: court rolls, with Mansell Lacy Rectory 

1343-1345: bailiff’s accounts 

1353-1354: rental 

1393-1401: overseer’s accounts 

1393-1394: court rolls 

1434-1437: court rolls

1445-1452: court rolls 

1493-1494: court roll 

1502-1536: court rolls, 

1521-1522: court roll  

1550-1553: court rolls 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2021 - Stephen Johnson

Alfred the Great is remembered for many reasons, not least of which was halting the advance of  the Danes across England. One of the ways in which  he was able to control them was by establishing  fortified settlements across his realm which served to protect the local populations. These were known as  Burgs or Burghs and the Manor of Burgh le Marsh  was established by Alfred to protect this part of  Lincolnshire. There is some evidence to suggest that  the Saxons chose this site because it had previously  been a Roman Castrum, or fortified camp, established to guard this part of the east coast. The settlement  is situated on raised ground which the Romans  themselves had made higher to provide a commanding  view of the surrounding area. Today Burgh le Marsh is  a small town which lies five miles from Skegness. 

In Domesday Book there were a number of manors recorded but the main estate was held by  Earl Alan of Brittany and Richmond. It had been part of the extensive estate of the Saxon Earl Edwin. The  Manor remained a possession of the Richmonds until the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) when it passed on  the marriage of Constance, daughter and heiress of the last Earl, to Ranulph, Earl of Chester. On his death it  reverted to Arthur, Duke of Richmond, Constance’s son from her first marriage. 

During the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) the Manor was forfeited to the King who granted it to  Peter of Savoy, the uncle of Queen Eleanor. Peter, the 9th count of Savoy, and Marquis of Italy, was born in  Susa in 1203. He had many connections in England, his brother, Boniface, was Archbishop of Canterbury and  his niece, Eleanor, was the wife of Henry III. In 1240 Henry invited Peter to England and granted him large  estates also making him the Earl of Richmond. Henry showered power and positions on a rather reluctant  Earl and Peter was made Sheriff of Kent and a royal counsellor. In 1242 he sailed with Henry to Poitou in  France before later having to travel to Italy to defend his family’s estates from the Count of Geneva. Peter  returned to England in 1247 having consolidated his Italian Estates, bringing with him a ‘bevy’ of foreign  women anxious to marry English noblemen. This, and Peter’s desire to obtain several lucrative wardships of  young noblemen, began to create resentment with some English barons. In the early 1250s Peter developed  a friendship with Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester but this did not seem to have interfered with his  friendship with the King. As the dispute between the barons, led by de Montfort, and Henry escalated, Peter  joined the party of the former in forcing the king to accept the committee of twentyfour, appointed to  ensure the reforms. During 1259 as tensions heightened, Peter, who was at heart a moderate passed to the  King’s side and Montfort had him removed from the committee. A year later Peter was instrumental in the  reconciliation of Henry with his son Edward. When civil war broke out in 1263 the hostility to foreigners  was such that Peter was forced to return to Savoy. Peter remained abroad and took no part in the war until  1265 when he was present at Pevensey Castle, defending if from the younger Simon de Montfort. After the  King’s victory at Evesham Peter was restored to all his lands. He died in 1268 in France and is buried at the  Abbey of Hautcombe. Peter was described as a ‘prudent man, proud and hardy and terrible as a lion; who so  held himself in his time that he put many folks in subjection under him and he was so valiant that men called him  “le Petit Charlamagne.” 

 The descent of Burgh le Marsh from this point is rather obscure but later in the reign of Henry it  was found that Robert, Lord Tateshull held the estate. It remained in this family and passed to his grandson,  Robert, who died in 1302. He had no children and so his estate was divided between his three sisters. Burgh le Marsh passed to Joan, who was married to Sir Robert Driby. They had a daughter, Alice, who was married  to Sir William Bernake and it was from his family that the manor received its other name of Bernack Hall. On  the death of Sir William’s grandson, also William, the Manor descended to his sister Maud, wife of Ralph de  Cromwell. 

Ralph de Cromwell, who came from Tattershall in the county was made Baron Cromwell and  summoned to Parliament in 1375. He died in 1398 and was succeeded by his son Ralph. In turn he was  succeeded his son, Ralph, the 3rd Baron. He served in the household of Thomas, Duke of Clarence and later  Henry V at Agincourt in 1415. He fought in France until the death of Henry and returned to England where  he was appointed to the Regency Council to the infant Henry VI. Soon afterwards he was made Chamberlain  of the Household. This was the senior position on the royal household and it was his job to organise the  ‘Chamber’, the rooms in which the king would spend his time and receive visitors. Cromwell lost this job  in 1432 during a bout of infighting between the Duke of Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufor t. When power shifted towards the latter a year later he was made Lord Treasurer of England. Since England was embroiled  in wars in France, Cromwell spend much of his time trying to raise money to continue the fight. His tenure however was marred by an economic depression brought on by a lack of precious metals in Europe. Known  as the Great Slump, this eventually led to a large scale rebellion led by Jack Cade in 1450 and ultimately  was a factor in the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, a decade later. Although an adherent of the Yorkists,  Cromwell died a few years before this war became serious.

On his death in 1456 the Manor of Burgh le Marsh passed to Maud, one of Cromwell’s two nieces.  She was married to Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby and through this union the Manor  passed to this family who held it for over four centuries.  

In 1907 the Manor was sold by Lord Willoughy to Willie Wray and it remained with the descendants  of this family until recently when it was obtained by a private individual who is the present Vendor.  

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

BURNGULLOW Lordship lies in the parish of St Mewan, on the outskirts of St Austell, on the southern coast of Cornwall. The parish was formed by combining the villages of Burngullow, Polgooth and Trewoon. The church is dedicated to St Mewan who was born in Gwent and travelled to Brittany with Saint Samson. On route Mewan was given a plot of ground to found a monastery but finding no water he struck the ground with his staff and spring appeared. Many other miracles were attributed to this Dark Age saint which led to a sizable cult, especially in 11th century Cornwall. The area was known, until the twentieth century, for its tin mines and it is said that over 500,000 pounds of the metal was produced over space of forty years in the 15th century. A great deal of the Lordship was taken up with Burngallow Common, which lies in the north of the parish and measured over 600 acres. 

At the time of Domesday Book it is thought that Burngallow formed part of the jurisdiction covered by the Lordships of Branell, Tybesta and Towington, which were in the possession of the Count Mortain. He was the half brother of William the Conqueror. and had, In early 1066, been present at the council at Lillebonne, which had planned the Norman Conquest. According to the chronicler, Wace, Mortain himself gave over 120 ships to William to aid in the invasion but this is thought to be an exaggeration. Three years after the successful invasion, Mortain defended Lindsey against the the Danes, helping to ˚finally rid the east of England of of Nordic overlords. Mortain was said to have received the largest English possessions of any of the Conqueror's followers, estimated at more 790 Manors and Burngallow seems to have been one of these.

The descent of the Lordship after this is very obscure and it is not known who its early owners were. However, by 16th century it had passed to the Robartes family. These had long been resident in Cornwall and had evidently been land holders for some time since their fortune was derived from wool and tin,a product in which Burngallow, as we know, was rich. In the latter quarter of the 1500’s the Lordship was held by Sir Richard Robartes, who had married Frances Header of Boscastle and was knighted in 1616. He was raised to the baronetage five years later and in 1625 was made Baron Robartes of Truro. His son and heir, John, was born in 1606 and educated at Exeter College, Oxford where he was supposed to have ‘sucked in evil principles both as to church and to state and he became a presbyterian. This is born out during the Civil War (by which time he had succeeded his father as Lord Robartes) when he became a lieutenant of foot in the Parliamentary army of the Earl of Essex. In this force he fought at the Battle of Edgehill which ended in a stalemate and later at the first Battle of Newbury, in September 1643, which was again indecisive. A year later he was made a field-marshal and later that year a petition was presented to Parliament ‘praying that Robartes be made commander-in-chief of Devon and Cornwall.’ It is thought that the baron persuaded Essex to march to the West Country, a campaign which ended in his surrender at Lostwithiel. At this engagement Robartes escaped to Plymouth where Essex ordered him to defend to town. In the following months Robartes’ held out against a series of attacks and despite the hardships caused by the siege he was obviously a popular man since he was repeatedly petitioned by the townsfolk to remain in office. Whilst at ËPlymouth his lands, including Burngallow, were confiscated by King Charles and granted to Richard Grenville. To make matters worse for Robartes, his children were imprisoned by the King. After this his zealousness began to cool and he argued with Essex over what he saw an increase in radicalism on the Parliamentary side. When Charles was executed Robartes withdrew from public life, having received back his estates, but tacitly supported the Commonwealth. By the time of the Restoration his lack of involvement with the regime was rewarded by Charles II and he was made a member of the Privy Council. He became an active supporter of toleration for non-conformists but his bill to Parliament of 1663 met with no success. In 1669 he was made lord lieutenant of Ireland and this led to his being created Viscount Bodmin and Earl Radnor in 1679.  

The Earl died in 1685 and he was succeeded by his daughter-in-law, Sarah, who had married his son Richard, but who had died four years earlier. äBurngallow then passed to her son, Charles Bodville Robartes, the second Viscount Bodmin. He held a number of positions in the Government of William III (1688-1601) including constable of Carnavon Castle and lord lieutenant of Cornwall from 1696 to 1702. He died in 1723 and his seat, the Llanhydrock Estate which included Burngallow, descended to his nephew, Henry, Earl of Radnor. He died unmarried, in 1741 and the Lordship passed to his nephews, Thomas and George Hunt. It then descended to Anna, Thomas’ granddaughter, who was married to Charles Agar, third son of the 1st Viscount Clifden. His son and heir, Thomas was made Lord Robartes in in 1869 and his son, Thomas, inherited the Clifden Viscountcy on the death of his cousin Leopold, the 5th Viscount, in 1899. The Lordship of Burngallow has remained with this family until the present day and the Llanhydrock Estate are the Vendors. 

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Everyone has heard of Robin Hood and his adventures in Sherwood Forest but unlike the stories and movies,  this was not a great tract of trees spread across the land but a forest as was conceived by the Normans, as  an area in which the king could hunt and which was subject to its own special laws.  

A great survey of the Forest was made in 1609 and Calverton was one of 20 manors found in the South  Walk division. It lies 7 miles north east of Nottingham on low-lying sandy soil by Dover Beck. The restrictions  placed on agriculture and grazing in the Forest appears to have led to Calverton developing a more ‘industrial’  economy than many similar ones, with woodworking and textiles being important. It is primarily known at the  birthplace of The Revd. William Lee, who invented the stocking frame in 1589. This was the main industry in  the village until the 19th century when it became a centre of coal mining.  

In the great Survey of 1086, known to us as Domesday, Calverton is recorded as a being a berewick of the  manor of Blidworth and was recorded as having; 

6 bovtaes of land to the geld There is 12 oxen  

There are 7 villans and 2 borders have 2 ploughs 

There is a church and a priest and 2 acres of meadow 

Woodland pasture 8 furlongs long and 3 broad 

Worth 40s 

The presence of a church and a priest would likely explain why Calverton became a separate manor under  the ownership of Roger Pictavensis. The descent from the 11th century is rather fractured, as the Lordship  was divided into a number of fees, or moieties. For instance, in 1270 the Chapter of Southwell and Breewood  Priory held and John Vylers held one-fourth of a fee of the honor of Lancaster. In 1276 William Botiller held  a fee here, and in Crophull, under Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. In 1280 Adam Everingham held a fee and 1286  Robert Everingham also held a fee. In 1318 Breewood Priory had a charter of privileges. In 1341 Ralph Vylers  gave lands to Worksop Priory; and Sampson Strelley held lands here. It seems as though the Vylers family  were the Lords of the manor during much of this period though in 1346 Alexander Gonaldeston held some  new inclosures in a place called Wikes, within Sherwood Forest and in 1476 Robert Rempston held rents  here.  

The descent of the manor after the 15th Century is extremely difficult to determine but by the 18th century  the manor had become the property of the Pelham family although the exact date of the acquisition remains  uncertain. This ownership is confirmed by a variety of manorial documents deposited by the family in the  20th century at Nottingham University Library. In 1711 it seems to have been part of the inheritance of  Thomas Pelham, the nephew of the Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, who had died childless. A year later, the  already rich Pelham became ‘fabulously’ rich when he inherited his father’s estates in Sussex and his title  of Baron Pelham of Laughton. His combined lands gave him an income of £32,000 a year, an astronomical  sum in 1712. He not only controlled vast lands but these gave him considerable political influence and when  George I came to the throne in 1714, Pelham was raised to the peerage as Viscount Houghton. Within the  year he was raised yet again and was given the titles Marquess of Clare, and Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne.  He quickly formed a friendship with the new king and was appointed to the Garter in 1718. There followed  a rapid political rise, culminating in him becoming Secretary of State for the Southern department in 1724  which was essentially the position of foreign minister. He became one of the dominant politicians of the 18th  century. Newcastle served as the Foreign Minister under Walpole from 1730 to 1739 and he played a major  part in formulating the Treaty of Vienna in 1731 This effectively reorientated Britain policy away from Europe  towards a more mercantilist outlook. His actions and accomplishments are too many for this short history  but can be summarised by naming the positions he held. He served as Minister of War from 1739 and then as  Foreign Minister once more from 1748 to 1754. After the death of Henry Pelham in March 1754 Newcastle  ascended to the position of Prime Minister. However, his two and a half years in this post proved the least  successful of his career and after a series of blunders he was forced to resign in November 1756. This wasn’t  the end of his career, since he remained as Minister of Finances under Pitt. He finally left office in 1767 and  died a year later.

The Manor of Calverton remained as part of the estate of the Dukes of Newcastle into the 20th century.  The 10th and final Duke died in 1988 thus making the title extinct. but the estate had passed into the hands  of Trustees who sold the Lordship to the present owner not long afterwards. 

Please note that the mines and minerals are reserved from the sale. 

A Selection of Manorial Documents in in the Public Domain:

1323-1324: court rolls Nottingham University Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections 

1329-1329: court roll Staffordshire County Record Office 

1329-1329: rental 

1334-1335: court rolls 

1340-1340: court roll 

1375-1376: court rolls 

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - February 2022 - Stephen Johnson

The Lordship of the Manor of Cantley Netherhall is an ancient one and its history can be  traced back for the best part of a thousand years. It  takes its name firstly from Cantley, which may have a  variety of meanings. The Saxon Canta’s Leah denotes  land perhaps belonging to a man from Kent found  in a wooded area, or Leah. Alternatively it may come  from the Norse Kant, which means a marginal or  border area and this may have belonged to Canter - a Swedish name. Netherhall means that the manor  was found predominantly in the southern part of the  parish, as opposed to the Upperhall in the northern. 

The earliest reference to the Manor comes  from William the Conqueror’s great survey of  England, made in 1086 where it is recorded as being  a possession of Hugh de Gournay. His most notable  contribution to the historical record came in 1084  when he was one of the founders of Caen Abbey.  The family took their name from their town of origin  in Normandy and Hugh’s father was a Norman  commander at the Battle of Mortimer against the  French in 1054.  

Hugh died in around 1084 and was succeeded by his son Gerard who made an excellent marriage  to Editha, the daughter of the magnate, Earl William de Warren. He is notable as the founder of Lessingham  Priory on the coast near Cromer as well as being a cosignatory to the foundation deed of Caen Abbey. He  was succeeded in his estates by his son Hugh (II) and then his eldest son Hugh (III) who was a supporter  of Henry II’s eldest son, Richard. He followed Richard on Crusade to the Holy Land and was present at the  siege of Acre between 1189 and 1191. Hugh’s loyalty to Richard extended into the succeeding reign of his  younger brother, John and he was a prominent supporter of the Barons who opposed the king. As a result  his English estates were seized by the Crown and Cantley administered by a royal official but by the time of  Hugh’s death in 1223 they had been returned to him by Henry III.  

Hugh’s successor, also called Hugh (IV), didn’t tarry in flouting the wishes of the king. He is said to  have “highly incurred the King’s displeasure,” by attending a tournament in Nottingham that he had been expressly  forbidden to take part in. Soon afterwards he went one step further and “boldly presumed to hunt with Hound  and Horn for the space of three days, in the King’s Chase at Bristol, without leave, and contrary to the command  of the Foresters. Whereupon the Constable of the Castle of Bristol was required to seize all his Lands, Goods, and  Chatties, within his Liberty.” On this occasion the king stopped short of stripping Hugh of his lands but his card  was surely marked and he largely disappears from the record until his death in 1239. 

Hugh’s heir was his only daughter Julia and through her marriage Cantley passed to, William  Bardolf the feudal baron of Wormegay, near to King’s Lynn. In 1254 Bardolf was granted a right of Free  Warren for his demesne land in Cantley and is likely to have established a park as a result. At his death in  1289 Cantley is numbered among his numerous manors and estates which spanned eight counties. Initially  it passed to his widow, Juliana, who died in 1294. Her heir, Sir Hugh was born in 1255 and once he had  inherited his parents’ estates he was summoned by writ to the Parliament of 1294, where he was addressed  as the first Baron of Wormegay. He was a military man and he accompanied Edward I during his campaign  in Gascony and then , in 1300, he travelled with the king to Scotland, serving in the king’s army under the command of the Earl of Leicester. In the same year, possibly whilst he was away with the king, Cantley and his  estates were the subject of an organised raid. On March 22 a Commission of Oyer and Terminer - a court of  inquiry - was established to investigate the taking of ‘deer, hares and rabbits’ from Cantley and other Manors  belonging to Bardolf. As well as traditional game ‘eyries of sparrowhawks, herons, spoonbills and bitterns’ were  also removed suggesting a well organised operation.  

When Sir Hugh died, in 1302, the Manor of Cantley was recorded in some details and was noted  as containing the following demesne; A Capital Messuage and 8o acres of arable 10 acres of meadow, several  pasture, a salt marsh, 6 acres of rushes, 4 acres of wood, a windmill, rents of 21 free tenants and 90 customers  and cottagers, hens, works etc and pleas of court and view of frankpledge.’ This was evidently a complex but  populated Manor. The numerous customers would have small plots, not much more than allotments and  perhaps some rights to collect birds on Cantley marshes. Many of their feudal parcel survived into the 18th  century, and in some cases the 1930s.  

Sir Hugh was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas, who was summoned to the first Parliament of  Edward II in 1307 and served this wayward monarch and his successor until his own death in 1330. The  Manor remained in the hands of the Bardolf family until the mid 15th century when they passed by marriage  to John , first Viscount Beaumont. After Beaumont’s death in at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460 the  Manor was inherited by his son, William. This Beaumont was staunchly Lancastrian and fought with them at  the bloody battle of Towton on 29 March 1461. He was taken prisoner after the battle and in Parliament  Edward publicly stripped him of his lands, which were placed in the hands of William, Lord Hastings. This  situation lasted until 1470 when Henry VI was restored to the throne and the Lancastrians were for a  moment, pre-eminent once more. This brief hiatus was ended at the Battle of Barnet in 1471 and Beaumont  fled to Scotland.  

In 1515 Cantley Netherhall was granted to Sir William Arundel, Lord Matravers and this family held  it until 1544 when it was sold to the Crown. In 1557 Queen Mary sold the manor to a successful lawyer,  Thomas Gawdy. He was succeeded by his son, Henry who followed his father into the law and was made  Sheriff of the county in 1608. Earlier he had been made a Knight of Bath in James 1’s first honours list in  1603. After his death in 1620, Sir Henry was succeeded by his son Sir Robert Gawdy, who resided at Claxton  Castle and married Winifred, the co-heir of Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Stifkey. In 1703 the last of the Gawdys, Sir  William died without a male heir and Cantley Netherhall passed to his daughter Jane, wife of the unusually  named Harbord Harbord and he became Lord of the Manor on his father-in-law’s death. 

The Harbord family were owners of an estate at Gunton but Harbord Harbord had begun life as Harbord Cropley and this was his name when he married Jane, but on the death of his uncle, John Harbord,  he changed his name in order to inherit. Harbord died childless in 1742 and the Manor came to his nephew,  Sir William Habord.  

Like his uncle, Sir William changed his surname, to Harbord by Act of Parliament, on his inheritance  (from Morden). He also reunited the divided Rant estates by marrying Sir William Rant’s granddaughter,  Elizabeth. In 1745 he was created a Baronet and died in 1770. His son, and heir, Sir Harbord Harbord sat as  a Whig MP for Norwich from 1768 to 1786 and was made Groom of the Bedchamber to George III in 1763.  As a reward for his royal services, Harbord was raised to the peerage as Baron Suffield in 1786. In around  1806 Suffield sold the manor to William Henry Gilbert who died in 1832. His estates then descended to his  son William Alexander who, like his father, resided at the manor house and by the time of his death in 1887  was the owner of most of the parish. His successor, Lt.-Col. Herbert Henry Gilbert, was a Justice of the  Peace and an officer in the 20th Hussars. He died in 1932 and the Manor passed to Geoffrey Gilbert. The  last of the family, Patrick, inherited the title in 1968 and sold the manor to the present owners. 

Cantley Netherhall lies in the parish of Cantley in the Broads area of the county, on the North bank  of the River Yare.  

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1527-1528: court roll The National Archives 

1486-1580: minutes, with suit of court 

1559 Norfolk Record Office 

1500-1600: lists of tenants, 16th cent 

1553: estreats 

1563-1590: court book (draft) 

1564: rental 

1577-1598: court book 

1611-1613: minute book 

1614-1618: minutes 

1625-1651: court books (2) 

1697-1925: court books 

1718-1781: minute books 

1731-1768: rental 

1788-1869: minute books 

1794-1807: rentals 

1875-1876: fine and fee book 

1875-1879: minute book 

Lot #2 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

Although these two Manors are independent of each other they always seem to have been held jointly. At the Domesday Survey both Manors were held by Ernuin (a priest of the King's thegns, who held Camblesforth) and Ulcete, of Kiddal and Parlington. Previously Carlton had been held by Wegga or Wiga on behalf of the King. 

Between the years 1130 and 1139 the two Manors were included in the Priory founded at Drax by William Paynel. Later Drax Priory descended to his second son Fulk Paynel and it appears to have been forfeited to King Stephen. In 1226/28 the Manors were held by Hugh Paynel, probably grandson of William. In 1224 they were held by John de Bella Aqua (John Bellew) while in 1302/03 they were in the hands of the co-heirs of Peter de Bruiz.

During the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) the manors were granted as "Free warren" to the Abbots of Snaith. In 1482 Carlton and Camblesforth are recorded as Chapels of Ease under Snaith Abbey, and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1539) the holdings became part of the Peculiar Court of Snaith, conducted by the Abbots of Selby. From this point until 1723, which is the date of the earliest record in the possession of the present Lord, there is an absence of reliable information re the ownership of the Manors. By then, however, it had come into the hands of the Stapleton family, for the first Court in the book shows Nicholas Stapleton as Lord. In the same book, which ends in 1783, Courts were held for two more members of the family, both of them Thomas. Later books show that Miles Thomas Stapleton had succeeded by 1821 and he was summoned by writ to the House of Peers in 1840, he being one of the o-heirs to the Barony of Beaumont, which had fallen into abeyance in 1507 on the death of the 7th Baron. he, therefore, became the 8th Baron and on his death in 1854 he was succeeded by his son Henry, then only six years of age. The title deeds which will be handed over to the purchaser show numerous transactions relating to that family estates during the last half of the century culminating in a sale by auction in 1893 at which the two Manors were sold to Henry Edwards Paine and Richard Brettell for £1,040. The former acquired the latter's share in 1900, and since Mr. Paine's death in 1917 the Manors have remained in the hands of his devisees and their trustees until recently sold to the present Vendor.   

Despite the sale of the Manors and other property, Carlton Towers remained in the family and is the seat of Baroness Beaumont (Mona Josephine Tempest Fitzalan-Howard) in whose favour the Barony was called out of abeyance in 1896 by letters patent. She married in 1914 Bernard Edward, 3rd Baron Howard of Glossop. It is interesting to note that the Beaumont/Stapleton connection with Carlton dates back to the 15th Century, during which Joan Beaumont, sister of the 7th Lord and 2nd Viscount Beaumont married, as her second husband, Sir Brian Stapleton of Carlton. 

The first entry in the earliest book to be handed to the purchaser reads:

Maner de Carlton Cur Let Baron et Visus Frankpledge of Nicholai Stapylton domini Manerii praedicti decio die Octobris anno domini 1723 Johannes Simpson Gent. Senescheli ibidem. 

...and so on, through the subsequent books, the Stapletons and Beaumonts figure as Lords. Many of the courts have a fuller title, viz., "The Court Leet, Court Baron and View of Frankpledge of etc."

When dealing only with copyhold properties the Courts were termed Customary Courts, because the law which was administered was "according to the custom of the Manor." 

Examples of disciplinary action taken at these courts follow:

30th April 1755: Fines inflicted on 14 persons at 1/- each and on five persons at 6d. each for non-attendance at Court; on a man and wife for trespass 2d; for taking wood one fine as high as 6/8d.; on several for dikes in default; on another for a staith and bank in default, the last bearing the heavy find of 13/4d. 

May 1737: Fine of £1 6s. 8d. for a gote wall and bank in default.

The main business of the Courts concerned dealings with land transfers on purchase, succession or mortgage, involving admissions, surrenders, conditional surrenders (mortgages), warrants of satisfaction (discharge of mortgages) etc.

Then there were the periodical appointments of officials including constables, deputy constables, pinders (impounders of stray cattle, etc.), byelawmen and affeerers, who determined market value or fines. 

In the Minute Books among the records we get a glimpse of the organisation of the Manor. Here "They say the bank should be eight feet high above the bottom of the drain. When the flood reaches the bottom of the pinfold it should run over Mr. Eddells Bank." "The foreman of the jury stated that in consequence of the Dry Summer, and being compelled to let in tidal waters, the Jury do not wish to enforce the above fines on the undertaking...that the above drain should be properly dressed out as soon as practicable." Elsewhere eight persons are named as "a committee to enquire into and determine the Height of little Marsh Bank." 

The records show that the Lords had duties to the community and were suitably dealt with (at any rate in this Manor) if they erred. For example, on one occasion the Lord was fined 1/0- for not clearing out his part of the Millcarr (carr=bog) Drain. Later he incurred the much heavier fine of £2 for non-repair of the drain leading to Way Bridge Clough (clough = valley), but the jury subsequently remitted the fine on an undertaking that the drain would be properly dressed out. Another Court appears to have been specially called to hear "compliant against Lord Beaumont" for allowing accumulation of warp in a drain. He was fined £1 19s 0d. Dowager Lady Beaumont was also in trouble and fined £10 for non-maintenance of two gates and a fence. Fines were levied, or threated, in turn on the Railway Company, the Carlton Waywardens, the Selby R.D.C., the Surveyor of Highways and others, mainly for drain offenses. 

A final entry - out of numerous others of equal interest - is found in 1784. The bailiff summoned Mr. Luke Bell, gentleman, to serve on the Jury "he being a resiant (resident) in the Manor and owing suit and service and liable to serve our Sovereign Lord the King and the Lord of the said Manor as a juryman." He defaulted and was fined 2/6, but later, upon his attendance improving, the fine was reduced to 6d. 

All of which goes to show that the men of Carlton were a sturdy race, ready to stand up for their rights and those of the community, whether the offender  was a Lord or Lady, Corporation or Commoner. 

The successions of Stewards, who were Presidents of the Court and usually given a free hand by the Lords, is of interest, some of them having a lengthy term of office: 

John Simpson: 1723-1762

Thomas Simpson: 1762-1781

George Simpson: 1781-1783

Wm. Bullock: 1783

George Townend: 1783-1797

Henry Gill: 1797-1803

John Peirson: 1803-1821

John Peirson, Jnr.: 1821-1826

Wm. Shearburn: 1826-1846

Edward E. Clark: 1846-1894

G.F. Beaumont and his Sons: 1894-1955

It will be seen that the Simpson family held the office for 60 years, Edward E. Clark for nearly 50 years and the (Essex) Beaumonts for over 60 years. 

The Carlton Records ar of immense value to the student of social and economic history, for they presnt a most interesting picture of the Open Field System of land tenure and of the trasntion therefrom to Close Fields. In the early books there is constant reference to copyholders having strips in the various town fields. The usual description is "land lying dispersedly in the several town fields." Sometimes reference is made to "the Common Right upon Camblesforth Common." 

By the beginning of the 18th Century each copyholder appears to have had his parcel of land in each field in a fixed position. There is no indication of change of strips by lot or rotation. Holdings, however, had not acquired any distinctive names. The exact position of each plot is described by the simple, but rather labourious, method of naming the holders of adjoining lands to the north, the south, the east, and the west of the plot. References such as "the birk furlong," "land bounded by a stinting," "the butts furlong, " flatt," "furshott," and "the long gares" (long tapering strips into the corner of a field) are sufficient evidence that the plots were still retaining their "strip" shapes. Fairfield, Middle Field, Little Field are mentioned. There were other odds and ends of land, such as "furshott called the Long Hards," "Coblerhill - the butts furlong," "a flatt called Gingerhill,"  "the butt Hole Field," and "Two hemp lands in the Old Garth." 

Generally speaking, houses in Carlton were not named int he 17th Century. They were usually de scribed as "the messuage occupied by..." Many houses are mentioned as having a garth - presumably a biggish garden. Some of these messuages were perhaps country-houses of city folk, for there are many instances of purchases of small parcels of land by merchants of Kingston-on-Hull and tradesmen of York and Pontefract and other places. The "Free School at Drax" had lands in the Manor of Carlton. So did the Nonconformist chapel. There is recorded, in November 1844, the purchase of a plot of land (42ft by 33ft) for the "use of the people called Methodists in the connexion established by the late Reverend John Wesley." There were no less than 15 trustees named - eight farmers, three drapers, yeoman, miller, cooper and shipbuilder. Among the occupations met with (but not usual in these days) are Keelman, Innholders (not Innkeepers), Mercer, Apothecary, Linen-draper, sawyer, currier, fellmonger and flaxdresser.

 A great event happened for Carlton and Camblesforth at the turn of the century 1799/1800. Parliament passed an Act for them - an Enclosure Act "for dividing, allotting and inclosing Open common, Fields, Ings, Marshes, Common, Commonable Lands, and Waste Grounds...of Carlton and Camblesforth." It would be interesting to discover who was the prime mover in bringing about this piece of legislation. Could the Lord and tenants not agree to a voluntary scheme of enclosure, or were they not able to agree upon an equitable distribution of land? It took eight long years to complete the operation. Three gentlemen were appointed as Commissioners under the Act, namely, Mr. Richard Clark, the younger, of Rothwell Haigh, Mr. William Dawson of Tadcaster and Mr. Joseph Dickinson of Beverly Park. They issued their awards in march 1808 - awards which changed the face of the land. The Court Book enumerates the awards made to 38 copyholders, most of whom also held freehold land. The largest allotment was 29 acres. Although, the awards in Carlton covered 322 acres, of which 200 acres (or thereabouts) were copyhold.  The Lord of the Manor was granted plots "for tithes." Allotments of purely freehold property are not shown in the Court Book. A century earlier the Open Fields were named as Middle Field (apparently the largest), Townend Field, Millfield, The Ings, Butthole Field, North Field (taken out of Middle Field). In the Enclosure award the Middle Field is not mentioned. In its place appears the Common. 

Piecing these awards together, in the manner of a jig-saw puzzle, one can roughly establish the position of the old Open Fields. The Middle Field (Common) lay in the north west, the Townend Field around the centre, that is, around the Newland Road/High Street cross-roads, the North Field near Camblesforth, the Butthole Field south of North Field, east of Townend Field and north of Newland Road, the Mill Field north and south of the Newland Road and the Ings east of High Street along the river. 

Records to be handed over are:

Manor of Carlton: 

Court Books: 1723-83; 1783-1814; 1815-1851; 1851-81; 1881-93

Call Rolls & Verdicts: 1802-1808

Enrolment Book commencing 1839

Minute Book: 1853-1893 (with Call Roll commencing 1849)

Bundle of Surrenders & Warrants of Satisfaction: 1809-93 (186 documents)

Quit Rentals: 1849-66 (including Camblesforth); 1868-82; 1877-82; 1883-89; 1890 & 1891; 1892 *& 1893

Particulars of tenants properties, admissions, etc.

Draft Compensation Agreements in a  file

Manor of Camblesforth:

call Rolls and Verdicts: 1803-16

Call Roll & Minute Book: 1816-41

Minute Book: 1842-69; 1870-93

Quit Rentals: 1819-26; 1884-93

Insurance of Records: £300, premium 15/- per annum. 

Commencement of Title Deed dated 27th February, 1900

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

In association with Strutt & Parker

 At the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086 the lands which would would eventually form the  manor of Chickering Hall were held by Roger de Poictou. He is recorded as holding an estate of 24 acres  of wood, half an acre of meadow and half a plough team. This unprepossessing estate was added to over the  couple of centuries to become the Lordship.  

Chickering Hall is found in the parish of Wingfield, between Diss and Fressingham. It is chiefly known for being the site of Wingfield Castle, the ancient home of the Wingfield family and later the De La Poles, who became the Earls and Dukes of Suffolk and later claimants to the throne. This Lordship took its name  from Jeffrey de Chickering, who was recorded as Lord of the Manor in 1311 and gifted lands here to Hoxne  Priory.

The manor house, known as Chickering Hall, still stands but is now a farm house. Parts of it date  from the 15th and 16th Centuries with 19th Century alterations. It is thought that the original manor house was built in the 12th Century, though some sources date this even further back the beginning of the 11th  century. Archeological evidence shows that Chickering formed a separate settlement to the main village in  this period and may have had its own church which later became a Chapel of Our Lady.  

By the end of the 14th Century the manor came into the possession of the De La Poles (some  history of this family can be read in the the entry for Eye Sokemere in this catalogue) In 1436 there is record of William de la Pole gifting land and the income of the manor of Chickering Hall to Wingfield College. This had been established by Sir John de Wingfield in the parish in 1362 near to Wingfield Castle. Sir John, a close friend of Edward, The Black Prince, received a significant par t of the ransom paid for the release of King John II of France in 1356. He used par t of his wealth to create the college for the education of priests.At its foundation it was to support a master, nine priests and the education of three poor boys. When the college  was assessed for its income in 1535 it was found to be £19 14s 5d per year. As well as being Lords of the  Manor of Chickering the college received money from lands in Sydehamcum-Esham, Stradbroke, Walpole,  Benhall Robert, Middleton, and Raydon Wingfield. 

The College was dissolved in June 1534 and the Manor  of Chickering Hall was taken by the Crown. Five years later it was  granted to Thomas Southwell. In 1543 it was granted once more, this time as a freehold, to Sir Robert Southwell, Master of the Rolls.  Southwell came to prominence as the tutor to Thomas Cromwell’s  son, Gregory. Through his service to Cromwell he married Margaret,  the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Neville. In 1536 he entered the service of the King and became a solicitor of the court of  augmentations. In 1542 he was made Master of the Rolls and was knighted. As a servant of the Crown he was able to amass a large  landed estate and this included Chickering. He continued as Master  of the Rolls until 1550 and was still on good terms with the regime of  Edward VI. After the kings death in 1553 he witnessed the document which vested the crown to Jane Grey but he swiftly switched his  allegiance to Mary after this succession fell apart. He served Mary  in a number of capacities, and was sheriff of Kent in 1554 during  the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1554. He died in 1559 and the  manor of Chickering passed to his son, Thomas.  

Thomas died in 1567 and the title descend to his son, Sir Robert Southwell, who married Elizabeth, the  daughter of the Earl of Effingham. Southwell had a distinguished naval career, being Vice-Admiral of Norfolk from 1585-1598. During this time he fought the Spanish Armada in 1588, in command of the Elizabeth Jonas.  He died in 1598 and Chickering passed to his son, Sir Thomas, who sold it, in 1621, to Alexander Prescott.  Prescott died within weeks of its purchase and it then descended to his son, Sir John Prescott, High Sheriff of  the county in 1627. He died in 1640 and the Manor passed to his son, William. He lived for just two more  years and then it passed to his sister Jane, who was married firstly to Sir Thomas Fisher and secondly to William, son of Lord Maynard. It therefore came to this family. 

Jane and William had no children, and after Jane’s death in 1675, William married Susan, daughter  and heiress of Thomas Evans of Bow in Middlesex. When William died in 1704 the manor came to his son,  Thomas. He attended Christ’s College, Cambridge and then devoted his time to looking after his estates at  Hoxne and at Passenham in Northamptonshire. He became the MP for Eye in 1710 and was later employed  as the Commissary-general of Stores in Minorca from 1717. From 1723 Thomas gained the position of  Commissioner of Customs a post he retained until 1730. He never married and on his death in 1742 his  estates passed to his cousin, William Maynard, later the 6th Lord Maynard. 

William Maynard was Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1762 to 1769 and died unmarried in 1775.  Chickering passed to his great-nephew, Thomas Hesilrige. On his death in 1817, the manor passed to his  cousin, Viscount Maynard, who quickly sold the estate to Mattias Kerrison. He was known locally as the  ‘Bungay Millionaire’ having made money through the development of the Staithe navigation. The manor  eventually passed as part of the estate to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains.

Until the 19th century the Lords of Chirckering had lived at Hoxne Hall. This this was demolished and  rebuilt as Oakley Park by Sir Edward Kerrison. 

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1540-1542: minister’s accounts, with other manors The National Archives 

1631-1650: rental, Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1652-1666: court roll 

1667-1667: rental (quit rents) 

1670-1738: court book 

1721-1729: rentals (quit rents) 

1738-1780: court book 

1744-1744: rental (quit rents) 

1755-1771: rental (quit rents) 

1772-1830: rental, Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1781-1926: court books  

1886-1887: rental, with other manors 

1887-1897: minute book, with other manors 

1887-1906: quit and free rent accounts 

1894-1899: collector’s quit and free rent accounts 

1900-1905: quit and free rentals 

925-1925: rental, with other manors 

Lot #27 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Little Fransham

At the time of the Domesday Survey, Ralph de Tony held this Manor under King Harold. Later it came into the Le Strange and Beauchamp families. Richard Mevill, Earl of Warwick, was subsequently Lord but lost the Manor on his attainder. Henry VIII granted it to Sir Thomas Bullen (afterwards Earl of Wiltshire and father of Ann Bullen, better known as Anne Boleyn). 

There were no Courts Leet entered in the Court Rolls of this Manor as the Parish of Little Fransham was dealt with at the Courts enrolled in the Records of the Manor of Great Fransham (see Lot 26). 

There are many interesting entries in the Court Rolls and Books and a particularly interesting plan is enrolled with the Conveyance from Charles Metcalf to the Lynn and Dereham Railway Company on 7th February, 1872. This shows three adjoining strips of land stated to be parts of the Manors of Great Fransham, Mills on the Moor, and Circum with Wilcox. 

The Manorial Records (insured for £200, at a premium of 10/0 per annum) to be handed to the purchaser are: 

Court Rolls: 1670-84; 1689-1705; 1679-1726

Court Books: 1727-90; 1791-1852; 1853-78

Other records (not the property of the Vendors) at the Central Library, Norwich include: 

Court Rolls: 1458-1508; 1577-8

Bailiff's Account Rolls: 1334-1443 with omissions

Mersoirs Accounts: 1383-1474 with omissions 

Lot #19 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Cockfield

Cockfield is situated about 7 miles South of Bury St. Edmunds. Originally vested in the Abbott of St. Edmunds by a gift of Earl Alfar, the Manor remained in the Abbey until the Dissolution, when it was granted by the Crown to Sir Robert Drury. The Manor and the Advowson were in 1545 granted to Sir John Sprying; this much we have from Copinger (Vol. I,p. 74).

On the death of Sir William Spring in 1648, it passed to Sir Thomas Robinson of Kentwell Hall, Long Melford. It left the Robinson family when Sir John Moore bought it in the early 18th century. 

Sir Henry followed and was succeeded by Richard Moore who was High Sheriff of the County in the year 1812. Later Lords were Edward Wenham Martin, John Wright (1834) and John Cuddon of Norwich (1839).

A Court held in 1840 is recorded as having taken place "at the Rectory House" and another later in the same year "at the Punch Bowl Inn," Cockfield. We learn from Copinger that the Cuddons were not in possession of the Manor House. 

The Misses Manning became Ladies of the Manor in 1853, but the Cuddons remained Stewards for some years. Frederick Charlsey and others acquired the Manor in 1895 and it passed to George Frederick Beaumont by purchase.  His first Court recorded was held in 1899 at the "King's Head Inn." 

The custom here was to eldest son upon the death of a tenant intestate. Encroachments, tree felling misdemeanors and other items of interest beside the normal business of admissions, common fines and so forth can be found in number. 

A feature of this Manor is the number of greens within its bounds. Viz., Windsor Greens, Buttons Green, Cross Green, Colchester Green (this latter much encroached upon in the past and now almost non-existent) and The Great Green containing ten acres of land. The last mentioned Green was cultivated during the last war and was in 1950 purchased by the Parish Council of Cockfield for £ 150 from the Vendors; it is now used as a playing field. 

For many years the late Mr. and Mrs. Ruffell were bailiffs, the widow succeeding her husband on his death. Their granddaughter, Miss Ann Ruffell, has recently been appointed bailiff. 

The manorial documents (insured for £200, premium 10/- per annum) to be handed over are:

Court Rolls: 1651-85; 1693; 1696-97; 1699; 1700-01; 1703; 1709; 1711; 1718-20; 1724-31; 1747-48; 1769

Court Books: Copies and drafts 1669-85; 1686-89; 1724-31; 1732-39; 1740-43; 1755-58; 1758-64. Books dated 1710-20; 1747-73; 1773-1807; 1808-19; 1819-40; 1840-72; 1872 to date

Alphabetical Table of tenants 1625-1719

Survey Book: Contains the folios of surveys made 1581-83

Rentals: dated 1795 and 1817, a number of rough sketches of commons and wastes, a bundle of presentments of juries, notices of courts, copies of surrenders, etc., 1703-29.

The lst enrolled transaction is a license to F. J. W. Smith to construct and maintain a roadway over Colchester Green mentioned above to enable him to have access to his cottage a the other end of the Green. 

Lot #8 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS LORDSHIP lies in the parish of Capell, and forms the south east portion of the parochial extent. It was originally known as Caldham, after its earliest known lords and gets its name from from its exposed and cold situation. Little is known of the manors early history except that it formed part of the land held by the Caldham family, to whom it gave their name. This family have left little impression in history save for their family arms for which we have the description: Gules, a fefs, ermine, between these martlets, argents.

Evidently, by the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) the Lordship had passed from this family to that of Baker. This family were supposedly of very good repute, possibly merchants, and they owned a rather peculiar chaÊncel in Folkstone church. The Baker’s lived in Coldham and remained there until it was in the hands of John Baker. He was a gentleman porter off Calais during the reigns of Henry V (1413-1422) and Henry VI(1422-1461). We also have a record of the Baker arms, Argents, on a sess, nebulee, sable, a tower, triple-towered, of the first, between three keys of the seccond. It is thought that this was created as an allusion to his office. 

John Baker died in (17 Hen VI) without a male heir and Coldham subsequently passed to his daughters in moieties. The exact divisions are unknown but after a few years it became united in the ownership of Robert Brandred in the right of his wife, Joan, the fourth daughter of John Baker.

Towards the end of the reign of Henry VI, Coldham came into the possession of Sir Thomas Browne of Beechworth Castle. This family had come to prominence at the beginning of the reign of Richard II when Anthony Browne, was created a knight at the coronation of the new kiÏng. Sir Anthony was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Robert who lived during the reign of Henry V. His son was Sir Thomas Browne. He was a successful beaurocrat and became treasurer of the household of Henry VI and served as sheriff of Kent in 1444 and 1460. He married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz-Alan of Beechworth Castle, and through this union inherited this ancient property. Sir Thomas’ eldest son and heir was Sir George, but it was from his fourth son, Anthony, that the Coldham Browne’s sprang. Sir Anthony was the standard-bearer of England, and esquire of the body of the king, governor of Queenboro Castle and finally constable of the Castle of Calais. 

This Sir Anthony had only one son, also Sir Anthony, who was knighted in 1523, by Henry VIII (1509-1547) after the successful siege of Morlaix. A year later he emulated his father and was made an esquire to the body of the king. From this time until Henry’s death, Sir Anthony was a close friend of the monarch. In 1526 he was Òmade lieutenant of the Isle of Man, during the minority of the island’s owner, Edward, earl of Derby. Two years later he was sent by Henry to France to invest Francis I with the Order of Garter (an honour Sir Anthony received in 1549) . He was sent again in 1530 to a conference with the Pope in connection with Henry’s proposed divorce from Catherine of Aragon.  

As a result of the Dissolution of the monasteries, Browne was granted Battle Abbey, which he mostly razed. He also built a house in Southwark, London, which he bestowed for descendants, the Viscount Montague. Along with this gifts came the manors of Godstow in Sussex and Brede in Kent, which included a large portion of Hastings. On the death of his half-brother, William Fitzwilliam, earl of Southampton, he inherited Waverley and Bayham abbies and the extensive Cowdray estate in Midhurst. 

In 1540 Browne was sent to the court of John of Cleves to act as proxy at the marriage of his daughter Anne, to Henry. He does not seem to have been˝ affected by the spectacular failure of this marriage and 1543 he was accompanying the Duke of Norfolk in an expedition against the Scots. In 1545 he was made eyre of all the King’s forest north of the Trent and in the same year was made standard bearer to the King. As the old king was dying, Browne had the uneviable task of telling Henry that his end approached. For his bravery and loyalty the king made Browne a guardian of Edward VI (1547-1553) and to Princess Elizabeth and left him a personal legacy of £300. Browne survived his master by only one year, dying at Byfleet in Surrey in 1548.

By this time Browne had parted with Coldham, having exchanged it for other properties in 1540. This swap had been with William Wilsford, an other citizens of London, to hold in capite. Four years later they sold the Lordship to John Tufton Esq. Tufton and his descendants, the earls of Thanet continued to hold Coldham. Lord Hothfield, the current Lord of the Manor, is the present representative of the Tufton family. 

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - February 2022 - Stephen Johnson

Two and a half miles from Kimbolton Station  lies the parish and manor of Covington. The parish  consists of 1,294 acres of land, mostly light clay soil,  divided roughly in half between pasture and arable.  The two main buildings in the village are the parish  church of St Margaret and Covington Hall, a 17th  century house. 

The Lordship of the Manor was first recorded in  Domesday Book in 1086 and was recorded as  consisting of 18 villagers, 5 lord’s plough teams and  8 freemen’s plough teams. It was valued at £10. The  pre-Norman owner had been Aschel but by 1086 it  was in the hands of Roger de Ivry. He was the son  of Roger Perceval, who had arrived in England with  the Conqueror and who had been granted a large  fief in Oxfordshire. Roger had inherited Covington at  the time of his father’s death in 1079. This Roger was  forced into exile after William II siezed the throne in 1087 and he died in Normandy soon afterwards. Covington was seized by the Crown and remained in  its possession until 1110. Henry I granted the De Ivry estates to the De Walery family and Bernard was  recorded as holding one and a half fees here in 1210. This Lord was named Bernard, who died a few years  later in 1212. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas who died a mere seven years later, leaving an only  child, Annora, who had married Robert de Dreux.  

The overlordship of the manor descended with the Earls of Cornwall after it was seized from De  Dreux by Henry III. The manor itself resided with the Bayeux family, who had held land here as feudal tenants  of Roger de Ivri. Full de Bayeux held the manor and advowson in 1228 and his son or grandson, John was  dealing with Covington in 1271. Robert de Bayeux did homage to the Earl of Cornwall for Covington at the  beginning of the 14th century. The family was becoming more powerful in the county and Robert served as  sheriff in 1310. His son and heir, Sir Richard was sheriff in 1332 and held a number of other offices. During  the middle of the 14th century there was a complicated division of the manor between various member  of the Bayeaux family and Sir Richard Burton. Both the Bayeux and Burton families remained in control of  Covington until the end of the 14th century when it is found that the manor resided in the possession of  John de Bayeux, who inherited it in 1397. In 1428 he was assessed for feudal service as holding the fee of  Covington but the overlordship of the Earls of Cornwall appears to have lapsed. After his death sometime  after 1446 it passed to his widow, Margaret and after her death in 1468 it was vested in her daughter  from her second marriage to Robert Stanhope, also Margaret. In 1479 Margaret granted the manor and  advowson of the church of St Margaret, to William and Thomas Sapcote. Presumably brothers, they were  succeeded by William’s son, Sir Guy Sapcote who left two daughters as his heirs, Elizabeth and Anne, with  Covington eventually passing to the latter.

Anne firstly married John Broughton of Toddington and after his death, Sir Richard Jerningham.  Jerningham was a well connected scion of a Suffolk family who entered service as a Gentleman of the  Chamber to Henry VIII when he came to the throne in 1509. As such he was liable to a number of duties,  one of which was to travel to Germany to purchase armour for the king. Two years later he accompanied  Henry (presumably clad in Jerningham’s armour) during his campaign in France and was knighted at Tournai  in September 1513. He was further rewarded with the governorship of the city until it was returned to the  French in 1519. Famously he was called out as one of the sad and ancient knights appointed to the Privy  Chamber later that year. The Chronicler, Edward Hall wrote  

divers of the Privy Chamber which had been in the French Court, and banished them the Court for divers  considerations, laying nothing particularly to their charges . . . which discharge out of the Court grieved sore the  hearts of these young men, which were called the King’s minions. Then was there four sad and ancient knights put  into the King’s Privy Chamber, whose names were Sir Richard Wingfield, Sir Richard Jerningham, Sir Richard Weston  and Sir William Kingston 

Despite this criticism, Jerningham accompanied the king to the famous meeting with Francis I of  France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, where he fought in the joust. He served Henry in various diplomatic  capacities until his death in 1526. 

After the death of Jerningham, Anne married for a third time, to John Russell, the first Earl of Bedford  (second creation) and eventually the manor passed to Edward, the third Earl. In 1594 he settled the manor of  Covington for life, on his father-in-law, the courtier, Sir John Harington. In 1614 Bedford sold Covington for  £3,475 to two London lawyers, Christopher Turner and John Lootes. The former’s son and heir, Christopher  Turner was created a Baron of the Exchequer, one of the judges of the Pleas, which settled matters of  common law. At his death in 1675 the manor appears to have entered another division between members  of the Turner family and its precise descent is difficult to discern or describe since it was divided into as many  as nine shares or moieties. The principal share was held by the Dukes of Manchester and it through this line  that the manor was unified and eventually passed down to. In 1918 the 9th Duke sold the manor to Benjamin  Measures JP. He was succeeded by his son Charles before the title was sold to the ancestor of the present  owner. 

Lot #4 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

(Located in the Parishes of Wakes Colne and Chappel)

These Parishes lie on both sides of the road from Colchester to Cambridge, 8 miles North West of Colchester. 

According to Morant, this Manor belonged to Aluard in Edward the Confessor's reign, and at the time of the Domesday Survey, Richard Fitz-Gilbert, Lord of Clare, was Lord. 

Morant says: "Under Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, that died the 47th of Henry III, Hugh de Cressye held two parts of a fee in Crephinge." This family took the name of this Manor as their family nae and they were "somewhat considerable," "for Walter de Crepping had leave to hunt in Essex; a privilege not granted to mean persons." (Vol II p. 223). In 1348 the Manor belonged to Margarete Bacon and later to the Earls of Oxford, "who were deprived of it for their strict adherence to the Lancastrian cause." Richard III granted it in 1483 to John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and it was restored to John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, by Henry VII. 

Subsequent owners included Christian Turner, Thomas Smyth, John Fletcher Mills (1830) and Charles Alexander Crickitt (1784) whose steward was Edward Gepp. At a Court held by his executors on 28th July, 1806, James Brand and William Farrow constituted the homage. 

In 1860 the Manor was still in the Crickitt family, Bridges Harvey of Blue Bridge House, Halstead, being Steward. In 1923 it was conveyed to George Frederick Beaumont. 

The fines in the Manor were arbitrary and there are instances of a heifer, a horse, and a roan being taken as heriots. The custom descent was to the eldest son, although there is an entry in a Court held in 1607 of the admission of the youngest son. Many later admissions of eldest sons show that this must have been an error. 

Minerals and other rights reserved to the Lord on enfranchisement of copyhold land under the Copyhold Act, 1852 were usually included in the transactions, but in some cases they were excluded and the purchaser would be entitled to the profits from any gravel pits which may be found worked on land where the rights were excluded. 

The Lord claimed estrays, for in a Court held in October 1652 a young heifer and a ram, the latter after being in custody for "one year and a day and after 3 proclamations," were claimed by the Lord and seized by his bailiff. 

There is in Colchester Castle Museum a grant from Albert de Queinteville to the Church and Canons of St. Julian and St. Botolph of Colchester of all his land homages and rent at Crepping which he held of Hugh, son of Stephen. In return the Canons gave him forty marks. His seal is appended and the witnesses were Hugh, Abbot of St. Johns, Hugh Fitzstephen, Maurice de la Haye, and many others. The fact of the Abbot being a witness enables the date of the deed, which itself is undated, to be put at about 1140, as he was abbot from 1132-48. This is the oldest document in the Museum. 

The manorial documents (insured for £100, premium 5/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

• Court Books: 1784, 1855-1902
• Sundry: Rentals, drafts of admissions, surrenders, enfranchisement deeds, etc. 

The following Rentcharges, issuing out of property formerly coyphold of this Manor and created in satisfaction of the amount found to be payable upon enfranchisement, are included in the sale of this lot: 

• Mrs. Carden, Wakes Colne - - £10 18s. 6d. 
• J. W. Hines, Aldham - - £2 0s. 0d. 
• C. Brome, Aldham - - £1 12s. 6d.
• All payable on 1st January and 1st July 

The last two mentioned rentcharges represent an informal apportionment of a rentcharge of £3 12s. 6d. 

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2022 - Stephen Johnson

(In association with Strutt & Parker)

Also known as Davillers in Brome, or Brome Hall, this is one of two manors in this parish which  survived into the Middle Ages. At the time of Domesday there were three manors, one belonging to Hugh  Bigod, another to Hugh de Corbrn and the third to Robert Malet. By the reign of Henry III, at the beginning  of the 13th century, this had been reduced to two. This manor was recorded as being held by Bartholomew  D’Avilers in the early 1220s where it is described as consisting of 1 messuage with a garden and underwood,  50 acres of arable land, two acres of meadow and two acres of pasture. It was held by D’Avilers by an  obscure service that if the king should wish to have Patalium of the towns of Norfolk and Suffolk in his army in  Wales, then he shall conduct the said Patalium from the ditch of Saint Edmunds into Wales, and receive at the side  ditch 4d ahead for the maintenance for forty days. The meaning of this service is that D’Avilers was required  to lead a body of troops across the Welsh border, whenever the king commanded or required him to do so.  Whether he ever discharged this service is not recorded. 

In 1227 Bartholomew died and the manor passed to his eldest son Richard who died in 1269. In  1253 Richard had received a grant of free warren and for a weekly market and annual fair.(see charter rolls)  He was succeeded by his son, Bartholomew (II) who lived only for another seven years, before his death in  1276. He was in turn succeeded by his son, also Bartholomew (III) who died still a young man in 1287. The  Manor descended then to his son, Sir John Davillers who survived his father by just one year before passing  his estate to his son and heir, Sir Bartholomew (IV). His death, in 1330 meant the end of the Davillers male  line and this manor then passed to his three surviving young daughters; Isabella, Cecilia and Margaret but  over time the whole manor became vested in Isabella, who was the eldest daughter. She was married to Sir  Robert Bacon in around 1350, who was Knight of the Shire in the Parliaments of 1363 and 1369. The couple  were succeeded by their son, Sir Bartholomew Bacon who died in 1392 and left his estate, including the  manor of Davillers to his sister, Isabel. She was the wife of Sir Oliver Calthorpe of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk  who had been High Sheriff of that county in 1376. 

Sir William Calthorpe succeeded to the manor in around 1411. He was married to Eleanor Mantley  and died in 1420. Davillers remained in the Calthorpe family for a number of succeeding generations. Sir  Philip was the last of the line at his death in 1549. He had married Jane Boleyn, the aunt of the ill-fated Queen  but does not appear to have been swept up in the recrimination following Anne’s execution in 1536. The  manor passed to his only daughter Elizabeth and her husband Sir Henry Parker of Morley Hall at Hingham  in Norfolk. He was a relation of the Boleyn family and was knighted in 1533. He was High Sheriff of Essex  and Hertfordshire in 1536, and sat as a Member of Parliament for the latter. 

In 1550, Parker sold Davillers to Sir Thomas Cornwallis who almost immediately constructed a house  here, Brome Hall. From this time therefore manor also become known as Brome Hall or Davillers of Brome.  Cornwallis (see Manor of Palgrave) was Governor of Calais which fell to France during his tenure and he was  accused of treachery by some. One coined the phrase; 

Who built Brome Hall? Sir Thomas Cornwallis!

How did he build it? By selling off Calais!

On his death in 1604, aged 86, a magnificent marble tomb was erected in his honour at the parish  church in Brome, which is still on display. His heir was his eldest son, Sir William, who was a leading member  of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex’s colonial expedition to Ireland in 1599 He was knighted for his part in  this at Dublin in the same year. On his death Brome Hall passes to his younger son Frederick, who served in  the household of Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I and travelled with him to Spain. He was created a  baronet in 1627 and knighted in 1630, by which point he had succeeded to the entire Cornwallis estate on  the death of his elder brother, William. Being a staunch Royalist, Frederick fought for for Charles I during the  Civil War and distinguished himself at the Battle of Cropredy in June 1644 where he rescued Lord Wilmot  from capture. Unfortunately, after the Parliamentarian victory his estate was sequestered and he followed  Charles II into exile, only returning with the King in 1660. A year later, as a reward for his loyalty, he was  created Lord Cornwallis of Eye but died only a few weeks later.  

The Brome Hall estate remained in the possession of the Cornwallis family until 1823 when the  house and the manor of Davillers were sold to Mattias Kerrison of Oakley Park. The house was in a state a  disrepair, and the new owner spent a great deal of money to restore it. The manor eventually passed with the  Oakley estate to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains. Brome Hall was demolished  in 1953. 

The parish of Brome lies on the borders of Suffolk and Norfolk, a mile northwest of the small town  of Eye and two miles from Diss.  

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship: 

1563-1564: bailiff’s accounts Mannington Hall 

1452-1477: court roll Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1546-1546: court roll 

1551-1551: rental 

1553-1617: court rolls (2) 

1555-1558: bailiff’s accounts 

1556-1556: rentals 

1556-1562: account book 

1568-1672: bailiff’s views of accounts 

1569-1573: minute book 

1592-1592: ministers’ accounts  

1612-1880: court books 

1665/1741: estreats 

1670-1679: court roll 

1747-1822: minute book 

1771-1800 rentals 

1793-1797: accounts  

1794-1799: surveys 

1823-1832: court fines 

1835-1835: rental 

1884-1884: rental 

1887-1897: minute book 

Lot #9 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

DENGEMARSH lies within the parish of Lydd and consists of a stretch of land between the town and the coast. Within the extent lies and area known as Denge Marsh and Beach. It is notable today for containing Dungeness Power Station. A great deal of this Lordship was marsh land and area which are included in the manorial extent or Northlade and Northlade Marsh. These are a mixture of fresh and salt water marshland.

Anciently Dengemarsh was a outlying member of the royal Lordship of Wye, about 20 miles to the north. After the Norman invasion of 1066 it was granted along with Wye, to Battle Abbey, one of the most famous religious houses in England. This was founded by William the Conqueror. Before the battle of Hastings he is said to have gazed down on the forces of King Harold and vowed that if God gave him victory that day he was erect a monastery in His honour on the spot of the battle.7 Obviously he won the battle and an abbey was erected at the site. As part of the the abbey’s founding endowment the King provided all the land within a mile and a half radius of the building. As well as this, was provided the royal manor of Wye which included the outlying member of Dengemarsh. Wye is included in Domesday Book with the following entry;

The Abbott of St Martin of the Battlefield holds a Manor which

is called Wye, which answered for 7 sulungs before 1066 and now.

Land for 52 ploughs. In lordship 9 ploughs.

A church; 7 slaves. 4 mills at2 23s 8d; meadow, 133 acres;

woodland, 300 pigs from pasturage.

Value before 1066 £80 and 100s and 6s 8d; when acquired

£125 10s at 20 (pence) to one ora; now £100 at face value; if the 

Abbott had had the full jurisdiction it would be assessed at £20 more.

Ralph of Courbépine holds 1 pig and 1 yoke of

Freeman's land of the is manor; he pays 12d. Hugh de Montfort has two 

yokes which pay 300 eels and 2s. Before 1066 they pay full jurisdiction.

The Chronicle of Battle Abbey, written in the late 12th century has this to say about Wye:

Out of the Crown Demesne, the illustrious King William also gave Battle abbey the royal manor called Wye in Kent, with all its members seven sulings, that is hides, with all liberties and royal customs, as free and quit as he held it at its most free and quit, and as free as he could give it as any king: namely from all geld and scot and the reset which have been recorded above and from all customs of earthy service.

In other words, William gave Wye with no strings attached. Its importance was cemented with the requirement that whenever there was a gathering of the shires (ie the mediaeval county council), the sheriff was required to inform the bailiff of Wye on his personal stationary, sealed with the sheriff’s seal. Despite the no strings deal, the abbey was still required to pay the earl of Kent, Odo, a small sum. William was insistent that the sh¡eriff respect the ‘all the liberties of the manor of Wye and its royal customs undiminished so that the church and his monks of Battle might possess them all in peace, without molestation’. 

To further demonstrate that Battle was a foundation dear to the King’s heart, William granted an astonishing array of privileges to the abbey. Within the mile and a half radius of the abbey the abbot was sovereign. Not even the king could usurp his authority. No taxes or dues were levied. When the abbot was summoned before the king his expenses were to be paid for by the king and he was granted two houses, one in Winchester and one in London to stay at when attendance at court was required. This was most likely to fairly often since the lands given to the abbey were held per baronium and the abbot, or his representative, was required to sit in Parliament. The abbot was given the right to pardon any condemned thief he should casually meet or pass on their way to execution Perhaps the most interesting privilege, in view of William’s jealous hold over his forests, was that whenever the abbot was passing through the king’s forests he was allowed to take one or two beasts, deer for instance, for himselfz. As well as these privileges it should not be forgotten that the abbots of Battle were Lords of the Manor of Dengemarsh.

The Abbey held Dengemarsh with the customs belonging both to land and sea. It had right of wreck and over what were called, grampus, which were porpoises. If one was found on Dengemarsh beach it would belong wholly to the Abbot, but if it was found on Blackwose, Horsmede of Bredelle beaches then the Abbot could only claim the tongue. An interesting case from the reign of Henry I (1100-1135) shows how important manorial rights could be. It is recorded that a ship owned by the King was wrecked in Dengemarsh. It was full laden with goods, bound for Normandy. The king’s officials wanted to retrieve the goods from the beach but it seems that the abbot of the time, Geoffrey, argued that the King’s father had granted his house the right of wreck. Henry was forced to concede that this was true and Geoffrey was allowed to keep the cargo. This shows that even the King could not violate the feudal instruments of manorial rights.

The abbey continued to hold Dengemarsh until its ◊Dissolution in 1539. After this it seems that for a while the Crown retained the privileges that the abbot had enjoyed in Dengemarsh. A lease of land to Edward Tynte, in 1553 shows that the Crown retained rights of all the fisheries, and in particular the sturgeon, porpoises, and all other fishes whatsoever happening within those fisheries and waters, and all the fowling and profits and commodities arising from the said manor of Dengemarsh, later belonging to the abbey of Battell, lately dissolved.

Unlike most of the Lordships obtained by the Crown from the Dissolution of the monasteries it would appear that Dengemarsh proved to be quite lucrative. It was only granted out during the latter years of the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). She gave the Lordship to the Tufton family of Hothfield who have remained in possession of it until the present day. The family’s current representative, Lord Hothfield is consequently Lord of the Manor of Dengemarsh and the Vendor.

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Also spelt, Darbies, or Darbys Court, the manor lies in the parish of Stalisfield in the nationally  regarded area known as the Kent Down National Landscape. This part of the county is now counted amongst  the most prosperous parts of England has certainly changed since the end of the 18th century when it was  described by Edward Hasted in his The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 6 as an  unfrequented and obscure place, situated in a wild and dreary country, near the summit of the chalk hills, just above  Charing, its southern boundary. It lies on high ground, exceedingly bleak, and exposed to north and north-east winds.  The land in it is in general a red cludgy earth, of very stiff tillage, very barren, wet and flinty, and the inhabitants, as  well as the country, are equally poor. 

Derbies Court is found in the northwest part of the parish and it takes its name from the family who  are its first recorded Lords. The very early history of the manor is rather obscure. At the time of Domesday  Book the manor of Stalisfield was held by Bishop Odo, half-brother of the Conqueror and the Earl of Kent.  After Odo’s death in 1097 this manor became the property of Adam de Port and his subsequent heirs and  then the property of Arnulf Cade. Cade gifted Stalisfield to the Knights Hospitallers in the 12th century. Since  Derbies Court did not appear as part of this gift it seems likely that it was already a separate manor at this  time. At some unrecorded point later the Darby family became owners of the manor and from hence it was  known as Derbys or by a number of spelling varieties. The family are recorded in the early rolls and Kentish  gentry, where their arms, described as Party, per chevron embattled, or, and azure, three eagles counterchanged. 

In 1346 Sara de Darbye is noted as paying a quarter of a knight’s fee aid for her lands here which  WilliamIn 1346 Sara de Darbye is noted as paying a quarter of a knight’s fee aid for her lands here which  William de Darby and the heirs of Thomas Franklyn held there by knight’s service. The descent of the family is  unknown from this point until the mid 15th century but an ancestor was John Darbie, an alderman of London  and sheriff of the City in 1445. He was an importer of cloth and was a member of the Guild of Drapers.  By this time though the manor of Derbies Court had been alienated to Sir Ralph St Leger of Otterden.  He was the son of Sir John St Leger of Ulcombe, Sheriff of Kent in 1430 and constable of Leeds Castle. His  was a well connected family, his younger brother married Anne of York, younger sister of Edward IV but was  executed in 1483 after a failed rebellion against his brother-in-law, Richard III. Ralph died some time before  this and Derbies Court passed to his daughter, Joan, and her husband Henry Aucher of Newenden. They  were succeeded by their son Henry, who married Alicia Bolyn. His son, John Archer died in 1503 leaving his  eldest son, James, as his heir. His son and heir Anthony was one of Thomas Cromwell’s agents who worked in  the suppression of the monasteries and held a number of offices with the Royal Household, including Master  of the Jewel House in the Tower of London. In 1558 he was Governor of Guines and Master of Calais. During the siege of the town on 7 January 1558 he commanded its defences but could not prevent its capture. He  died of wounds received in the fighting there two days later.

   It appears that after his father’s death, Edward Aucher sold Derbies Court to Sir Michael Sondes  of Throwley. Sondes was a Member of Parliament for Maidstone and later for Queenborough from 1586  to 1604. He died in 1617 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Richard Sondes. His son and heir was  Sir George who was created a Knight of Bath by Charles II in 1626. He sat as a Member of Parliament for  Higham Ferrer’s until 1629 when Charles decided to rule without Parliament. Sir George was a staunch  loyalist of the king and on the outbreak of the Civil War he was named as Deputy Lieutenant for Kent. When  the royalist forces were defeated in the county, Sondes suffered the loss of his estates and was imprisoned  in the Tower of London. He was not released until 1650 but received his estates back after paying £3500 in  fines by the Committee of Compounding. What followed was perhaps one of the most extraordinary and  infamous episodes in the history of the English upper classes. In 1655 Sir George’s younger son, Freeman,  then 19, murdered his eldest brother, George, 22, whilst he slept. He attacked his brother with a meat  cleaver before stabbing him to death with a knife. He immediately confessed to the crime but was taken to  Maidstone Assizes. He was tried almost immediately and sentenced to be hanged. The case caused a national  sensation and his father was castigated for his alleged poor parenting and mismanaging of their education.  He later addressed these charges in pamphlet, ‘A Plaine Narrative to the World, of all Passages upon the Death  of his Two Sonnes which was published a few weeks after his son’s execution. No doubt much of the criticism  stemmed from his Royalist sympathies. 

After Charles II was restored in 1660, Sondes was created Earl of Feversham in 1676. He was  succeeded by special remainder after his death in 1677 by his son-in-law, Louis de Duras. He died childless  in 1709 and Derbies Court passed, along with the rest of the Sondes Estate, to Lewis Watson, grandson of  Sir George. In 1760 he was created Baron Sondes of Lees Court. The manor descended with the barons’  Sondes until the end of the 20th Century, when it was sold to the family of the present owner 

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1300-1300: rental Kent History and Library Centre 

1500-1500: rentals (2) 

1500-1550: survey (probably demesne) 

1508-1509: rental 1578-1578: rental 

1643-1653: rentals 

1677-1677: arrears of quit rents and rentals 

1720-1901: court book, with other manors 

1727-1727: rental, with other manors 

1810-1840: rental, with other manors (compiled 1815) (1 vol) 

1815-1840: rental, with other manors 

1890-1925: annual lists of quit rents, with other manors 

1933-1935: quit rentals (2) 

Lot #9 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2022 - Stephen Johnson

Lying in the extensive parish of Hampton-in-Arden is the manor of Diddington. This estate including a small  hamlet of the same name lies to the north of Hampton on Diddington Lane and borders the large Stonebridge Estate  to the East. 

This manor is known as a reputed manor, which means it was a freehold estate without feudal tenants.  The earliest mention of the manor occurs in the 12th century when it was gifted to the nuns of Markyate Priory in  Bedfordshire by Sir Roger de Mowbray. In 1190 the priory leased the land to William de Arden and in 1231 Diddington  was purchased outright by his son Hugh for 30 marks. Arden was also the Lord of the Manor of Knowle and Kinwalsey.  The Manor remained in the possession of the Arden family for several generations. On the death of William de Arden  in 1296 it was assigned to his widow Agatha and to his daughter Amice. In 1284 Amice’s husband John le Lou sold  Diddington and the Knowle estate to Edward I and Queen Eleanor. The estate was held as a possession of the Queen  and a gift from Edward. Although like most dynastic marriages that between Edward and Eleanor was arranged for a  political purpose (in this case to secure England’s claims over Gascony) it later developed into a union of deep love  and affection. She was only 13 when she was wed to Edward, he was only a couple of years older. They were both in  England by 1255 and by all accounts shared a loving and faithful relationship, which was unusual for the 13th century.  Edward is not known to have had any extramarital relationships nor fathered any children outside of his marriage.  Indeed it was widely reported that the couple shared a harmonious and lively relationship. Diddington with rest of the  Knowle Estate was a gift for Eleanor from Edward, and when she died in 1290 was given to Westminster Abbey as  part of a large endowment for a chantry to be erected in the memory of her soul. Such was his love for Eleanor that  Edward commemorated her with a series of twelve crosses from Westminster to Lincoln. Only two survive - Waltham  Cross and Charing Cross. 

Diddington remained a part of the Westminster Abbey estates until its Dissolution. In 1541 it was granted to  the Bishop of London but in 1559 the grant was revoked and instead the Manor was taken back into the hands of the  Crown. In 1573 Queen Elizabeth granted Diddington, with Knowle, to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.  Leicester was one of the most prominent figures in Elizabethan England and a great favourite of the Queen herself. The  son of the Duke of Northumberland, Leicester came to prominence early in the reign of his friend, Elizabeth. Indeed,  he is often considered the most likely candidate as her husband. His first wife, Amy Robert died in 1560 in murky  circumstances, falling downstairs. Unfortunately for Leicester this actually ruined his chances of marrying the Queen  The Lordship of the Manor of Diddington, Warwickshire Diddington Hall  32 since the scandal of Amy’s death was so large. He remained unmarried for 18 years, hoping that his chance would  come but eventually he married Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex, and was promptly banned from court. Leicester  amassed a great estate in Warwickshire, centred on Kenilworth Castle, ten miles to the south and Diddington was very  much part of this process. His lavish lifestyle is well documented and he spent a fortune on his Warwickshire lands and  in particular, remodelling and developing Kenilworth . Despite upsetting Elizabeth with his second marriage they were  later reconciled and he spent much time with her. When the Spanish Armada was threatening England in July 1588,  Leicester was standing at her side when she delivered her famous speech at Tilbury. Leicester died suddenly a few later  and Elizabeth was heartbroken, she reputedly locked herself in her rooms for days until the door was forced open by  Lord Bughley.

On his death, Leicester’s manor at Diddington reverted to the possession of the Crown where it remained  until 1622 when it was granted to Sir Fulk Grevil, Lord Brooke. He had been a faithful servant of Elizabeth and was a  Warwickshire man, born at Alcester in 1554. He was also a noted member of the court of James I, who granted him  Warwick Castle in 1604. Grevil spent the enormous sum of £20,000 in renovating what had become a dilapidated  complex. Grevil was murdered in 1628 by a servant, Ralph Haywood who believed that his master had left him out of  his will after promising otherwise. He is buried at the church of St Mary In Warwick. Diddington passed to his adopted  son, Robert Grevil who was killed during the siege of Lichfield in 1643 fighting on the side of Parliament. It then passed  to his son Francis and in turn, his brothers, Robert and Full, who died in 1710. By this time the Manor had been gifted  to Fulk’s son, Algenon, who retained it until 1743 when he sold it to William Smith. In 1754, Smith’s widow, Henritetta  sold it to Benjamin Palmer. Palmer may have offered it for sale in 1759 since Warwickshire Record Office hold details  of Manor of Diddington, capital messuage and lands adjoining in Hampton-in-Arden along with other lands in the county  (WRO CR 299/79/1-6) but appears to have retained it until 1772 when it passed to a relative, David Lewis. By this time  it seems that the estate had actually been divided into moieties since when Lewis died a years later he was found to  have held it jointly with Henry Greswold, who died in 1823. Eventually the Manor and rest of the Knowle estate passed  to a descendent of Benjamin Palmer, Jane Wilson and hence into the hands of this family. In 1887 it was sold to Mrs J  B Clarke and later sold to Major G Everitt, in whose family it remained until 1982 when it was sold to Edgar Philips.  

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

Many manors can trace their origin to Domesday  Book of 1086, but only a few can be positively identified  as existing in the Saxon era, and Donhead is one of these.  Covering most of the modern parishes of Denhead St Mary  and Donhead St Andrew, this lordship is first recorded in  873 when it was granted by Kind Alfred to Shaftesbury  Abbey. Alfred’s own daughter, Ayleva, was the abbess and  she personally owned the land in Donhead on which the  current parish church of St Andrews was built. A Saxon arch  remains within the chancel of the church. The grant was an  extensive one, of 40 hides as they stand with their produce  and their men. In 956, King Edwy or Eadwig, confirmed the  grant and for the next 650 years this manor belonged to  the Abbey. Indeed, across its long history until 1989 (give  or take two short interludes) the Lordship had only two  owners, the Abbots of Shaftesbury and the Arundell family.

Donhead was a large, wealthy manor. This is confirmed by its description in Domesday Book. The  entry notes that the manor consisted of 40 hides of land, enough for 32 ploughs. There were 32 villans and  25 bordars. The mills alone were worth 66 shillings a year and the lordship was worth £22 annually, making  it one of the most valuable in the county. The name Donhead - meaning the head of waters - reflects an  abundance of springs and there was over 15 acres of water meadow in the manor.

Both these former Saxon grants were confirmed by Henry I at the beginning of the 12th Century  and the profits from the manor were directed to be made use of for the clothing the nuns with the view for  securing their prayers for the health of his [the kings] for the health of his soul. King John renewed the charter in  1205. A survey of the Abbey estate in 1225 notes that there were 131 tenants in the Manor farming both  arable and pasture land and there was a large common in the northwest of the manor which appears to  have been enclosed by the end of Middle Ages. In 1293 the Abbess of Shaftesbury sought to increase the  economic output of the manor by seeking to create a park for hunting and a charter of Free Warren was  granted by Edward II in 1293. The manorial court was held by the Abbey’s steward at what later became  Berry Court House, the centre of the main demesne farm. 

When Shaftesbury Abbey was Dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII in 1538, Donhead was found  to be one of it richest manors in Wiltshire and one which had contributed to the houses enormous wealth,  much coveted by the King. Its possessions remained with the Crown until the reign of Edward VI when it was  sold to Sir Thomas Arundell. 

Arundell was a successful courtier who came from a noble background in Cornwall ( his grandfather  was the Marquess of Dorset). His connections in the West Country earned him a position in the household  of Cardinal, Thomas Wolsey and in 1533 he succeeded his father as receiver-general for the Duchy of  Cornwall and was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Ann Bolyen. Arundell was one of the  Crown’s most powerful agents in the West County, acting JP for Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset, as well  being in command of coastal defences for the region. By the 1540s he was a wealthy and leading member  of the royal court and this enabled him to obtain a large landed estate, including Donhead most of which,  as we have seen, originated from the former possession of dissolved religious houses. However, he also  made a fruitful marriage to Margaret Howard, sister of Katherine, Henry’s fifth wife, and daughter of the  powerful and Catholic Howard clan. Unfortunately, what seemed like an ideal match in 1530 seemed less  so after Katherine’s execution in 1542 and the effective banishment of the Howard family from court. On  the accession of Edward VI in 1547, his connection to the Howards prevented him receiving a peerage title too which he would otherwise have been offered. Furthermore, his own family were staunch defenders of  the ‘Old Religion’ and his political progress was severely retarded, even to the extent of being implicated in  a rebellion of 1549 and imprisoned. This ended his court connections and in a desperate bid to recover his  position he made a pragmatic alliance with the protector, the Duke of Somerset. However, when Somerset  was toppled by the earl of Warwick in 1551, Arundell toppled with him and was charged with plotting to  murder Warwick. Though he professed his innocence, which was likely, he was nevertheless convicted of  treason and beheaded on Tower Hill on 26 February 1552.  

The Manor of Donhead was granted to Sir Thomas Grey after Arundell’s execution, but he suffered  the same fate after taking part in a rebellion against Queen Mary. The Queen then returned the manor to  Arundell’s widow and hence to her son, Matthew, who was knighted in 1574. Thomas Arundell was raised to  the peerage as Baron Wardour in 1605. The family were fierce defenders of the Royal cause during the Civil  War and Lord Arundell was attainted under Cromwell’s regime in 1653. Briefly, Donhead was held by the  Crown, but on the Restoration in 1660 was returned to the family in whose hands it remained until being  sold to a private buyer in 1989. 

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1373-1422: court rolls Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre 

1411-1412: court roll 

1420-1421: account roll 

1447-1533 court rolls (non-consecutive) 

1449-1697: accounts (non-consecutive) 

1486-1486: custumal (extracts), with court roll 

1517-1518: court and account book 

1528-1533: court rolls 

1571-1782: court books (non-consecutive) 

1649-1901: surveys  

1664-1751: lists of residents  

1724-1833: stewards’ papers 

1748-1838: rentals 

1766-1766: accounts 

1831-1923: court book 

1857-1863: rent accounts 

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

(Including registered manorial rights of mines and minerals - details upon request)

Duffield Fee was one of the most important manors in the North Midlands. It lies five miles north of Derby in an area known as the Amber Valley, on the banks of the River Derwent. The lordship was centred on  Duffield Castle, erected to protect the royal hunting ground of Duffield Frith. It was known as a fee because within its control originally lay a number of smaller manors comprising Duffield, Alderwasley, Belper, Biggin, Hazelwood, Heage, Holbrook, Hulland, Idridgehay, Southwood, Turnditch and Windley. It appears that over time the sub-manors were subsequently sold away from the main manor. The area of the fee was roughly the same as the old, extensive parish boundary 

The growth of Duffield can be attributed to the invading Normans. There was a small settlement here during the Saxon period, but after the invasion the area was granted to Henry de Ferrers, as part of the great  Honor of Tutbury. Ferrers owned a huge amount of land in Derbyshire and Duffield Castle was erected to defend it. A settlement grew up around the castle. The original castle was destroyed in 1173 after William De  Ferrers took part in the rebellion of the sons of Prince Henry again his father, Henry II. The family restored  its position under the rule of John and a second castle was built on the same site, to the north of the village  centre, on a prominence above a bend in the river. 

In 1266 de Ferrers fought against Henry III in a rebellion against the king’s perceived favouritism towards foreigners. After a rebel defeat at Chesterfield, Duffield was seized and re-granted to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. The castle was destroyed, this time permanently.

Duffield remained a possession of the Duchy, and, after the succession of Henry IV, the Crown, until 1628 when it was sold by Charles I to the Corporation of the City of London. Within a year the Corporation sold its interest to Sir Edward Leche, keeping the sub-manors of Heage and Holbrook. Leche was appointed a Master in Chancery in 1619 and knighted in September 1621. He owned other properties in Derbyshire  such as Hathersage, Over Padley and Nether Padley as well as land in Suffolk and his main residence at Squerries in Kent. During the Commonwealth period, Sir Edward seems to have benefited greatly as he rapidly acquired the wool and lamb tithes for a number of his Derbyshire parishes and amassed considerable  wealth. He died in 1652. 

After the death of Sir William Leech in 1673 there was a lengthy legal dispute with Sir Ambrose Philip  being Lord of the Manor from 1674 to 1678 and then Philip Jodrell. His son, Paul, was recorded as Lord in 1696. The Jodrell family were members of the Derbyshire landed gentry and could trace their lineage back  to the 13th century. The Duffield Jodrells were a cadet branch of the Cheshire family who lived at Yeardsley in Cheshire.

The manor remained with the Jodrell family for the next 200 years when it was sold to Sir Timothy  White in 1891. Sir Timothy was the founder of the chemist chain “Timothy Whites” which was a high street staple until the 1980s. In 1976 Sir John White sold the manor to Anne Hayter. After her death it passed to Dr P Kist, who sold it privately some years later.  

The area under the jurisdiction of the manor was extensive and stretched for several miles from  Duffield itself. The term Duffield Fee appears to have been adopted in the 16th century. According to Derbyshire Record office its use was thought to have arisen as a consequence of a drive to provide some form of administrative coherence to the multiple manors under its jurisdiction. Courts would meet at various  places, primarily Belper, Duffield and Windley but matters on all manors were discussed wherever the court took place. The term ‘Fee’ may also have been used to differentiate the manor from the administration of  Duffield Frith, which was an area covered by forest law. There are a large number of court rolls and books which survive and which give detailed accounts of the dozens of copyholders and tenants who held land under the Lords of the Manor. It is possible to trace such holdings from the mid 16th Century to the 1920s  and they form by far the fullest set of such documents in Derbyshire. Derbyshire Record Office describes the process of the manorial court rather well: Most of the business recorded in the manorial court records  for Duffield Fee relates to the transfer of land. . .called copyhold land. This was land that went through the manorial court system when it came to being transferred and passed. The process was that a tenant who  wanted to sell his land would “surrender” it to the lord in a formal ceremony held in the court, called the Small  Court Baron, which met around every three weeks. The person who was taking over was then “admitted”  to the land in a similar ceremony. Deaths of copyholders were also recorded in the court registers, together  with the names of heirs or new owners. All this means that the records are extremely name rich. 

Through the 19th century, copyhold land was gradually transformed into freehold through a process  known as enfranchisement. There are numerous examples of such enfranchisement of copyhold in the manor  where manorial rights have been reserved to the Lord of the Manor. The present owner has noted at least  twenty examples which cautions are registered at the Land Registry. With research, other such reservations  may be discovered. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1511-1808: surrenders and admissions, Derby Local Library 

1542-1543: memorandum on customs of copyhold, British Library 

1548-1575: court rolls, National Archives 

1575-1599: court rolls 

1558-1603: directions for reeves, Derbyshire Record Office 

1575-1600: duties of officers 

1595-1628: court books (10) 

1595-1599: draft court book 

1596-1596: rental 

1596-1596: directions for steward 

1596-1596: rental 

1598-1604: court book (actions and plaints only) 

1598-1598: pains 

1598-1598: lists of fines 1599-1608: draft court books (2) 

1599-1617: court rolls 

1600-1625: rentals 

1600-1625: surveys 

1600-1600: books of customs 

1605-1629: court rolls

1610-1628: book of particulars of fines 

1611-1611: legal opinion on customs 

1614-1625: draft court book 

1640-1790: court books (21) 

1640-1681: draft court books (7) 

1700-1800: extracts from court rolls on customs 

1774-1822: verdicts (2 bundles) 

1825-1925: court books (9) 

Lot #10 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS AREA’S close connections with Scotland are indicated in the name of this Lordship. Duff is a common word north of border and can be found in the surname MacDuff, which of course, means, son of Duff. It is possible therefore that an early owner of this Lordship was known by that name. The parish of Dufton is very large and constitutes an area of around 16,000 acres, a great deal of which is moor land and mountain. A large waterfall known as Caldron Snout, lies in this parish, on the wilds known as Dufton Fell, and on the newly risen river Tees. Dufton Pike, a mountain reaching a height of 1,578, lies a mile to the north of the village. The area was known until the 19th century for its lead mining. Lead ore would be extracted by digging shallow shafts into the limestone and the area is dotted with abandoned workings.

The earliest record of the Lordship of Dufton occurs in the 12th century when it was in the hands of the Greystock family. Thomas de Greystock, who was married to the daughter of the Baron of Westmoreland, Robert de Veteripont is the first recorded Lord here. It is entirely probable that the family had held Dufton since a few years after the Norman invasion of 1066.

The Greystock family continued to hold the Lordship for many generation s after this. After the death of Robert Clifford in 1316 Dufton was found to be held by William de Greystock for cornage (rental) value of 25s 6d. At the end of this century the Lordship was in the possession of John de Greystock and the rental value had not changed at all.

Ralph de Greystock died in possession of Dufton in 1487 and it passed to his heir, his daughter, Elizabeth. She was married to Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gillsland, whose family had been prominent and wealthy landowners in the area for many centuries. In an inquisition of knights’ fees in the county of Westmorland in 1527, Dufton was found to belong to William Lord Dacre and his ownership continued into the reign of Mary. After the death of George Dacre the Lordship came to one of his sisters, Anne, who was married to Philip, Earl of Arundel. eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk. Their son and heir was Thomas.

This Thomas is known in history for his great love of art, in fact he was named by Walpole as the ‘Father of Vertu in England’. He was born at Finchingfield in Essex in 1585. When he was ten his father, arrested for his part in the plot to have Mary Queen of Scots placed on the throne, died in the Tower of London. As the son of a traitor, Thomas was deprived of his titles and much of his inheritance, though he was known as Lord Maltravers for purposes of courtesy. He was raised by his mother, a woman also known for love of art and virtue. On the accession of James I in 1603 he was granted his father’s estates including the earldoms of Arundel and Surrey. However the king retained much of his property so Arundel remained in dire financial straits. In 1606 he married the daughter and heir of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury and with the money this brought him he was able to buy back much of his families property. It is not known if Dufton was seized by the Crown but since it had descended from his mother’s side it may have escaped. By 1607 it was under his ownership and such was his impact at court that the king acted as godfather to his son, Henry. In 1615 Arundel broke with his family historic ties to Catholicism and became an Anglican and he entered politics in the House of Lords. In 1621 he was appointed earl-marshal of England, a position his descendants, as Dukes of Norfolk, still hold. 

This period saw he rise to prominence of the Duke of Buckingham and Arundel was an avowed enemy of Charles I’s favourite. The new king disliked Arundel and after the earl’s son had married the daughter of duke of Lennox, for who the king had intended for someone else, he confined the newly weds at Lambeth Palace. They were then placed in the Tower. Led by an outraged Arundel, the House of Lords ordered their release and the King was forced to acquiesce. Arundel’s relationship with Charle˛s appears to have been patched up, since in 1638 he travelled with the monarch to Scotland and then sent on a number of important diplomatic missions, including visited Emperor Ferdinand II in Vienna. His extensive travels abroad changed Arundel’s views of foreign affairs and he began to work for an alliance with France. 

On his return to England he was involved in the preparations for war against the Scots, ‘whom he did not love’. He was appointed captain-general for south of the Trent. It was clear however that he was no soldier, ‘he was a man with nothing martial about him’. After the Scots had taken Newcastle Arundel was questioned by Parliament but no fault could be pinned on him.

In 1641 Arundel became disenchanted with court and made a number of foreign trips at his leisure, collected art and antiquities. He settled permanently at Padua in Italy. In 1644 the House of Lords recalled him but instead he sent £34,000 to aid the Royalist cause in the Civil War. This war saw the captured of Arundel Castle and Howard's lands were seised. His income was reduced to jut £500. He decided to return to England in 1646 but as he prepared to leave he was struck down with a sudden illness and died. He is now remembered as the first great patron of art in England and the collection he personally amassed was the first of its kind. He had works by de Vinci, Raphael and Corregio.

At Arundel’s death the Lordship of Dufton passed to his son Henry who then leased it out, for 99 years to Sir Christopher Clapham. He is notable for having the entire area known as Dufton Wood cut down and then sold. he is said to have made a considerable profit on his investment. Dufton was then sold, outright, to John Winder of Lorton, in Cumberland. He was succeeded in it by his son William. He died without issue and it devolved to his kinsman, Rev Edward Milward. In 1795 Dufton was purchased from the Milwards by the Earl of Thanet. The Tufton family continue to hold it and the current Lord of the Manor is the present representative of the family, Lord Hothfield.

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

In the long history of England there are some settlements  which have thrived and become large cities and towns; some  villages that have existed for a thousand years more or less  unchanged in size whereas others once flourished and have  gradually declined. The Lordship of Dunsby in the parish of  Brauncewell was one such village. In the Medieval period it was  in fact a parish in its own right, with a church and manor house.  White’s Directory of Lincolnshire in 1856 notes that some traces  of of the foundations of its church and of a large mansion, may be  seen on the spot called Old Dunsby . . .The marquis of Bristol is Lord  of both manors (Dunsby and Branswell). During the Medieval  period both Dunsby and Brauncewell declined after their fields  were enclosed for sheep farming. This was a fairly common fate  for many villages in this area of the county which lies a few miles  north of Sleaford. 

This manor is sometimes known as Dunsby Lordship, largely to differentiate it from another  Lincolnshire manor known simply as Dunsby which was held by Charterhouse College but which lies 20  miles to the south. It is so named on the plan below and on the Manorial Documents Register at the National  Archives. Dunsby’s earlier importance is highlighted by the fact that it was a Domesday Manor. The owner  was Geoffrey Alselin and the entry reads; 

In Dunsby, in Brauncewell, there are 6 carucates of land to the geld 

There is land for 6 ploughs. 

Geoffrey and his Nephew have two ploughs 

there and 13 Sokemen and 1 bordar with a plough and 6 acres of meadow 

This was a not inconsiderable estate belonging to the Norman, Alselin, whose descendants held the  lordship until the 13th century when it was divided between the Bardolf and the Everingham families and was  said to have comprised 1 knight’s fee. In 1272 one third of this was in the hands of Robert de Everingham,  whilst the remainder was held by William Bardolf. In 1370 the manor of Dunsby was part of an estate which  was passed to John Ginwell, Bishop of Lincoln, as part of scheme to provide an income to build a chantry at  Lincoln Cathedral. Not long after the Bishop’s death it was sold by his executors, John de Warrsop and John  de Thorpe of Rippingale to Robert, Abbot of Newbo and the manor remained in the hands of the Abbey  until it’s Dissolution under Henry VIII. In 1544 the manor was granted to John Bello and John Bales. Later in  the century the estate was purchased by Robert Carr of Sleaford. 

The Carr or Carre family, flourished in the area around Sleaford and South Lincolnshire gradually  accusing lands such as Dunsby to become one of the wealthiest families in the area. They had originated in  Northumberland, near to the Scottish border, and considered themselves as being ‘bred from Saxon stock’.  The family prospered until the end of the 17th century, serving the Crown in a number of capacities and  accruing land. After another local landlord, Baron Hussey of Sleaford, involved himself in the uprising against  Henry VIII, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, the Carrs were able to obtain the latter’s estates when they  were forfeited to the Crown. This added considerably to their growing wealth. In 1590, John Carr was recorded as being Lord of 21 manors in Lincolnshire and the principal landowner in 50 parishes. In 1611  Edward Carr was created a baronet. 

Dunsby is included in a codified ledger made of the Carr estates in 1637 alongside their other  manors of New Sleaford, Old Sleaford, Quarrington, Spalding Hall, Kirkby le Thorpe, Asgarby, Holdingham,  Whitehall, Anwick, Anwarby, Brauncewell, Barrowpies, Little Hale, South Rauceby and Whaplode.  

Rochester Carre was named after his godfather, Sir Robert Carre, Viscount Rochester, and Earl of  Somerset, who was mentioned in the memoirs of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, between 1653 and 1658.  The Carres split between Royalists for King Charles I and Parliamentarians. One son, Robert, took control of  Asgarby Hall forcibly and was put out by the Cromwells after complaints to the High Sheriff, who sent troops  under two colonels to achieve this. At his Restoration in 1660, Charles II granted the property to Robert  Carre who had been knighted. Sir Robert settled it on his mother who began improvements to the estate  at Asgarby.  

The last of the male line was Sir Robert Carr and his daughter and heiress Isabella married the 1st  Earl of Bristol, in 1688. The Carr estate thus passed to the Hervey family in whom it remains today. The  Herveys are an ancient family. The name is of Frankish origin and derives from ‘warrior of the host’ and the  first of the family in England are thought to have arrived with the Conqueror. The present Marquess of Bristol  can trace his lineage directly to John Hervey who was born in around 1290. The family achieved national  status during the reign of Henry VIII, when Sir Nicholas Hervey was appointed as ambassador to the Holy  Roman Emperor Charles V. John Hervey, the 1st Earl, and Lord of Dunsby served as MP for Bury St Edmunds  and was raised to the rank of earl in 1714. His grandson, George, the 2nd Earl, served as Lord Lieutenant of  Ireland in 1766. Frederick, the 4th earl, was Bishop of Cloyne and later Bishop of Derry but is famed for his  great love of travel and there are hotel Bristols, named in his honour in Paris and Vienna. He was described by  Sir Jonah Barrington as a man of elegant erudition, extensive learning, and enlightened and classical, but eccentric  mind: bold, ardent, and versatile; he dazzled the vulgar by ostentatious state, and worked upon the gentry by ease  and condescension. It is likely that it was this earl who inspired Voltaire to comment; When God created the  human race, he made men, women and Herveys. 

In 1826 the 5th earl was created the first Marquess of Bristol. The present Lord of the Manor of  Dunsby is the 8th Marquess of Bristol. 

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1569 Rental Nottingham University Library 

1619 Survey Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds 

1842 Survey 

Lot #20 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Cockfield

This Parish lies 9 miles South of Bury St. Edmunds. 

The name is derived from the de Veres, Earls of oxford, who for may generations were Lords of the Manor.  "Like the main Manor of Cockfield Hall," says Copinger (Vol. I, p. 75), "it was held by the Abbot of Bury and from the Abbot Roger, brother of Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, received a grant of this Manor." Robert, third Earl of Oxford and second son of the above, who succeeded his elder brother in the Earldom as well as in the Lordship of this Manor, was one of the twenty-five influential barons appointed to enforce the observance of the Magna Carta. John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, "shared in all the glories of Edward III's martial reign. He was present at both Crecy and Poitiers and lost his life before the walls of Rheims," 1360.

The 12th Earl, a staunch Lancastrian, suffered the misfortuene of so may of his party upon the accession of Edward IV. He, with others, "were brought vefore the Erle of Worscetre, and juged by lawe padowe that thei should be hade to the Toure Hylle, where was made a scaffolde of viij fote hyzt, and ther was there hedes smytom of, that alle menne myght see; whereof the moste peple were sory."  And later we read that the "Erle of Worcetre was juged by such laws as he dyde to other menne," and was likewise beheaded (Copinger). 

The Manor remained with the Earls of Oxford until 1548 when it became the property of Edward, Duke of Somerset and a little later *1554) passed to Sir William Spring, Son of Sir John Spring of Cockfield. 

A Roll dated 1578 shows Edward de Vere as Lord; then "Sir William Spring" (1747). The descent of the Manor from this date seems to have followed that of Cockfield Hall (Lot 19). 

Thomas Cuddon succeeded and held his first Court in 1839. Thereafter the Lords were the same as for Cockfield Hall, George Frederick Beaumont purchasing it form the Trustees of F. Charsley on the 11th April, 1899. 

The custom of descent was to the eldest son. The Lord here had the right to timber growing on the tenant's property as it is shown by a typical case in the Court of the 24th April, 1758, when James Moore was presented for having cut down and old some "pollard Timber Trees through inadvertency and humbly prays the Favour of the Lord of this Manor to accept a proper Satisfaction" which the good Lord was gracious enough to do, the consideration having been thirteen shillings and fourpence. 

The documents (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Rols: 1578-82; 1616; 1630-47; 1651-85; 1710-11; 1724-31; 1732-43

Court Books: 1747-1844; 1844-1914

Survey: 1620-1730

Abstract of Courts: 1608,  1737, etc.  

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2020 - Stephen Johnson

Also formerly known as Meades, or Eastbourne  Medley, this manor formed one of the four divisions of the  ancient parish of Eastbourne. Medsey lies in the area of the  town now known as Meads, which is south of the town  centre between it and the famous cliffs of Beachy Head.  Until the middle of the 19th century this was open country  with a few farms. Records show that the downlands known  as Bullock Down and South Down were used by the  tenants of Medsey to pasture their livestock. Until the town  of Eastbourne was developed in the 19th century, this area  was distinctly rural. In a description for visitors written in  1858, 

Homely Herbert writes 

the small village at the foot of the lofty hill  

through which we are passing in The Meads.; it  

consists, as you see, of a few scattered houses,  

inhabited chiefly by farmers and fishermen.  

It can be clearly demonstrated in many sources, both primary and secondary that the Manor of Eastbourne  Medsey belonged from 1611 to 1986 to the Sackville family and their descendants. In a survey of the manors held by  the 3rd Earl of Dorset in 1613, Eastbourne Medsey is included. It continues to be mentioned, and accounted for in  the Sackville Estate papers into the 20th century. In 1699 for instance it is recorded in the papers of Mr Medley, the  Sackville’s steward. An estate rental held at East Sussex Record Office (AMS/ 7072/3/1/5) notes payments of heriots  made by freeholders in the manor including one from the Duke of Devonshire, who paid 6 s on presentment of three  freehold tenements at the court of 1860. In 1906 it was included in a mortgage of the estate to raise £9,000 for the 8th  Earl de la Warr, whose family had inherited the Sackville estate. His father had used Medsey in a similar arrangement  in 1877. Throughout the centuries the manor is included in court rolls, rentals, stewards accounts and surveys. A rental  of the Duke of Dorset in 1720 noted several rents which emanated from the manor. These included an annual £2 8s  4d from the Bailiff for rents of Assize. Courts, continued to be held into the 19th century, but sporadically. At a court  held for the manor in September 1740 Reiner Winter of Pevensey, a cordwainer, was admitted as the tenant of land at Yarborough furlong in Medsey in Eastbourne in 2 parcels, formerly Crundens.  

The history of this manor before it came into the hands of Lord Buckhurst in the 16th century is somewhat  obscure. It is complicated by the existence of a second manor sometimes referred to as Meads or Brode which  belonged to the Cavendish family, the Dukes of Devonshire who developed Eastbourne as a holiday resort. As it has  already been noted, the Duke was a free hold tenant of this manor as well as owning his own in the same district. There  is some evidence as to the 15th century owners of this manor but it is unclear if they are the same as those for the  Sackville Manor. Many of the manors held by the Sackville family were granted to them after the estates of the Bishops  of Chichester were seized by Queen Elizabeth, but Eastbourne Medsey does not appear to be one of these. Instead  it appears that the lordship formed part of the estate of Michelham Priory When the house was dissolved in 1537 its  lands and estates were granted to Thomas Cromwell. There are several rentals of the manor which also include the  manor of Brighton Michelham. For instance there are rentals of 1656 and 1685 and court books dating from 1753-  1800. This manor was granted to Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, by Queen Elizabeth so it seems likely that Eastbourne Medsey was granted to him at the same time.  

Born in 1536, Thomas Sackville was the son of Sir Richard Sackville, a first cousin of Anne Boleyn and a privy  councillor to Edward VI. Thomas excelled in public finance but was also a poet of some repute. His play, Gordoduc, was  first performed in 1560 and was a source of inspiration for Shakespeare’s King Lear. His literary career went hand in  hand with his political. He sat as an MP for Westmorland in the 1550s and was employed as a diplomat in the 1560s.  In 1566 he was appointed to negotiate a marriage between the Queen and Archduke Charles of Austria but this came  to nought. He remained a favourite of Elizabeth (often a perilous position) and she was said to enjoy his company, described by a contemporary as judicious but yet wittie and delightful. In 1567 he was knighted and then created Baron  Buckhurst. He was rich, handsome, intelligent and talented, all attributes which endeared him to the Queen. At this  point he began to buy land in his native Sussex. Like many courtiers his relationship with Elizabeth waxed and waned  but he proved himself a steady hand in organising the defence of the vulnerable Sussex coast against the Spanish  Armada in 1588.  

Lord Buckhurst took his title from his estate at Buckhurst Park in Withyham just a couple of miles south of  Blackham. By the end of the 16th century this had become too small for Sackville and when he was created 1st Earl  of Dorset in 1604 he had moved to Knole. Eastbourne Medsey eventually passed, with the rest of the Sackville Estates  to to Earls De La Warr who held it until the end of the 20th century. 

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1571-1668: survey, annotated to 

1668 British Library 

1613-1613: estreats, with other manors (1 vol) Kent History and Library Centre 

1618-1618: rental, with 17th cent copy 

1654-1656: rental 

1656-1656: list of quit rents 

1751-1751: minutes 

1618-1619: rental of demesne leases, with other manors East Sussex and Brighton and Hove  Record Office (ESBHRO) 

1682-1682: rental 

1829-1829: rental, with other manors 

Lot #5 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

(In the parishes of East Donyland and Rowhedge)

In the Domesday Book Donyland was, according to Morant, called Dunulanda, belonging at the time of the Survey to Eustace Earl of Boulogne. As part of the honour of Boulogne, it descended to the heiress of that House, Maud, wife of King Stephen. Maud gave it to the Abbot and Convent of St. John's in Colchester in exchange for the church and Tithes of Littlechurch, or Heyham, in Kent, which belonged to that Abbey. The Queen made this exchange at the instance of her daughter, Mary, who was Prioress of the Benedictine Nunnery of Littlechurch. They continued to possess the premises until the Dissolution of the Abbey in 1539 when it became vested in the Crown. Queen Elizabeth conveyed it in 1560 to Sir Francis Jobson. It descended to William Grey in 1595; Sir John Tonstall bought the Estate in the reign of James the First and not long afterwards it came into the Thurston family. Joseph Thurston was Recorder of Colchester in about 1700. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Isaac Rebow, and the Estate was sold after his decease. 

David Gansel of Low Layton became Lord of the Manor in 1730, and, according to Morant, made a parka and greatly improved the House and gardens of the Hall. This is now owned and occupied by Capt. Lindsay-Smith, M.B.E. In 1797 the Manor came into the possession of the Havens family and the late Mr. G. F. Beaumont purchased it in 1918 from the Executors of Edward J. Havens. 

The Courts were held from 1797 to 1848 at East Donyland Hall, in 1849 at the Ship Inn, Rowhedge, from 1855 onwards at the White Lion Inn, East Donyland, and the late Mr. Beaumont's only Court was held on the 26th March, 1924 at the same Inn when Thomas William Pitt represented the Homage. Ernest William Saunders, his Managing Clerk for many years, was the Steward. 

Affixed to the last Court Book is a form of consent dated 21st November, 1924 under the Telegraph Acts 1863-1916 by the late Mr. G. F. Beaumont "to the placing of works, consisting of a telegraphic cable beneath the foreshore of the Rowhedge side of River Colne near Colchester on the understanding that the Postmaster General will make good any damage which may be done to my property in the placing or maintenance of the works. This consent can be terminated by three calendar months' notice in writing on either side."

There are interesting references to encroachments upon the Lord's waste land, license to enclose parts of the waste, and payment of s ums of money for the Lord's Thirds of the value of timber felled and sold (£12 in the case of Samuel Cook at a Court held on 7th July, 1801). 

On the intestacy of a copyhold tenant, his property descended to the eldest son as heir-at-law according to the Common law rule of descent. 

The manorial documents (insured for £300 premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

• Court Rolls: 1514-34; 1752-66; 1775-87; 1789-97
• Court Books: 1797-1832; 1832-51;  1851-67; 1867-86; 1886-1918; 1919-1932
• Rentals: 1799-1855 and 1696
• Particulars of Sale of the Manor: by auction on the 25th May, 1918 by Messrs. Sexton and Grimwade of Colchester

 The above particulars contain the names of tenants, their dates of admission, short description of the properties from the Court rolls, amount of Quit Rents and Last Fines. Included in the list are, "Tenements and Land and Wharfage in front of said messuages in Rowhedge Street" (tenant Turner Barnard); "Cottage in Rowhedge Street with oyster pit near the same, part of 'Crackbones'" (Arthur Sparling, former partner in the firm of Sparling, Son & Benham); "Shipyard, Quay and Oyster bed which has ceased to exist"; "Shed, Warehouse and yards with liberty to low water mark" (Pearce Kinsbury); "The Ferry Bridge with the Emoluments" (Capt. Smythies). For the last mentioned copyhold the annual quit rent was £1 and the fine paid on Capt. Smythies' admission was £35.

For particulars of the Map to be sold separately see Lot 5A. 

Lot #11 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS LORDSHIP derives its name from its position on heath land, south west of Higher Litchet. Morden is a large parish and much of the land, which is arable, lies in flat open country. It is 5 miles from Wareham and 9 miles from Wimborne.

This is an ancient place and is mentioned in Domesday Book, compiled in 1086. The entry reads;

Morden. Four thanes held it before 1066. It paid tax for three hides

and 2 1/2 virgates of land. Land for three ploughs. In lordship 1 plough;

1 1/2 virgates.

8 villagers and 10 smallholders with 2ˇ ploughs and 3 hides and 1 virgate.

A mill which pays 45d; meadow, 14 acres; pasture, 3 leagues

in both length an width; woodland 2 furlongs long 

and 1 furlong wide. 14 pigs, 85 sheep, 5 goats.

The value was and is 60s.

At this time East Morden formed part of the whole manor of Morden and was held by Walter de Clavile who was a moderate Norman landholder, having five Lordships locally and another 30 or so spread out across the West Country. He was succeeded in his estates by his eldest son Robert who is recorded as holding knights fee for this Lordship in 1106. The descent of the family is then lost for a generation until we come to Sir Walter de Clavill, probably Robert’s grandson, who is noted for his foundation of Canons Legh priory at Burlescomb, toÑ which he granted the church of Morden in 1161. The founding charter was witnessed by Sir Walter’s brothers, Randulph, Gilbert and Hugh and by his son, and eventual heir, William. After the latter William’s death, during the reign of Richard I, (1189-1199) East Morden came to his son Roger de Claville. As part of the family’s commitment to Canons Legh, Roger granted to that house lands in Hertruthdon in order to pay for a monks to pray for his father and himself. He lived until around 1263 and then passed his estates to his son, John. He settled lands in East Morden on his son John and his wife Isolda in 1318. His heir went on to enjoy his estates only until 1327. This was a year of great upheaval in England with the deposition of Edward II by an invasion force led by his wife, Queen Isabella and her lover, Sir Roger Mortimer. Given this John’s heir was a young child it is possible that Claville was caught up in the ensuing warfare.

The three year old Claville was raised by his mother and is recorded as holding East Morden in his own right in 1347. He died just three years later and his heir, William, was only then only six years old. He survived to manhood but died in around 1373, with his estates passing into the possession of his wife, Johanna. On her death East Morden passed to a kinsman of William’, John Aysshlyn, who had descended from Gilbert Claville, co-signature of the founding charter of Canons Legh. 

The descent of East Morden then becomes rather obscure. It seems to have become combined with a parcel of land owned in the parish by the Matravers family from who it descended to the Fitzalan family, who were the earls of Arundel. The last of these, Henry, was recorded as holding the Lordship during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). He was the 12th earl of Arundel and was born in around 1511 and was named after the king, Henry VIII (1509-1547) was was his godfather. As a young man he entered the king’s service and was a regular attendee at court. In 1533 he was summoned to parliament at Lord Maltravers and three years later sat on the the jury which tried Anne Boleyn. He then received the lucrative position of deputy of Calais, in 1540, in which he served for three very successful years. However, he was recalled to England on the death of his father, William and became the 12th Earl and head of the family. Henry had little time to enjoy his new position since in 1544 he headed to France with the Earl of Suffolk as part of an invasion force. When the English, numbering some 30,000 men, were camped before Boulogne they were joined by the King, who made Arundel a marshal of the field. Thanks to his leadership, the town was stormed and he returned home a hero and was made lord chamberlain, a position he held until the king died in 1547. After the king’s death Arundel was made one of the council of twelve to rule whilst Edward VI was a boy. When Somerset had himself made Protector, Arundel led the opposition and had him removed to the Tower. However, he became pray to the jealousy of another council member, the Earl of Warwick, who drew up a number of blatantly false charges against him and Arundel was removed from the council and heavily fined. As an enemy of Warwick he joined forces with Somerset but this led to his arrest and he was committed to the Tower in November 1551. Arundel remained here for over a year, variously confessing his guilt and retracting it. Finally, in 1552, he was confessed to the Privy Council, was fined and allowed to be set free. On the death of Edward in 1553, Arundel became a partisan of Mary and asserted the r'ights of her succession over that of Lady Jane Grey, who was put forward by the earl of Northumberland. Along with the earl of Pembroke he physically ensured that Mary would succeed by seizing the Great Seal and taking it personally to her. As a reward to new Queen made Arundel Lord Steward of the Household, a position he held throughout her reign.When Mary died in 1558, Arundel was retained by Elizabeth but he was Catholic and had been devoted to her sister so she did not trust him. By this time he was so powerful that the new Queen could not afford to remove him from office. For his part suspicion of Arundel was well placed since he continued to plot and in 1564 was forced to resign as lord steward after a committing a number of ‘sundry speeches of offence’ against the Queen. His public life declined and he was a marginalised figure until the later 1560s when he again gained favour as a diplomat. However in 1569 he settled on a plan to remove Elizabeth and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots and Catholicism, after marrying her to the Duke of Norfolk. The plot was discovered and Arundel arrested; once more being confined to the Tower. He was then taken to Arundel Castle where spent the last few years under virtual house arrest. He died in 1580.

By the time of his death Arundel had already sold East Morden to Philip Stayning. He in turn sold it on to Thomas Erle. The Lordship has since descended with this family and they remains Lords of the Manor.

Lot #4 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2021 - Stephen Johnson

Most manorial lordships are of an ancient lineage but few can definitively trace their history back to a time before William the Conqueror’s great Domesday Book of 1086. The manor of Ellington however  can claim this distinction since it is recorded as being part of the the estate of Ramsey Abbey when it was  founded in 969. It formed part of a grant of land between Alfwold, brother of the abbey’s founder, Oswald,  Bishop of Worcester, and his wife Alfild. This grant was later confirmed by King Edgar (953-975) and Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) last of the Saxon kings. 

 After the Norman conquest the manor remained in the hands of the abbey and was assessed in  Domesday book as containing 10 hides, around 1,200 acres, which was a sizeable manor for the time and  would have provided its monks with a handsome income. It remained part of the abbey’s extensive estate  for the entire medieval period. In 1379 it provided one of the Abbots, Edmund de Ellington who was  therefore Lord of the Manor until his death in 1396. During one of the periodic assessments of the manor it  was found to render to the abbey 40s yearly instead of 5 lbs. of cheese and 5 lbs. of lard and, like all the farm  manors, gave 16d. to the poor from Maundy acre on Maundy Thursday. 

As Lord of the Manor the abbot had the right of gallows, tumbril (right to check the weight of  coins), view of frankpledge and amendment of the assize of bread and ale, waif, warren, hidage from Ellington  also the market rights of; tallage, merchet, leyrwyte and other rights such as setting and collecting a poll tax;  wardship and marriage of his tenants. These were considerable rights and made the abbot literal lord and  master over the villagers.  

Ramsey Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and for a few years the Manor was retained by the Crown. In  1547 it was granted to Sir Walter Hendle who died three years later. It was then purchased by Sir John Mason  and his wife Elizabeth and included 1000 acres of wood land but was sold within a short time to Gabriel  Throckmorton. It remained in the hands of this family until the 18th century. Robert Throckmorton, born  in 1607, was close friends of the Cromwell family and invested heavily in the emerging American colonies,  spending part of his life there. After his death and the proving of his will, Ellington passed to his oldest son  Albion, who died childless in 1681. The family retained their America estates throughout this period and  these passed, along with Ellington, until 1720 when the latter was sold to Thomas Handasyd. He was a retired  Governor of Jamaica and had spent a lifetime in the armed forces. Born in 1645 in Northumberland he fought  in the Anglo-Dutch War of the early 1670s but achieved prominence in 1688 when he accompanied William  of Orange to England to claim the throne from James II in what became known as the Glorious Revolution.  A year later he commanded an expedition to retake the town of St John’s, Newfoundland, which had been  captured by the French. When he and his 300 men arrived at the town he discovered that the French had  left and that the conditions there were so harsh that when he eventually arrived back in England only 80  men remained alive. In 1702 he was appointed Governor of Jamaica, remaining in post until his retirement  in 1710. His purchase of Ellington was part of the expansion of his estate at Gaynes Hall in Cambridgeshire  and he remained Lord of the Manor until 1729. 

He was succeeded by his son, Roger who was also a military man. He took part in the resistance to  the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 but afterwards became involved in politics and was elected MP for Huntingdon  in 1722. In 1745, during the last and greatest of the Jacobite rebellions, Handasyd was called into action once  more and after taking part in the Battle of Prestonpans where the rebels were finally defeated, he was appointed Commander in Chief of Scotland and made lieutenant-general, a position he held for sixth months.  He later returned to politics and made only his second yet final speech in the Commons in 1751.After his death in 1763 Ellington passed to his brother Clifford. In 1771 Ellington was sold to Sir William Watson, an  early pioneer in the study of electricity, most famously conducting it through 12,000 feet of cable at Shooter’s  Hill in London in 1747. He later became a close of ally of Benjamin Franklin in science and politics. Sir William  died in 1787 and was succeeded by his son, another William, who was knighted in 1796 and died in 1825.  The property passed to his sister Mary, widow of the Rev. Edward Beadon, and in the following year was  held by the Rev. John Watson Beadon, apparently her son, who held it until 1835. It then descended to the  Rev. Frederick Flemming Beadon, who died in 1880. Lieut.-Colonel Reginald Henry Beadon, his son, held it  from 1880 to 1922, when his executors sold it to Mr. Kenneth Hunnybun before passing to the family of the  present holders in 1950. 

 Ellington is described as a curiously shaped parish containing around 2,700 acres of mainly arable land. 

Waste in the Manor of Ellington, Huntingdonshire:

The title to the Lordship of the Manor of Ellington is being sold together with a number of plots of  land within the village. These include the village green and all of the extents are registered common land  under the 1965 Commons Registration Act . The total area measures approximately 6 acres. 

The extents which are registered as common land are as follows; 

The Village Green (VG22 on the plan) 

The Pond (CL36 on the plan) 

The Pound (CL37 on the plan) 

Thorpe Road Common (CL38 on the plan)

Ellington Common (CL21 on the plan) 

Since these plots are registered under the 1965 Act they are classed and protected as recreation areas. The  Vendor is not aware of any liabilities or encumbrances on the extents.  

The plots of waste are shown on the accompanying plans. 

(Note: To request a copy of this map, email seigneur@feudaltitles.com)

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1253-1254 Ministers Accounts British Library 

1415-1416 Valor of Manor 

1443-1446 Court Rolls 

1427-1428 Court Rolls 

1454 Court Roll 

1513 Court Roll 

1290 Court Rolls National Archives 

1294-1407 Court Rolls 

1425-1469 Court Rolls 

1300-1350 Extent 

1311-1319 Reeves Accounts 

1418-1421 Rental 

1441-1448 Rental 

1461-1483 Schedule of Rents 

1486-1509 Court Rolls 

1514-1537 Court Rolls 

1590-1710 Rent Roll Huntingdonshire Archives 

1591 Book of Customs 

1600 Terrier 

1672-1889 Admissions 

1755-1824 Court Books 

1763-1907 Minute Books 

1806-1852 Quit Rents 

1868-1925 Court Books 

1806-1852 Quit Rents

1868-1925 Court Books 

Lot #3 of Manorial Services Auction - Summer 2020 - Stephen Johnson

The Manor of Ennerdale lies in one of the wildest and beautiful parts of the Lake District. It includes, in its  13,000 acres, the glacial lake, Ennerdale Water, the most western of the lakes. Ennerdale Valley lies 8 miles  from the coast and is surrounded by several fells including Great Borne (2019 ft), Great Gable (2949 ft) and  Pillar Mountain (2927 ft).  

The small village of Ennerdale Bridge lies two miles from the lake on the River Ehen which flows from the  lake. The Churchyard here is the setting for the poem “The Brothers” by William Wordsworth. 

There is some dispute as to the derivation of the name Ennerdale. It was thought by some scholars to have  come from the Irish name of Lough Eaneth after the wild fowls which breed on the various islands in the  lake. Later historians now believe it likely came from the Old Norse Anundar-dalr meaning Anund’s Valley.

The earliest mention of the manor is found in the Register of St Bees, a chartulary of that priory written  between 1120 and 1135. It was then part of the ancient Barony of Egremont and was possessed by the  powerful Norman lord, William le Meschin. Little more is recorded of it until the 14th century when Thomas  de Multon dies seized of Eynerdale within the free chace of Coupland fell. After the death of Thomas’ son,  John, in 1334 the manor passed to the Harrington family of Al-dingham. The Inquisition post mortem after  Multon’s death records the following,

and there are at Enerdale (sic), which is within the Free Chase of Coupeland fell 31 tenants at will, who hold  various places (loca) and pay per year £6 4/6d at the terms of Michaelmas and Easter equally. And there is a  certain render (reditus) called Dalemale [payment for right of pasture, literally ‘valley money’] coming from the said  tenants 29/- per year at the Feast of St James for the whole year. And there is a certain place called Braythemire  [now Broadmoor plantation] in the hands of the said tenants, and they pay per year for the same 13/4d at the  said Feast of St James for the whole year. And there is there a certain place called Head of Ennerdale (Capud  de Eynerdale) in the hands of the said tenants at will, and they pay per year £4 at the said Feast of St James for  the whole year. And there are two vaccaries (vacarie) where the lord used to have his own stock (staurum suum  proprum) and they are worth per year 60/-’ 

Ennerdale then passed successively through the Bonville family to the Greys. Lord Bonville married Elizabeth,  sole heir of Sir William Harrington. William and Elizabeth had a son, William, who died in 1457 leaving a  daughter and heir, Cecily. The Lordship of Ennerdale passed to her and she then married Thomas Grey,  Marquess of Dorset. The Baronies of Harrington and Bonville also passed to Thomas through his wife  although these titles were superfluous as he had been created Earl of Huntingdon in 1471 and Marquess of  Dorset in 1475. He was, however, found guilty of high treason when Richard III assumed the throne in 1483,  on account of his closeness to the dead Prince Edward (briefly Edward V). He escaped to Britanny and returned at the summons of Henry VII who had defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth two years later.  He was subsequently made a Knight of the Garter and died in 1501. His son, also Thomas, succeeded him  and served King Henry VIII loyally until his death in 1530. His son, Henry Grey, was elevated in 1551 to the  Dukedom of Suffolk and was Lord High Constable of England and Knight of the Garter. He married Frances  Brandon, daughter of Charles, Duke of Suffolk, by Mary, sister of Henry VIII and Queen Dowager of France.  By her he had two daughters, Jane and Katherine. On the death of Edward VI, Henry Grey proclaimed his  daughter Lady Jane Grey Queen of England. This failed, and Jane, her husband, and Henry, Duke of Suffolk,  were all executed.    

Ennerdale was forfeited to the Crown and the land later granted by Queen Elizabeth to the manorial tenants  in 1568 though the Crown remained as Lord of the Manor. The manor was managed for the Crown by a  succession of bailiffs, stewards and greaves who administered the estate. During the 17th and 18th centuries  the Lowther family became successful and prominent in Cumberland and entered into several leases with  the Crown for land and rights in Ennerdale. In 1822 the whole manor was purchased outright from the  Crown by William, Earl of Lonsdale and remained in the hands of this family until 198(?) when it was sold in  auction to a private buyer.

There are many documents associated with the Manor including:

 1515-1516: bailiffs’ account roll, with other manors British Library 1563-1564: surveys, with other manors National Archives 1567-1568: rental (copy) 1604-1636: estreats (4 sheets) 1604-1636: estreats (4 sheets) 1613-1613: estreats, with other manors 1649-1660: parliamentary survey 1664-1668: court rolls 1676-1677: jury’s survey (4 ms) 1679-1679: estreats, with other manors 1632-1633: appointment of bowbearer of forest, Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Whitehaven 1632-1632: census of deer 1664-1664: appointment of deputy bailiff, collector  and bowbearer 1687-1696: call roll 1668-1688: appointment of officers 1824-1827: 19th cent surveys and rental (3) 1673-1766: court book, indexed Cumbria Archive Centre, Carlisle 1702-1899: court rolls (copies), tenants’ papers,  and admittances 1703-1885: papers incl boundary, copy of 1650 survey 1703-1854: verdicts 1765-1817: court baron verdicts 1765-1817: court leet verdicts 1765-1765: court book, with other manors 1765-1781: steward’s account book, with other manors 1765-1768: steward’s account books, with other manors (4) 1766-1833: court book, indexed 1768-1817: call book 1834-1933: court book 

Lot #13 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

COMPRISING 935 acres the parish of Etchilhampton lies 2 miles east of Devises at the western end of the Vale of Pewsey. It has variously been known as Ashlington and Asheton. The extent includes Etchilhampton Hill which rises to a height of 623 feet.

The first record of the Lordship occurs in Domesday Book, which was compiled 1086. The entry reads;

Etchilhampton. Before 1066 it paid tax for 7 hides. Land for 4

ploughs. Of this land 4 hides in lordship; 3 ploughs there.

12 smallholders, 6 cottagers and 2 Frenchmen who hold 2 hides.

Meadow, 6 acres; p asture 50 acres.

The value was £6; now Edward’ s Lordship, 6 1/2 

the Frenchmen’s, 40s.

The Edward in question was Edward of Salisbury. Also known as Edward the Sheriff, he was born around 1060 of uncertain parentage. It is known that he was sheriff of Wiltshire in 1080 as he attested a charter of Queen Maud for the Lordship of Malmesbury. Etchilhampton was one of 33 Lordships he was recorded as holding in Domesday Book in Wiltshire and he had estates in Somerset, Middlesex, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire. Edward lived until the reign of William II (1088-1100) and on his death his estates passed to his son, Walter, who was also known as Walter FitzEdward. Like his father before him, Walter served as Sheriff of Wiltshire, this time under Henry I (1100-1135). In 1130 he was recorded as being acquited of paying £4 of Danegeld in Dorset and £7 and Wiltshire, illustrating how long the Danish influence lasted in England. A year later he attended the council of Northampton and on the accession of Stephen, in 1135, he became an advisor of the king, going with him to Westminster at Easter 1136 and at Salisbury in 1139. Like many noblemen of the time he sought to ensure the safe passage of his soul and founded the Priory of Bradenstoke in the county and was a major benefactor in the building of Salisbury Cathedral. He gifted a hide of land to the priory from his Lordship in Etchilhampton and on his death in 1147 was buried at Bradenstoke. 

His eldest son was William and may have been styled as the Earl of Salisbury. Like his forbears he held the sheriffdom in Wiltshire but during the chaos of Stephen’s reign (1135-1154), he fought for the Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I, and was present at the siege of Winchester in 1141. When Stephen’s forces finally raised the siege in September of the year William was captured by the Earl of Hertford. For the next two years he was in control of Salisbury for the Empress and then took part in the Earl of Gloucester’s attack on Wilton Nunnery and he died from wounds sustained in the battle. The first Earl of Salisbury to be properly recorded was Walter’s second son, Patrick, who succeeded in 1142. 

By 1195 it appears that Etchilhampton had be granted out to William Malwain, which he added to estates he previously possessed in Wiltshire. This family remained in the ownership of a succession of William Malwain’s until 1300, when it passed to a John. He died in 1322 and was succeeded by his son, another John. He held it until 1375 when it came to his son, also John. He lived until 1426 when Etchilhampton passed to his wife Alice who lived for a further ten years. Her son died before her so the Lordship came to her daughter, Joan, whom, in 1441 settled it on herself and her husband, Henry Long. 

Henry survived his wife and died in 1489. From him it passes to his kinsman John Ernle, grandson of the last John Malwain. Etchilhampton then passed though this family’s descent until 1729 when it came to the daughter and heir— of Sir Edward Ernle, Elizabeth. She was married to Henry Drax and was succeeded by he two sons in turn, Thomas Ernle Drax and Edward. It then came to the latter’s daughter, Sarah, the wife of Richard Grovesner. Etchilhampton then descended to her son, Richard and then daughter Jane, in 1828. On Jane’s death, in 1853 the Lordship passed to her daughter, Maria Caroline Sawbridge Erle Drax and then her younger daughter Sarah, who was married to Colonel Francis Plunckett Burton (who died in 1865) and on her death it passed to her daughter Ernle Elizabeth Ernle-Erle-Drax, who later became Baroness Dunsany and died in 1916. 

On the death of Lady Dunsany Etchilhampton passed to her son the Hon. Reginald Plunckett Ernle Erle Drax and it has remained with that family until the present day.

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Previously held by  Thomas Becket

Also known as Eye Sodemere, this manor forms part of the parish of Eye, a few miles from the market  town of Diss. Its history is one of kings, queens, earls and even a saint. The manor is found in Domesday  Book, where it was the property of Robert Malet. Before the Conquest it had been held by the thegn, Edric.  Malet was Lord of the Honor of Eye and was made Lord Chamberlain of England by Henry I. Within a year  of Henry coming to the throne in 1100, Malet was exiled for supporting the king’s brother, Robert, Duke of  Normandy, and his lands were seized and confiscated. This manor formed part of the estate then granted to  Stephen, Earl of Bolougne. Stephen became king of England in 1130 and the manor was devised to his son,  William, who died childless in 1160.  

Eye Sokemere then reverted to the Crown and it was granted by Henry II to his Archbishop of  Canterbury, Thomas Becket. One of the most famous men in English history, Becket was murdered by four  knights, acting on the orders of the king in 1170. “Who would rid me of this turbulent priest?” is perhaps one  of the most well known utterances any king. Becket was later canonised and is the subject of countless plays,  books and films. On his death, this manor passed back to the ownership of the Crown.  

Richard I granted the manor to Henry, Earl of Brabant and Loveyne and it then passed to his son and  heir, Godfrey. On his death in 1226 it passed back to his father but then to Godfrey’s son, William. In 1230  Eye was granted to Richard, Earl of Cornwall, second son of King John. His son Henry of Cornwall was the  holder in 1236 and in 1256 it was in the hands of Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall, who served as Regent of  England from 1286 to 1289, whilst Edward I was in France. On his death, without heirs, in 1300, the manor  passed between a succession of the elite of England. Firstly, Edmund’s wife Margaret, sister of Gilbert de Clare,  held the manor until her death in 1316. It was then granted to Hugh de Audley and his wife Margaret, former  wife of the north’s Piers Gaveston. A few years later it was granted to Isabel, wife of Edward II. 

In 1330, Edward III gave Eye Sokemere to his nephew, John de Eltham, Earl of Cornwall. An entry in  the Patent Rolls of 1331 notes that John was granted an enlargement of the grant which included all corn  and livery of servants in the manor. John died childless in 1337 and once more the manor was granted by the  Crown, this time to Robert de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk. The grant included Eye Castle, the town and manor,  the Honor of Eye and the manor of Thordon. The whole estate was valued at £207 12s. When Suffolk died,  in 1368, the estate passed to his son William de Ufford, but on his death, in 1381, the whole reverted once  more to the Crown. In the same year, the whole estate, including Eye Sokemere was gifted to Queen Anne, the first wife of Richard II. Her tenure lasted only until 1385 when  Richard saw fit to reward his chancellor, Michael de la Pole with it.  He was created Earl of Suffolk at the same time. Pole was a friend  and confidant of the king, but history has not looked upon him kindly.  He was described by his contemporary, the author, Jean Froissart, as  devious and a useless advisor who aroused unwarranted suspicion of  the King’s uncle, John of Gaunt. After the forces of rebellious Barons,  known as the Appellants had defeated Richard’s army at Radcot  Bridge in December 1387, Pole was forced to flee England, and died  in exile in 1389.  

On the accession of Henry IV in 1399, Pole’s son, Michael  was restored to his father’s estates and was allowed to become  Earl of Suffolk. He was a loyal follower of the king and spent much  of the next decade fighting in France, where he died, at the siege of  Harfleur in 1415. Pole’s son, also Michael, the 3rd Earl of Suffolk, was  with his father in France and died a few weeks later at the Battle  of Agincourt. Michael’s brother, William the 4th Earl, survived both  Harfleur and Agincourt and lived until 1450 . He was created the 1st  Duke of Suffolk in 1448. He was a close friend of Henry VI and one of the dominant figures at court in the  first half of the 15th century. As the senior military commander in France he was blamed for the disastrous  defeat at Orleans, in 1429, where the French, led by Joan of Arc drove the English from the city. Suffolk is  depicted by Shakespeare in Henry VI parts 1 ands 2.  

John de la Pole, the 2nd Duke of Suffolk ,held the manor of Eye Sokemere until his death in 1491. His  son, Edmund, the 3rd Duke, was proclaimed by his supporters as the Yorkist claimant to the throne through  his mother, Elizabeth, who was the daughter of the 3rd Duke of York. He travelled to the Tyrol in 1501 to join  with the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I, who proclaimed him, “The White Rose” or claimant to the English throne. He was declared an outlaw by Henry VII and was  arrested in 1506 and imprisoned in the Tower of London He remained a prisoner for seven years before  being executed on the orders of Henry VIII in 1513.  

Eye Sokemere, like much of the Poles’ Suffolk estates, was granted to Charles Brandon, the newly  minted Duke of Suffolk. On the death of the 2nd Duke in 1551, the manor passed back to the Crown  and was gifted to Princess Mary. She became Queen in 1553 and on her death, five years later, the manor  remained as a possession of the succeeding Queen Elizabeth. Various leases of the land were made during  her reign, notably to Edward Hoining in 1598 and later, in 1610, it was leased to Henry, Prince of Wales,  eldest son of James I. Later, the manor formed part of the dower of Queen Henrietta, wife of Charles I and  Katherine, Queen Dowager of Charles II but was finally sold by the Crown in 1698, to Charles, 4th Lord  Cornwallis.  

The manor remained in the possession of the family until 1823. Charles’ son, Charles, who was  born in 1700, was created Earl Cornwallis in 1762. His son Charles, one of the most famous generals of  the American War of Independence and Governor-General of India, was created Marquess Cornwallis in  1792. Eye Sokmere was sold to Matthias Kerrison of Bungay, who served as MP for Eye in the 1820s. He  was succeeded by his son, General Sir Edward Kerrison of Oakley Park who commanded a regiment at the  Battle of Waterloo. His son, Sir Edward 2nd Bt., died childless in 1886 and his estates, including this manor,  passed to his sister, Agnes. She was married to Lord William Bateman but held it as Lady Bateman after her  husband’s death. In 1920 the manor was purchased with the rest of the Oakley Estate titles by Adolphus  Maskell in 1924. On his death in 1937 it passed equally to his daughters, Hilda Parker and Ruby Malpass. Hilda  died in 1959, and Ruby in 1964. Subsequently the manor remained in this family until it was sold in 2010 to  the present holder.

 A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

 1395-1397: reeve’s accounts National Archives 

1409-1411: minister’s accounts 

1614-1616: court roll 

1640-1640: court roll 

1621-1622: survey and perambulation 

1681-1683: estreats 

1417-1418: reeve’s accounts (copy, 1580) Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1446-1447: bailiff’s accounts 

1548-1577: court book 

1577-1583: minute book 

1600-1678: court books 

1620-1621: court roll 

1651-1668 court roll 

1658-1721: admissions (4) 

1669-1670: verdicts (5) 

1669-1673: presentments (24) 

1674-1674: surrenders (8) 

1674-1678: verdicts 

1689-1697: rental 

1689-1691: suit roll 

1750-1750: particulars of customs 

1761-1932: court books (4)

1763-1794: rentals, 

1774-1822: minute books (2) 

1780-1791: rental for the bailiff’s waste 

1793-1797: accounts of court profits 

1794-1794: survey, including list of customs 

1797-1797: court fees book 

1798-1799: surveys 

1800-1800: rental 

1823-1832: court fines received, with other manors 1835-1835: rental 22 

1884-1884: rental 

1887-1897: minute book, with other manors 

1887-1906: quit and free rent accounts, with other manors 

1894-1905: collector’s quit and free rent accounts 

1925-1925: rental 

1931-1931: court book 

Lot #14 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS ORIGINAL name for this Lordship was Hacchesden and it lies next to heath land on the north-east part of the parish of Bethersden. It has also being recorded as Haccesdene, Hecchindenne, Hatchwelden and Hathwoldinden. This parish, lying mostly on the Weald of Kent, consists of 4,000 acres of arable an coppice land. The head of the River Medway runs through the area.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066 this Lordship formed part of the manor of Boughton Aluph, which in turn was held of the honour of Bologne. In Domesday Book, surveyed in 1086, this was found to be in the possession of Count Eustace and the entry reads;

The count himself holds Boughton Aluph.

Earl Godwine held it and it was assessed at 7 sulungs, then as now.

There is land for 33 ploughs.

In demesne are 3 ploughs and 67 villeins with 5 borderers.

There is a church and 17 slaves ans 2 mills rendering 7s 2d

and 26 acres of meadow and woodland 200 pigs.

In this time of Edward the Confessor it was worth £2ˇ0

thand afterwards £30 and now £40.

The first recorded Lord of the Manor of Eytchden was William de Hacchesden, who lived during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). Little is known of him or his forbears and it appears that he may have been the last of the line because by the reign of the next king, Edward I (1272-1307) it was in the possession of Stephen de Bocton. He died in 1286 and was found to beholding Eytchden by service of a knight’s fee. He was also the Lord of the Manor of Boughton Aluph. 

Soon after this time Eytchden passed into the Burghersh family. The first or second of these was Stephen de Burgersh, who obtained a charter of free warren for the Lordship in 1307. He died two years later and it then appears to have passed out of this family to the Aldons. In 1363, Stephen de Aldon died siesed of Eytchden. Its descent after this is unknown, but by the end of the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) it had passed to the ownership of Sir Thomas Tryvet. It is probable that he was married to the daughter of de Aldon because he possessed the Lordship by the right of his wife. 

Sir Thomas died in 1389 and Eytchden came to his daughters and co-heirs, 

Joan and Anne. From one of them, which one is uncertain, the Lordship passed in marriage into the ownership of the Brockhull family of Saltwood. This family remained in possession of it until 1213 when it was sold to John Darell, a former tenant of the manor. The Darrells made little impression on history but remained as Lords of Eytchden until the reign of James I (1603-1625) when it was sold to Nicholas Tufton, earl of Thanet. In 1729 his descendant Thomas, earl of Thanet sold of all the woods in Eytchden to trustees in order the the profits could be used for charitable purposes. It has remained in this family until the present day, and the present Lord of the Manor is Lord Hothfield the current representative of the family. 

Perhaps the most notable resident of the area was Hadrian Saravia who lived here at the beginning of the reign of James I. He is famous as being a ‘divine’ or theologian of the Anglican church. Saravia was born in France in 1531 and was raised a Calvinist. In 1560, during the repression of Protestantism Saravia fled to the Channel Islands where he became a schoolmaster in St Peter Port. He then moved to Southampton, as headmaster of a grammar school. Whilst on an extended trip to Holland in 1585 he wrote to Queen Elizabeth, urging her to annex the Low Countries as a Protestant protectorate. This brought him some notice in England and w¡hen he was forced to flee once more he returned to England and he was given a position of rector of Tattenhall in Staffordshire. In 1590 he published his first great work, De Diversis Gradibus Ministorum Evangelii. In this work he defended the Protestant ethic especially as regard to a rejection of the Catholic tradition of church authority and organisation. As a reward Savaria was appointed to one of the prebendaries of Canterbury in 1595 and in the same year was made Vicar of Lewisham. Here be befriended Richard Hooker, perhaps the greatest Elizabethan Anglican theorist. In 1604 he dedicated to James I a treatise on the holy Eucharist which remained in continuous print until 1895. In 1607 he was nominated as one of the translators of Scripture for the production of the King James Bible, the founding text of modern English. Two years later he obtained the vicarage of Great Chart and moved to Bethersden where he spent the rest of his life.

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - March 2023 - Stephen Johnson

 There are a number of variations in spelling for this manor. Over time it has been variously referred  to as Falcons, Faucons , Facons or even Stuston Prioresse, and the new Lord of the Manor can really take their  pick. In the modern paperwork it is referred to as Facons but in Copingers peerless study of Suffolk Manors  (vol III) it also named as Falcons. 

The Lordship is located in the parish of Stuston which lies just inside the northern part of Suffolk,  over the border from Norfolk and a mile or so from the market town of Diss. It is first referred to at the  time of Domesday Book in 1086. The commissioners for William the Conqueror found that the manor in  Stuston had, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, been held by Wulfsi, a freeman under Earl Gyrth.  Neither’s tenure survived the upheaval of the Norman invasion and by the time of the great survey it was  found to belonged to the Crown and was tenanted by Ralph de Felgeris or Fourgeres. He was a Breton  whose strategically placed estate in Brittany meant that he was courted by William who wanted him as a  supporter. It is not known whether he fought at Hasting but by 1086 he was the holding of many manors  across seven southern counties. Though Facons was on the periphery of the family estates it remained with  the Fourgeres family, as part of the larger manor of Stuston, into the 12th century but its descent after this  is rather uncertain.  

The manor is first recorded by name in 1357 when it was gifted to St Mary’s Priory at Flixton. How  the ownership descended in the 180 years after Domesday is not readily discernable. It is possible that  the manor remained with the Fourgeres family until the reign of Henry II though it is more likely that what  became the manor of Facons was granted with the manor of Boylands, in the same parish, to Ranulp, Earl of  Chester who died in 1232. This subsequently descended with the Boyland family (hence its name) but there  is no direct evidence to confirm that it was Sir John Boyland who granted the land to Flixton Priory. Unless  further evidence comes to light the early history of the manor must remained veiled. 

When Facons was granted to Flixton Priory it was under the Priorship of Joan de Hemynhall, who  found the house at its lowest point, after the ravages of the Black Death had begun to abate. During the  previous ten years the value of the Priory lands halved in value and it lost so many of its Nuns that it never  fully recovered, even after another 150 years. The Austinian Priory had been founded in in 1258 by Margery  de Hanes who used her own property in Flixton and the advowson of its church as its initial estate. Further  gifts were made by the Tateshull family. A survey of 1291 revealed that the number of nuns had been limited  by Margery to 18 and that its yearly value was £43 18s.  

Flixton Priory was ordered to be suppressed in 1527, not by the order of Henry VIII but through a  bull issued by Pope Clement VII. This papal order closed many small religious houses in East Anglia and was  made at the behest of Cardinal Wolsey who wished to found colleges in Oxford and at Ipswich with the  proceeds of their sale. However, before the house could be closed, Wolsey fell from power and so Flixton  remained open for another 9 years before being swept up in Cromwell’s general Dissolution in 1536.  

The Manor of Facons was claimed by the Crown until 1544 when it was granted to John Eyre. Within  a short time he alienated (or sold) it to Sir Thomas Cornwallis, the eldest son of Sir John Cornwallis, Steward  of the Household of Edward VI. He trained as a lawyer and was knighted by the king in 1548. A year later he  assisted in the government’s attempts to crush the rebellion led by Robert Kett and was temporarily taken  prisoner by Kett’s rebels in Norwich. After king Edward’s death in 1553 Sir Thomas initially supported Lady  Jane Grey as queen but rapidly changed his mind when he heard that the population of London had not  reacted well to her accession. After he had sworn his allegiance to Mary, she made him one her councillors.  He remained in charge of England’s last foothold in France for four years but was considered by some too  willing to give the town up to the French. This was far from true and he repeatedly warned the Queen that  the English garrison in Calais was too weak. In January 1558 the town fell to the French and he was blamed by  some. After the death of Mary he lost his place at court as Elizabeth ousted prominent Catholics. He retired  to Norfolk but in 1569 was arrested in suspicion of aiding a failed rising in the North. Imprisoned for over  a year, Cornwallis was re-leased in June 1570. Though he professed his loyalty to the Queen he retained his  Catholic faith, often in secret. He was official branded a recusant and remained so until his death in 1604.  

Facons estate remained in the possession of the Cornwallis family until 1823 when it was sold along  with the whole of the Oakley Estate to Mattias Kerrison. He was known locally as the ‘Bungay Millionaire’  having made money through the development of the Staithe navigation. The manor eventually passed as part  of the estate to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains. There is a very large collection  of manorial documents for Facons held by Suffolk Archives. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1323-1375 Court Rolls Suffolk Archives, Ipswich 

1362-1522: court extracts 

1389-1406: court roll 

1400-1500: survey 

1400-1500: extent  

1407-1408: rental 

1467-1477: court roll 

1477-1511: estreat roll 

1485-1525: rentals (2) 

1493-1501: minute book 

1500-1600: list of copyholders 

1500-1508: court rolls (2) 

1526-1577 bailiff’s accounts 

1553-1613: court roll 

1556-1562: account book, with other manors 

1563-1563: rental 

1569-1573: minute book, with other manors 

1570-1570: particulars of lands 

1575-1600: rental, with other manors 

1575-1600: survey,

1592-1592: ministers’ accounts  

1601-1601: terrier 

1612-1925: court books (4) 

1620-1685 court roll 

1641-1661 rentals, with other manors (3) 

1665-1740: estreats, with other manors 

1670-1671: rental, with other manors 

1749-1749: summary of quit rents, with other manors 

1750-1750: particulars of customs, with other manors (1 vol) 

1757-1794: rentals, with other manors (1 vol) 

1794-1799: survey 

1800-1800: rental 

1835-1835: rental, with other manors 

1884-1884: rental, with other manors (annotated to 1887) 

1887-1897: minute book, with other manors 

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

Until the 19th century Farnworth was a small moorland village,  but with the growth of nearby Manchester during the industrial revolution  it rapidly became a large urban settlement sandwiched between its  sprawling neighbour to the south and the town of Bolton, a few miles  to the North. Anciently, Farnworth, which means ‘settlement among the  ferns’ seems to have formed part of the Lordship of Barton, a manor  within the Barony of Manchester, but by the 13th century it had become  a manor in its own right. The early holders of the estate are obscure and  the first named Lords of Farnworth appears to have been Robert de  Redford and Richard the ‘chief of Farnworth’.

In 1320 the Lordship was held jointly by Adam de Lever of Great Lever, Henry de Hulton and Richard de  Redford but what had been a whole estate seems now to have been divided between these three soon afterwards.  The principal share, or moiety, descended with the Hulton family who haled from the nearby village of the same name.  A cadet branch of the family, founded by John de Hulton, came to live in Farnworth during the late 13th century and  he was succeeded by his son Henry who is recorded in a number of charters and grants from the time. Henry was  succeeded by his son John, who is noted as having received a grant of Harpurhey in Manchester from John de le Warre  in 1327 and a few months later came into the possession of Oakeney in Horwich.  

After John’s death, Farnworth descended to his eldest son, William, who is noted later in the 14th century  as settling on his heirs a number of Lordships and estates in Farnworth, Rumworth, Lostock, Kearsley, Irlam, Barton,  Breighmet, Syndale , Westhoughton , Middleton, Great Lever, Bolton, and Lower Hulton as well as several estates in  Manchester. He died in 1392 and this impressive estate came to his eldest son, John, who had made a good marriage to  Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir William de Atherton. John died in December 1422 leaving ‘certain lands in Barton called  Farnworth of the Lord of Manchester’ to his son James. He in turn was succeeded by his son James and his grandson,  William, who appears as an accessory in a case of murder in 1445. A kinsman of his, Randle Hulton was accused of the  fatal shooting of Richard Whitehead, and both William and his brother John were accused of helping him. In the event  all three men were acquitted.  

Farnworth then passed to William’s son, John who left an only daughter, Alice. She married a cousin, Adam  Hulton of Over Hulton. The Lordship though had been entailed and passed to Alice’s uncles, Richard, Christopher  and James. Richard was an ‘idiot’ and James too young, so the profits of the Lordship came to Christopher. Eventually  Farnworth descended to William, the son of James Hulton, but a great deal of rancour had been aroused in the Hulton  family over what Alice Hulton should have received. In a bid to end the disputes in 1521, William Hulton released land  to her descendants. When William died, in 1556, his direct heir was his infant grandson, William, however, Farnworth  passed instead to the descendants of the elder William’s brother, John. This caused yet more legal wrangles, with  William’s widow, Christian claiming a part of Farnworth Hall. 

John Hulton left Farnworth to his son Alan, from whom it passed to his son John and then to his nephew, Alan  Hulton. This Alan had a number of sons and the Lordship passed down to the second son George. In 1598 George  made complaints that ‘certain persons were intruding on his lands in Farnworth and Kearsley and digging coal pits  there.’ He died in 1610 and was found to be holding the ‘manor of Farnworth, with the capital messuage and various  lands there of Sir Nicholas Mosley.’ Mosley was Baron of Manchester and Hulton was paying 4s 6d to his ‘overlord’.  Within a few weeks of their fathers’ death, George’s children had sold Farnworth to their kinsman Adam Hulton of  Over Hulton. In 1660, Adam’s son and heir, William, contested the election for the borough of Clitheroe and sat in  Parliament from July to December of that year.

In 1738 the Lordship of Farnworth appears as the possession of William Hulton and his son, also William  claimed the waste of the manor, having ‘frequently exercised the right of driving the commoners and hath gotten coal  under Halshaw moor.’ At some time after this the Lordship became the property of the Earls of Ellesmere. In 1963  this family succeeded to the Dukedom of Sutherland and in 1988 the Lordship of Farnworth was sold to a private  purchaser.

Lot #15 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS LORDSHIP lies in the parish of Hothfield. Which is three miles from Ashford and 50 miles, by road, from the centre of London. Like many manors in Kent it is very likely that Fausley began as part of a larger Lordship, in this case perhaps Westwell or Hothfield, and at a very early time became separated and formed a new manor, based on the extent of a large farm. Anciently this was known as Foughleslee, though it is likely to have always been pronounced, Fausley. This is the name which it gave to its owners in the 14th century. The first recorded Lord of the Manor here was John de Foughleslee, a resident of Hothfield. This was in the second year of the reign of Richard II (1378). We know this from a surviving deed in which John conveyed to John Surrendenne of Little Chart:

all those lands which he had of the feoffment of Margerie, relict of Thomas

de Foughleslee, and Margery their daughter, in that parish, and which he had

of the feoffment of the said Margerie the younger, whi˜ch came to her by 

inheritance in that parish, after the death of Robert de Foughleslee with the

reversion of a moiety of the lands which Alice, relict of the said Robert, held

in dower. 

The chronicler Philpot describes John de Foughleslee as a person of eminence in the reign of Richard II and often during it was summoned to Parliament among the Barons.

The Lordship of the Manor remained in the hands of the Fausley family for a further 200 years. During the reign of Elizabeth it was sold to the Drury family. No details of this family remain but Fausley was sold, a few years later to the Paris family. Immediately afterwards it was alienated to the Bulls. It was kept by this family for a short while before reverting back to the Paris’. In the reign of James I (1603-1625) it was sold to Nicholas Tufton of Hothfield Place and it descended with that family. (For a history of this family please see the Lordship of Hothfield in this catalogue). 

A later lord of the Manor of Fausley was the 9th Earl of Thanet, Sackville Tufton. He was born at nearby Hothfield Place in 1767 and bore the same Christian name as his father and grandfather. His mother was the daughter of Lord John Philip Sackville and his uncle was the Duke of Dorset. The Duke acted as Thanet’s guardian during his minority and the young earl spent much of his early life abroad. Though he took no prominent part in politics, Thanet was a supporter of the Duke of Bedford and was generally opposed to the Pittites. He was a relatively fervent Whig and was present with Fox, Erskine and Sheriden at the trial of the Irishman Arthur O’Connor in 1799. O’Connor was a member of the Irish Parliament but later became a radical member of the Society of United Irishmen. In 1797 he published a tract, To the Free Electors of the County of Antrim, for which he was arrested and charged with high treason. He won the case and then travelled to France in a bid to raise money for a rebellion in Ireland. In the next year he was arrested in Margate and again charged with treason. For this he was acquited but immediately rearrested and charged with treason once more. At this point in the trial proceedings Thanet and others were alleged to have put out the lights and attempted to free O’Connor. Quite why Thanet was so attracted to O’Connor’s case we are not sure but he was arrested for his actions. He was tried before Lord Kenyon at the King’s Bench on 25 April 1799. Sir John Scott (later Lord Eldon) was the prosecutor and Erskine conducted the defence. R B Sheriden gave evidence for the accused and managed to parry eight times, the same question from Scott, “Do you believe that Lord Thanet meant to favour the escape of O’Connor?”. This did not help the Earl and he was found guilty. He was fine d £1,000 and sentenced to one years imprisonment at the Tower of London. On his release he was ordered to give security for his good behaviour for seven years in sureties to the amount of £20,000. This sentence caused much outcry and was seen at far too severe and unjust for it seems as though Thanet had no real intention of aiding O’Connor but was taken away with the moment. After his release it is perhaps no surprise to find that the Earl lived peacefully at Hothfield. Instead of politics he developed a passion for agriculture and became a popular exponent of modern farming techniques. He regularly visited the livestock market at Ashford and spent many hours conversing with graziers. In later life he spent a good deal of his time abroad, and died, at Chalons, in France, in January 1825.

At his death the Lordship of Fausley passed to the Earl’s brothers, Charles and Henry. It has since remained with this family and the current representative, Lord Hothfield is the present Lord of Fausley.

Lot #6 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

The Parish, named after its Ford at Ford Street, lies three miles North of Marks Tey on the Colchester to Cambridge Road.

"In this Parish," says Morant, "were anciently four manors now united into two; namely, 1. The Manors of Fordham Hall and Argentines. 2. The Manors of Great Fordham and the Frith." (History of Essex, Vol. II p. 226)

Originally the Manor of Fordham Hall belonged to Hugh de Gurnai, but it is not known how long it remained with descendants; John de Hastings came into it in 1376 and it was left to William Beauchamp after the death of John de Hastings , who was killed in a tournament about the year 1400. Sir Edward Nevill is known to have held it in 1524. Of him Morant writes, "most probably he was involved in the ruin of his grandfather, the Duke of Buckingham, for King Henry VIII, in 1539, granted to Thomas Colepepper, Esq., one of the Gentlemen of his Privy Chamber, "the Manors of Fordham Hall alias Fordingham and Archentine, with Appurtenances and a pasture called Fordham Frith" btu two years later they passed to Sir Anthony Wingfield and his heirs "to hold in Capite." However, Sir Anthony was not Lord of the Manor for any considerable time for the Estate was sold in October, 1543, and the Manors of Fordham Hall and Great Fordham with the Frith were divided in ownership from this date, when John Lucas bought the former and John Abell the latter. Sir John Lucas Kt., grandson of John Lucas, was created Baron Lucas of Shenfield in 1644. This Baron Lucas' daughter, Mary, was the wife of Anthony de Grey, Earl of Kent, and so, on the death of her father in 1671, the title and inheritance came into that family. Henry, Earl of Kent, inherited the Estates upon the death of his father in 1702 and his grand-daughter, Jemima, married the eldest son of Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, the Hon. Philip Yorke, who became Lord of the Manor in 1740. 

The Manor belonged afterwards to Jemima, Marchioness Grey, then to Mabel, Baroness Lucas (her first Court 1798) followed by Countess de Grey (1817) and Thomas Philip, Ear de Grey. Joseph Beaumont of Coggeshall acted as Deputy Steward for the last mentioned Lord in "out of Court" proceedings on 6th May, 1856. 

The Manor afterwards passed to Anne Florence, Countess Cowper and Baroness Lucas who held her first Court on 7th June, 1850. Her last Court was held in 1879, and the first of Francis Thomas de Grey, Ear Cowper, was held in 1887. 

Gorge Frederick Beaumont purchased the Manor from Baroness Lucas in 1918. 

Wentworth Day, in his book, "The New Yeoman of England," (1952, George C.  Harrap & Co., Ltd.) writes: "When Sweyn, the great king of the East Saxons, was on the throne, one Gunaric, a Saxon freeman, held lands in the south-east corner of Essex. To-day, Gunarys farm largely and well - shrewd, hardheaded yeomen, broad of shoulder and mighty in physique, they have been about here as long as the memory of man runneth and, if the genealogists were to probe deeply enough, I do not doubt that they would find that they spring from that sturdy Saxon root." Anyhow, it is a pleasing fancy and if there is in fact such a connection, it is appropriate that members of the Gunary family should own Fordham Hall, the Manor house of this Manor,  Moat Farm, which is probably the Manor House of Much Fordham Manor, and also Marks Tey Hall, the Manor House of the nearby Manor of Marks Tey. 

The fine on "Amerciament" of Defaulters was sixpence; fines on death and alienation were arbitrary and the custom of descent was to the eldest son. The Lord was entitled to a third of the value of timber felled on Copyhold properties. 

The Manors of Much or Great Fordham and Fordham Frith referred to in the second paragraph, also belong to the Vendors and are sold under Lot #32. 

The Manorial documents (insured for £250, premium 12/6d. per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Rolls: 1609-1794

Court Books: 1765-96; 1798-1821; 1822-48; 1849-90; 1890-1928

Rental: 1789

Draft Courts: 1809-14

Such greens and wastes as are within this Manor are expressly excluded from the sale (See note to Lot 32).  

Lot #8 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

This unusual manor is centred on what was  an extra-parochial area found within what was once  Selwood Forest. It was an area measuring roughly  1 kilometre by 1.5 kilometres between the parishes  of Brewham, Charlton Musgrave and Shepton  Montague. Selwood was an ancient forest, thought  to be a boundary between Wessex and the kingdom  of Dumnonia to the west. Unlike the later forests of  the Normans, which were areas reserved for hunting,  Selwood was a forest of trees and as such was an  ancient landscape.  

The early history of the Manor is obscure  but it is thought to have belonged to the owners  of the Manor or Barony of Castle Cary. At the time  of Domesday Book in 1086 the estate was held by Walter of Douai and was succeeded at his death by Ralph Lovel. It was likely Ralph’s son, also Ralph, who held  Castle Cary against the forces of King Stephen during the period known as The Anarchy, in 1138. The family  retained the estate, which then included Four Towers, until the early 14th century when Alice Lovel, the last  heiress, married William, Lord Zouche. 

The Zouche family supported the House of York during the War of the Roses and John, Lord  Zouche, who had been born in 1459 was a fervent and loyal servant of Richard III. During this troubled king’s  brief reign, Zouche was raised to prominence as he sought to expand the influence of Richard to the West of  England. Unfortunately his career came to shattering halt at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 where he fought  on Richard’s side but was captured by the victorious army of Henry Tudor. A few weeks after the battle,  whilst still a prisoner of the new regime, Zouche was attainted at Henry VII’s first Parliament and Castle Cary,  including the Four Towers estate was granted to Robert Willoughby. With the accession of Richard III in 1483,  Willoughby had involved himself in the abortive revolt led by the Duke of Buckingham. After its failure he  was forced to flee to France where he joined the retinue Henry. Willoughby’s estates in England were seised  by Richard but this proved to be a temporary setback for Robert. In August 1485 he landed with Tudor at  Milford Haven and followed his rapid progress east. Two weeks later Henry’s army met and defeated Richard  at the Battle of Bosworth. Willoughby fought in the battle and was to be rewarded for his loyalty to the new  king, Henry VII. He was made a knight of the body and was admitted to the king’s council in 1486. A number  of offices and positions were awarded to him culminating in his being admitted to the Order of the Garter  in 1489 and elevated to the nobility as Baron Willoughby de Broke. In the meantime, as well as recovering his  estates he was granted further lands in Somerset and Cornwall including Castle Cary and its manors, one of  which was Four Towers. However he was not one of the king’s most prominent supporters which perhaps  explains why he was not offered a higher peerage and given only relatively minor administrative tasks in the  Southwest. He spent much of the 1490s as a largely ineffective naval commander. He died in 1502 and was  succeeded by his son Robert. 

After Robert’s death in 1521 his estates were inherited by his three young granddaughters. In turn  their mother, Dorothy married William Bount, 4th Lord Mountjoy who siezed the estate. However a legal  suit ensued and Castle Cary was eventually settled on Dorothy for life with a remainder to the Duke of  Somerset. It remained with his descendants until 1675 when the last Duke of Somerset, William passed it to  the last of the family, John Seymour. He died without heirs in 1675 and it then passed to Thomas Bruce, Earl  of Ailesbury, though his marriage to Elizabeth, sister of John Seymour. 

In 1684 Bruce sold Four Towers, also by then known as the Liberty of Estrip, to Anthony Ettrick and  William Player. The former was a barrister from Gillingham, in Dorset and sat as a Member of Parliament for  Christchurch in 1685. He is best remembered for his part in the doomed rebellion led by the young Duke of  Monmouth against the Catholic James II. Monmouth was routed at the Battle of Sedgemoor and fled south  to Poole. He was captured near Ringwood and brought before the nearest available magistrate, Ettrick, at  his home at Holt Lodge in Wimbourne where he signed the order for Monmouth’s committal. Though he  had little choice in the action this made him extremely unpopular in the district, where James II’s reputation  was poor at best. It made Ettrick angry and he vowed never to be buried at Wimbourne Minster, neither  in nor outside the church, and neither above nor below ground. Instead an opening was carved into the wall of  the church at the level of the pavement and in 1691, when he thought his death was imminent, he placed a  black marble coffin inside the space on which the date was cut. However, Ettrick did not die in 1693 but lived  another 10 years and his strange tomb became something of a tourist attraction. The coffin and its erroneous  date can still be seen today.

By his death in 1703, Ettrick had purchased the whole of the Four Towers estate and it passed to his  son William, who died in 1716. His daughter Rachael became its Lord and she held it until 1739 when she  sold it to Stephen Fox. At this time it was as known as Old Lodge but there was seemingly no house left on  the site by this time. Within a few years, Fox had sold the manor to the Earl of Ilchester who erected the  four towers as hunting lodges in the mid-1750s. The manor of Four Towers, as it was then referred, remained  with the Earls of Ilchester and their descendants until the end of the 20th century where is referred to in  their estate documents as such. In the 19th Century, the remaining towers were said to be the home of the  Ilchesters’ gamekeeper.

 Lot #24 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parishes of Fundenhall, Hapton, Thurston, etc.

Fundenhall is a village south of and adjoining Ashwelthorpe and, by the County of Nortfolk Review Order, 1935, this civil Parish was transferred to the latter parish (Kelly' Directory for Norfolk, 1937). Hapton was formerly a separate civil parish, but by the same Order was transferred to the Parish of Tharston. It is stated in the Directory that Lord Berners was Lord of the Manor, but this is incorrect as it was conveyed to George Frederick Beaumont in 1919. 

Blomefield writes of Fundenhall: "At the Confessors Survey it belonged to one of his Thanes named Burkart who owned the chief part, and was patron of the church which had then 24 acres of glebe; Aluric, a freeman of Bishop Stigand, had another part; and there was a berewic in Meonde, which belonged to it: Walter de Dol, Lord of Habetune or Hapton,  became Lrod there and made these two villages into one Manor: he had them both o fRoger Bigot, who held them of Earl Hugh, except two parcels , which the said Roger kept belonging to his manor of Forncet, with which they always passed to this time."

"The manor was very early in the Creke family, then came to Thomas Knyvet of Ashwelthorpe. There was anciently a manor of free tenement called Sundays which was sjoined to the other Manor early, and now continues with it."

 According to the same authority, "the Manor of Hapton was joined to that of Funenhale at the Conquest, by Walter de Dol...It was always held of the Norfolk family as of Forncet, at one quarter of a fee, and always attended the Manor of Ashwelthorpe. The Manor House is called Hapton Hall and was always the joiture-house of the Knyvett family. The style of the Manors now runs, Ashwelthorpe with Wreningham and Fundenhall with Hapton." 

The first Court in the series of records to be handed over, held in 1629, shows the leader of the Homage as a Knyvett, and the Lord of the Manor, though it is not given in the heading to the enrolled proceedings, was no doubt a Knyvett. From this date the Lordship was in the Knyvett family and reference should be made to the notes on Ashwelthorpe and Wreningham under Lot 23 for its devolution. It finally came to G. F. Beaumont with Ashwelthorpe and Wreningham in 1919. 

The Manorial Documents (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Books: 1660-1712; 1713-43; 1743-71; 1771-1807; 1807-40; 1841-72; 1872-1925   

Lot #16 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THE PARISH of Gargrave lies 4 miles north west of Skipton and six miles north east of Barnoldswick. It consists of 2,507 acres, much of which is pasture land. The river Aire and the Leeds to Liverpool canal run through the area. South East of the village are the remains of a Roman encampment and during the restoration of the parish church in the 19th century a large number of Saxon relicts and headstones were found in the church yard.  

This is an ancient Lordship and is fleetingly recorded in Domesday Book, with part of it lying within the Lordship of Winterburn. There is some confusion as to the original extent and ownership of Gargrave and it would appear that it was split into three moieties, or parts. Part was in the possession if Roger of Poitou, who owned a great deal of land in this area of Yorkshire. A second part seemed to have been in the ownership of the Percys one of the great northern noble families∆ and the last moiety was held by Robert de Romille, who was Baron of Skipton. It would appear that soon after this period the whole Lordship was united under the overlordship of the Skipton Barons. However, during the course of history the Lordship would be again divided, united and divided once more.

The earliest known Lords of the Manor of Gargrave are the Longvilliers, who had come to England with the Conqueror in 1066. The last of these was John de Longvilliers, who was succeeded by his daughter. In the Escheat Rolls of Henry III (1216-1272) it was found that he died seised of Gargrave in 1355. On his death it passed to his daughter and heir Margaret and She was married to Geoffrey de Neville of Raby, in Westmorland. This family had been founded by Gilbert de Nevil, who was a companion to William I at Hastings in 1066. The family settled at Raby as wealthy landowners. Geoffrey’s father, also Geoffrey was the son and heir of Isabel de Neville, th∆e heiress to the family estates. The younger Geoffrey was born at the beginning of the reign of Henry III and first appears in the records as taking an active role against the barons in their rebellion against the King in the 1260s. In 1264 he was with Prince Edward at the battle of Lewes and like that future king was captured by the rebel’s leader, Simon de Montford. Neville was soon freed and when Edward was released the following year, he joined the prince when Dover was recaptured. Neville was left as governor of Dover Castle. In the next year, as a reward for his loyalty he was granted the right of free market at his Lordship of Appleby, in Lincolnshire. By 1270 he had been appointed governor of Scarborough Castle and also as head of the justices of eyre for pleas of the forests beyond the Trent. In 1275, after the accession of his friend Edward I (1272-1307), Neville was appointed chief assessor of Cumberland and Lancashire and then he spent the next two years fighting for Edward against Prince Llewelyn of Wales. 

After her husband’s death in 1285 his widow, retained the Lordship of Gargrave and is recorded as being granted right of free warren there in 1315. At this point Gargrave was noted as being held of the Barony of Skipton and at some unknown point after his the Lordship was absorbed into that estate under the direct possession of the Clifford family. By 1432 however it seems as if Gargrave had been broken up again for part of it was found to be in the possession of Margaret, wife of Thomas de Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. After her death it devolved to the Harrington family and then the Langtons. Sir John Langton died seised of part of the before passing to Sir Christopher Danby. Another part seems to have devolved to Sir John Dayvile but the two were reunited under the ownership of George, Earl of Cumberland. On the death of Henry Clifford, the last earl, in 1643 Gargrave was again divided, this time for good. Part of it descended to the ownership of the Duke of Devonshire as a separate Lordship and the named Manor of Gargrave descended from the Clifford family to the Tuftons of Hothfield, who were the Earls of Thanet. It has since remained with this family to the present day, and is now in the possession of Lord Hothfield, the current representative of that family, who is the Vendor.

Gargrave gave its name to a martial family who were tenants of the manor. These appears during the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) with Sir John Gargrave, who was a master of the forest. His son, Sir Robert was Governor of Pontusom in France during the reign of Henry V (1413-1422 and his son, Sir Thomas, was a marshal and was slain at the siege of Orleans. The family remained at Gargrave for six more generations until we reach* Sir Thomas Gargrave, who was born in 1495. Little is known of Sir Thomas until he was made a member of the Council of the North, in 1539. Eight years later he accompanied the Earl of Warwick as treasurer of his expedition to Scotland. For this he was knighted and purchased a considerable amount of land in and around Wakefield in Yorkshire. In the first Parliament of Edward IV, in 1547, Sir Thomas was elected as a member for York and he was again chosen in 1553 and 1555. During the reign of Mary (1553-1558) he was very active as a member of the Council of the North, a difficult task considering the number of Scottish raids and the unpopularity of the regime. On the accession of Elizabeth in 1558 he was again elected as an MP and presented a speech before Parliament calling for the Queen to take a &husband. He became a trusted advisor to Elizabeth and was made vice-president of the Council, under the Earl of Essex. In January 1558 he conducted Mary Queen of Scots from Bolton to Tutbury in Staffordshire. During the rebellion of the Earl of Northumberland in 1569, Gargrave coordinated the Government’s actions and successfully held Pontefract Castle. He was thanked personally for his services by the Queen. He died in 1579 having been considered ‘a great stay for the good order of those parts and active useful, benevolent and religious’.  

Lot #17 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

Glemsford lies north of the river Stour, 7 miles north-west of Sudbury. 

In the reign of Edward I the Manor was appropriated to the Church of Ely. The Bishop of Ely had a grant of free warren in respect of the Manor as early as 1361. In 1600, Martin Heton, who was then Bishop, alienated the Manor to the Queen and ten years later it was granted by the Crown to Prince Henry. In 1617 it reverted to the King. The first minute book entry shows it as belonging to Henry Waldron (1685); it was purchased in the early 18th century by John Moore and remained in that family until about 1827. It then passed to Edward Wenham Martin and he succeeded by John Wright. Edmund Stedman was the next Lord and he was followed in 1875 by Sidney Pattison of Coggeshall, who was also Lord of the Manor of Finchingfield in Essex. He sold Glemsford Manor to Durrant Edward Cardinall, who in turn sold it in 1888 to George Frederick Beaumont of Coggeshall. 

The custom of the Manor in respect of descent was to the eldest son. 

In a Court held on the 13th April, 1748, the Inquisition of the Leet, having amerced defaulters fourpence each, made appointments to the Offices of Constable, Pinder and Reeve. The last mentioned official collected the annual quit and free rents and got in the Common fines. 

A typical misdemeanor was dealt with in the Court Baron of 22nd June, 1790, when the Homage presented that "Thomas Mason of Glemsford, Carpenter, hath without leave of the Lord of this Manor enclosed about half a Rood of ground more or less which is part of the Waste of the said Manor. Therefore the Lord of the said Manor by the Consent of his Tenants doth authorise the Bailiff of the Manor to take down the Fence so erected upon the Waste aforesaid and make a return thereof at the next General Court Baron to be holden in and for the said Manor." 

The documents (insured for £200, premium 10/0 per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Books: 1708-18; 1748-62; 1769-91; 1792-08; 1809-19; 1820-49; 1849-72; 1872 to date.

Survey: 1658.

Minute Books: 1685-93; 1724-33; 1733-38; 1740-44; 1745-47; 1763-69; 1809-26; 1828-38; 1839-44; 1844-48; 1848-50; 1851-64; 1864-75.

Rent Roll: 1752

There are several small greens which probably form part of this Manor or the other Manor in t his parish of Glemsford sold under Lot 18. No guarantee can be given that they form part of either Manor, but research work may show. 

According to the Public Record Office records there are in that Office three Court Rolls, 41 Edw. III and Estreates 4-5 and 16-17 James I. An Account Roll 4-5 Edw. III. is stated to be  held by Mr. C. H. Butcher, Bronat, Llanwrtyd Wells, Brecon. 

Lot #8 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Situated in the parish of Gislingham is the Lordship of the Manor of Goldingham. Named after its  13th Century owners, it lies a few miles south of the market town of Diss.  

The first mention of the Lordship occurs in the early years of the 13th Century when it was held by  Robert Brito. It is likely that the manor dates to Domesday Book since there are numerous entries for the  parish but it is unclear which holding became Goldingham. How Brito came to be owner of the estate is not  known. The first record of the manor comes from his time as Lord when Brito gifted his tithes in Gislingham  to Eye Priory. Brito was a loyal retainer of King John and when that king died, still fighting his own Barons in  1216, Brito was attainted and his lands seized.  

On his death however the manor passed to his son, William Le Breton, who had presumably pledged  his loyalty to Henry III. His son and heir, also William, purchased half a knights fee here in 1230, adding to the  extent of the manor. He died in 1246 and his heir, his daughter Alice, married Sir William de Goldingham. 

Sir William was a wealthy man, with manors and estates in Essex and Northamptonshire. He likely  died in around 1286 since this is the same year that his son and heir, John, is recorded as lord of what was  now beginning to be referred to as the manor of Goldingham (or Goldingham Hall in some records). In  1316 Fulke de Goldingham, John’s brother, had become the owner of the estate and he was succeeded by  his eldest son, Sir Adam, who served as Sheriff of Essex.  

The history of the manor in the 14th century is complicated. In 1333 a fine was levied against  “Gislington Manor” by Roger de Bourne and his wife Elen, against two clerks Robert Whitford and Robert  Balle. It is likely this was a dispute between trustees of the manor, perhaps whilst one of the Goldinghams  was a minor. In 1341 another fine was levied, this time by John Hardel and his wife Alice against John, son  of Falcon de Goldingham of the manor and a mill in Gislingham. The nature of the dispute is unclear, as is the  relationship between these members of the Goldingham family and Sir Adam. 

In 1363 Sir Walter de Manny, a friend of Edward III, was assigned a half fee of the manor, which Mary,  widow of Thomas de Brotherton and Countess of Norfolk, held in dower and which Fulk de Goldingham  held. This relationship is obscure since her maternal family, the Bewes, are not mentioned in previous records.  During the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) there is a suit by Thomas Assheman, heir of Joanne Lakynghyth against John Burys (Bewes?) as to uses of the manor, but the origin  of this legal action and its ramifications for ownership are unclear.

By the time of Henry VI the manor had become vested in  the Tyrrell family. In 1435 a fine was levied against Sir John Tyrrell and  his wife Katherine for this lordship and that of Hemenhall.  

Tyrrell hailed from Essex and was chosen three times as  Speaker of the House of Commons. In 1413 he was appointed High  Sheriff of both Essex and Hertfordshire and was elected as a Knight  of the Shire for Essex 12 times between 1411 and 1437. He was  Speaker in 1421, 1429 and 1437. Tyrrell was a trusted administrator  and held a number of royal positions; Steward of the Honour of  Clare in Suffolk, in 1427, and Chief Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster,  North of the Trent, in 1431, the year he was knighted. Katherine was  his second wife and she died a year before him in 1436.  

He was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas, who died in 1477.  The manor and the rest of his estates passed to his grandson, also Sir  Thomas after his eldest son has been killed at the Battle of Barnet in  1471. Goldingham remained in the Tyrrell family until at least the end  of the 16th century, when a fine was levied by Thomas Bedingfield against T Tyrrell. The descent of the manor after this time is rather obscure but it appears that by the middle of  the 17th Century it had become vested in the Frere family of Finningham. A legal suit between John Frere and  Robert Cotton in 1660 concerns land in Gislingham, amongst other places. There are leases of land between  John Frere and John Hill for land in Gislingham in 1704. These form part of Lord Hennniker’s collection at  Suffolk Record Office. Other records are rather sparse. John Frere is noted as dying in 1709 and his estates  passed to his eldest son Edward. Edward was succeeded on his death in 1766 by his son Sheppard. The  manor continued in the Frere family until around 1845 when it was purchased by the Henniker family. The  Lords Henniker continued as Lords of the Manor of Goldingham until 1988 when it was sold to the family  of the present holders.  

 A Selection of Manorial Records Held in the Public Domain:

1400-1500: rental Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1439-1443: bailiff’s accounts  

1461-1483: bailiff’s accounts 

1516-1516: rental 

1519-1524: minister’s accounts 

1683-1712: court roll 

1707-1924: court books 

1731-1787: verdicts 

1734-1824: surrenders 

1734-1745: presentments 

1750-1806: rentals 

1760-1760: survey 

1765-1765: minute book  

1829-1835: minute book 

1868-1887: steward’s account book 

1888-1888: quit and free rental 

1890-1899: court minutes  

1890-1896: admissions 

1890-1899: notices for holding court  

1892-1919: quit and free rent accounts 

1902-1929: court extracts 

1909-1922: quit rent accounts 

Lot #7 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

In the Parish of Colne Engaine

This Parish lies on the north bank of the river Colne, to the north of Earls Colne. 

The Manor takes its name from the family of Goldington which was in possession of it from the reign of Edward II. "The mansion house is decayed; there remaining only a small tenement, and an old oak near it where the Court is called" (Morant Vol II p. 219). The first recorded Lord of the manor was William Goldington who died in 1319. The title passed to John Hentworth, a cousin of Thomas Goldington and was sold in 1492 to Sir William Capel.  His son, Giles, sold it in 1545 to William Sidey. Daniel and William Sidey sold it to Geffrey and John Little or Littel. In 1768 it was the property of John Little Bridge and sold by him in 1797 to Francis Nunn. In 1822 Philip Hill purchased it from the Executors of Francis Nunn and held his first Court on 4th July, 1831.

The Trustees of the will of Thomas C. Mills sold the Manor to George Frederick Beaumont in 1923 together with the Manor of Great Tey. The Custom of descent was the eldest son. 

The Manorial documents (insured for £300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Rolls: 1476-1601; 1603-1702; 1715-25; 1732-60; 1764-1802; 1802-5

Court Books: 1826-65; 1873-99

Abstract of Courts: 1632-1837

Minute Books: 1500-1756; 1764-1861

Rentals and Surrenders: 1502-1804 

Lot #17 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

IN THE PARISH of Great chart lies the Lordship of the Manor of Goldwell. This lies about two miles west of Ashford and three miles south of Hothfield. 

During the reign of William the Conqueror, Goldwell was in the possession of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Odo, the half--brother of the King and held from him by Hugo. This is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 and the entry reads;

Hugo (grandson of Herbert) holds of the Bishop, Godeselle.

It was taxed at one sulong.

The arable land is two carucate and a half.

There is a church, and two servants,

and two acres of meadow and wood and pannage of 10 hogs.

In the time of King Edward and afterwards, and now

it was and is worth £4. 

Edwin held it of the King and could go with his land whereever he wanted.

It appears that soon afterwards the Lordship came into the possession of the Goldwell family, to whom , presumably it gave their name. The first recorded Lord here was Sir John Goldwell, who was commander of some note during the reign of King John (1199-1216). From him it descended to another John, who was living during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). He was married to Anne, daughter of Thomas Ashburton and from this marriage he left two sons. His eldest and heir was John, and the other, Thomas, who was granted the Lordship of Godington in the same parish.

From John Goldwell, the Lordship descended within the family, two of whom were bishops. James Goldwell was Bishop of Norwich in 1472 and principal secretary to Edward IV (1461-1483) and Thomas Goldwell was Bishop of St Asaph in 1555. The former was born at Goldwell and was educated at All Souls College, Oxford. Though a man of the cloth he was quickly singled out as useful political operator. He was chosen by Edward IV as a commissioner to be sent to Denmark to make peace with the court at Copenhagen. Three years later he was sent as the King’s envoy to Rome and in 1271 was invested with the power to treat with France. In the following Autumn he was again sent to Rome to act as Edward’s proctor with Sixtus IV. As a result the Pope raised Goldwell to the vacant see at Norwich and he was consecrated inŒ Rome before returning to his new post in 1472. On a personal level Goldwell was a great benefactor to the parish church in Great Chart and to Leeds abbey in Kent. So grateful were the monks of Leeds that a special canon was appointed with the specific task of preying for Goldwell’s soul. After the death of Edward in 1483, Goldwell retired from political life and spent the rest of his life in a programme to renew Norwich Cathedral. He died in 1489. 

Thomas Goldwell was also born in this Lordship and Bishop Goldwell of Norwich was his great-grand-uncle. Thomas too was educated at All Souls and attained his degree in 1551. According to some he was far more interested in mathematics and astronomy than divinity. The commentator Harrison noted that Goldwell ‘was more conversant in the black art than in the scriptures’. Though this has been rejected as a libel and his later life proved that he was deeply committed to the Catholic faith. As a priest Goldwell did not accept the changes forced on the church by Henry VIII and he remained an exiled supporter of the Catholic Reginald Pole until the death of the Protestant Edward IV in 1553. He was immediately sent for from England and had returned by Christmas 1553. Two years later was was chosen to be the new Bishop of St Asaph. Under the Catholic regime of Mary, his friend Reginald Pole was made archbishop of Canterbury in 1558, and Goldwell was one of his consecrators. Goldwell was bitterly hostile to Protestantism and played a major role in trying to turn back the tide of Anglicanism which had developed in England under Edward VI. The death of Mary, in 1558, halted this programme and when summoned before the new Queen he felt unable to offer her much support. He returned to his see and then disappeared. His escape from England was completely undetected and he resurfaced in Rome in 1560. From here he became one of England’s most active Catholic exiles. He refused the position of cardinal in Rome in order to spend as much time in trying to reestablish Catholicism in England and he pressed the Vatican to excommunicate Elizabeth, much to her annoyance. In 1563 he made an unsuccessful bid to return secretly to England to help foment rebellion but was prevented from crossing from Flanders by bad weather and was forced to return to Rome. He spent the next few years in various clerical positions in Rome and was awarded a pension by the King of Spain in 1580. In that same year he was put a the head of a Papal commission to retake England for RomeE and once more set out to return to England. This time he only got as far as Rheims before he was taken ill. He never did come back to his home land and died in Rome in 1585.

The Lordship of Goldwell continued in the same family until the reign of James I (1603-1625) when it came John Goldwell sold it to Sir William Wythins of Eltham. He then sold it to Sir John Tufton of Hothfield. This family later became the Earls of Thanet and Goldwell has remained with them to the present day. The family’s current representative, Lord Hothfield is Lord of the Manor and the Vendor.

Lot #18 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THIS LORDSHIP was previously known as De la Gare and took its name from the family which possessed it in the 11th and 12th centuries. It is centred in the parish of Upchurch, on the River Medway, four miles east of Gillingham.

Little is known of this Lordship after the Norman invasion of 1066 but it does not appear to have formed part of the Lordship of Upchurch. After the above mentioned Gore, or Gare, family ended its possession, it came into the hands of the Leyborne family. In 1266, Roger de Leyborne was recorded as receiving a grant for the Lordship of Gore, which he held from the King for the payment of one quarter of a knights’s fee. Leyborne was an important man in Kent. He was warden of the Cinque ports and heir to his father’s considerable estates. After his death, in 1271 , Gore descended to his son, Sir William. On his death it passed to his daughter, Juliana, and she held it in dower during her three marriages, none of which produced any children. At her death she was found to hold Gore for the service of 1/4 of knight’s fee and to possess 300 acres of marshland on the Medway coast.

Juliana left no heir, and no one could produce a familial claim, this being so the Lordship passed by right to the King, in this case, Edward III (1327-1377). In the final year of his reign, Gore was granted to out to the abbey of St Mary Graces on Tower Hill in London, they quickly leased to Sir Simon Burley. Born into a Hertfordshire family, Burley was the youngest son of a knight. He was first introduced to King Edward III in 1350 and then became a sailor, in the fleet which defeated the Spanish Corsairs in that same year. In 1355 he was a commander in Edward’s abortive invasion of Calais and we next hear of him in 1364 when he was with the Black Prince, Edward, in Aquitaine. By him, Burley was sent on an embassy to Pedro of Castille and shared in his victory and restoration after the battle of Najara in 1367. Two years later he was captured at Lusignan and taken prisoner, much to the anger of the Black Prince, who managed to organise his release in 1370. On his return to England the new King, Richard II (1377-1399) made Burley governor of Windsor Castle. Further honours and responsibilities followed and Burley rapidly became a favourite of Richard. In 1383 he was given Roger de Leyborne’s old position as the warden of the Cinque Ports, a lucrative sinecure. He then marched north with the King on an expedition against the Scots. As Richard, like Edward II 80 years before him, began to look for means of achieving absolute authority, Burley was chosen as one of his most trusted advisors. This aroused a great deal of jealousy and resentment among the nobility, especially when he specifically opposed the popular Earl of Arundel. This was a mistake since Arundel had a great deal of personal military might and had recently triumph in another naval action against the Spanish. Taking offence at Burley’s hostility, Arundel proposed to confront him andÚ he marched to Nottingham Castle. Burley was arrested and brought to London for impeachment. He was accused of mistreating the position of power which he was in and, more ominously, for misleading the young king and his court. He was suspecting of using his position for his enrichment and for even proposing to sell Dover to the French. Arundel pushed for the death sentence and despite the pleading protests of Queen Anne, he was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. On a plea Richard was able to commute this to a simple beheading. This was carried out on May 5 1388 at Tower Hill. Richard was dismayed at Burley’s death and had the charges and sentence formally reversed in 1399. 

After Burley’s death Gore reverted back in full to the abbey, in pure and perpetual alms for ever. It remained with this house until its dissolution in 1538. Once more the Lordship was in the hands of the king. It did not remain here for long. It was granted out soon afterwards to Christopher Hales, the king’s attorney-general and Master of the Rolls. He was the second son of Thomas Hales of Hales Place in Tenterden. He lived to enjoy his estate at Gore for three years and died in 1541. At his death he was found to beholding for this Lordship:

The manor of Gore, with its appurtenances and 80 acres of arable land, 30 acres of meadow, 60 acres of pasture, 30 acres of wood. 

Like many Kentish Lordships, the demesne land of Gore seems to have been spread across several parishes since the entry finds that the above land can be located in Upchurch, Halslew, BredgJar, Rainham, Newington and Hartlip.

Hales had no sons so Gore came to his daughter, Elizabeth and her husband, John Caunton, who was an alderman of the City of London. This Lordship came to the second daughter, Margaret, who was married to William Horden. In 1567 it was sold to Richard Stanley who in turn sold it to Thomas Wardegar. It remained in this family until 1620, when George Wardegar sold it to Sir Nicholas Tufton. Gore has remained in the hands of this family until the present day. The current representative of the Tufton family, Lord Hothfield is Lord of the Manor.

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Summer 2020 - Stephen Johnson

At the time of the great survey made of newly conquered England, known as Domesday Book, the manor of Gratwich,  or Crotewiche as it was then referred, was held by Robert de Stafford. He was a powerful Norman nobleman who  controlled much of Staffordshire and held dozens of manors in the county. He founded Stafford castle but his personal  history is somewhat obscure for such a powerful man. 

In 1086 the manor consisted of one virgate of demesne land (around 120 acres) which consisted of pasture, meadow  woodland and a mill. It was valued at 24s. The name Gratwich derived from its location on the Blythe Valley; Groet was  the Old English word for gravel and wic meaning lying on. It is four miles from the old roman town of Uttoxeter.

 The history of the manor is somewhat obscure after Domesday. Some sources appear to suggest that it was held  by the Goring family whilst Samuel Erdeswicke writes that by the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) Gratwich was a  possession of Sir Ralph de Mutton who held other manors nearby and land in Ireland. According to this transmission,  Gratwich passed to Ralph’s son Adam, a beneficiary of St Thomas’s convent in Stafford and who was reportedly a  retainer of the powerful Audley family. It is suggested that it had passed from the de Muttons to the Chetwynd family  by the reign of Henry III (1216-1272), probably towards the latter end of the reign. It is mentioned as belonging to  Phillip Chetwynd in a Plea Roll dating to 1292. The waining influence of the overlordship also confirms that the manor  belonged to the Chetwynds in 1402 when it was recorded in the Inquisition into the death of Edmund. Earl of Stafford  that the barony received income on Mitton, Ingestre and Gratwich, 2 1/2 fees held by the heir of William Sheteswynde, knight.

Gratwich remained in the hands of the Chetwynds for several centuries. Based at Ingestre, the family consolidated  their wealth on estates in Staffordshire and Warwickshire. During the reign of Henry VI Sir Phillip de Chetwynd served  during the French wars and in 1441 was made Governor of Bayeux in Normandy. He later married Elene, the daughter  of Earl Ferrers of Chartley. His grandson, William was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Chamber of Henry VII (1485- 1509) but became involved in court intrigue. He obtained the post ahead of another Staffordshire gentleman, Sir  Humphrey Pipe who sent Chetwynd a letter asking to meet him early in the morning at Stafford; the story continues  that being thus allured out of his house at Ingestrie, and going thither, with no other attendants than his son, and two servants,  he was way-laid on Tixall Heath, by twenty men, seven of whom were of Sir Humphrey’s own family, all completely armed:  who, issuing out of a sheepcote and a deep dry pit, furiously assaulted him, saying that he should die, andaccordingly slew  him; sir Humphrey, in the instant passing by, with a least twenty-four persons on horseback, under the pretence of hunting a  deer” Despite pleas from Chetwynd’s wife Alice that the king arrest Sir Humphrey, this was neither carried out nor was  he ever tried for his crimes. 

The Chetwynd family retained Gratwich and it eventually descended to Walter Chetwynd who sat as a Member of  Parliament for Stafford and Lichfield from 1703. During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) he was made Master  of the Buck- Hounds and Chief Ranger of St James’ Park and Keeper of the Mall. After George I came to the throne  in 1714 he was made Baron of Rathdowne and Viscount Chetwynd of Beerhaven in the Irish Peerage. After his death  in 1735 his titles, including the Manor of Gratwich passed to his brother John, the 2nd Viscount. On the marriage of his  daughter Catherine to the Honourable John Talbot the manor passed to the Earls of Shrewsbury who held the title  until the last years of the 20th century when it passed into private hands.  

Manorial Documents Associated With This Manor:

1450-1458: ministers accounts, with other manors Staffordshire County Record Office 

1476-1476: court roll, with Tixall and Ingestre 

1825: map of manor 

1801-1801: survey and plan, with Kingstone and  Birchwood Park, Leigh (2 copies) 

1836-1839: court rolls (2) with notice of court William Salt Library 

Lot #3 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

According to Morant, the Hall, which was the Manor House, stood near the north-west corner of the Churchyard in the reign of Edward the Confessor, Brietmar was the Lord and at Domesday Survey it was held by Ralph Linel, and "Geffrey de Magnaville has service of this land." Afterwards, it was divided into two Manors, Great Bromley and Cold Hall. Of the latter Morant wrote: "There is very little account of this manor. It went mostly along with the other." The records show that in 1549 it got into the hands of William Cardinall who acquired the Manor of Great Bromley in 1542 from Sir John Guildford. From then onwards the two Manors appear to have been dealt with as one. 

This Manor passed throught henads of the Earls of Oxfrod, William de Langvalei, John de Burgh, the de Gresleys, the Dorewoods, Sir John de Guildford, Silliam Cardinall, William and Edward Cardinall (1537), Sir Thomas Bowes, whose son Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Harlamenden, of Earls Colne. His son, Thomas Harlamenden Bowes, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Smith, of Sutton in Suffolk. In 1704 Sir Corill Bishop was Lord, afterwards the Mannock family, a court being held on 30th September, 1765 for Sir William Anthony Mannock, Baronet, a minor. In 1788 Thomas Wright held his first Court, afterwards John Hanson (1793) whose last Court was held in 1824. John Turner followed him and Alexander Baring was the Lord in 1829, the title remaining with hat family until 1895, when it passed to William Nocton. Lord Ashburton re-purchased it in 1913 from Nocton's Mortgagees and sold it, together with Martell's Hall in Ardleigh, to George Frederick Beaumont in 1917. 

The grandfather and great-grandfather of Charles Eade, Editor of the Sunday Despatch, were copyhold tenants of this Manor. Robert Eade, of Ardleigh, was on 12th July, 1873 admitted tenant of copyhold land containing "one acre more or less, on which a messuage formerly divided into two tenements and Smith's shop were long since built." The fine paid to the Lord was £16. On 28th August, 1892 he acknowledged free tenure in respect of another piece of land (formerly waste) with a shred thereon at a yearly rent of one shilling and he paid a relief of a like amount. IN 1898 he enfranchised the two properties, i.e. did away with the manorial incidents for all time, at a cost of £48, but the minerals, sporting rights, etc. were in the enfranchisement deed reserved to the Lord. In 1925 Percy Fairweather, who had acquired the properties, obtained release of these rights upon payment of £2 to George Frederick Beaumont, who was then the Lord. This provides a good example of what has happened with many properties which were formerly copyhold. It is possible for solicitors acting for vendors or purchasers of such properties to lay themselves or their clients open to claims for damages if proper enquiries are not made as to the position with regard to minerals etc on earlier transactions. The opening and working of a gravel pit on property the present Lord or his Steward can prove to have been formerly copyhold could render the owner liable to any action for account and damages. 

The custom of descent in this Manor was to the eldest son; the fines on some properties arbitrary and on others certain; and certain properties were heriotable. 

There is an interesting modern Quit Rent Book included in the records to be handed over, covering the period October, 1895 to October, 1921. Robert Walter Grimston (of the Verulam family), who lived at Colne Place, Earls Colne, is entered as paying a free rent of 1/2d. p.a. and Lord Onslow 5/2. as quit rent. The following are pencil notes made on 5th October, 1895 by the collector against the entry David Barber, quit rent 9/11d.: "Dead - heriot - I mark horse - the best." In 1906 against Walter Grimston 1/2d.: "Marked a roan mare and set price £9." These entries are interesting as showing that the old practice of marking heriots was still practised in the present century. 

The manorial records (insured for £250, premium 12/6d. p.a.) to be handed over are:

• Court Rolls: 1660-75; 1677-85; 1679; 1685-88; 1698-1702; 1704-09; 1715-19; 1720-27; 1727-1729.
• Court Books: 1690-1747; 1732-57; 1748-86; 1759-92; 1786-1815; 1793-1818; 1816-46; 1819-51; 1851-70; 1870-1935.
• Quit Rent Book: 1895 onwards
• Terrier: 1604

Lot #14 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parishes of Great  Henny, Twinstead, etc. 

Great Henny lies on the west of the River Stour, which divides Essex from Suffolk, and is 3 miles south of Sudbury Station. Morant derives the name from the Saxon word "Hean," high. "Here are two contiguous parishes of the name," he writes, "distinguished by the appellation of Great and Little," and later "this manor of Great Henny was the chief lordship of these two parishes" (Vol. II, p. 273).

The earliest recorded Lord was Gilbert Mandut, who died in about 1260 and held "a hundred shillings worth of land in Hennye, with the advowson of the church, by the service of one knight's-fee." Later it came into the "ancient knightly family of Fitz-Ralph" the sister of John Fitz-Ralph, who died without issue in 1440, married and brought the estate to Sir Robert Chamberlaine. Between about the years 1550 and 1660, it came by purchase into the families of Gwyn, Manning, Bedingfield, and Cornwallis. "Sometime after the year 1660," writes Morant, "Sir Harbottle Grimston Bart. bought it with several other estates in this neigbourhood. Sir Samuel Grimston Bart., his son, left it to his nephew, William Luckyn, who was later created Viscount Grimston, 1694, in the Lordship o f Sir Samuel Grimston. The manor afterwards passed by purchase to Thomas Sewell, who had been mentioned in many Courts as one of the Homage, his first Court being held in 1713. Hardwick Sewell and Hardwick Sewell Richardson, the son of the former's sister, were successive Lords until the Manor came to Thomas Crump in 1770. In 1783 we find William Taylor holding a Court for his son, Thomas Taylor, in whose name the Lordship remained for fifty  years. Thomas Butler acquired it and held his first Court in 1832, Thomas Cutts 1837 and in 1872 Clarissa Peach Manning, spinster, held her first court as Lady of the Manor. It was purchased from her by George Frederick Beaumont who held  his first General Court Baron at the "Swan Inn" on 14th July, 1899. 

Besides the customary interesting details regarding fines for timber felling, encroachments and so forth, tan unusual matter was dealt within in the Court of 27th October, 1718, when it was presented that the ancient aqueduct was in urgent need of repair. On the 14th December, 1819, Josph Orbell was presnted for digging up and taking away "part of the soil for the Lord of this Manor near a Grisp or Watercourse on Pund Green opposite the Manor  House. It is therefore ordered by this Court that the said Joseph Orbell do restore and make the same in as good condition as it was at the time of his so breaking up and carrying away the same before the next Court under the Penalty of five Pounds." He apparently conformed with the order for he is not mentioned at the next Court. 

Numerous such entries concerning misdemeanors and the customs of the Manor may be found in these books. Of special interest is a Survey of the Manor bound in vellum and in excellent condition, dated 42 Elizabeth (1600). 

There is a Wayleave Agreement with the Easter Electricity Board in respect of electric poles and lines at a rental of 2/6 per annum. The Manor is sold subject to and with the benefit of this agreement. 

The Manorial documents (inssured for  £200, premium 10/0 per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Rolls and Books: 1625-37; 1663-92; 1694-1717; 1718-25; 1734; 1801-80; 1894-1909

See conditions of Sale No. 18 as to acknowledgement and undertaking in respect of the Manor Map to be given by the purchaser of Lot 14A. 

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - Summer 2020 - Stephen Johnson

Some Lordships of the Manor have a deep and varied descent, passing down from family  to family and charting the changes in the English landowning order whilst others, such as  Great Horwood had long eons of institutional  ownership which similarly reflects an English sense of stability. 

Great Horwood lies on a low ridge in the north  of the county a few miles south of Buckingham.  Its name derives from the Old English for muddy wood and part of the woodland from which it took its name has survived a 1000 years. It is  now known as College Wood in the north of  the manor and in 1865 some of its largest oaks  were used to restore the roof of New College and can still be viewed today. 

Before 1066, the Manor was held by Alward Cilt, a thegn of King Edward but after the Invasion it became part  of the estates of Walter Giffard, first Earl of Buckingham. Giffard held Great Horwood until 1102 when he  made it part of a substantial gift to cluniac priory of St Faith, Longueville in Normandy of five manors: Great   Horwood, Newton Longville, Great Witchingham, Akeley and West Hannay. This was part of the foundation  gift Giffard made when he established the priory. In England he founded a cell of the priory at Newton  Longville and the Buckinghamshire manors became the lands attached to this cell. However it appears that  the Lord of the Manor of Great Horwood was the Prior of the Norman Priory. In 1254, the prior claimed the  frankpledge twice a year as well as a assize of bread and ale. However, a change may have taken place by the  beginning of the 14th century since in 1316 the Prior of Newton Longville, William de Talley, is mentioned as  the Lord of the Manor. With reign of Edward III came the beginning go the 100 year war and the culmination  of the suspicion of ‘foreign houses’ which had begun during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272).  

The exact date is not know but it was likely during the 1350s when the English estate of the St Faith’s were  forfeited to the Crown. Between 1377 and 1390 Great Horwood was granted, probably on a lease, to the  Talbot family and again in 1403 to Sir Ralph Rocheford. This was as a result of Rocheford’s long adherence to  John of Gaunt and his son Henry IV (1399-1413). Rockford accompanied Henry to Prussia in 1390 and on  his great journey to Jerusalem in 1392. When Henry took the throne in 1399 Rocheford was rewarded with  several positions in the defence of his new regime as well as landed estates such as Great Horwood. By 1410  his positions and gifts from Henry had made Rocheford a wealthy man, far richer than any of his ancestors.  After the death of the king in 1413 he was given several diplomatic missions by his successor, Henry V. In 1414  he travelled as part of the English retinue to the Council of Constance in Germany which had been called to  try to solve the papal schism which had resulted in three men claiming to be the pontiff. In 1417 he landed  at Harfleur in Normandy with Henry and was a commander at the siege of Rouen. After Henry’s death in  1422 Ralph retreated from public life but, now in his sixties, was called back to royal service in 1428 as one  of a small retinue of knights assigned to protect the six year old Henry VI. After Rocheford’s death in 1440  the manor of Great Horwood returned to the Crown and was then bestowed on New College, Oxford. 

 Despite its name, New College is on of the oldest colleges of the University, founded in 1379 by William de  Wickham as means to train priests after the Black Death had devastated their ranks. It was the first college  to be built in the form with which the University is now synonymous.

 Great Horwood and the other four Longville Manors formed a reasonably sized estate in Buckinghamshire  from which the College derived a good income In 1447 the warden and scholars obtained the grant of a  Wednesday market and a yearly fair on the vigil, day and morrow of St. James the Apostle. The fair proved  to be a great success and ran through the centuries. Over time the fair evolved into a celebration and feast  which is still held today in the village green. In the 17th and 18th centuries it lasted almost a whole week and  was famed for its dancing for which couples had to pay 2 pence to take part. Today the feast is celebrated  over two days with a funfair. Perhaps the most famous event in the village, and one which gave rise to its  modern appearance was a great fire in 1781in which over half the village was consumed. It meant that most  of the village was rebuilt in brick and gives a Georgian appearance to the area around the green. 

Manorial Documents Associated With This Manor:

1302-1374: court rolls Oxford University: New College Archives 

1320-1320: extent, with draft (2 rolls) 

1383-1484: court rolls 

1432-1482: account rolls 

1487-1502: court rolls (draft; limp vols), with other manors 

1494-1495: account rolls 

1494-1610: court rolls 

1528-1528: court rolls, with other manors 

1529-1529: court roll, with other manors 

1547-1569: court rolls 

1593-1594: court rolls (2) with other manors 

1593-1624: court books (draft) (3) with other manors 

1614-1614: rental (roll) 

1616-1648: court rolls (draft) 

1616-1775: court rolls 

1628-1628: rental (roll) 

1637-1637: rental (roll) 

1646-1646: list of customary tenants 

1680-1680: rental 

1700-1900: accounts of fines and heriots, with rents of various properties (vol) 

1705-1705: court roll, with other manors 

1727-1736: court minutes, with surrenders and presentments 

1776-1925: court books (3) 

1776-1784: court minutes, with surrenders and presentments 

1777-1780: quit rental, with other manors (vol) 

1783-1783: court roll (draft) 

1784-1784: properties with tenants, admission  dates and quit rents, with Tingewick (vol) 

1816-1833: court minutes (7 items) 

1860-1860: terrier, with other manors and estates (vol) 

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Great Raveley is the largest village in a group known as The Raveleys. It is situated a few miles from  Ramsey in the centre of the modern country of Cambridgeshire, but was historically part of the small county  of Huntingdonshire. The parish includes Great Raveley Fen to the north, which is just 3 feet above sea level though the remaining land is higher pasture. Its name has been written in many forms from Rorflea, Roflea,  Raflea, or Reflea in the 10th Century to Magna Rauele, Great Ravele and Raffleya in the 14th. 

The Manor can be traced back as early as 974, when it was granted by King Edgar to Ramsey Abbey.  After the Norman invasion of 1066 the Abbey was able to hold onto it’s estate here and the manor was  under the control of several officials, sometimes monks, sometimes laymen. The reeve, who arranged and accounted for all work carried out, was chosen by the tenants at the manorial court. He (always a man) also collected rents. In addition there was a seneschal who supervised the Abbey’s manors in the area, a kind of  regional manager and the bailiff, who lived in the manor. The effect of the Black Death which killed as many as half of the population of the village was still felt in a number of vacant tenancies. It is possible that the  relatively large amount of demesne land was caused by the Abbey taking empty land in hand. 

After the Dissolution the manor was granted to Sir Richard Cromwell (alias Williams).The family’s fortune was made by the Protector’s great-grandfather, Richard Williams, son of a Welsh gentleman from  Glamorganshire, Morgan ap William. This Richard was introduced to the Court of Henry VIII by his kinsman, the great courtier and royal secretary Thomas Cromwell, later Earl of Essex. Some sources suggest that  Richard’s mother was Cromwell’s sister, others that Cromwell himself had married the widow of a Williams’.  Richard soon became a favourite of the King and was one of the gentlemen sent to suppress the northern  Catholic rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. In recognition of his services he was appointed one  of the Visitors of the religious houses as his kinsman pursued the policy that led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The rewards star ted to pour in - Richard was granted the estates of the nunnery of Hinchinbrook and the great abbey of Ramsey, both in Huntingdonshire, as well as several other smaller religious houses. Then, in 1540, he distinguished himself at a joust in Westminster. During the tournament he was knighted by Henry VIII and presented with a diamond ring off the King’s own finger. On Henry’s recommendation he changed his name to Cromwell in honour of his relation, the Earl of Essex.  

Cromwell’s fortunes were in no way injured by the sudden ruin and execution of the Earl. In 1541  he became High Sheriff of Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire (the two counties were then, as they have been again in recent years, counted as one civil administration, and the High Sheriff was chosen in rotation from the old county of Cambridge, from the Isle of Ely, and from Huntingdonshire) and in 1542 he was elected to Parliament as MP for Huntingdonshire. He was appointed a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and served in France as a general of infantry. And all the while he accrued more and more honours and more  and more estates and wealth. It was said when he died in 1546 that he must have left a prodigious fortune  to his two sons, as big an estate as any peer. Sir Richard was the great-great grandfather of Oliver Cromwell  and can be found as a character in Hilary Mantel’s brilliant Wolf Hall. 

After 1542 the manor passed to the Sewster family who held it until the later 17th century when  the family became the Peytons, on the marriage of Francis, the daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Sewster,  to Sir Algernon Peyton in 1667. He died just four years later and the estate passed to their son, Sir Sewster Peyton, the Master of Buckhounds to Queen Anne. He married Anne, the daughter of George Dashwood of London and died in 1717. 

Great Raveley then passed to his son and heir Sir Thomas Peyton and he died without having had  children, in 1771.The manor then passed to his nephew, Henry Dashwood who was required by an Act of Parliament to take the name Peyton. It was this Henry Peyton who was instrumental in obtaining an Act of Enclosure in 1786 for the open land in the manor. The manor remained in the Peyton family until the late  20th century when it was purchased by the present owner.  

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1252-1253: ministers’ accounts, with other manors British Library 

1375-1400: rental, with Upwood 

1399-1399: rental, with other manors 

1487-1487: court roll 

1497-1497: court roll, with other manors 

1533-1537: court rolls  

1451-1461: bailiffs’ and collector’s accounts The National Archives 

Lot #20 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

AT THE TIME of Domesday Book, in 1086, Great Ripton, which lies within the parish of Ashford, ten miles from the English Channel at Folkstone, was part of a larger Lordship, known simply as Repentone. In the Survey, the lands here belonged to the abbey of St Augustine, in Canterbury, and had done for some time before the Norman Conquest. The entry reads;

The Abbot himself hold one yoke, Repentone and Answered of him.

It was taxed at one yoke.

The arable land is two caracutes. 

In demesne there is one, with four borderers.

There are 11 acres of meadows and the 4th part of a mill, of 15 pence,

And wood for the pannage of 10 hogs, and as yet there are two yokes,

which the Abbot gave to it of his demesne,

And there are two villeins, with eight borderers.

In the time of King Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth

three pounds, now four pounds.

It appears that the abbey were overlords of the manor since it was held from them by the Valoign family. St Augustine’s was one of most ancient institutions in England, having been founded, in the midst of the Dark ages in 598, just 150 years after the Romans had left. This was truly one of the cradles of Christianity in England. It is thought the house was founded by Ethelbert of Ke}nt, after spending Christmas in Canterbury with St Augustine. A monk named Peter was the first Abbot but he drowned in 607 after being sent on a mission to see Pope Gregory. In the first years of its existence the monks used an old pagan alter to worship upon but a consecrated church was built for them in 613. St Augustine was buried in its church yard as was Ethelbert and several of his successors and the ten archbishops of Canterbury.

Little is known of the priory’s existence between the 8th and 11th centuries, it is not called the Dark Ages for nothing, but it does not seem to have been badly effected by the arrival of the Danes towards the end of this period. When the Normans arrived in 1066 the last Saxon abbot, Egelsin offered some resistance but was forced to flee to Denmark in 1070. William placed his own man in charge and the monks were cowed. This abbot, named Scotland, proved to be very capable and renewed the abbey’s land holding and improved the state of production at Ripton.

During the next two hundred years the estate at Ripton was subinfeudated, producing three Lordships of which Great Ripton was the main one. A great deal of time and money was taken up by the successive abbots in defending the independence of the house from the archbishops of Canterbury, who saw it as part of their domain. It was only in 1397 that an agreement was finally reached in which it was agreed that the Pope would appoint the abbot instead of the archbishop. 

In 1279 Edward I (1272-1307) was entertained at the abbey and again ten years later. However, on this occasion the monks objected to Edward wearing the cross and this sparked a dispute which rumbled in for many years. From this point on however there is little information as to the history of the abbey and it would appear that, like many of its kind, it slowly went into decline. After 950 years the abbey was finally closed down during the Dissolution of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547). Henry’s agent in this, Thomas Cromwell is said to have brought false charges of sedition against on of the monks in the house as a pretext for dissolving it is 1534. Since it was still fairly wealthy, the abbey fought off the attempt but it finally succumbed in 1538.

During its ownership of the Lordship of the Great Ripton the manor was held from the abbot by the Valoigns family for a knight’s fee and they made this their residence. During the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) it was in the hands of Ruellion de Valoigns. From him it came to his son, or grandson, Allan who was sheriff of Kent from 1184 to 1189. Sir William de Valoignes was recorded as attending Edward I into Scotland and may well have been present when the king visited St Augustines. Sir William served a sheriff of Kent on a number of occasions, in 1275 and 1278. A later member of the family was Henry de Valoigns, who was resident at Ripton during the reign of Edward III. In 1341 he received a grant of free-warren for all his land and manors in Kent and paid aid at the making of Edward, the Black Prince, a knight. The last of the male line was Waretius de Valoyns, who, on his death left Great Ripton to his co-heirs, one of whom married Thomas de Aldon and the other to Sir Francis Fogge. On the partition of there father’s estate Great Ripton passed to the latter. 

The Fogge family were anciently of Kent, though originally came from Lancashire.A previous member of the family had married a daughter of a Valoign so the two seem to have been connected for a number of generations.

During the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483) Sir John Fogge was resident at Ripton House and to this king Fogge was comptroller and treasurer, highly trusted by Edward. Fogge served as sheriff of Kent on a number of occasions and as knight of the shire in Parliament. Such was his attachment to Edward that when Richard III came to the throne in 1483, Fogge was attainted and his lands seized. After Richard himself was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485, the new king, Henry Tudor reinstated Fogge to all his previous possessions and he died in 1490. At the Dissolution of the abbey of St Augustine the Lordship of Great Ripton came in full to Fogge’s descendent, Sir John. He died in 1564 and was succeeded by his son Edward. He died four years later, unmarried, and the Lordship then came to his uncle, George Fogge of Braborne. He soon sold it to Sir Michael Sundes who in turn conveyed it to John Tufton. Great Ripton has since remained in the Tufton family. Lord Hothfield, the present representative of the family is the current Lord of the Manor.

The manorial court for Great Ripton was traditionally held at a great stone lying by the road heading northwest from Ashford and near to Ripton House.

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - July 2021 - Stephen Johnson

Few English placenames can claim to be as ancient  as that of Stanmore. It dates back to 793 when it was  included in a grant of mansions made by Offa of Mercia  to the Abbey of St Albans. Although some have thrown  doubt on this charter, the Manor certainly formed part  of the Abbey’s landed estate in the centuries before  the Norman invasion of 1066. In 957 for instance it is  recorded as forming part of the boundary of the estate. 

The Manor of Great Stanmore lies in the northeast  extent of Greater London, between Wealdstone and  Elstree and is a rather leafy suburb. It takes its name from  the Old English for stony mere, likely used as fish stews or ponds, for the abbey kitchens. Until the railway arrived in  the late 19th century this was a rural spot with a number  of large estates and country houses. 

At the time of Domesday in 1086 Stanmore had already been divided. The distraction of Great  Stanmore and Little Stanmore is not formally recorded until 1274 but the process had been completed over  150 years before. Indeed, the name of Great Stanmore is not recorded in the abbey’s own records until 1354.  Before this date it was simply referred to as the Estate at Stanmore. In the 1240s the Abbey built a moated  manor house, thought to have been situated between Old Church Lane on the east and the Stanburn on  the west. The moat survived until the mid 19th century, when it was said to have enclosed a rick yard and  traces remained until the area was redeveloped in the 1930s. A later manor house was constructed by John  Burnell at the beginning of the 17th century.  

During the 13th and 14th centuries the Manor was leased out by the Abbey. In 1274, Edward the  Goldsmith is recorded as Lord after paying the Abbot 15 marks a year. Edward was one of the nascent  members of a new class of none landed merchants who made fortunes in trade before seeking the traditional  comfort of land in their later years. In 1307 the Manor was under lease to John de Shorne and this must have  passed to his son, Walter, who divested himself of it in 1349 to Roger Wendout, an agent of the Francis family. 

These leases continued until 1362 when the Prior of another religious house, St Bartholomew’s at  Smithfield was allowed to acquire the lease from the Keeper of the Rolls, David ofWooler. In the dying days of the religious houses, in 1538, Geoffrey Chamber, the former chief steward of St Batholomew’s and then  the surveyor and receiver-general in the Court of Augmentations and a former agent of Thomas Cromwell,  was allowed to take the Manor on lease for 15 years and after the Dissolution was granted Great Stanmore  in 1542. Chamber was heavily in debt to the Crown and was forced to sell land in Great Stanmore to Henry  and then to a Spanish mercenary, Sir Pedro Gamboa. Eventually Gamboa was granted the Manor after it  had been forfeited to the Crown on Geoffrey’s death. Gamboa. In 1550 Gamboa was murdered by a fellow  Spaniard and the Manor was forfeited once more. It was then leased to Sir George Blagge.  

Blagge was one of the more interesting characters woven into Tudor history. He was the son of minor  gentry and found a career as a companion, clerk and attendant to richer men. He rose as a companion to  his cousin St Thomas Wyatt, an associate of Cromwell. In fact it was Cromwell who protected Wyatt when  he was included in those suspected of having had a sexual relationship with Ann Boleyn. Cromwell arranged  for him to become the resident ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V and Blagge followed  him to Europe. Later, Blagge became attached to Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and this led to him becoming  a esquire of the body to Henry. The king, who had pet names for most of his courtiers, referred to Blagge as The Pig. In 1546 Blagge’s personal Protestant faith led to a trial for heresy and he was found guilty and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. However, once Henry found out about the case against The Pig he  immediately issued a pardon. He was summoned to court where is it recorded: 

ah my pygge, sayth the kyng to hym (for so hee was wont to call hym). Yea sayd hee, if your Maiestie  

had not bene better to me then your Byshops were, your pygge had bene rosted ere this tyme. 

After Henry died and was succeeded by his Protestant son, Edward VI, Blagge’s fortunes improved  considerably and he was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in Kent. He sat as a Member of Parliament for  Westminster and in 1550 was granted the Manor of Great Stanmore, which became his home. After his  death in 1551 he was succeeded his only son, Henry. The Manor remained as leasehold from the Crown  until as late at 1604 when it was sold to Sir Thomas Lake for £600. The Manor remained in the hands of the  Lake family for much of the 17th century, although it was the subject of a lengthy and bitter dispute between  the heiresses of Sir Thomas’ son. The litigation is far too complicated to discuss in this short history save to  remark that in around 1670 the whole manor was sold to a London embroiderer, Matthew Smith, who is  noted as holding courts in 1680. 

Great Stanmore was then then subject to yet another lengthy dispute between Smith, who hoped to  entail the Manor to his grandson. In 1685, John Powell, a vintner, is recorded as the sole Lord of the Manor  until 1700. In 1714 it was purchased from John Rogers, who had in turn bought it from Powell, by James  Brydges, Earl of Carnavon. He was raised to the dukedom of Chandos in 1719 and the Manor at last found  stable ownership. After the death of the third duke, in 1789 it passed to his widow Anne Eliza, who was, to  use the terms of the day, a lunatic. Consequently the Manor was leased out once more. In 1795, the third  duke’s daughter married Richard Nugent Temple-Grenville, Earl Temple and he therefore became Lord of  Great Stanmore by right of marriage. In 1813 he was created Marquess of Buckingham and nine years later  raised once more to the dukedoms of Buckingham and Chandos. His son, the second duke, sold the Manor  to the Marquess of Abercorn (later Duke) in 1840. In 1863 he in turn sold it to Sir John Kelk, one of the  great railway and building engineers of the mid Victorian era. Like many successful middle class men of his  time he sought to convert himself into landed gentry, although by this time there was little in the way of  land remaining with the title as London had encroached over the previous 100 years, nibbling away at the  manorial extent through land sales. 

 In 1882, Kelk sold Great Stanmore to Thomas Clutterbook in whose family it remained for the next  100 years before being sold to family of the present owners. 

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1265-1271: minister’s account, with other manors The National Archives 

1276-1277: extent, with other manors 

1840-1900: evidence of enfranchisement of copyhold  

1840-1900: evidence of enfranchisement of copyhold  

1394-1399: court roll Hertfordshire Archives 

1587-1588: customs London Metropolitan Archives 

1679: customs 

1774-1812: court book (including view of frankpledge) 

1813-1936: court books 

1800-1850: statement of rights of copyholders 

1863-1892: minute book 

1666-1688: court roll extracts Westminster Abbey Library 

Lot #9 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

In association with Strutt & Parker

This Manor and parish is principally known as being the site of the seat of the Earls of Dudley. In its  heyday, in the late 19th century, this was one of the largest and most palatial private homes in England. It was  originally the site of the manor house for Great Witley but was rebuilt in the 17th century by the iron master,  Thomas Foley. In the 1850s it was rebuilt once more, in the Italian style by William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley.  Today though this vast house is a ruin, having succumbed to a huge fire in 1937. The remains of the house  and its beautiful gardens are open to the public and managed by English Heritage. 

The Lordship of the manor of Great Witley itself can be dated to the 13th century when it is  recorded that Walter Beauchamp gifted the manor to Hugh Poer. Hugh, or perhaps his son, then granted it to  Hugh Cooksey and his wife Juliana. She is recorded as dealing with land in the manor in 1238 when she had  remarried William Furches. William presented to the church in 1277 and is listed in the Warwickshire subsidy  of 1280 as the chief contributor from the parish. In 1287 the manor passed to Walter Cooksey, Juliana’s eldest  son. He died around 1300 and was succeeded by his son, Walter. Although Cooksey was not regarded as a  nobleman he did receive custody of the Earldom of Warwick during the minority of Thomas de Beauchamp.  It seems likely that the Beauchamp family had remained overlords of Great Wiltey during the 13th century  and the Cooksey family .

ere their ‘men’.  

Walter was succeeded by his brother, Hugh, in 1333 and he died in 1356. Great Witley was then held  by his wife, Denise, daughter of Edward le Bottler, until her death in 1376. Her son, Walter, was only 13 at the  time but is recorded as having been married for two years to Isabel de St Peter. Their son, Walter, succeeded  in 1404 but he died very soon afterwards and his son and heir, Hugh, settled Great Witley on his wife Alice.  She died in 1460 and her estates passed to her husband’s sister, Joyce Beauchamp. She married three times  and her son from her last marriage, to John Grevill, Sir John Grevill, succeeded his mother in 1473. On his  death in 1480, the manor passed to his son Thomas, but because the estates had passed through the female  line, Thomas took the surname Cooksey. He died, childless, in 1489 and his estates were divided between his  two heirs, Roger Winter and Robert Russell of Strensham.

Robert Russell became the new lord of the manor but died a few years later, in 1493, being succeeded  by his son Robert. He died in 1502 and his son, John, was his heir. In 1523 John was appointed surveyor of the  lands of the Bishops of Worcester and he died in 1556. His son, Sir Thomas Russell, who had been knighted in  1549 inherited the manor and it remained in the hands of his descendants until 1654 when Thomas Russell  sold it to Thomas Foley.

 Foley was the son of the iron master, William Foley of Stourbridge but he developed the business and  the family were one of the first of the great magnates of the nascent industrial revolution. The Foleys had  developed a business manufacturing nails in the Black Country, establishing a near monopoly in Stourbridge.  Though they had land by the time of the Civil War, their business had taken precedent over choosing sides  and Thomas Foley sat as an Member of Parliament for Worcestershire in the Cromwellian Parliament of  1655. He purchased Great Witley with the intention of becoming a country gentleman and immediately set  about rebuilding the existing Jacobean manor house which had been built by the Russell family. He died in  1673 and was succeeded by his son Thomas. 

The family then moved away from their industrial activities and Thomas Foley, who was educated as  a lawyer, sat as Member of Parliament for Worcestershire from 1689. His son Thomas, reentered the iron  business, taking back the leases of his ironworks at Walden and Shelsley Walsh but he was also a MP for  Stafford from 1712 and was created Baron Foley of Witley Court in the same year. Thomas, 2nd Baron Foley,  made a number of changes to Witley Court but died unexpectedly in 1766. He had no male heir and the  barony became extinct. His estates, including the manor of Great Witley passed to a distant kinsman, Thomas  Foley of Stoke Edith in Herefordshire. He was duly created 1st Baron Foley of Kidderminster in 1776. His son,  yet another Thomas, had been MP for Herefordshire and then Droitwich between 1767 and 1774 before  succeeding to his father’s estates in 1777. In 1783 he was appointed Joint Postmaster General, a position  notorious for corruption and self-enrichment in the 18th century. There was no suggestion of impropriety on  his part though. His son, Thomas, 3rd Baron was made a Privy Councillor and died in 1833. His son, Thomas  Henry, 4th Baron, sold Witley Court and the Lordship of the Manor of Great Witley in 1837 to Lord William  Ward. 

William Ward was the son of the the 10th Baron Ward, a clergyman, who had inherited  his title as a rather obscure second cousin the 9th Baron. As a young man, William had played  first-class cricket for Oxford University and when his father died in 1835 he inherited the family  estates, which included the ruins of Dudley Castle. Though a rich man, he did not enter public life.  He instead spent his time on improving his estates at Witley Court and personally paid for the  refacing and restoration of Worcester Cathedral. In 1860 he was created 1st Earl of Dudley, a  revival of a title first created for his distant relative, John William Ward in 1827.  

William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, was a successful politician. Born in 1867 he  succeeded to the Earldom at the age of 17. He was a close friend of Edward VII, who recommended  him as Governor-General of Australia and he was appointed in 1908. He was considered to be a  rather pompous and extravagant man and was not popular in Australia. His relationship with the  Labor Prime Minister Andrew Fisher was especially poor and this led to Dudley being recalled in  1911.  

The Lordship of the Manor of Great Witley remained in the hands of the subsequent Earls  of Dudley until the latter part of the 20th Century when it was sold the present proprietor.  

A selection of Manorial Documents found in the public domain:

1422 Court Roll Worcestershire Archives 

1435 Court Rolls 

1454 Court Roll 

1550-1599 Rentals 

1607-1765 Rent Rolls 

1637 Rent Roll

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2021 - Stephen Johnson

(Among 2-3% of manors which are registered with HM's Land Registry - Title #: unknown)

Until the creation of the Ordnance Survey in the  mid 19th century many place names remained uncertain  and varied. They often depended on local use and how they  might have been written in various documents over time. Take  the Lordship of the Manor of Grittenham for instance. It can  alternatively be known as Grettenham, Gruttenham or even  Grottenham, although the former is the least likely to be used.  The settlement of Grittenham had its name fixed on the map with this spelling but a new Lord of the Manor might choose  their own. 

Grittenham is found a few miles west of Royal Wootton  Basset in the parish of Brinkworth. It was, and remains a rural  area, once formed by large open fields, divided into a myriad of smaller areas known as strips. It seems likely that at an earlier  time Grittenham was a much larger village than now and this  was likely a result of the inclosure of the open land in the 16th  century. This will be explained in due course.  

The Manor is thought to predate the Norman Conquest and was claimed as a possession of  Malmesbury Abbey as part of a larger estate known as Brokenborough. The Abbey was already an old  institution in 1066, having been founded in the late 7th century. The date at which it was endowed with the  land at Grittenham in not known for certain but it is likely that it was made during the reign of King Eadwig  (955-959) as part of a large gift of fifty hides of land he granted to the Abbey. A charter made in 1065 notes that Grutenham counts for one hide and by the time of Domesday this land had been granted to an unnamed  knight. It was soon returned to the Abbey, which retained Grittenham for the next 450 years.  

At the time of the Dissolution in 1538, the Manor was seized by the Crown and held by Henry until  1541 when it was granted to John Ayliffe. It is described at the time to consist of demesne land divided into  five portions and a number of copyholds and measured around 1500 acres. Ayliffe was a resident of London  who had served as sheriff of the city and knighted in 1549. He was one of the emerging middle classes who  prospered under the Tudors . His profession was that of barber surgeon to Henry VIII and is featured in a  painting of Henry by Holbein known as “King Henry VIII and the Barber Surgeons”. This was a profession  midway between a barber who cut hair and shaved mens chins, and doctor who would be allowed to  undertake various medical procedures such as amputating limbs and blood-letting. Ayliffe was known to have  successfully treated the king for a fistula and for which the grant of Grittenham was the direct reward as was 100 marks, left in Henry’s will, specifically for Ayliffe. On his death in 1556 the Manor passed to his son John and then to his son, also John.  

It was under the stewardship of the latter members of the family that a drastic change was made  to the physical shape of the Manor. Whereas until the end of the 16th century, Grittenham had remained  largely unchanged for centuries, the new lords of the manor decided to follow an economic trend of the  day and enclosed the open field, ploughed up the intricate strips of land and created large fields of grass and pasture land for sheep. The manorial copyholders, and many of the villagers were ejected from the village  and their homes pulled down. Many of them moved to nearby Brinkworth. The Ayliffe family built a manor  house, known as Grittenham House and it became something like a small landed estate. This was a common  pattern amongst landowners but caused much distress amongst the labouring poor who lost their land and  their livelihoods at the same time. By 1680 there were over 400 acres of grassland, 250 of meadow and 180 of pasture, whereas before 1550 almost all of the land would have been arable or fallow on rotation.  

The Manor remained in the hands of the Ayliffe family until 1737 when it passed from the last  surviving member, Judith, daughter of George Ayliffe to her cousin Susanna Strangeways. Although she was  married she alone was lady of the Manor, until her death in 1758 when it was passed to her daughter’s  brother-in-law, Henry Fox. Fox was one of the leading politicians of the 18th century and served various  Whig administrations as Secretary at War, Southern Secretary and Paymaster of the Forces. He achieved  notoriety in 1744 when he eloped with the daughter of the Duke of Richmond, Caroline Lennox, which was  one of the major social scandals of the 1740s. This didn’t appear to harm his political prospects and two years  later he was appointed Secretary at War under the Duke of Newcastle. During the decade he became a  close friend and confident of George II and although he was tipped to be Prime Minister the position always remained just out of reach. He was an ally of Newcastle but was considered too ambitious and ‘grasping’ by  his colleague and when William Pitt became Prime Minister in 1757, Fox was left out of the cabinet. He was  appointed as Paymaster and remained in this post until his resignation in 1765. He was created the first Baron Holland in 1763. 

On his death in 1774, Grittenham passed to his son Stephen, the 2nd Baron but he died a few  months later in the same year and so the Manor passed to his son, Henry, 3rd Baron. Henry, was another  prominent politician of the early 19th century who, served as the Lord Privy Seal in the Ministry of the Talents  led by Lord Grenville in 1807. From him it passed to his son Henry, 4th Baron in 1840 and on his death in  1859 it passed to his wife Mary, Lady Holland. From her it came to Leopold Fox-Powys and in 1895 it was  sold by Thomas Powys, Baron Lilford to George Llewellen Palmer who served as Lieutenant-Colonel of the  Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry during the First World War. Grittenham remained in the Palmer family until the end  of the 20th century.  

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1541 Grant of the Manor Wiltshire History Centre 

1722 Map of the Manor 

1760 Map of the Manor 

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - February 2022 - Stephen Johnson

The manor of Hardwick is found with the  ancient and sprawling parish of Worksop and forms  part of the estate of the former Dukes of Newcastle,  called Clumber Park. Hardwick, or Hardwick Grange  as it was often known, composed the farm land of  what is referred to as this princely domain of Clumber.  In the 19th century, when the Dukes were at their  zenith of wealth and influence ,Hardwick village was  redeveloped as an estate village and almost all of  the attractive houses and buildings which the Dukes  erected are still standing. There are now some 26 listed  buildings within the area which were built in a Neo-Elizabethan style for the estate labourers and workers.  The village lies at the head of Clumber Lake. 

Hardwick formed one of two manors within Clumber before the Norman Conquest. After 1066  these came under the stewardship of Roger de Busili, one of William’s vassals who had fought at Hastings.  Hardwick was one of a staggering 86 manors granted to him by the Conqueror in Nottinghamshire alone.  At the beginning of the 12th century it appears that Hardwick had been granted to a local family by the  name of Lovetot. It was through this family that Hardwick passed by a deed of grant to Worksop Priory  which had been funded by William de Lovetot in 1103. The Priory was gifted “two bovates of land in Herthwik  at Utware,” so designated to distinguish it from another ware (weir) or dam, no doubt for the supply of a mill in  Worksop called Inware, in these charters.

During the reign of Edward I. in 1286, a charter of free warren was granted to the Prior for his  possession in Hardwick. There is scant mention of the Manor from this period until the Dissolution of  Worksop Priory in 1538. In 1544 Hardwick, together with Osberton, was granted to Robert Dighton but  within a short period Dighton obtained a licence of sell the property to Richard Whalley.  

The date at which the Dukes of Newcastle obtained Hardwick is rather uncertain. There is reference  to William, Earl of Newcastle leasing a property known as Old Hardwick to Henry Marshall in 1630. Later in  the 17th century there is a lease of Hardwick Grange between Henry, Duke of Newcastle and John Mozine  of Carburton which dates from 1677. The same property was leased just four years later to John Fitzherbert  of Derbyshire and then four years later to Edward Sharp of Elsley. 

By the beginning of the 18th century, Hardwick was at the centre of the Clumber Estate, wholly  owned by the Newcastles and forming a 4000 acre area of parkland, water and farmland. In 1711 the estate  was inherited by Thomas Pelham, the nephew of the Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne, who had died childless.  A year later, the already wealthy Pelham became ‘fabulously’ rich when he inherited his father’s estates in  Sussex and his title of Baron Pelham of Laughton. His combined lands gave him an income of £32,000 a year,  an astronomical sum in 1712. He not only controlled vast lands but these gave him considerable political  influence and when George I came to the throne in 1714, Pelham was raised to the peerage as Viscount  Houghton. Within the year he was raised yet again and was given the titles Marquess of Clare and Duke of  Newcastle upon Tyne. He quickly formed a friendship with the new king and was appointed to the Garter in  1718. There followed a rapid political rise, culminating in him becoming Secretary of State for the Southern  department in 1724 which was essentially the position of foreign minister. He became one of the dominant  politicians of the 18th century. Newcastle served as the Foreign Minister under Walpole from 1730 to 1739  and he played a major part in formulating the Treaty of Vienna in 1731 This effectively reorientated Britain  policy away from Europe towards a more mercantilist outlook. His actions and accomplishments are too  many for this short history but can be summarised by naming the positions he held. He served as Minister  of War from 1739 and then as Foreign Minister once more from 1748 to 1754. After the death of Henry  Pelham in March 1754 Newcastle ascended to the position of Prime Minister. However, his two and a half  years in this post proved the least successful of his career and after a series of blunders he was forced to  resign in November 1756. This wasn’t the end of his career, since he remained as Minister of Finances under  Pitt. He finally left office in 1767 and died a year later. 

 In the 1840s the Clumber estate was described by one contemporary to have been developed  within the life of man, [from] a dreary wilderness . . . into a paradise, in the midst of which stands this palace  of enchantment’. The land of Hardwick Manor formed what eventually became known as Hardwick Farm  or Home Farm and was celebrated in the 19th century at being stocked by a prize winning herd of cows  overseen by the Duchess Newcastle and which won a number of agricultural prizes. The Manor of Hardwick  remained in the possession of the Dukes until the late 20th century when it was purchased by the family of  the present owners.  

Lot #10 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

When the regular sale of Lordships of the Manor began in the 1980s many dismissed them as  pointless pieces of paper or irrelevant relics. It has always been our belief that the history and importance  of manors to the development of England and Wales should not be forgotten but celebrated. One man  who took this notion to heart was Mr Brian J L Berry who purchased the Lordship of Hastingleigh from the  Trustees of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitable charitable trust at the beginning of the 21st Century. Mr Berry  then spent three years undertaking a comprehensive study of his new Lordship and published a wonderful  and detailed history of it not long after and a copy of which will presented to the new purchaser.

Mr Berry’s book is so complete that it is difficult to condense the history of the Manor in a thousand  words or so. The manor lies in the parish of the same name in the Kent Downs, a few miles East of Ashford.  It derives its name from the Old English hehstan, or highest and leah or woodland. The makes sense given  its position but there are competing theories. In Domesday the principal manor was held by Roger de Ros,  under Bishop Odo. After Odo’s disgrace and fall in 1087, Hastingleigh the overlordship passed to Robert de  Beaumont, who had fought at the battle of Hastings but the manor was held by Ros until his death when  it passed to Geoffrey de Turville. He died in 1130 and was succeeded by his son, Geoffrey, who was a  supporter of his overlord, the Earl of Leicester. His son, William is recorded as the Lord of Hastingleigh in the  Red Book of the Exchequer.  

William was the last of his line and on his death, sometime before 1222, his estates were divided  between his three daughters but to which one Hastingleigh passed is not recorded. The next Lord of the  Manor was Richard Hakun who is recorded as holding the manor in 1257, through the inheritance of his wife,  Dionisia, who was, presumably, of Turville descent. In 1270 the couple sold the manor to William de Roynges  of Pluckley, but his tenure lasted just two years before it was sold again, to William St Clare, who paid £200  for the privilege. William was a placeman of his overlord, Simon de Montfort and fought for him during the  Baron’s War of the 1260s and died in 1267. His son, Sir William St Clare was more loyal to the Crown, serving  as Sheriff of Essex in 1278 and was a justice of the peace. Hastingleigh passed to his son, Sir Robert, in 1287.  

What happened to St Clare and his ownership of Hastingleigh is unsure since in 1298 the recorded  lord was Charles de Charneles, a military man who fought in Scotland in 1301. On his death the lordship  passed back to the Turville family, who appeared to have hung on to parts of the extent. Sir Nicholas de  Turville fought in Ireland between 1316 and 1318 and was summoned as a Knight of Warwick to the Great Council at Westminster in 1324. It then appears that the great plague of the 1340s and 1350s wiped out the  Turville family since John Vincent is recorded as Lord in 1361 and soon afterwards Sir Thomas de Couen. Sir  Thomas had fought at the Battle of Crecy in 1346 and then settled at Ightham Mote in Kent. On his death in  1370 Hastingleigh passed to his wife Lora who then married James de Peckham.  

  Lora was eventually succeeded by her son Robert and in short order it came to his wife, Margery  and then a niece, Alice. She married Nicholas de Haute and this family remained as Lords of the Manor of  Hastingleigh until 1527. Edward Haute appears to have run into considerable financial trouble in the 1520s  and was forced to sell Ightham Mote in 1521 but was still Lord of Hastingleigh in 1524 when he is recorded  as holding 150 acres of land, 6 acres of meadow, 60 acres of pasture and 10 acres of woodland there. The manor  itself seems to have escheated, or been sold to the Crown in lieu of debt since it was granted by Henry VIII  to the Master and Chaplains of the Savoy Hospital. This was a religious organisation and was therefore closed  in 1539 under the Acts of Dissolution. Hastingleigh became part of the Crown lands until 1553 when it was  granted to the Mayor, Commonality and Citizens of the City of London to aid in the support of St Thomas’  Hospital.  

St Thomas’ can trace its history back to as early as 862 when it was made into a College for Priests  by St Swithun, Bishop of Winchester. The hospital grew slowly out of a need to tend to the sick and maimed  in London, and was renamed as St Thomas’s in 1223 after the murdered Thomas Becket of Cantebury. In  1540 it was one of the last religious houses suppressed under Henry VIII Acts of Dissolution but pressure  from the Citizens of London forced the Hospital to be re-opened under the watch of the City. Therefore  in 1553 the Hospital was refunded and as part of its grant of endowment included our lordship and manor  of Astinleigh, otherwise called Hastinleigh and Aldeloss with all its rights, members, liberties and appurtenances.  The manor was to provide funds for the upkeep and running of the hospital and its farms and tenants were  managed by stewards for the Trustees and its manor house and lands, Court Lodge, were leased out. The  manor remained in the hands of the Trustees of the Hospital until 2000. 

There is a brief history of this manor but the book written by  Mr Berry contains a wealth of information and is one of the best  books of its kind ever written. 

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1501-1710: court rolls The London Archives: City of London 

1579-1579: abstract of court rolls 

1618-1618: survey 

1563-1563: terrier, with other manors British Library 

1563-1563: rental 

1563-1563: rental of cock and hen rents, with Aldelose 

1616-1618: survey Essex Record Office  

Lot #21 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

with it's Members (subsidiary manors)

in the Parishes of Haughley, Old Newton, Tothill, etc. 

Haughley lies two miles north-north-west of Stowmarket. 

Hugh de Montfort was Lord of the Manor at the time of the Norman Survey. Copinger (Vol. VI, p. 197) says "Haughlye Castle was no doubt strengthen and fortified by Hugh de Montfort who made it his principal seat." And he adds, "It was one of the Seignories or Honors on which other Manors were dependent or held by the performance of certain customs or services." At one time Haughley, together with Dover, Boulogne, and Penerell in Nottinghamshire were the only Honors in the Kingdom. Kirby in his "Suffolk Traveller," 1744, says, "there was anciently a curious tenure attaching to this place, namely, that of erecting and keeping a gallows in repair in a  piece of ground called Luberlow Field. Certain lands in the Parish were also retained by the service of providing a ladder by which criminals hung could mount to their doom." 

Hubert de Burch was Lord in 1227; but it was granted during his lifetime to Henry III's brother, Richard (Plantagenet). The Manor seems to have been possessed by the Crown for some time thereafter and we read in Copinger that in 1385 it was granted by the Crown to Michael de la Pol, Earl of Suffolk. "Haughley was one of the Manors expressly named in the deed of 26th February, 1492, made between the King and Edmund de la Pole and restored to him." 

In 1510 it was granted by the Crown to Sir John Heydon during the time of Edmund de la Pole, "then attained," It later came back to the Suffolks and was exchanged with the Crown for other property in 1538; it was later granted to the Sullyards by Queen Mary for their staunch Catholicism. The property was bought from this family by William Crawford in 1811 and was sold on the death of his son to John Hayward (1868). Frederick Hayward followed. John Hewitt held his first General Court Baron on 8th November, 1872. In 1879, Charles Henry Capon was Lord. Joseph Beaumont purchased from M. S. Emerson in 1887. 

On custom, Copinger writes: "The Manor is large and its Court was arbitrary and had much power. The Lord of this Manor formerly possessed a jurisdiction of Oyer and Terminer trying all causes in his own Court, of which instances are on record as late as 11th Elizabeth. At a Court held in 1475 the lands of John Buxton of Stow were seized, for that he had vexed one William Turner by the writ of our Lord the King, contrary to the ancient Custom of the Manor that no Tenant should prosecute any other Tenant in any other Court saving this." 

The earliest Court Book (1668-72) in this very complete set, includes a Rental Roll and a list of Tenants which indicates the magnitude of the Manor at that time. 

There are numerous diagrams and maps in these books which are in fine condition throughout, the later ones being very stoutly bound ad fitted with clasps. 

There was a large common in this Manor until it was eliminated under an Enclosure Act in 1854.

The Manorial documents (insured for  £ 300, premium 15/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

Court Books: 1668-7; 1672-89; 1690-1701; 1702-29; 1730-49; 1749-71; 1772-93; 1793-1813; 1814-25; 1826-35; 1836-53; 1853-68; 1868 to 1939.

Minute Books: 1743-56; 1757-65; 1765-1808; 1826-40; 1841-67; 1868.

Rent Roll: 1810. 

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - February 2022 - Stephen Johnson

Haydon Bridge lies 20 miles west of Newcastle  on the Northern banks of the River Tyne. It includes a  historic bridge, first built in 130- and rebuilt in 1776. It  was a frequent holiday destination of the poet Philip  Larkin who stayed with his friend, Monica Jones at a  house in Ratcliffe Street. 

The first Lords of Haydon Bridge were the  Tindale family, who were in possession of it in 1165.  Adam de Tindale was Sheriff of Northumberland in  1190 and was married to Helwise, the daughter of a  local chieftain. Little is known of the Tindales save for  the fact that Adam’s son and heir, Adam, was the last  of the male line, and on his death the manor passed  to his only daughter, Philippa. In around 1220 she  married Adam de Bolteby, a rather an obscure figure,  who died in 1291. Their only surviving child was Isabel  who married Thomas de Multon, the son of Adam de Multon, and who changed his name to Lucy, in honour of his maternal family. Thomas died in 1305 and was succeeded by his eldest son, also Thomas, who survived  for only three more years before he died childless in 1308. The manor thus descended to his younger  brother, Anthony. He soon became embroiled in the seemingly endless warfare between the English and  Scots, which rendered the area around Haydon Bridge practically a wasteland. He served on the English  Marches (the border area between the two kingdoms) in both 1309 and 1311, and was knighted for his  services by Edward II (1307-1327) in 1314. In that same year he took part in Edward’s disastrous Scottish  campaign, which culminated in the ignominious defeat at Bannockburn. Lucy escaped the battle field but was  later captured at Bothwell Castle and was held by the Scots for over a year. After his release he returned to  front line duties and was made sheriff of Cumberland in 1318. 

Three years later he was summoned to parliament as Lord Lucy, but soon afterwards was accused  by his rival, Sir Andrew Harclay of holding rebel sympathies. Lucy appears to have been entirely innocent of  the charges and had his revenge in 1323 when Harclay made an illegal peace treaty with the Scots. Anthony  personally arrested Harclay at his castle in Carlisle, on the orders of Edward II He was rewarded for his  services with a grant of 100 marks from the king, and the honour of Cockermouth. 

In March 1333 Lucy led an army into Scotland, and defeated the garrison of Lochmaben. Between  June and September 1334 he held the custody of Berwick Castle and in the following year he took part in a  further invasion of Scotland, led by Edward III and Edward Balliol. After the campaign he was rewarded with  a number of land grants in Scotland and continued to lead raids north until 1342, when he undertook to  stay on the March with thirty men-at-arms and thirty archers. The years of warfare finally took their toll on  Lucy in June 1343 when he died.  

Anthony Lucy was succeeded by his son Thomas and although we know relatively little about him  he was given the position of Warden of the Marsh of Scotland. His duties were not confined to the North  since he accompanied King Edward III to Normandy and took part in the battle of Cressy in August 1346.  Thomas died in 1365 and Haydon Bridge passed to his son, Anthony who died soon afterwards whilst on a  pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The lordship then came into the possession of Anthony’s only child, his daughter,  Joan aged just 2 years old. She did not live long enough to enjoy her fortune and on her death the Barony  descended to his aunt, Maud, the wife of Sir Gilbert de Umframville, the Earl of Angus. Maud later married  Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and the Lordship thus came into the hands of the family often styled  as ‘Kings of the North’.  

Percy was a high ranking official in the latter rule of Edward III and supported the young Richard II  on his accession in 1377. For his loyalty, Percy was rewarded with the Earldom of Northumberland and the  title of Marshal of England. Within a few years, Percy fell out with John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster and  was largely excluded from power. However, the sheer scale of Percy’s land estates, including Haydon Bridge,  which he had received from his marriage to Maud, meant that he had to be accommodated by Gaunt if  the North of England was to be protected and governed in the king’s name. The Percy family had made the  North and the border country a virtual fiefdom and were practically given a free hand in dealing with the  Scots. As the reign of Richard II continued, Percy became disillusioned with the king, as many did, and declared  his support for Henry Bolingbroke’s. He acted as Henry’s commander after he landed in England in 1399.  When the Richard was deposed later that year he became a central part of the regime, but eventually a  number of disagreements between the new king and his nobleman arose, chiefly over policy and money. In  the summer of 1403 matters reached a head and Percy revolted but his rebellion was ended swiftly at the  battle of Shrewsbury where Percy’s famous warrior son, Henry ‘Hotspur’ was killed. The earl was forced to  submit to the king and though he was tried by his peers his power was too great for him to be seriously  punished and he escaped charges of treason. He was allowed to keep his estates but had much of his political  power stripped from him.  

Haydon Bridge continued in the hands of the Percy family until 1460 when it was forfeited to the  Crown after the Lancastrian third Earl, Henry, was killed near Wakefield by a Yorkist army. Edward IV granted  the manor to John Nevil, the Marquess of Montacute for a period of six years and then it was given back to  the Percy family when Henry Percy, the fourth Earl of Northumberland, became the new Baron. The descent  of the lordship after this time is rather obscure. It seems likely that the Percys, in reduced circumstances in  the 16th century, sold off the estate, perhaps to the Crown. It appears in the hands of John Murray, earl of  Annandale, in 1641 who then sold it, in the same year, to Sir Edward Radcliffe. 

Sir Edward fought for Charles I during the Civil Wars of the 1640s and as a result his estates were  forfeited to Parliament in 1652 at the war’s end. Fortunately he had settled his estates on his trustees for life  in 1638, with a reversion to his son and heir, Francis. Instead of the estate passing to Parliament his trustees  sold the estates and they were repurchased for the family by Francis for £10,000. 

Sir Edward lived long enough to see the restoration of Charles II in 1660 and at his death in 1663  the Cumberland estates including Haydon Bridge passed down to Sir Francis Radcliffe. The family remained  devout Catholics and attempted to avoid conflict with the Government, though, in 1679, Sir Francis was  briefly arrested in connection with the allegations made by Titus Oates, in a general hysteria against those  who adhered to the old faith. When the Catholic James II came to the throne in 1685 he was raised to the  peerage as Earl of Derwentwater. His son, Edward was married to Lady Mary Tudor, the fourteen year old  illegitimate daughter of Charles II. 

Edward died only a few years later, in 1705 and the estate passed to his son, James, who was then a  minor. He was schooled on the continent and came into contact with the Stuart pretender, James II, who was  only a year older than him. He returned to England in 1709, after reaching his majority and took possession  of the family estates. On 6th October 1715, the third earl of Derwentwater rode from Dilston and joined  a number of English Jacobites in raising the Stuart flag on nearby Greenrigg. The Jacobite army marched  south but was forced to surrender at Preston. Derwentwater was taken to London and impeached before  the House of Lords. All the leading Jacobite were found guilty of High Treason and sentenced to death.  Despite a great effort by many of his peers to have the sentence overturned the Government insisted that  Derwentwater should receive his punishment and 24th February 1716, the earl was beheaded at the Tower. 

After Edward’s execution his whole estate was seized by the Crown and the majority of it, including  the Haydon Bridge was granted to Greenwich Hospital. Hospital records show that when the estate was  granted to it, it consisted of the castle ruins, manors and estates known as; 

‘...Fourstones, Allerwash, Pettenraw, Haydon Bridge, Espehill, Millhills, 

Pagecroft, Altonside, Brokenheugh East, Brokenheugh West, Haydon, 

Lipwood, Cutshill, Teadcastle, Plankeford (alias Plankey, alias Plankey 

Pasture), Lees Vaunce, Deanraw, Silly Wray, Lightbirks, Harsondale, 

Harley Hill (alias Harlow Field), Pleander Heath (alias Plender Hath), 

Tofts, Bogglehole, Whinnetley...’ 

This was an important estate for the Hospital since it generated a good deal of income from it’s rich  mineral wealth. It derived rents from leasing out mining rights, which continued well into the 20th century.  The Royal Naval Hospital for Seaman was founded by royal charter at Greenwich in 1694 on the site of the  former royal palace. The charter laid out the aims of the hospital to be 

‘the reliefe and support of Seamen…belonging to the Navy Royall… 

who by reason of Age, Wounds or other disabilities shall be uncapable  

for further service…And for the Sustentation of Widows and the  

Maintenance and Education of the Children of Seamen happening  

to be slain or disabled. Also for the further reliefe and Encouragement  

of Seamen and Improvement of Navigation’. 

Greenwich Hospital was built on the site of the Palace of Placentia, this royal palace had been empty  since the English Civil War and was demolished in 1694. The hospital was the brainchild of Mary II and as  well as providing for pensioners, took on the role of a welfare support for seamen. From 1712, it began  to support the education of poor sons of seamen for naval service, a role that developed into a regular  school, eventually housed, thanks to George III, in the Queen’s House at Greenwich. As well as the lands  of the Radcliffe’s the hospital received a number of other estates, including the property of Captain Kidd,  executed for piracy some time earlier; and a proportion of the prize money won in the great naval wars of  the 18th century. Today the Hospital derives its income wholly from its investments, including income from  commercial, agricultural and residential property, particularly in Greenwich, where it owns a large part of the  town centre, including the market, which it has run since 1737.

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

Estreats 1610-1611 National Archives 

Greenwich Hospital Northern Estates c1800 

Admiratly Estates including Haydon Bridge 1902-1934 

Lot #6 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

This Manor of Heathfield lies in the parish of the same name some 9 miles from Uckfield. The locals refer to Heathfield as Heffle. It is a rural manor which used to specialise in growing hops and in iron making, and lies on the southern slopes of the great upland area known as The Weald. The River Cuckmere  has its source in Heathfield Park and flows south to the channel. In the 17th and 187th century the village was, for a time, a prosperous centre of the iron industry, due in part to the abundance of local iron ore. At  the beginning of the 19th century it was said that over half the population of the parish were employed  in ironmaking. The cannons made in Heathfield were supposed to be of the best quality in all England and regularly fetched the highest prices. There were three miles of ponds used in the manufacture, and some  evidence of these remain to the west of the area known as Old Heathfield. 

The Manor is perhaps most famous for its Cuckoo Fair which was held every year on 14 April. In  1315 the Lord of the Manor, the Bishop of Chichester, was granted a charter for a livestock market. The  weekly market was held on a Thursday and this charter was actually a confirmation of an earlier grant made by Henry III In 1234. However a second fair began to be held yearly on April 14 which is known as the Cuckoo Fair. This was based on a folk tradition that every April, Dame Heffle would arrive at the fair and release the first cuckoos of the year. Whereas the charter market declined in the 19th century the Heffle Cuckoo Fair continues today and is held every April on Cade Street as a charitable event. 

The early history of the Manor of Heathfield is rather obscure it was thought to have originally been a member of the Manor of Bishopstone. The earliest record appears to be the 1234 when a market charter  was granted to Ralph Neville, Bishop of Chichester. When Heathfield became par t of the estate of the bishophric is not recorded but it seems likely to have been in the mid 12th century when most of the land  held by the Bishop was endowed.  

 In 1450 Heathfield was thought to be the site of conflict during the notorious rebellion led by Jack Cade. Cade was supposedly killed by Alexander Iden, sheriff of Kent at a spot in Heathfield. The spot is remembered today at Cade Street which runs east of the village towards Chapel Cross.  

The Manor remained a possession of the Bishops until 1559 when the government of Elizabeth passed a law enabling the Crown to seize possessions of vacant Bishoprics. Chichester became vacant in 1586 and at the time, 13 Manors were taken into the possession of the Crown, Heathfield amongst them and this was then granted to Thomas Sackville.  

The areas known as Heathfield Down and Burwash Down formed the majority of the common land in the Sackville manor at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1595 these were surveyed for Thomas Sackville  who claimed all rights over the downs. This caused an almost unceasing number of disputes between the Sackvilles, their later heirs, the Pelhams, and the lords of the various manors onto which the downs abutted. 

The Sackville family held the Manor of Heathfield until the very end of the 20th century when it was purchased by the family of the current owners. The Sackvilles are one of the more celebrated families  of England and their for tunes rose and fell across the centuries. Thomas Sackville was created earl of Dorset and this title descended with them. Perhaps one of the most unusual holders of the Manor was Charles, the  sixth earl of Dorset, who was born in 1643.After stint as an MP for East Grinstead, Charles was imprisoned at Newgate in 1662 for manslaughter. This was an extremely rare occurrence for a member of the nobility.  Charles was accused of killing an alleged highwayman with four of his friends. As Lord Buckhurst, he already  had a reputation as a ‘rake’ and his rank did not prevent his arrest. When it was discovered that the supposed  highwayman was in fact a tanner, the charges were raised to that of murder. The ruse of pretending that the  tanner had attacked them worked and they escaped punishment. Perhaps in a bid to improve his reputation  Charles joined the military in 1665 but never saw action. He is famed as a lover of Nell Gwynn but then ‘surrendered’ her to king Charles. He was something of a patron of the Arts and supported numerous poets and playwrights, championing Ben Jonson and writing poetry himself. In 1677 he succeeded to the earldom  of Dorset and took his seat in the Lords. Although he was not known for the strength of his political views he did opposed the brief reign of James II (1685-1688). During the Revolution of 1688, Dorset personally helped Princess Anne in her escape from Whitehall palace after her brother-in-law, William of Orange landed  his army in Devon. It is reported that during her flight, Anne lost one of her shoes and Dorset replaced it with one of his own white gloves. After James had fled and William and Mary assumed the throne, Dorset was made Lord Chamberlain and appointed as one of nine men who governed in the Queen’s name whilst  William was overseas. He died in Bath in 1706. 

In 1810 Joseph Mallord Willam Turner visited the area and produced his well known painting “Vale  of Heathfield”. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1275-1300: survey, West Sussex Record Office 

1552-1552: rental 

1379-1379: court roll British Library 

1606-1622: court book, East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office (ESBHRO) 

1624-1652: court book 

1664-1664: court book 

1668-1689: court book 

1686-1686: rental 

1731-1743: court book 

1691-1925: court books 

1829-1829: rental 

1856-1861: account books 

1613-1613: estreats, Kent History and Library Centre 

1656-1656: list of tenants 

1704-1704: estreats 

1711-1720: estreats 

1738-1738: minutes 

Lot #22 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

TOGETHER, THE two villages of Hoff and Drybeck form this Lordship, which lies within the large parish of St Laurence in Appleby. Drybeck measures around 1,350 acres and Hoff around 1,770 acres. Both are fairly secluded and lie around three miles from Appleby Castle. A considerable part of the township of Hoff is moorland.

It is possible that Hoff received its name from a Saxon family who owned it before the Conquest of 1006 and there is evidence that a William de Offa was resident in the village during the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). It could also have received its name from the Saxon word hof, which means temple, indeed an area of the Lordship is known as Hoff Lund, or temple grove. Drybeck is so called after the small stream which runs through it. During the reign of Henry II ((1154-1189) the Lordship was held by Hugh de Morville, who was also Baron of Westmoreland. After his deabth it passed to his two co-heirs, Ada and Joan. Though the Lordship was divided, after Joan’s death it passed to Ada, who was married to Sir Thomas de Multon and from this union he also gained the inherited title of Forester of Cumberland. In 1206 Multon served as Sheriff of Lincolnshire but was removed from the post and imprisoned after after allegedly insulted King John. This unrecorded insult seems to have been forgiven, as Multon accompanied John to Ireland in 1210. However, he joined the Baron’s rebellion in 1215 and as a result was excommunicated by the Pope a year later. He was arrested by John and imprisoned at Corfe Castle. He only received his freedom on the accession of Henry III. After this time he sat as a Justiciar in Westminster and was a witness at the confirmation of Magna Carta in 1225. The chronicler, Matthew Paris notes ¯that in his youth Multon was a fierce soldier but in middle age became a respected and wealthy lawyer.

Thomas was succeeded in the Lordship of Hoff and Drybeck by his son, also Thomas, and in 1252 paid a fine of 400 marks to Henry III to reassert this his title as Forester. In 1258 he is recorded as marching as a Baron, with the King to Scotland to rescue the Scottish king, Henry’s son-in-law from a rebellion. Through his marriage to the heiress of Hubert de Vaux, Lord of Gillesland he acquired that Lordship in addition to Hoff and Drybeck. When his estates passed to his son, Thomas in 1270, it was found that the family were also heirs to to the Barony of Burgh upon the Sands. He was succeeded by his son, also Thomas, in 1293 and by this time the Multon family, as well as being Lords of this Manor were Barons of Burgh and Gillesland. Thomas’s son Thomas was a soldier in Edward I’s army and fought in Scotland at the beginning of the 14th century. In 1307 he was called to Parliament as Baron Multon of Gillesland and sat until 1313. 

Baron Multon died in 1313 and left his entire estate to his only daughter, Margaret who married Ranulph de Dacre a member of an influential northern family. Ranulph’s great-grandfather, William Dacre had been Sheriff of Cumberland and his son, Ranulph was Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1314. His son and heir, William de Dacre had fought in Scotland during Edward I’s campaign against William Wallace and was granted a charter of land in Dacre, Cumberland and at Halton in Lancashire in 1304. In 1307 on the accession of Edward II was instructed to crenelate his mansion at Dunwallaght in Cumberland against the Scots. His son, Ranulph inherited his father’s estates in 1319 which he added to those, including Hoff and Drybeck, which he had received through marriage. He was made Governor of Carlisle Castle in 1331 and in 1335 he was commissioned to defend the city from the Scots. 

The Lordship remained with the Dacre family into the 15th centurly. Sir Humphrey Dacre, great grandson of Ranulph was Lord here during the reign of Edward IV ((1471-1483) and is recorded as being a ‘obsequious’ supporter of the Yorkist King and had fought against the Lancastrians in the North. Edward entrusted Sir Humphrey with the position of chamberlain to his sister Margaret on her journey to Flanders for her marriage to, Charles, Duke of Burgundy and in 1482 was summoned to Parliament as Baron Gillesland. He was succeeded by his son Sir Thomas in 1509 who was a soldier, fighting for Henry VIII at the siege of Norham Castle and at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. His son, Sir William succeeded him in 1525 and in 1534 was accused of treason by Sir Ralph Fenwyke and was sent to trial at Westminster that year. He was accused of excessive severity in his capacity as Warden of the Scottish Marches but was acquited on account of the evidence being ‘forced’ from witness by Fenwyke. He was succeeded by his son Thomas in 1563 who lived only until 1566 when Hoff and Drybeck was passed to George Dacre the 5th and last Lord Dacre of Gillesland. George died very young after falling from a wooden horse and the Dacre estate was split between his sisters. This caused much resentment in the family. His Uncle, Leonard Dacres was deeply dissatisfied with his inheritance he was very angry that so large a patrimony should by law descend unto his nieces. He was so angry that in 1569 he consorted with the leaders Northern Catholic uprising, the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland. During the confusion of 1570 he seized the Dacre castles as Hexham and Greystock as his inheritance in the pretence of protecting them from the rebels. In February 1570, despite having received a commendation from the Earl of Sussex for his resistance to the rebels, his true motives were discovered and Queen Elizabeth ordered his arrest. Lord Hunsdon was sent to apprehend his but found Dacre’s defences at Naworth so strong that he was forced to retire. Dacre followed him with his army and charged Hunsdon’s men. Hudson repelled his attackers and Dacre’s army was scattered. Hunsdon wrote ‘Leonard Dacre beying with hys horsmen, was the first man that flew, like a tall gentleman; an I thinke, never looked behind him tyll he was in Lyddesdale; and yet one of my company had hym by the arm, and if he had nott been reskewed by serten Skots he had been taken.’ Dacre duly fled to Scotland and then to Flanders where is said to have received a pension from Philip of Spain until his death in 1573.

Hoff and Drybeck was then seized by the Crown. Elizabeth (1558-1603) granted it out to Richard Southwaite and then to Thomas Yaire. In 1602 she again granted it out to four men, including John Holland but this last a short while since it was then purchased by William Williams, who had been Steward of Greystoke Castle. From him it passed, though his grandson, William Winder who devised it to his kinsman, Rev Thomas Milward rector of nearby Murton and Kirkby Thore. In the 19th century it was purchased by the Earls of Thanet and the present representative of that family, Lord Hothfield, is the current Lord of the Manor of Hoff and Drybeck.

Lot #23 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

HOTHFIELD is the seat of the Tufton family, presently represented by Lord Hothfield. The parish is three miles from Ashford and around 50 miles from London and measures 1,815 acres of mainly arable land.

The Lordship of Hothfield is first mentioned in the 13th century when it appears to have been part of the Barony of Chilham. At this time it was in the ownership of the Dover family. At the death of Richard de Dover, during the reign of Edward I (1272-1307) it passed to his heir, his sister Isabel. She was married to David de Strabolgie, earl of Athol. She was succeeded by her son, John, earl of Athol, who was found guilty of treason. As a result his estates, including Hothfield, were seised by the Crown. In 1312 it was granted to Bartholemew Badlesmere, as confederate of Sir Roger Mortimer and he appears to have held it by grand sergeantry of the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a result, at the enthroning of Archbishop Walter Reynolds in 1315, Badlesmere claimed his right to perform the office of chamberlain that day. He served up the holy water for the ceremony, in which Reynolds could wash his hands.

Soon afterwards the earl became involved Mortimer’s rebellion against Edward II and Hothfield was taken from him and granted to his son, David, but only for life. In 1327, on the accession of Edward III Hothfield was granted out to Giles de Badlesmere. 

Giles died in 1339 and his estates passed to his four sisters. On the partition, Hothfield came to Margery, who was married to William, Lord Roos of Hamlake. She survived her husband and died in 1364. Hothfield then passed to her son, Thomas, Lord Roos. It remained with this family until 1461 when the Lancastrians Roos’ estates were confiscated by the triumphant Edward IV (1461-1483). However, it appears to have returned to Margaret, mother of Thomas, Lord Roos, who then married Roger Wentworth. After his death it reverted back to the Crown and it was granted then to John Fogge of Repton who was comptroller of the household of Edward IV and a member of the Privy Council. He died seised of the Lordship in 1502 and it reverted to the Crown. 

At the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547) Hothfield was granted in full to John Tufton of Northiam in Sussex. He served as sheriff of Kent in 1561 and was succeeded by his son John. This Tufton entertained Queen Elizabeth at Hothfield Place during her progress of 1573 and also served as sheriff of the county and was created a baronet in 1611. On his death Hothfield descended to his eldest son Nicholas. He served as a member of Parliament for Peterborough in 1601 and again, for Kent in 1624-5. He was knighted in 1603 by James I but inherited the baronetcy on his father’s demise in 1624. Two year later, after serving as commissioner for martial law in Kent he was raised to the peerage as the first Baron Tufton of Tufton. Two years later than this, in 1628, he was raised still further to the Earldom of the Isle of Thanet. He lived to enjoy this title for only three years and died at Sapcote in Leicestershire in 1631.

The Lordship then passed with the rest of the family’s estate to John, the second earl of Thanet, who was born in 1608. He fought for the King at the opening of the Civil War in 1641 and was present at the Royalist defeat at the battle of Hayward’s Heath, in November 1642. He escaped capture at the siege of Chichester and went to France. His estates were siezed in 1643 but, on returning to England he sequestered them, for £9,000 and then submitted to the will of Parliament. He served the Commonwealth with little enthusiasm, as sheriff of Kent in 1654, for instance. He was married to Margaret, the daughter and coheir of George Clifford, earl of Northumberland and died in 1664.

His son and heir was Nicholas, 3rd Earl of Thanet, who had accompanied his father to France. Unlike his father he was actively involved in Royalist circles during the Commonwealth and was imprisoned for plotting in 1655 and from 1656 to 1658. On his death in 1679, Hothfield passed to his brother, John, the 4th earl. After the death of Anne Clifford the vast Clifford estates in the north, including the baronies of Westmorland and Skipton, came to the Tuftons. John enjoyed these for only a short time, dying within a year of his inheritance. The estate then passed to his brother Richard, the 5th earl, who died in 1683 and then to his youngest brother Thomas, the 6th Earl. 

Thomas was politically active and sat as a Member of Parliament for Appleby from 1668 to 1679 , as a nominee of Anne Clifford. During this time he also served as Groom of the Bedchamber of the Duke of York, (later James II) and was Lord Lieutenant of Westmorland and Cumberland from 1685 to 1687. At the Revolution of 1688, which saw the deposing of James III, Thomas was a signature of the Declaration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Favour of the Prince of Orange at the Guildhall. On his death in 1729 he had no male heir so the estate descended to his nephew Sackville. The 7th Earl had served as Member of Parliament for Appleby from 1722 toπ 1729 and inherited from his Uncle the office of hereditary sheriff of Westmorland. He consolidated the families huge estates and resided at Hothfield Place. 

In 1753, on the death of Sackville, Hothfield passed to the 8th Earl, Sackville. He led a relatively quiet life and served in the House of Lord as a loyal supporter of the Whig faction. He died in 1786 and was succeeded by his son, also Sackville, the 9th Earl. In 1799 the Earl appeared before the Court of the King’s bench. He was arrested and charged with riot and trying to effect the rescue of Arthur O’Connor, who had been arrested for high treason. Lord Tufton had been trying release him. Unbeknownst to him, the charges of treason against O’Connor had already been dropped and he was being held for a lesser charge of a misdemeanour. Tufton was fined £1,000 and sentenced to spend one year in the Tower of London. He was soon freed and continued to enjoy his career as a fervent supporter of Fox and the Whigs. 

Sackville died in 1825 and the Lordship of Hothfield as well as the rest of the family estates passed to the 10th earl of Thanet, Charles. He had been born at Hothfield in 1770 and served in the Regiment of Foot as a captain in the early year of the Napoleonic Wars. He never married and died in 1832. His successor was Henry, the 11th Earl who had also fought in the French Wars but later served as MP for Rochester and Appleby. Before his death Henry had vested his estates and th©e hereditary sheriffdom of Westmorland to a Frenchman but on his death, in 1849, this was challenged and a special act of Parliament was passed which abolished any claim to the office of hereditary sheriff and the vast Tufton estate, including Hothfield, which amounted to over 40,000 acres was granted to Henry’s illegitimate son, Richard, who had been born in Verdun in France in 1813. Richard was naturalised in 1849 and a year later was granted a royal licence to adopt the name Tufton. In view of his large estates he was created a baronet in 1851.

Richard died in 1871 and Hothfield then descended to his son Henry James Tufton. he served as Vice Admiral of the coasts of Cumberland and Westmorland and was lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) in 1886. In 1881 he was create 1st Baron Hothfield. Hothfield has remained in the hands of this family until the present day. The current Lord Hothfield is Lord of the Manor.

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2025 - Stephen Johnson

At the time of Domesday Book, which was completed in 1086, there were a number of manorial  estates in the parish of Horham - pronounced Horrum. Most were held by Robert Malet, Lord of the Honor  of Eye. The land, which later became the manor of Horham Jornegans (otherwise Jernegans or Shermans),  was long associated with a family of that name who seem to have been of Danish origin. According to  the early historian, William Camden, the first members of the Jornegan family were brought to England as  soldiers in the retinue of King Canute in around 1030 and they were given land in near Harwich.  

The first Jornegan connected to Horham is thought to have witnessed a deed to the monks of Castle Acre  Abbey in Norfolk. He died in 1182 and he was succeeded by his widow, Sibilia and a son, Sir Hugh. He  married Maud de Watheby. He is one of the Suffolk Knights recorded in the Black Book of the Exchequer as  holding a manor of the Honor of Eye in 1201 and it is likely this was Horham Jornegans. This passed to his  son, Sir Hubert, in 1203. He fought on the side of the Barons in their war against John (1199-1216) and lost  property as a result of forfeiture. When Henry III became king, most of his land, including at Horham, was  returned to him and he lived in relative peace until his death in 1239.  

The Lordship passed to his second son, Sir William Jornegan but he died without an heir and so it passed  to his younger brother, Sir Hugh. In 1243 Sir Hugh drew up an agreement with his mother, Julian, settling the  manor on her for her lifetime. From this agreement we learn that the extent included a park, windmill and  various feudal rights such as house-bote, (an allowance of wood for repairs), hey-bote (an allowance of wood  to repair hedges or fences) and pannage (right to let pigs forage in woodland). 

In 1272 Sir Walter Jornegan succeeded to the family estates including Horham and he died in 1299. His son  and heir, Sir Peter, was sub-escheator of the county in 1283, but otherwise has left scant evidence of his life  other than that he was long lived, dying in 1350. His son, Sir John, succeeded to Horham.  

The family remained Lords of the Manor until the death of Sir John Jornegan in around 1572. The manor was  then granted, or assigned, to William Sherman, the Sir John’s Trustee. He had been succeeded by his son,  John by 1597.  

In 1609 Horham Jornegans was purchased by Sir Edward Coke. Lawyers are not always considered to be  of great consequence when it comes to historical events but Sir Edward Coke was an exception. He was  the son of a barrister turned landowner near Norwich and entered the legal profession in 1578. He quickly  gained a reputation as a skilled lawyer and through the patronage of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, entered  public life and became a member of Parliament. In 1593 he was nominated as Speaker of the House of  Commons and a year later, Attorney General. In this role he championed the prerogatives of the Crown and  led several state prosecutions against Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earl of Essex, one of the conspirators involved  in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. During the reign of James I, Coke fell from favour and reversed his previous  legal position to undertake a series of cases against royal prerogatives. Coke championed the idea of free  speech and became an open critic of Charles I’s attempt to raise money without the sanction of Parliament.  Charles declared martial law in 1627 and had those who refused to pay loans to him arrested. Soldiers were  billeted in private homes prompting Coke’s famous declaration that “the house of an Englishman is to him  as his castle”. In response, Coke drew up what became known as “The Resolutions” denying that Kings had  the right of arbitrary arrest. This became the basis of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. He also formulated the  idea that the king could not raise money without the approval of Parliament, and his legal opinions became  the basis of Parliament’s action and eventual victory over the Stuart monarchy by way of the Civil War and  Great Revolution of 1688. 

The Coke family remained as Lords of the Manor until the mid 18th century, by which time the family  had been raised to the peerage as the Earls of Leicester. Horham Jornegans was sold to Sir Joshua Vanneck,  a successful Dutch born merchant who established an estate based at Heveringham Hall. In the early 19th  century the family sold the lordship to Mattias Kerrison. He was known locally as the ‘Bungay Millionaire’  having made money through the development of the Staithe navigation. Later Horham Jornegans passed  to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains. There is a very large collection of manorial  documents for the manor held by Suffolk Archives. 

Horham lies two miles west of Stradbroke and is thought have been a Norse settlement. The composer,  Benjamin Britten, had a writing retreat in the village in the 1970s.  

A selection of Documents associated with the Manor in the Public Domain:

1276-1376: court rolls Suffolk Archives 

1300-1400: rental (fragment) 

1316-1316: extent 

1328-1393: minister’s accounts (non-consecutive) 

1341-1361: collector’s accounts (non-consecutive) 

1344-1350: reeve’s accounts 

1353-1354: valor 

1391-1401: court rolls  

1400-1500: rentals  

1400-1500: minister’s accounts 

1407-1505: court rolls  

1427-1431: estreats  

1436-1437: court roll 

1450-1451: estreats 

1472-1474: minister’s accounts 

1492-1492: estreats 

1500-1600: rentals  

1500-1600: court proceedings  

1512-1512: extent 

1514-1538: court roll 

1522-1522: extents  

1538-1603: estreats (non-consecutive) 

1549-1625: court rolls 

1554-1559: rent receipts 

1567-1567: survey 

1610-1612: rental, with other manors 

1624-1625: bailiff’s accounts 

1628-1925: court books 

1639-1652: court roll 

1758-1807: minute book 

1809-1827: minute book 29 

1823-1832: court fines received 

1876-1886: rental 

1887-1898: minute book 

1900-1905: quit and free rentals 

1925-1925: rental, with other manors 

Lot #13 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2023 - Stephen Johnson

(In association with Strutt & Parker)

At the time of Domesday Book, which was completed in 1086, there were a number of manorial  estates in the parish of Horham. Most were held by Robert Malet, Lord of the Honor of Eye. The land, which  later became the manor of Horham Thrope Hall, eventually passed into the possession of Robert Fitz John  de Thorp and his wife Maud. De Thorp was one of Henry III’ s Barons of the Exchequer in around 1236. It  appears to have passed to them from Richard de Eye, who released his rights to them after the death of his  brother, Philip. In 1293 Robert Fitz John de Thorp, one of the King’s justices, received a grant of free warren  for his manor of Horham. At his death ten years later, the manor passed to his son John and his wife Alice. 

Although he was not always recorded as a Baron, John de Thorp was summoned to Parliament in  1293, and was regularly summoned to the Parliaments of Edward II, as a Baron. In 1311 he received a charter  from the King allowing him to found a free chapel at Ashwell in Norfolk and like many wealthy landowners  of the time he paid for a chaplain to perform a daily service to the benefit of the inhabitants and to pray for his  own and his wife’s soul. On his death in 1323 his manor of Horham passed to his wife Alice and then to his  eldest son Robert Fitz John de Thorp. Although still a young man at the time of his father’s death, Robert lived  only until 1330 when his estates passed to his young son, John. As a lad of 14 the estate was held in ward by  John de Clavering until John reached his majority. Despite his marriage to Joan atte Ashe he had no children  and died aged just 24 in 1340.  

In the Close Rolls there is an entry for Horham Thorpe Manor in which the escheator is ordered  not to intermeddle with the lands which Joan . . .held jointly with her husband. On her death the estate was to  pass to John’s brother Edmund, which it duly did. Though he was never summoned to Parliament as a baron,  Edmund was a Knight of the Shire for Norfolk between 1397-98 and 1407. He held a number of official posts  including being a Commissioner of array investigating various matters in East Anglia on behalf of the King,  and was employed by the King in a number of capacities for the rest of his life. He was granted a pension  of 50 marks per year in 1393 which was increased to a lucrative 100 marks. In April 1399 he traveled as  part of the retinue of Richard II on his disastrous journey to Ireland to try to subdue a rebellion. Whilst the  King was away from England, Henry Bolingbroke staged his coup to become Henry IV. This change in regime  did not seem to harm, Edmunds position and he is recorded as having accompanied Henry V to France in  1417 were he was appointed a Commissioner of array there. However, Edmund was killed at the siege of  Lover’s Castle in Normandy in August of that year. There is an effigy of him and his wife Joan at Ashwellthorpe  Church, a few miles to the north of Horham. 

In 1399, Edmund’s brother Robert was noted as lord of Horham Thorpe Hall but after his death  Edmund’s estates passed to his two daughters, Joan and Isabel. Joan had no children so, in time, Horham  Thorpe Hal passed to Isabel’s only daughter Elizabeth. She was married to Sir Humphrey Bourchier and through this marriage the manor eventually descended to Sir John Bourchier. His daughter, Joan married  Edmund Knyvett or Knevet and the manor therefore passed to this family.

The lordship descended with the Knevet family until 1572 when Sir Thomas Knyvet sold it to Ralph  Roberts, and in 1609 it passed to Sir Edward Coke. Lawyers are not always considered to be of great  consequence when it comes to historical events but Sir Edward Coke was an exception. He was the son of  a barrister turned landowner near Norwich and entered the legal profession in 1578. He quickly gained a  reputation as a skilled lawyer and through the patronage of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, entered public life  and became a member of Parliament. In 1593 he was nominated as Speaker of the House of Commons  and a year later, Attorney General. In this role he championed the prerogatives of the Crown and led several  state prosecutions against Sir Walter Raleigh, the Earl of Essex one of the conspirators involved in the  Gunpowder Plot of 1605. During the reign of James I, Coke fell from favour and reversed his previous legal  position to undertake a series of cases against royal prerogatives. Coke championed the idea of free speech  and became an open critic of Charles I’s attempt to raise money without the sanction of Parliament. Charles  declared martial law in 1627 and had those who refused to pay loans to him arrested. Soldiers were billeted  in private homes prompting Coke’s famous declaration that "the house of an Englishman is to him as his  castle”. In response, Coke drew up what became known as “The Resolutions” denying that Kings had the  right of arbitrary arrest. This became the basis of the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. He also formulated the  idea that the king could not raise money without the approval of Parliament, and his legal opinions became  the basis of Parliament’s action and eventual victory over the Stuart monarchy by way of the Civil War and  Great Revolution of 1688.

The Coke family remained as Lords of the Manor until the mid 18th century, by which time the family  had been raised to the peerage as the Earls of Leicester. Horham Thorpe Hall was sold to Sir Joshua Vanneck,  a successful Dutch born merchant who established an estate based at Heveringham Hall. In the early 19th  century the family sold the lordship to Mattias Kerrison, eventually passing to the Maskell family and their  descendants in whom it remains. There is a very large collection of manorial documents for Horam held by  Suffolk Archives. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1326-1344: minister’s accounts Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1328-1412: court roll (non-consecutive) 

1344-1345: collector’s accounts  

1345-1349: reeve’s accounts 

1422-1461: court roll (Horham Tylneye) 

1423-1482: court rolls (2) 

1476-1477: rental 

1510-1511: minister’s accounts 

1527-1527: estreats 

1532-1533: rental 

1542-1542: estreats 

1561-1561: estreats 

1586-1586: court roll 

1611-1625: court rolls (2) 

1640-1652: court roll 

1750-1750: particulars of customs 

1778-1798: quit rent accounts 

1809-1827: minute book, with Horham Jernegans 

1823-1832: court fines received 

1862-1862: quit and free rents 

1876-1886: rental 

1887-1897: minute book 

1887-1887: schedules of court records 

1894-1899: collector’s quit and free rent accounts 

1897-1932: quit and free rentals (non-consecutive) 

1920-1920: quit rental  

1931-1932: quit rental 

Lot #3 of Manorial Services Auction - March 2023 - Stephen Johnson

(Among 2-3% of manors which are registered with HM's Land Registry - extract # unknown)

Today Hornchurch is a large, sprawling  suburban town 15 miles from the centre of London. Until the coming of the railways in the latter half of  the 19th century it was a rural farming parish. In the  town is a place known as The Dell, a bowl cut from  the earth which was used during the Medieval period  as a cock-fighting pit and for a ceremony known as  Wrestling for a Boar’s Head. The customary tradition  is described as taking place on Christmas day when the  Lessee of the Tithes, which belong to New College, Oxford  supplies a Boar’s Head, dressed and garnished with bay  leaves etc. In the afternoon it is carried in procession into  Millfield adjoining the Churchyard, where it is wrestled for,  and it is afterwards feasted upon at one of the public  houses by the rustic conqueror and his friends, with all  the merriment peculiar to the season. It was part of the  manor lands and was later sold by New College and is  said to be the most southerly place reached by the ice  sheet during the last Ice Age. 

At the time of Domesday all the later manors of Hornchurch were part of the large feudal estate of  Havering. This name still exists today as the London Borough of Havering in which Hornchurch is situated.  In the mid 12th century a parcel of land was given as an endowment towards the founding of a priory at  Hornchurch. The earliest charter for Hornchurch dates from 1158 and this seems to be when the area  and manor received its name since ‘Hornchurch’ is derivesd from church with horn-like gables or from the  Latin Monasterium Cornutum or Monastery of the Horns. The Priory, which was also a hospital, was built in  the grounds of the parish church. The glebe land surrounding the area became the centre of the manor of  Hornchurch Hall.  

Hornchurch Priory is referred to as an Alien House in that it was a daughter house of the Hospice  of St. Nicholas and St. Bernard, Montjoux, in Savoy. In the subsequent century there were a number of other  endowments made to the Priory including the grants of the manors of Newbury in Havering and Risebridge  in Romford as well as further land in Hornchurch itself. During the 14th century the alien priories became  deeply unpopular as many were under direct control of mother houses in France, with whom England spent  most of the century at War. In 1378 all monks in such priories were expelled, though Hornchurch remained  until 1391 when it was finally dissolved. The site of the priory and the manor of Hornchurch Hall were  purchased by William of Wykeham and used as part of the endowment of New College, Oxford.  

Wykeham was an official in the government of Edward III, being made Chancellor of England in  1367. As Bishop of Winchester he was a great supporter of poorer students at Oxford University and he  used his wealth to found New College in 1379. He purchased land in the town and the college opened in  1386. It was the first college to admit undergraduates and its motto is ‘Manners Maketh Man”. The lands of  Hornchurch Priory were gifted to the College to provide an income and it was administered by the college  officials. It was one of over 20 manorial estates which were gifted to the college over 50 years and as well as  the Manor of Hornchurch the estate included Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire and Stert in Wiltshire.  

During New College’s tenure as Lords of the Manor, Hornchurch Hall was leased out to a number  of tenants. Initially it was to the Legatt Family who seem to have made their money as London traders. In the  latter half of the 17th century it was leased to the Thorowgoods who were also Londoners who had made  money as drapers. Early in the 18th century the tenant was John Ward who is described in several sources  as ‘notorious’ and was also known as ‘The Hackney Miser’. Born in Hackney at the end of the 17th century,  little is known of his early life. He appeared as an MP for Melcombe Regis in 1727 but was expelled from  the house after forging a deed from the Duchess of Buckingham. He was sued by the Duchess and ended  up in the pillory outside Westminster Hall. He was evidently an extremely wealthy man and built a mansion  in Hackney as well as leasing Hornchurch Hall. He then became involved in a scheme to fraudulently avail  himself of £50,000 from the estate of Sir John Blunt which had been forfeited to the South Sea Company.  Using false conveyances he redirected the money to himself but the fraud was discovered and he was  arrested and imprisoned. At his death in 1755 there was found amongst his papers a prayer he had written  beseeching the Lord to protect his property, including Hornchurch Hall. 

O Lord, thou knowest that I have nine estates in the City of London, and likewise that I have  lately purchased one estate in fee simple in the county of Essex; I beseech thee to preserve the  two counties of Essex and Middlesex from fire and earthquake; and as I have a mortgage in  Hertfordshire, I beg of thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county; and for  the rest of the counties thou mayest deal with them as thou art pleased. 

In the 19th century the Hall was leased to the Bearblock family. In the 20th century New College sold off  their lands in Hornchurch but retained the title which was purchased by the present owner in the mid 1990s. 

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1325-1375: bailiff’s account Oxford University: New College Archives 

1340-1576: court roll 

1340-1661: court rolls (non-consecutive) 

1377-1494: rentals (abstract made in 1534 or 1535) 

1392-1482: accounts  

1397-1398: claims of bailiff 

1514-1514: rental (1 roll) 

1555-1555: estreats 

1595-1800: rental (non-consecutive) 

1598-1601: court roll (some drafts) 

1598-1598: survey and rental 

1600-1700: bounds and abbutals 

1600-1700: note of free and customary rents 

1610-1647: steward’s papers  

1610-1647: presentments  

1610-1647: lists of tenants  

1610-1647: court rolls  

1627-1627: list of tenants  

1628-1739: steward’s papers (1 roll) 

1654-1665: presentments (7) 

1662-1665: notes for courts 

1700-1725: memorandum on manor 

1702-1732: quit rent receipts 

1732-1752: notes about 

1732-1803: quit rentals  

1754-1754: account of arrears of quit rents 

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

The village of Hoxne (pronounced locally as Hoksan) lies a few miles from the local market town of Diss. It is known principally for two widely different reasons. Firstly it gives its name to a regional subdivision of the Pleistocene geological era (which dates from 2.58 million years ago to as recently as 11,500 BC.)  The Hoxian Era dates from roughly 500,000 BC and is so called due to various deposits found in the village which confirm this as an interglacial era. Perhaps of more relevance to this history is the Hoxne Hoard - the largest collection of late Roman gold and silver coins ever found from the entire Roman Empire. The hoard,  consisting of over 14,000 coins and dozens of larger pieces of tableware and jewellery, was discovered by a detectorist, Eric Laws, in 1992. The collection is on display at the British Museum and has an estimated worth  of £4.2 million.

Of even more recent importance, is the connection between Hoxne and St Edmund, King of East Anglia. The martyred king was patron saint of England until the 14th century. Edmund was killed by Norsemen  at a battle in the village in 869 and a cross marks the site. This was formerly the spot of an oak tree - known as  St Edmund’s Oak, or the Royal Oak which collapsed in 1848.The oak stood within the manor of Hoxne and the then Lord of the Manor, Sir Edmund Kerrison erected a memorial in its place. This too collapsed during  a storm and was replaced by his daughter, Agnes Burrell Bateman-Hanbury. 

A local myth has it that Edmund hid under Goldbrook Bridge to escape the Norsemen, but a glint  of his spurs alerted a local newly married couple and then alerted his enemies. It is said that he cursed any  newly wed couples who crossed the bridge.  

The connection between Hoxne and St Edmund was such that in 1101 the parish was granted a chapel by the Lord of the Manor, the Bishop of Norwich, dedicated to the saint and granted to his priory at  Norwich. The manor was also recorded as forming part of the grant the gifts seems to have lapsed since his  successor as Bishop was noted as Lord of the Manor in 1227. The Manor itself had been in the hands of the  Church since the 10th century. 

Hoxne remained a possession of the Bishops of Norwich until 1535 when it was leased by an Act of Parliament to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. In 1539 it was leased to Thomas Southwell.The manor is thought to have included the episcopal palace, the rectory and the advowson of the vicarage and was  valued at £92 19s - a valuable asset. In 1543 it was granted once more, this time as a freehold, to Sir Robert Southwell, Master of the Rolls. Southwell came to prominence as the tutor to Thomas Cromwell’s son,  Gregory. Through his service to Cromwell he married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas  Neville. In 1536 he entered the service of the King and became a solicitor of the court of augmentations.  In 1542 he was made Master of the Rolls and was knighted. As a servant of the Crown he was able to  amass a large landed estate and this included Hoxne, for which he paid the extraordinary sum of £1500. He continued as Master of the Rolls until 1550 still was on good terms with the regime of Edward VI. After the  kings death in 1553 he witnessed the document which vested the crown to Jane Grey but he swiftly switched  his allegiance to Mary after this succession fell apar t. He served Mary in a number of capacities, and was sheriff of Kent in 1554 during the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1554. He died in 1559 and the manor of Hoxne passed to his son, Thomas. 

Thomas died in 1567 and the title descend to his son, Sir Robert Southwell, who married Elizabeth, the daughter of the Earl of Effingham. Southwell had a distinguished naval career, being Vice-Admiral of Norfolk from 1585-1598. During this time he fought the Spanish Armada in 1588, in command of the Elizabeth Jonas. He died in 1598 and Hoxne passed to his son, Sir Thomas, who sold it, in 1621, to Alexander Presott. Prescott died within weeks of its purchase and it then descended to his son, Sir John Prescott, High Sheriff of the county in 1627. He died in 1640 and the Manor passed to his son, William. He lived for just two more years and then it passed to his sister Jane, who was married firstly to Sir Thomas Fisher and secondly to William, son of Lord Maynard. It therefore came to this family 

Jane and William had no children, and after her death in 1675, he married Susan, daughter and  heiress of Thomas Evans of Bow in Middlesex. When William died in 1704 the manor came to his son,  Thomas. He attended Christ’s College, Cambridge and then devoted his time to looking after his estates at Hoxne and at Passenham in Northamptonshire. He became the MP for Eye in 1710 and was later employed as the Commissary-general of Stores in Minorca from 1717. From 1723 Thomas gained the position of  Commissioner of Customs a post he retained until 1730. He never married and on his death in 1742 his estates passed to his cousin, William Maynard, later the 6th Lord Maynard. 

 William Maynard was Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk from 1762 to 1769 and died unmarried in 1775.  Hoxne passed to his great-nephew, Thomas Hesilrige. On his death in 1817, the manor passed to his cousin,Viscount Maynard, who quickly sold the estate to Mattias Kerrison. He was known locally as the ‘Bungay Millionaire’ having made money through the development of the Staithe navigation. The manor  eventually passed as part of the estate to the Maskell family and their descendants in whom it remains. 

Until the 19th century the Lords of Hoxne had often lived at Hoxne Hall. This this was demolished and rebuilt as Oakley Park by Sir Edward Kerrison. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1326-1327: bailiff ’s accounts, Norfolk Record Office 

1414-1416: bailiff’s accounts The National Archives 

1445-1446: reeve’s accounts, Norfolk Record Office 

1631-1631: rental Suffolk Archives - Ipswich 

1648-1648: rental 

1650-1650: rentals 

1652-1658: court roll 

1665-1666: court roll 

1667-1667: rentals (quit rents)  

1669-1727: court rolls, with Hoxne late Priory 

1679-1683: rentals (quit rents) 

1689-1689: schedule of arrears of quit rents 

1689-1689: reeve’s accounts, 1631-1664 

1689-1689: rental (quit rents) 

1690-1690: rentals (quit rents), with Hoxne late Priory 

1697-1697: rental and draft rental (quit rents), with Hoxne late Priory 

1706-1706: rental (quit rents), with Hoxne late Priory 

1720-1720: copy rental (quit rents), with Hoxne late Priory, 1706 

1727-1732: rentals (quit rents), with Hoxne late Priory 

1886-1887: rental 1887-1906: quit and free rent accounts 

1887-1887: schedules of court records 

Lot #24 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THE LORDSHIP of the Manor of Kaber is situated mainly in the parish of Kirkby Stephen. Kaber is a large and scattered village, a good proportion of which lies in the southern division of the forest of Stainmore. The northern part of the Lordship lies on the north side of the river Belo and is in the parish of Brough. The township measures some 3,962 acres and contains the hamlets of Higher Scales and Rookby, as well as the main village of Kaber.

It is not known exactly how the Lordship came by its name. It is possible that it refers, in the Anglo-Saxcon, to the town of kay. Who this individual was is lost to history. The earliest recorded Lord of the Manor of Kaber was the Kabergh family. During the reign of Henry II (1154-1189) it was found to be held by Robert de Kabergh. In the reign of John (1199-1216) it had passed to Robert’s son, Robert. Evidently it continued in the possession of this family until the reign of Edward II (1307-1327). In 1314, at an inquisition taken after the death Robert de Clifford, Baron of Westmoreland, from whom the Lordship was held, it was found that the Lord of the Manor of Kaber was Allan de Kabergh who had owed to his lord, by way of homage, the cornage (rental) of 17 8d.

Allan may well have been the last member of this family since by the time of the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the ownership had passed to the Rookby family. Thomas de Rookby was Lord here in 1336 and in that year was granted free warren over his lands in Kaber. After Thomas’ death the Lordship passed to his son, John, who was levied a fine for his moiety of Rookby in the Lordship, in 1360. Soon after this however the Lordship passed into the hands of the Fulthorp family. Firstly it was held by Roger de Fulthorp, who may have come by it to marriage to a Rookby heiress. From him it passed to his son, William, who is recorded as being Lord here in 1392. From him it passed to either his son, or grandson, Thomas Fulthorp, who was justice of the court of common please.

On the death of Thomas Fulthorp, the Lordship of Kaber descended to his eldest son, Allan. In an inquisition into the death of Henry , Lord Clifford, in 1504 it was found that Allan held the Lordship from the Cliffords by payment of cornage worth 17s. In addition Fulthorp was required to do suit of court every month at the Baron’s castle at Appleby. After Allan’s death he was succeeded in his estates by his son, Christopher. In 1533 there is record of an Ambrose Middleton, tenant of Henry, earl of Cumberland, paying out 100s for the relief of John Fulthorp, son and heir of Christopher Fulthorp, for his Lordship of Kaber, held of the Earl by service of one knight’s fee.

It is not known whether John succeeded his father since in the reign of Mary (1553-1558) it was in the possession of Thomas Fulthorp. 

On the death of Thomas Fulthorp, Kaber seems to have passed, either through purchase or by will, to George Wandesforth of Kirlington in Yorkshire. In 1605 he sold it on to Robert Wadeson of Yafforth. Wadeson was succeeded by his son Sir John Wadeson. He sold the Lordship for £1,200 to Robert Jackson of Brough, Thomas Robinson of Nateby and Robert Hindmore of Kirkby Stephen and Anthony Fothergill of Trannahill, in trust for the inhabitants and landowners of Kaber. The history of this agreement is rather obscure and in the 19th century the Lordship was purchased by the earls of Thanet. The current descendent of this family, Lord Hothfield is the present Lord of the Manor of Kaber.

Kaber is notable for being the venue of a rebellion in 1663. This was an unusual event since the rebellion in question was fomented by a group of republicans, angry at the restoration of Charles II. A clandestine meeting of the rebel leaders was called, to be held at a place known as Kaber Rigg. A great number of men are said to have arrived for the meeting but intelligence had got out and they were intercepted by the local militia. Most of the conspirators, of which was known as the Kaber Rigg Plot, escaped but some of the leaders, among then a Captain Atkinson, were arrested. They were transported to Appleby Castle and in March of the following year were executed in the castle grounds.

Lot #25 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THE LORDSHIP of Kings Meaburn lies in the parish of Marton, which is bounded on the East by the parishes of Kirby Thore and St Michael’s, Appleby. It is separated from them by the river Eden. To the south lie the parishes of St Laurence Appleby and Shap. To the north and west it is bounded by Brampton, Lowther and Cliburn. King’s Meaburn is a village and township in a pleasant location, standing on an eminence on the eastern banks of the the Lyvennet rivulet. It consists of 2,380 acres of pasture and arable land.

It is likely that after the Norman invasion of 1066 the Lordship of King’s Meaburn formed part of the manor of Morland. This was in the hands of the Talebois family. Ivo Talebois had arrived in England with William and had probably been a retainer of the Meschines family who were early Barons of Westmoreland. He was succeeded in his estates by his son Eldred, whose Saxon Christian name indicates that his father may have married‚ into an existing landowning family. Eldred was succeeded in his possession of Morland by his son Ketel, who gifted two carucates of land to St Mary’s Abbey in York.   

Soon after this time, King’s Meaburn passed out of the Talebois family into that of the Morvilles. The first Morville we know of in the areas was Simon who was married to Ada, heiress of William Engayne, Baron of Westmoreland. Simon was succeeded by his son Roger and from him the Lordship descended to his son Hugh. This Morville is infamous for being one of the four knights who murdered Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. After this his lands were seised by Henry II. It if from this date that the Lordship receives its name. In the aftermath of Morvilles disgrace (though he was later rehabilitated at court) it was found the Meaburn was divided into three Lordships, one belonged to Morville’s sister, Maud, therefore becoming Maud’s Meaburn, another was Meaburn Matilde, owned by another of Morville’s sisters and finally King’s Meaburn, which was the portion taken by the crown. Perhaps as penance, before his lands were taken by the king, Morville granted two ox-gangs (around 35 acres) to Carlisle Priory. Henry II later confirmed this grant, which lay in the open land known as Meburn Field.

After the demise of Morville’s estates, King’s Meaburn, perhaps then reunited with Maud’s and Matilde, was granted to Robert de Veteripont as part of the gift of the Barony of Westmorland. We hear little more of the Lordship until the death of the last Veteripont, Robert. He was succeeded by his two daughter, Idonea and Isabella. In the division of the estate, three quarters of King’s Meaburn came to Isabella and one quarter to Idonea. The whole Lordship was valued at a rather impressive £50. Idonea later married John Crombwell, perhaps one of the ancestors of the Cromwell family, and in 1300 gave a grant of six acres of land in King’s Meaburn to Stephen Meaburne and his heirs.

After the death of Roger, Lord Clifford in 1328 the inquisiton into his estate found that he; ‘died seized at King’s Meaburne, of a capital messuage, the herbage wherof was worth by the year 3s; in demesne lands 217 acres by the greater hundred, all of which lie uncultivated, by reason of want of tenants, and the destruction made by the Socts, the herbage wherof is worth by the year 21s 5d, 22 acres of meadow, worth 22s, rent of one free tenant, 2s 8d, 48 ox-gangs in the hands of tenants at will worth yearly £4 16s; 16 cottages, worth yearly 16sz; water mill, 50s; pleas and perquisites of court’.

In the aftermath of Edward II’s half-hearted war with Scotland and his final demise at the hands of his Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer, the Scot’s took the opportunity to wreak havoc in the border country. The Barony of Westmoreland was overrun and King’s Meaburn was obviously destroyed as an economic unit. The farmers and tenant were driven from their land and the lord’s demesne was rendered useless. Like all the other areas locally destroyed by the Scots it took the best part of a century before the Lordship produced the same return as it had done before the attack.

Lot #1 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Kirkham lies midway between Preston and Blackpool and was one of the largest parishes in the county,  comprising some 45,000 acres.

This is an ancient place. In 70AD, when the Roman army entered Lancashire, they built a fort at Carr Hill,  near the modern town centre. A more permanent structure was built in 120 AD and became an important  garrison for the Roman Legions. The town later developed on the site of the vicus which would have grown  up along side the fort. Many finds of Roman artefacts have been found in the town , including a 2nd Century  shield boss or umbro, which is held by the British Museum and was unearth in 1792. 

After the Norman invasion of 1066 the manor became part of the estate of William I. He held most of the  land in this part of Lancashire, known as Amounderness, but later granted it to Roger de Poictou. In 1100  Roger gifted it to the priory of St. Mary’s, Lancaster, a monastic institution founded by him from the Abbey of  Sees in Normandy. This grant lasted only a few years before it was regranted to the Shrewsbury Abbey. This  grant was later to cause a legal fight between the monks of Shrewsbury and Theobald Walter, who claimed to  have received a similar such grant of the advowson of the parish church from King John. Amazingly this case  rumbled on through the long reign of Henry III (1216-1272) and was only settled by his successor, Edward  I in 1280. The manor and the advowson were then given by Edward to the Cistercian monks of Vale Royal  Abbey in Cheshire. Six years later the town was granted borough status by the King but the Abbots remained  as Lords of the Manor and controlled the local market through a grant originally made in 1207.  

The issue of the advowson of the parish church proved to be a thorn in the side of subsequent abbots. In  1327 the abbot, Peter, was summoned by the Archbishop of York to account for their claim. He had to  produce both the grant from Edward I and four witnesses to attest that this had been the case since 1286.  At the same time, Adam, a monk from Shrewsbury launched a counter claim, arguing that his house held the advowson from the time of Theobald Walter. One can only assume that the income from the church by  way of tithes was of great value. This suit settled after 15 years in favour of Vale Royal, by which time Peter  had been murdered in 1340 after an armed raid on Vale Royal Abbey by unknown assailants who destroyed  a number of buildings. It may well be that this was related to Peter’s legal battle as in 1337 he had been  at violent odds with his tenants in Kirkham who had objected to his attempts to assert the abbey’s feudal  rights over them. They claimed that since the grant of 1286 they had been freemen and not subject to the  abbey’s feudal jurisdiction. The dispute was so ferocious that many tenants followed Peter on his journey from  Cheshire to Rutland. There they captured him, held him prisoner and one of the abbot’s servants was killed  trying to protect him. It took an intervention by Edward III to free Peter but is seems that bitterness toward  him eventually led to his death three years later. 

Further legal troubles were only ended by Edward III in 1364 when he declared that the abbots of Vale Royal  were the Lords of Kirkham and held its church and that was the end the matter. The succeeding abbots held  Kirkham until it was dissolved by order of Henry VIII in 1538. It was noted at the time that; 

Walter, abbot of Vale Royal, in 24 Edward I., obtained a grant of the manor of Kirkham in free alms, with the  privilege of a free market there; and at the same time a grant to the burgesses of Kirkham, that the said borough  be a free borough for ever; that the burgesses have a free guild, with a prison, pillory, and ducking-stool; assize of  bread, beer, measures, and weights: and that the said abbot grant to the said burgesses two bailiffs, who shall have  and hold courts, and enjoy the perquisites of those courts. The market and fair were confirmed to the abbot by  charter, dated 15th January 14 Edward IV. 

After the Dissolution the manor was then granted to Christchurch College, Oxford but was leased out to  the Clifton family of Lytham making them the de facto lords of the manor: 

The fee farmer (Clifton) convenes annually a jury of thirteen inhabitants, who constitute a court leet, and meet  in June, when they nominate two bailiffs for the borough, a constable for the borough, town, and township, with  tax layers, viewers of fish, flesh, and other provisions; scavengers, by-law men, affeerers, swine ringers, pinders or  pounders, assizers of bread and beer, and leather searchers. The lord himself appoints a collector of tolls. The bailiffs and twelve or more burgesses constitute a corporation in virtue of charters in the town’s chest. 

Thomas Clifton had in fact leased the manor three years before the dissolution of Vale Royal and it was left  to his son Thomas in 1582.  

When the manor was assessed by Parliament in 1650 it was found to be in the possession of Thomas  Clifton, a papist delinquent who paid a yearly rent to Christchurch the said rent being uncertain rysing or falling  according to the prise of corn or greyne sold at the markett att Oxford. 

The Clifton lease of the manor was of a remarkable longevity. The family could trace its lineage to at least  1257 when William de Clifton is recorded as holding land in Amounderness. In 1662 Sir Thomas Clifton was  created a Baronet (presumably for loyal support of the Crown during the Civil War) but the title became  extinct on his death in 1694 and the lease passed to his nephew. The family remained in possession of the  lease until the end of the 19th century.  

In 1933 the manor was sold by Christchurch College for £300 to Edward Sergeant of the town. The family  have retained the Lordship ever since. Claims to market and fair have been asserted by the Vendor’s family  in the past but Manorial Services has no current information on the status of the market.  

A Selection of Manorial Documents in in the Public Domain:

1500-1600: court roll Oxford University: Christ Church Archives 

1582-1582: court roll Lancashire Archives 

1588-1588: court roll 

1591-1591: court roll (poor condition) 

1611-1612: court roll (in a book), with other manors 

1611-1612: court roll 

1640-1640: rental, with other manors 

1653-1653: particulars (for sale of Earl of Derby’s estates) 

1680-1811: court book 

1689-1689: rents 

1703-1703: surveys of tenements, with other manors 

1703-1703: survey, with other manors 

Lot #26 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

THE LORDSHIP of Knock was anciently known as Knock Shalcock, perhaps after a former owner. It lies in the parish of Marton and is two miles from the centre of this village. Knock is a small village, bounded on the north by Knock Pike, on the edges of the north Pennines. On the east it is bounded by Dufton Pike, which rises to a height of 2,518 feet at Meidon Hill.

The Lordship of Knock has always been part of the Barony of Westmoreland and has been held by the Barons since the Norman Conquest. After 1070 it came into the hands of the Meschines family and from them to the Morvilles, the Veteriponts,the Cliffords and finally, in the 17th century, the Tuftons, who were Earls of Thanet. The current Lord of the Manor is Lord Hothfield, the present representative of the Tufton family. Under them the Lordship has been held by a number of tenant farmers. The earliest known of these are the Boyville family. They are found to be farming Knock in 1315. John de Boyville was found to be holding the Lordship of Knock Shalcock, with the wardship being worth £13 and the cornage, or rental to the Baron being 3s 4d. In 1330, John, or perhaps his son, is found to be in possession of the lordship, which appeared to be divided into two unidentified part. At this time the inquisition mentions that his son and heir, Robert was then 16 years of age.  

During the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the Lordship of Knock passed out of the control of the Boyville family to that of Rookby. In 1370 it was held by John de Rookby. At this point it was still referred to as Knock Shalcock. The Rookby tenure was short, since by the reign of the next king, Richard II (1377-1399) it passed to William de Soulby. This family had been landowners, of the Lordship of Soulby, in the parish of Kirkby Stephen since the reign of King John (1199-1216). In 1297, the son of William de Souleby was a ward of Isabella de Clifford. The families ownership of Soulby is lost in the early 14th century but a remnant of the family obviously survived.

In 1422 Knock was in possession of the Rookby’s again, this time , Thomas. After his death it descended to his eldest son John. He was the last of the male line and Knock passed, on the marriage of his daughter, Joan, to John Lancaster of Howgill. In 1453 he was found to be holding the Lordship by right of his wife’s inheritance. Lancaster died without issue and left four daughters as co-heiresses. On the partition of his estates Knock to given to Christian and Elizabeth. The former was marrieˇd to Sir Robert Harrington, the latter to Robert Crackenthorp. The Crackenthorps were a prominent local family and took their name from a township in the parish of St Michaels, Appleby. The Crackenthorps were Lords of the Manor of nearby Newbiggin and first appeared during the reign of Edward I. During the reign of Richard II John de Crackenthorpe served as a Member of Parliament for Westmorland and was then under-sheriff of the county. His grandson was Robert Crackenthorpe who married Elizabeth Lancaster. He also served in Parliament, during the reign of Henry V and IV. 

The coheirs of John Lancaster appear to have possessed Knock for only a short time. They sold it to the Clifford family and it has since descended with the Barony of Westmorland.

Lot #8 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2024 - Stephen Johnson

Lamerton is a large parish lying three miles from Tavistock. It includes the villages of North Brent-Tor,  Ottery and Hilltown. The named manor of Lamer ton is one of a number of lordships within the parish; as is usual for Devon where the rich soil meant that parishes could support a number of manorial holdings. The village was once more populous than it is now and was a centre of manganese mining, an important  component in the production of glass.  

At the time of Domesday Book, the Manor of Lamer ton was held by Reynold Adobede, but it notes that Roger Giffard holds Lamer thon from the Honour of Plympton in Fee. It is almost certain that Giffard was a tenant of Adobede, of whom little is recorded. Certainly in succeeding decades the Manor became the  possession of the Giffard family. Sir Walter Giffard of Weare Giffard is recorded as Lord of Lamerton during  the reign of Henry III (1216-1272). He seems to have been the last of the line since he left his daughter Emma, as his sole heir, though she appears to have held it jointly with her mother. An entry from 1276 notes  that  

Lamerton, Aveton, Withchurche and Were. The manors, held of Is[abel] countess of Albemarle by service of  13½ knights’ fees.

The countess was the overlord as Lord of the Honour of Plympton. 

Emma was married three times, firstly to Sir Hugh Widworthy, secondly to Sir William Trewin and lastly to Sir Robert Dynham. She had one child, with her second husband, who hailed from an estate at Modbury. This was their son William, who inherited both Lamer ton and Weare-Gifford from his mother. He adopted the surname Weare from his mother. The manor passed to his son and then to his grandson, also  William (II) who was known as Trewin alias Weare.  

Lamerton was a wealthy manor. In 1389 one of the Weare’s tenant, Richard Northcote was declared  to be ‘an idiot’ and his land was escheated to the Crown. It was described in the Calendar of Inquisition Post  Mortem as being; 

Two-thirds of 12 cottages, of a mill, and of a carucate of land, held of the lord of Lamerton by knight’s  service and service of 4d. yearly and suit to the court of Lamerton every three weeks. And the said two-thirds  render 8d. to the prior of Launceston for the weir of the afore-said mill.  

A knight’s service was the estimated cost of keeping a knight in the field for a year and many whole manors were held by this service.  

During the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413) We are married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of John de Filleigh but died shortly after Henry VI ascended to the throne. His daughter and heiress, Joan, married Richard Denzell and thereby the Manor of Lamerton and the rest of her estates passed to this family. In time Richard Denzell inherited the manor and he left a daughter Elizabeth to inherit his estates. She married Martin Fortescue in 1454 and brought the manor to the family who would hold Lamer ton for the next five centuries. 

The Fortescue family hailed from Filleigh in the County. The family could trace its origins back to Sir  Richard le Forte who arrived in England with the Conqueror in 1066 but by the 17th century had split into  a number of branches both in Cornwall and in Devon. Arthur Fortescue lived at Penwarne in Mevagissey and it was his son, Hugh, who married Bridget Boscawen. Hugh was successful politician, sitting in Parliament for five seats over several decades. His son, also Hugh, succeeded his father in 1719. Hugh was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George, Prince of Wales in 1723 but was ousted from his position after  refusing to support Prime Minister Walpole’s Excise Bill in 1733. After Walpole fell from power, Fortescue  was rehabilitated in Parliament before being raised to the Peerage as Baron Fortesuce. The family estate,  including the Manor of Lamer ton, passed to his younger brother, Matthew, when Hugh died childless in 1751. Matthew’s only son, Hugh inherited in 1785.The Manor remained in the hands of the family until the later 20th Century. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1423-1597: court rolls (extracts), Devon Archives 

1424-1431: court roll (non-consecutive) 

1465-1483: rents and profits account 

1522-1593: court rolls and books 

1600-1700: valuation 

1600-1625: survey 

1600-1625: list of tenants 

1600-1625: rent rolls  

1613-1619: court rolls  

1625-1648: court rolls  

1647-1671: rentals 

1661-1676: court book 

1678-1678: presentments 

1681-1681: appointment of steward 

1682-1682: rent roll 

1700-1725: rentals  

1717-1735: accounts 

1754-1824: rentals 

1846-1846: rental, with other manors 

1868-1876: chief and conventionary rental, with other manors 

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - Winter 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Lying in the low clay lands of Bedfordshire is the Saxon village of Langford. The earliest reference to  it dates from 944 when a settlement arose on the banks of the River Ivel at a convenient ford.  

Before the Norman invasion, the manor was held by the thegn, Lewin. His tenure did not survive the  aftermath of 1066 and he was soon displaced by Walter Fleming, who was given the manor by William the  Conqueror. Walter was the founder of the Wahull family, who remained as Lords of the Langford for 550  years. 

The Domesday entry for the manor is extensive and notes that it consisted of; 

12 villagers. 7 smallholders. 5 slaves. 16 ploughlands. 

4 lord’s plough teams 1 lord’s plough teams possible 9 men’s plough teams. 

Meadow 16 ploughs.  

Pasture 300 sheep. Woodland 16 pigs. 

2 mills, value 1 pound 6 shillings and 7 pence. Annual value to lord: 

15 pounds 10 shillings in 1086; 

10 pounds when acquired by the 1086 owner; 15 pounds  in 1066. 

This was a valuable and well populated manor and formed an important part of Walter’s Bedfordshire Estate  which was centred on his castle at Odell in the north of the county. Then it was known as Wahull and Walter  was made Baron of Wahull. The genealogy of the Wahull line is as follows; 

Walter the Fleming; 

Walter de Wahull, son of Walter the Fleming; 

Simon de Wahull, son of Walter - flourished around the middle of the 12th century; 

Walter de Wahull son of Simon, Baron by 1160 -1172; 

Simon de Wahull, son of Walter - died before 1197; 

John de Wahull, son of Simon - died about 1217; 

Rose, wife of Robert Lisle and Agnes, wife of Robert Basingham sisters of John; 

Rose died in 1222 without  issue, leaving Agnes Baroness in her own right, she died in 1238; 

John de Basingham, son of Agnes - died 1239; 

Saher de Wahull, died in 1250; 

Walter de Wahull, son of Saher - died before 1269; 

John de Wahull, son of Walter - died 1296; 

Thomas de Wahull, son of John - died 1303; 

John de Wahull, son of Thomas - born 1302 -1336; 

John de Wahull, son of John - born about 1320 -1348; 

John de Wahull, son of John died 1367; 

Nicholas de Wahull, 1410; 

Thomas de Wahull, son of Nicholas - born about 1387 -1421; 

Thomas de Wahull, son of Thomas - died in 1441; 

John de Wahull, son of Thomas - born 1436 -1490; 

Fulk de Wahull, son of John - died in 511; 

Nicholas de Wahull, son of Fulk - died in 1531; 

Anthony de Wahull, son of Nicholas - died in 1542; 

Anthony was the last male member of the family to be Lord of Langford. She was before three weeks old at  the time of her father’s death and later married Richard Chetwood when still a young woman. Chetwood  died soon after they were married and she then married Sir George Claverly. Her eldest son, Richard  Chetwood, succeeded to the manor as a young boy and became Lord of Langford in around 1580. In 1628  he sold the manor to Charles Nodes, who held the manor of Shephall, in Hertfordshire. He was Sheriff of  Hertfordshire in 1646 and died in 1651. He was succeeded by his son, George, who sold the Lordship of  Langford in 1704, to John Draper.  

Draper sold Langford 12 years later to Thomas Browne. The descent after Browne is rather uncertain but it  appears that by 1775 it was held by John Schutz, who had married Mary Browne, but in the same year sold  it to Edward Kynaston. Later it was held by John Jackson, who sold it in 1820 to Samuel Edwards. He was one  of the instigators of the Enclosure of Langford open fields in 1827. The Lordship later passed to the Rainsford  family and then the Gurneys before being purchased by Henry Chaundler, a solicitor from Biggleswade. The  manor then passed to his daughter, Anne, who married James Comyn, a High Court Judge and became Lady  Comyn when her husband was knighted in in 1978. She sold the manor to the current owner in 1989.  

Please note that commons and wastes are excluded from the sale. 

A Selection of Manorial Documents in in the Public Domain:

1641-1649: court rolls Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies 

1650-1652: court book 

1721-1745: court book Birmingham: Archives 

1675-1690: minute book Bedfordshire Archives 

1683-1745: court papers 

1697-1745: minute books  

1697-1697: rental and terrier 

1700-1750: index to court book 

1747-1936: court books 

1799-1820: surrenders and admissions  

1800-1802: quit rental 

1806-1806: schedule of court rolls 

1806-1823: stewards papers 

1807-1816: minute book 

1807-1816: draft court roll 

1821-1832: quit rentals 

1821-1935: books of fees  

1821-1907: minute books 

1824-1824: list of quit rents payable for cottages and land on the waste 

1840-1901: quit rentals, with some correspondence 

1840-1840: rental of quit rents 

1885-1902: steward’s correspondence 

1885-1885: appointment of steward 

1902-1908: rent rolls 

1902-1902: appointment of steward 

1905-1931: quit rent rolls 

1916-1916: minutes 

Lot #27 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

IN COMMON with a number of Lordships of the Manor in the vicinity of Appleby , Langton has always been in the possession of the feudal Barons of Westmorland. It derives its name from Long Town, and in the Middle Ages it was a village of some size. At some point there was a church here, and it is a possibility that it may have formed a parish in its own right. Today Langton forms a township alongside Bongates and the two cover an area of some 4,250 acres. It is 2 miles from Appleby.

The ownership of the Lordship of Langton descends from a number of families from the Norman invasion of 1066. First it was granted to Ralph Meschines, earl of Chester, from his family is passed to the Morvilles, the last of which was Hugh, one of the four knights who murder Thomas Becket at Canterbury cathedral in 1170. Langton was seised by the Crown and granted then to Robert de Veteripont. It remained in this family until the male line became extinct and it passed to the Veteripont heiresÚses, Isabella and Idonea. From them it came to the family of Isabella’s husband, Roger de Clifford. They held it for three centuries until is passed from the last of the family, Anne, Countess of Pembroke, to the Tuftons, the earls of Thanet. The Tufton’s have continued to hold it until today and the current Lord of the Manor is the present representative of the family, Lord Hothfield.

As was mentioned above, during the early part of the Middle Ages it appears that Langton was far more populous and important than it is today. Its decline can be placed firmly at the feet of the Scots. Warfare between the two old enemies had raged throughout this border region since the Normans had Conquered England. Westmorland was the front line in the continuing aggression and during the end of the reign of Edward II (1307-1327) the Scots were in a particularly strong position. Edward had conducted a number of failed campaigns against the Scots, most famously being defeated comprehensively at Bannockburn in 1314. In 1327 Edward had withdrawn to the south in a desperate bid to fend of an impending rebellion from the Barons, who despised his despotic rule an his close advisor, Hugh Despencer. The Scots, led by Robert Bruce saw their chance and staged a major invasion. Westmorland saw the brunt of the attack and a great deal of demesne was destroyed and farmers driven of the land. Langton appears to have suffered more than most, with a once thriving village utterly destroyed. We know this because at the inquisition in the death of Roger, Lord Clifford, in 1328 the following was recorded; 

At Langeton, the site of a certain manor burned by the Scots, worth yearly

nothing, for want of tenants, and for reason of the destruction made by

the Scots. And there are 30 acres of demesne land, which lie untilled for

the reason aforesaid, the herbage whereof is worth yearly 18d. Thirty ox-gangs

of land, which lie untilled for the cause aforesaid, the herbage whereof is

worth 15s 6d a year. 16 acres of demesne meadow, worth yearly 3s and

no more, for too great abundance of meadow and pasture in those parts. Four

cottages yield yearly 2s. One water mill, worth yearly, 13s 4d. Please

and perquisites of the court of Appleby and Langton, worth yearly, 4s.

Clearly the Scots had rendered the whole area a wreck and the farmers were either dead or had fled. However, in this year peace, although very transient was declared and some normality could return. For Langton though the thriving mediaeval economy it boasted before 1327 had gone. An inquisition in 1422, almost a century later, reveals that Langton had barely recovered its losses;

At Langton there are 10 messuages, worth nothing is issues above reprises;

40 oxgangs of land as 3s 4d each, for score acres of meadow at 6d each; water

mill 13s 4d, one fulling mill, 6s 8d, one hundred fourscore acres of pasture

at one penny each.

Langton did recover, in time and became part of the economic system of the parish of Appleby.

Lot #7 of Manorial Services Auction - Summer 2020 - Stephen Johnson

Lying midway between Plymouth and Penzance the Manor of Lanhadron is recorded in Domesday Book as a possession  of Robert of Mortain. William the Conqueror’s great survey notes that Lanhadron consisted of 

3 ploughlands, 1 lord’s plough team 

60 acres of pasture 

5 acres of woodland 

4 smallholders, 2 slaves  

Worth 10 shillings. 

Lanhadron forms part of the parish of St Ewe, a few miles south of St Austell. Until the 19th century an ancient Celtic  cross stood here near a place known as Nunnery Hill. In 1873 a local farmer decided that this might be good prospect  for treasure and tore down the cross head and shaft, leaving the base, which remains today. Fifty years earlier the manor  had its own antimony mine, south of Lanhadron Farm, known as Wheal Prosper. Antimony, was used as an alloy in  printers type as well as variety of industrial uses such as in pottery glazes. These mines were extremely rare in Britain.  The name Lanhadron probably derives from the celtic forms of church of St Hadron.

The name of the Manor has had various spellings over the centuries including Lansladron, Lanshadron and Lanlaran,  before it settled on the more modern form of Lanharon. At the time of Domesday, when its overlord was Earl Robert,  its local lord was Reginald de Valletort. He had likely inherited from his father, Godfrey, a Norman who had arrived the  the Conqueror in 1066. Reginald held numerous manors and estates in Cornwall and Devon, including Appledore and  Bigbury. The Valletorts held the manor into the early 13th century when, at some point unrecorded it passed to a local  landowner, Sir Serlo de Lansladron. He was summoned to attend the first parliament of Edward I in 1275. The manor  remained with this family for two further generations until the line failed and it passed to the Trerice family. They were  the descendants of the marriage of Sir Serlo’s daughter Miranda. From them the manor passed either by descent or  purchase, to the Arundel family of Lanherne.  

This family were one of the most important gentry family in Cornwall and claimed their lineage to the Norman invasion.  The family estate was based at Lanherne and Trerice and throughout the 15th and 16th centuries gradually increased  their wealth and influence. Though never one of the most powerful families in western England they nevertheless  served both the Lancastrian and Yorkist monarchs in the 15th century, mainly as local royal enforcers. They added  land in Devon and Dorset and were reputedly the largest free tenants in Cornwall by 1500. When Prince Henry (the  future Henry VIII) was made duke of York in 1494, Sir John Arundel was made a knight of the Bath and led his own  troops against Cornish rebels in 1497. Though the family were wealthy they were not among the richest in society. In  1525, Sir Thomas Arundell turned down a barony because he knew that he was unable to afford the rank. However, in  Cornwall, were there few if any aristocrats the family were known as the Great Arundells. They reached their peak of  influence in the 1540s but as a strictly Catholic family they were forced into a decline on the when Queen Elizabeth  ascended to the throne. Sir John, the last of the Great Arundells prospered during the reign of Mary but was sidelined  under Elizabeth when he refused to accept the Act of Uniformity in 1570.  

The Arundells of Laherne continued as Lords of Lanhadron into the 17th century. The manor was described in the  17th century by the antiquary, John Norden, as an auntient howse of the Arondells, where was the moste statelieste parke  within the shire, now utterly decayde, and the woodes rooted up and the land sowed with corne. There is an oke within the  circuit of this decayde parke, called Arondell’s oke, which is sayde to beare leaves as whyte as whyte paper. Some suche leaves  are ordinarye on manie others, but to be so generall is more straunge. 

In the 18th century the property of the Arundells of Lantern and the Arundells of Trerice became united in the figure  of Mary, who married Henry, the seventh Baron Arundell of Wardour and Lanhadron then passed to this line. In 1801  the manor was sold the Cood family but was repurchased by the Arundells not long afterwards. The family retained  Lanhadron until the last quarter of the 20th century when it was sold by Lord Talbot of Malahide, to a private purchaser  and thence to the current owners. 

Manorial Documents Associated With This Manor:

Account Roll 1398-1401 Cornwall Record Office Court Roll 

1459-1460 Court Roll 

1470-1471  Court Roll 

1494-1499 Court Roll 

1490-1500 Court Roll 

1539-1540 Court Book 

1664-1671 Court Book 

1678-1731 Rental 

1797 Particulars of Tenements 1788  

Lot #5 of Manorial Services Auction - Spring 2024 - Stephen Johnson

At the time of William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book of 1086 the Lordship of the Manor of Lawshall was held by the Abbey and Convent at Ramsey in Cambridgeshire. Its ownership was the result of a  grant, made in 972 by the Saxon thegn, Alfwinus, son of Bricious. This was a wealthy manor, being worth £12  according to the Survey and unusual in Suffolk in that it was, and is, the only manor in the parish. The existing  manor house, Lawshall Hall, which was built in the 1550s replaced a building which had been originally built  for the Abbey’s administrator in the 11th century. By the 13th century the Hall was held by a tenant of the  Abbey, who, in 1269, was recorded as Alexander Henming. 

A court roll of the Manor from 1393 survives and this describes the extent of the manor as being  971 acres, including 48 ‘custumars’ or tenants of the manor who between them held 600 acres. A further 17 tenants held 125 acres and the monks themselves had 215 acres of demesne land on which their tenants  were expected to work. The manor was under the control of several officials. The reeve, who arranged and accounted for all work carried out was chosen by the tenants at the manorial court. He (always a man) also  collected rents. In addition there was a seneschal who supervised the Abbey’s manors in the area, a kind of  regional manager and the bailiff, who lived in the manor. The effect of the Black Death which killed as many  as half of the population of the village was still felt in a number of vacant tenancies. It is possible that the  relatively large amount of demesne land was caused by the Abbey taking empty land in hand. 

The Lordship continued in the possession of the Abbey until the house was finally Dissolved in 1539. It was granted by the Crown to John Rither, or Ryther. He was born into a family of landed gentry in  Yorkshire and at an early age entered the household of the Earl of Oxford. In 1537 he was employed by Thomas Cromwell to report on embezzlement at Colchester Abbey and in the aftermath purchased £25 of the abbey’s household stuff. Ryther appears to have used his connection to Cromwell to further his own  fortune by buying land from Dissolved monasteries, Lawshall among them. He became what would today be  called a speculator, and sold Lawshall within a few years to Sir William Drury for a healthy profit. When Drury was Lord of the Manor he resided at the manor house and in 1578 it is remembered that the Queens highness  in her progress riding from Melford to Bury (St Edmunds) on August 5 1578 dined at Lawshall Hall to the great  rejoycing of ye said Parish and the Country thereabouts. The author visited the manor house some twenty years ago when it was an empty ruin and several photographs of this visit are included in this history.

In 1595, Elizabeth Drury, Sir William’s daughter, appeared on a list of Papist Recusants. A report noted  that she hath bin prisoner to Sir John Heygham. The Drury family were Protestants but Elizabeth had married Catholic and seemingly converted to the “Old Religion” By this time the manor had passed out of the hands of the Drury family and had been purchased firstly by Thomas Lovell and then by Edward Rookwood, a cousin of the Gunpowder Plot conspirator, Ambrose Rookwood. In 1598 he sold Lawshall for £4400 to Sir Robert Lee. Lee was a cloth merchant from London and was a member of the Worshipful Company of  Taylors. He was was Lord Mayor of London in 1602. The manor remained in the Lee family for the next 90  years. Subsequent holders include Baptist Lee of Livermore Parva, and the lawyer Nathaniel Lee Acton who  was Sheriff of Suffolk in 1789. He lived until 1836 but died childless. His estates, including Lawshall, passed to his sister, Harriet, Lady Middleton. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Sir William Fowle Middleton whose  father had purchased the Shrubland Estate, 20 miles to the east. He too died childless in 1860 and the estate passed to his cousin, Sir George Broke Middleton.  

Sir George was a sailor and entered service as a midshipman in 1825. In 1840 he was awarded the rank of Commander and five years later made Captain. He saw active service during the Crimean War on HMS Gladiator and later HMS Hero. When he retired from service in 1863 he had been raised to the rank of Rear Admiral and was finally made a full Admiral in 1877. He died unmarried in 1887 and Lawshall passed to his niece, Jane Ana Broke. She was the wife of James St Vincent Suumarez, 4th Lord Saumarez who came to possess both this manor and the larger estate of Shrubland Park. Lawshall remained in the hands of the  Saumarez (pronounced ‘Sommeray’) for the next 100 years before being sold to a private buyer in the late 20th Century.

Lawshall lies between Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury. It derives it name from hlaw-gesella meaning  a shelter on high ground and has being spelt in a remarkable number of differing way in Suffolk records  including the following; Lausel, Lausele, Lausell, Lauselle, Laushalle, Laushill, Laushille, Laushull, Laushulle, Lausill,  Lawcell, Laweshill, Laweshille, Lawishille, Lawsall, Lawschyll, Lawsele and Lawsell. 

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

 1466-1466: court roll, British Library, Manuscript Collections 

1278-1280: serjeant’s accounts, The National Archives 

1334-1337: reeve’s accounts (2) 

1347-1374: reeve’s accounts (4) 

1364-1368: court roll 

1367-1421: rental (non-consecutive) 

1397-1398: rental 

1374-1392: bailiff ’s accounts (5) 

1398-1400: collector’s accounts 

1484-1535: court roll (non-consecutive) 

1544-1545: estreats, with receipt 

1336-1366: reeve’s accounts (non-consecutive), Suffolk Archives - Bury St Edmunds Branch 

1560-1608: court rolls (4) 

1567-1575: survey 

1610-1667: court books 1611-1611: map 

1644-1726: rentals (non-consecutive) 

1660-1902: steward’s papers 

1667-1672: court roll, incl index to admissions 

1673-1925: court books 

1700-1713: court rolls (3) 

1744-1862: minute books 

1807-1807: rental 

1836-1843: account book of court fees 

1837-1838: rental, with Hanningfields (draft) 

1838-1838: rental 

1849-1858: accounts of fines, with Hanningfields 

1922-1924: minute book 

Lot #1 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

Layer Breton lies six miles South West of Colchester on the road to Tollesbury. A feature of the Village is the Heath, which has an area of about 32 acres, the greater part of which is in the Parish of Layer Breton, while a very small portion - about 2 acres - is in the Parish of Birch. 

All the title and interest of the vendors in the Heath and in such roadside verges as lie within the Parish of Layer Breton are included in the Sale. An ordinance Map of the Parish can be inspected at the office of Messrs. C.M. Stanford & Son, High Street, Colchester, on which the Heath has been coloured to correspond with a plan held by the Lexden & Winstree R.D.C., Rebow Chambers, Sir Isaac's Walk, Colchester. The Council's plan shows only the Heath coloured and it is presumed that this is the only part affected by the Council's bye-Laws. The Vendors, nevertheless, claim that the roadside verges form part of the wastes of the Manor. 

The Manor is sold subject to the following: 

1. An easement in favour of the South Essex Waterworks Company dated 26th May, 1936.
2. A scheme under the Commons Act 1899 and the Lexden and Winstree R.D.C. Bye-Laws made under it and brought into operation on 1st September, 1948.
3. A right of way granted to Mrs. M. A. Renwick by a deed dated 28th September, 1953.
4. The Wayleave agreements referred to below. 
5. The rights as the Lexden and Winstree R.D.C. have in respect of water pipes laid under the Heath following a notice given to the Vendors on 22nd September, 1934. 

Copies of the documents referred to above can be seen at the offices of the Solicitors. 

Income in this Manor is derived from: 

1. Two Wayleave agreements with Eastern Electricity Board, with rents totaling £1 16s. 6d. per annum.
2. Rent for grazing on the Heath, £5 per annum having been paid for this up to a few years ago. It is not now let. The right to let the grazing is subject to the rights of commoners, so far as thy can be shown to exist, but no right to graze has , to the best of the vendors' knowledge, been claimed by any commoner since the Manor was purchased by the late Mr. G.F. Beaumont in 1906. 
3. Payments from time to time of £7 by a travelling Showman for the Vendors' consent to placing his roundabouts and sideshows on part of the Heath, such consent being given after consultation with the Police, R.D.C. and the Chairman of the Parish meeting. 
4. The sporting rights over the heath have from time to time been let, but they are not let at the present time. 

According to Morant (History and Antiquities of the County of Essex Vol. 1, Page 409) the owner of the land in this Parish in Edward the Confessor's reign was Ailmar, while Ralph Piperell and his undertenant held the Manor at the time of the Domesday Survey. It later came to Isaac Rebow, who was knighted on 27th March, 1693. (His name is kept alive in Colchester by the name given to the Lexden and Winstree R.D.C. Office - Rebow Chambers). His grandson Charles Chamberlain Rebow inherited the Manor and died in 1754 leaving an only daughter (by his wife, Mary Nevill, sister of the Rt. Hon. William Lord Abergavenny) who married Thomas Adams. In 1789 the Manor was in the hands of John and Elizabeth Gripper, who were Quakers, and their Steward was William Francis. On 11th May, 1804, a Court was held for John Gripper and it is interesting to know that it was held at Layer Breton Hall, though the Manor House abuts on the Heath. A Court was also held for Edward Gripper on 19th May, 1828 at Layer Breton Hall, but his Court of 17th October, 1839 was held at the house of Jonathan Powell. This gentleman, with John Tiffen, formed the Homage, or Jury, and it is recorded that the former affirmed, being a Quaker, instead of being sworn in the usual manner. John Tiffin, a farmer of Layer Breton, purchased the Manor from Edward Gripper's Executors on 30th September, 1867 and held his first Court at the "Hare and Hounds", Charles H. T. Marshall, the Colchester Solicitor, being Steward. Charles Digby Garrod was the next Lord and on his death in 1905 the Manor was sold by his Executors to the late George Frederick Beaumont of Coggeshall. His only Court was held on the 27th June, 1907, the Steward being his eldest son, Horace Frederick Beaumont, one of the Vendors. 

There are many interesting entries in the records of this Manor, such as examples of payment of quit rents in kind, viz. a capon and a race of ginger, and for students of place names there are numerous curious words, viz. Stamps and Crows, Trowers and Wrights, Farthing Garden, Downings, Washings, Mary Lay's Plot, The Bushes, Golding's Garden, Bigwoods and Littlemans, Hocklays, and Ladylands. 

The little church standing on the Heath was erected in 1906 in memory of the Rt. Hon. James Round, from money raised by public subscription, upon a site given by the late Mr. G. F. Beaumont, then Lord of the Manor. 

The lifting of turf from roadside waste in this Manor by one of the Lords gave rise to articles in the Essex County Standard in April and May, 1951 and the Sunday Despatch in May of the same year. This publicity resulted in applications being received from several hundred persons for particulars of the proposed auction. 

The Manorial Records (insured for £200, premium 10/0 p.a.) to be handed over are: 

• Court Rolls: 1668-1712; 1728-97; 1803-05; 1807-12
• Court Books: 1789-1818; 1818-1889; 1890-1933
• Minute Book: 1789-1855
• Draft of Courts: 1789-1812
• Sundry: Rentals, draft admissions, surrenders, enfranchisement deeds, etc. 

In connection with the above reference to Lord Abergavenny it is interesting to note in a recent Obituary in the Times that the eight Earl of Abergavenny "as Lord of the Manor of Ditchling, sold the common rights in 1950 to 20 residents for £100 to help in preserving the character of the common, and as Lord of the Manor of Rottingdean he fought against the scheme of the Brighton Corporation to build on sites surrounding the downland village." 

Mr. Bert Osborne, licensee of the "Hare and Hounds" has recently been appointed Bailiff of this Manor. A former Bailiff, who will sill be remembered in the district, was the late Mr. Norman Smith. 

Lot #8 of 'Beaumont Collection' Auction - Nov 1954

in the Parish of Purleigh

Purleigh lies 4 miles south of Maldon in the direction of Southend. 

Morant does not mention this Manor under Purleigh, but, under Lalling Hall, one of the Lachingdon Manors, he mentions that "Lalling has a Court Leet kept at Lalling Hall, the title to which is Lawling with Snoreham; and to it belongs Leigh-how in the parish of Purley, and Runsell-hamlet in Danbury." (Vol. I p. 355).

The eldest record in the Books which will be h anded over shows William Hanbury as Lord of the Manor (1778) and Robert Tindal as his Steward.

On the 28th of August 1800, was held the first Court of Gregory Blaxland. In 1805 we find John Spurden and Michael Boyle in joint Lordship and their only Court was held on the 12th August, 1805. Thomas Green was Lord in 1806, with Robert Tindal, Steward. The last Court of this Lord was held on the 15th October, 1816. The next recorded shows David King, John Saunders and Hannah Green, Widow, as joint Lords and Lady (31st May, 1821). 

The first Court of John Kinnard was held on 28th November, 1835, and that of the Rev. Charles Owen on the 12th June, 1838. After his death his sisters, the Misses Owen, were for some years Ladies of the Manor. In 1870 the Rev. John Jackson held his first court and Joseph Beaumont purchased the Manor from  him in 1870. 

The Manorial documents (insured for £200 premium 10/- per annum) to be handed over are: 

 Court Rolls: 1778-1800; 1801-1811; 1812-16; 1818-38

Court Books: 1778-1838 (Copy); 1818-46; 1847-70; 1870-1919

Extracts from Court Rolls (with Rentals) 1673-1844

Lot #28 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

HOW THIS Lordship of the Manor came by its unusual name is not known but it was probably based on a farm within the ancient Lordship of Ripton which itself was later divided into three separate manors. Licktopp lies within the parish of Ashford which is ten miles from Folkstone and around 50 miles from London. At the time of Domesday Book, in 1086, therefore Licktopp is included in the entry for Repetone, and this entry reads;

The Abbot himself hold one yoke, Repentone and Answered of him.

It was taxed at one yoke.

The arable land is two caracutes. 

In demesne there is one, with four borderers.

There are 11 acres of meadows and the 4th part of a mill, of 15 pence,

And wood for the pannage of 10 hogs, and as yet there are two yokes,

which the Abbot gave to it of his demesne,

And there are two villeins, with eight borderers.

In the time of King Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth

three pounds, now four pounds.

The abbey was that of St Augtustine in Canterbury which was founded as early as 598, just 150 years after the Romans had left the island. « Little is known of the priory’s existence between the 8th and 11th centuries, but when the Normans arrived in 1066 William placed his own man, called Scotland, in charge and the monks were cowed. He proved to be very capable and renewed the abbey’s land holding and improved the state of production at Ripton. 

It was during the next two hundred years the estate at Ripton was subinfeudated, producing three Lordships of which Licktopp was one. In reality the abbey acted as feudal overlord and Licktopp was held from the abbot by the Valoigns family who resided here. During the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) it was in the hands of Ruellion de Valoigns. From him it came to his son, or grandson, Allan who was sheriff of Kent from 1184 to 1189. Sir William de Valoignes was recorded as attending Edward I into Scotland and may well have been present wheûn the king visited St Augustines. Sir William served a sheriff of Kent on a number of occasions, in 1275 and 1278. A later member of the family was Henry de Valoigns, who was resident at Ripton during the reign of Edward III. In 1341 he received a grant of free-warren for all his land and manors in Kent and paid aid at the making of Edward, the Black Prince, a knight. The last of the male line was Waretius de Valoyns, who, on his death left Licktopp to his co-heirs, one of whom married Thomas de Aldon and the other to Sir Francis Fogge. On the partition of their father’s estate Licktopp passed to the latter.

The Fogge family originally came from Lancashire and Otho Fogge came to Kent at the begiinign of the reign of Edward I (1272-1307). It appears that this may have been to take up an inheritance because the Fogges are noted in a number of parishes in the east of the county during this period. Otho was succeeded by his son, John who in turn was succeeded by his son Francis. It was he who married the daughter of Waretius de Valoyns and from this union he came into possession of Licktopp. Through this marriage the Lordship passed to Sir Thomas Fogge who was takeˇn prisoner by the French in 1377 and Parliament was successfully petitioned to obtain funds for his release. On his return to England he seved as sheriff of Kent, which he did again at the beginning of the reign of Richard II (1377-1399). On his death Sir Thomas was buried at Glastonbury and Licktopp passed to his son Sir Thomas Fogge. He was a man of high repute and was an advisor to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster on his voyage to Spain to claim the throne of Castile in 1385. He was also a member of all the Parliaments called during the reign of Richard II and those in the early reign of Henry IV (1399-1413). He died in 1407 and is buried in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral.

Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son Sir William who in turn passed Licktopp to his son Sir John who was resident at Ripton House during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483). For this king Fogge served as comptroller and treasurer, and was highly trusted by Edward. He served as sheriff of Kent on a number of occasions and as knightˇ of the shire in Parliament. Such was his attachment to Edward that when Richard III came to the throne in 1483, Fogge was attainted and his lands seized. After Richard himself was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485, the new king, Henry Tudor reinstated Fogge to all his previous possessions and he died in 1490. He portrait was formerly captured in stained glass in the window of Ashford parish church. His son and heir was Sir Thomas, who served as sergeant-porter of Calais during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). He died in 1533 and Licktopp came to his son Sir John. 

Sir John Fogge is recorded as being granted in full, the Lordship of the Manor of Licktopp, in 1538, after its overlord, the abbey of St Augustine, had been dissolved. He died in 1564 and was succeeded by his son Edward. He died four years later, unmarried, and the Lordship then came to his uncle, George Fogge of Braborne. He soon sold it to Sir Michael Sundes who in turn conveyed it to John Tufton. Licktopp has since remained in the Tufton family. Lord Hothfield, the present representative of the family is the current Lord of the Manor.

The manorial court for Licktopp was traditionally held at a great stone lying by the road heading northwest from Ashford and near to Ripton House.

Lot #29 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

CENTRED ON the village of Little Asby, this Lordship was anciently known as Little Askby, after the Norman family who possessed it. Little Asby is a small village, lying 2 miles from the centre of the parish at Great Asby. Nearby by is the great cavern known as Pate Hole, which is a 1,000 yards long, cut by the Asby Gill stream.

Little of known of this manor until the reign of Henry II (1154-1189). Before this time it is likely to have formed part of a united Manor ofˇ Asby. By this reign however it was divided between three lords, Richard de Cotesford, William de Askby and Richard English. The latter was Lord of the Manor of Little Asby. Either the same Richard, or his son, was recorded in 1203 as settling a small area of land from the Lordship on Robert Le Scot. This Richard was succeeded in the Lordship by his son William, who is recorded as witnessing a grant made by the Baron of Westmoreland, Robert de Veteripont, to nearby Shap Abbey. The family were obviously˝ of some local renown since William’s descendent was knighted. Sir Robert English acted as a juror at Appleby in a dispute between the king, Edward I (1272--1307) and the abbot of St Mary’s Priory in York, in 1292. Sir Robert’s son, Robert, represented the county of Westmoreland at Parliament, from 1309 to 1311, almost certainly as a retainer or associate of the Clifford family, who were now Barons of the county. 

Robert was succeeded in the Lordship by his son, William, who , together with his wife, Elena, are recorded as having a fine levied against them for their possession of the Lordship of Little Asby. The family had by now developed considerably as landholders since in 1339, William English was recorded as emparking 100 acres of demesne land at his manor of Kirklevington in Cumberland and a similar amount at Tibbay and Runthwaite in Westmorland and at Affmudeby in Yorkshire. For most of the Parliaments from 1339 to 1349, William represented the county. During an inquisition into the possession of knight fees in Westmorland in 1370 it was found that the Lordship of Little Asby was held by Robert English. Robert’s son and heir, Thomas died before his father and accordingly the Lordship passed to Robert’s granddaughter, Idonea, (perhaps named after Idonea de Veteripont, who had been the co-baroness of Westmoreland).

Idonea was married to Sir Edmund de Sandford, a wealthy local landowner, whose family were seated at nearby Warcup. Together the couple settled in Hughill and founded that family. ˇIn 1423 it was found that, at the death of John de Clifford, Baron of Westmoreland the Lordship of Little Asby was held by Robert de Sandford, who seems to have been the second son of Idonea and Edmund. Robert, or more probably, his son, was found to be lord in 1453 and was found to pay cornage, or rental, of 2s 10d to the Baron, Thomas de Clifford.

The Lordship remained with the Sandford family for a number of further generations, which established themselves as wealthy landlords in the area, based at Howgill. In 1641 the family achieved its social zenith when Thomas Sandford was made a baronet by Charles I (1625-1649). He was succeeded in his lands and titles by his eldest son, Sir Richard Sandford. Here the Sandford line was almost ignominiously madeÅ extinct when Sir Richard was murdered, at White Fryars, in London by Henry Symbal and William Jones. The reasons for the murder are not known, possibly it was a botched street robbery or a private vendetta. Whatever their motive it did not prevent the two been hanged shortly afterwards. Sir Richard’s son, also Richard was said to have been born in the exact same hour as his father’s death. In this Sir Richard the Sandfords did indeed die out since he passed away, unmarried, in 1723. 

Little Asby then passed to the murdered Sir Richard’s daughter, Mary, who was married to Robert Honywood of Mark’s Hall in Essex. The Honywood family could date their lineage back to the 12th century in the person of William Henewood. The family had established themselves at Mark’s Hall under Robert, the second son of John Honyood, in the 16th century. Among Robert’s nine children was Michael, who wÅas born in 1597, went on to become dead of Lincoln Cathedral. He was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he studied with Henry More and the poet, Milton. During the Commonwealth period he placed himself in self-imposed exile in Holland and returned to England on the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Honywood was obviously a man of high and unswerving principle. On his return to his parish of Kegworth, in Leicestershire he discovered that a quaker, Richard Gibson, had refused to pay his tithes. Honywood promptly had the man imprisoned and detained there for several years. In October 1660 he was appointed dean of Lincoln and spent much of his energy in repairing the damage wreaked on the cathedral by puritans during the Commonwealth. At his own expense (£780) he erected the library, to designs by Christopher Wren on the site of the long ruined north walk of the cloister. He died, unmarried, at the age of 84, in 1681. He was described by one contemporary as a’holy and humble man and a living library for learning’. 

Michael’s elder brother, and later Lord of the Manor of Little Asby, was Sir Thomas Honywood, who was born in 1586. Thomas inherited his father’s estates in 1627 and was knighted by Charles I on 1632. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1641, Sir Thomas sided with the Parliamentarians and Mark’s Hall became the local headquarters of the Roundhead army. His zeal for the Puritan cause may partly explain his brother’s exile to Holland. He served effectively in raising troops for Parliament and was present with Fairfax at the surrender of Colchester in 1648. He himself commanded 2,000 men. He was then ordered to dismantle Colchester Castle, but, luckily for posterity, he ignored the order. After the death of Charles in 1649 and the triumph of Cromwell, Honywood continued to serve in the New Model Army. In 1654 he assisted Cromwell in putting down a rebellion. During this period he also sat in Parliament and in 1657 became a member of Cromwell’s Upper House. At court, Honywood was said to be powerful and charismatic. In 1659 he was made a member of the ruling Council of State. but he survived the Restoration, since he was not tainted by the execution of Charles, and lived until 1666.

The Honywood’s continued to hold the Lordship of Little Asby until the 19th century when the estate was sold to the Earls of Thanet. One of the later Honywood Lords was Lieutenant-General Philip Honywood, who distinguished himself during the Napoleonic War. The current Lord of the Manor of Little Asby is Lord Hothfield.

Lot #30 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

IN THE PARISH of Ashford, lies the Lordship of the Manor of Little Ripton ten miles from the English Channel at Folkstone. At the time of Domesday Book, in 1086, Little Ripton, was part of a larger Lordship, referred to as Repentone. The entry reads;

The Abbot himself hold one yoke, Repentone and Answered of him.

It was taxed at one yoke.

The arable land is two caracutes. 

Ián demesne there is one, with four borderers.

There are 11 acres of meadows and the 4th part of a mill, of 15 pence,

And wood for the pannage of 10 hogs, and as yet there are two yokes,

which the Abbot gave to it of his demesne,

And there are two villeins, with eight borderers.

In the time of King Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth

three pounds, now four pounds.

In the Survey, the lands here belonged to the abbey of St Augustine, in Canterbury, and had done for some time before the Norman Conquest since St Augustine’s was one of most ancient institutions in England. It was founded as early as 598 by King Ethelbert of Kent, after spending Christmas in Canterbury in the company of St Augustine. So early in the existence of Christianity in England was this that for the first years of worship monks used an old Roman alter to conduct their services. A church was built for them in 613 and St Augustine was buried in its church yard along with King Ethelbert and the first ten archbishops of Canterbury.

During the next two hundred years the estate at Ripton was subinfeudated, producing three Lordships of which Little Ripton was one. During its overlordship the manor was held from the abbot by the Valoignes family for a knight’s fee and they made this their residence. During the reign of Stephen (1135-1154) it was in the hands of Ruellion de Valoignes. From him it came to his son, or grandson, Allan who was sheriff of Kent from 1184 to 1189. The family had originated Valognes in the Cotentin area of France and had arrived with Conqueror in 1066. Peter de Valoignes was said to have been given ‘fifty-seven lordships in the counties of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertford, Cambridge and Lincoln’ and was high sheriff of Essex in 1087. After Ruellion, Little Ripton may have descended to Philip Valoignes after Allan’s death. As a young man he had spent a Little deal of time on Scotland, towards the end of the reign of Malcolm IV, who died in 1165. Philip was described as being a constant companion of Malc˙olm’ successor, William the Lion. In 1174 when William purchased his own release from the hands of Henry II (1154-1189) by acknowledging the English king’s overlordship of Scotland, Valoignes was one of the hostages given to Henry instead of William. As a reward for his loyalty, William granted Valoignes the Scottish lordships of Panmure and Benvie in Forfarshire. In 1208 he was recorded as holding lands in Yorkshire, for which he paid £300 and it may have been at this point when he took control of Little Ripton. However he could not have enjoyed his estates long since in 1209 he was again used as a hostage in return for the second release of William, this time from the clutches of King John (1199-1216). After this he was made chamberlain of Scotland, a position in which he continued until his death in 1215. 

Later in the 13th century Sir William de Valoignes was recorded as attending Edward I into Scotland and may well have been present when the king visited the abbey of St Augustine. Sir William ser˜ved a sheriff of Kent on a number of occasions, particularly in 1275 and 1278. A later member of the family was Henry de Valoignes, who was resident at Ripton during the reign of Edward III. In 1341 he received a grant of free-warren for all his land and manors in Kent and paid aid at the making of Edward, the Black Prince, a knight. The last of the male line was Waretius de Valoyns, who, on his death left Little Ripton to his co-heirs, one of whom married Thomas de Aldon and the other to Sir Francis Fogge. On the partition of there father’s estate Little Ripton passed to the latter.

The Fogge family were anciently of Kent, though originally came from Lancashire. A previous member of the family had married a daughter of a Valoigne so the two seem to have been connected for a number of generations.

During the reign of Edward IV (1461-1483) Sir John Fogge was resident at Ripton House and to this king Fogge was comptroller and treasurer, highly trusted by Edward. Fogge served as sheriff of Kent on a ˜number of occasions and as knight of the shire in Parliament. Such was his attachment to Edward that when Richard III came to the throne in 1483, Fogge was attainted and his lands seized. After Richard himself was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, in 1485, the new king, Henry Tudor reinstated Fogge to all his previous possessions and he died in 1490. At the Dissolution of the abbey of St Augustine the Lordship of Little Ripton came in full to Fogge’s descendent, Sir John. He died in 1564 and was succeeded by his son Edward. He died four years later, unmarried, and the Lordship then came to his uncle, George Fogge of Braborne. He soon sold it to Sir Michael Sundes who in turn conveyed it to John Tufton. Little Ripton has since remained in the Tufton family. Lord Hothfield, the present representative of the family is the current Lord of the Manor.

The manorial court for Little Ripton was traditionally held at a Little stone lying by the road heading northwest from Ashford and near to Ripton House

Lot #2 of Manorial Services Auction - Nov 2022 - Stephen Johnson

(In association with Strutt & Parker)

On the banks of the River Chelmer, lies the  parish of Little Waltham. This is an ancient settlement:  when the road through the village was upgraded, the  site of an Iron Age village was found. When the area  was recorded for Domesday Book in 1086 it was  found that it was held by Earl Eustace. Powers Hall  was once a separate manor which was later merged  into that of Little Waltham. It survived as a house into  the 18th century. 

After the death of Eudo, the manor passed  to his son Hugh Fitz-Eudo and thence to his son  Robert Fitz-Hugh. It remained with his descendants  until 1189 when it came to Robert de Tatteshall. In  1205 he served as sheriff of Huntingdonshire and  Cambridgeshire, dying in 1211. His son Robert,  married Mabel, daughter of the Earl of Arundel and  through this marriage he obtained considerable  estates including the manor and castle of Buckenham  in Norfolk. In 1263 his son and heir, Robert (II) was granted charter to turn some of his demesne land in  Little Waltham into a park. Two further Robert de Tateshull followed. The fourth of that name died in 1302  and his lands and estates were divided among a number of relatives. Little Waltham came to Thomas de Caili  who was summoned to four Parliaments during the reign of Edward II and died childless in 1316. 

The manor passed to his nephew, Adam de Clifton. After his death Little Waltham passed to his  grandson John who succeeded to the whole estate in 1363 after the death his mother. He was summoned  to Parliament in 1377 and 1388 but died whilst on the island of Rhodes soon afterwards, leaving his estate  to his son Constantine who died only a few years later, in 1396. His son and heir, Sir John de Clifton (II) did  not inherit Little Waltham since John de Clifton, before his death abroad, had actually sold Little Waltham to  a local man, Richard de Waltham and his wife Margaret in order to raise money for his trip to the Holy Land.  Sadly he only made it as far as Rhodes since there is no record of him arriving in Jerusalem. 

Richard de Waltham was succeeded by his son John, who died in 1418 and is buried beneath the  chancel of St Martins, the parish church. His son and heir, Richard, was also buried here on his death in 1426.  The next recorded Lord of the Manor was John Mabon who died in 1447. He was likely a relation of the De  Waltham family but the relationship is not certain. It then passed to the Mildmay family, who held it for two  centuries. Sir Thomas Mildmay, the fourth of that family to be Lord of Little Waltham served as High Sheriff  of Essex and Hertfordshire and sat as a member of Parliament for Bodmin. In 1625 the manor was sold to  the Sir William Luckyn of neighbouring Great Waltham. This family of landed gentry were the social equals of  the Mildmays and very much the backbone of county life. Sir Capel Luckyn, who succeeded his father, sat as  member of Parliament at various times between 1647 and 1679. More specifically he sat as MP for Hawrich  during the Long Parliament which lasted through the years of the Commonwealth until the Restoration of  Charles II in 1660. 

Sir William Luckyn succeeded to his father’s estates after the death of his elder brother and he was  created a baronet in 1661. He was last of the Luckyn line, his only heir was his daughter Anne. It appears that  after she inherited the title she sold it to John Edwards of Huntingdon who married Susanna, the daughter  of Sir Richard Munden who commanded the naval squadron which retook St Helana from the Dutch in  Mildmay Arms 9 Monument to Sir Willam Luckyn Little Waltham the war of 1673. From him it passed to his son Henry, who was a lawyer of Lincoln’s Inn and a master in  Chancery. He died in 1726. His son and heir, John, sold Little Waltham in 1761 to Daniel Harrington. The  date of Harrington’s death is uncertain, but in 1801 the manor was being administered by his son Thomas.  The admission of William Kirkham as a manorial tenant on 18 June 1801 confirms this and a will of his father  dated from 1795 suggests that he died before the turn of the 18th century.

In 1874 the Lord of the Manor was Rev. Henry Savile Young. He was son of Rev Henry Tufnell Young  and was born in 1843. Henry Tufnell Young married Josephine Savill of Little Waltham and it is possible that  the manor passed to the Young family through this marriage. In 1896 Henry Savile Young sold the Lordship  to Adolphus Maskell and it has remained in the possession of his descendants until the present day.

Documents in the Public Domain Associated with this Lordship:

1415-1415: rental Essex Record Office 

1639-1912: court rolls/books 

1810: schedule of court rolls and rentals 

1813: rental 

1834 rental 

1899: rental 

Lot #11 of Manorial Services Auction - Fall 2025 - Stephen Johnson

Rutland is England’s smallest county, but nevertheless has a rich manorial history and the Lordship of  Manton can be counted as part of it. The village lies a few miles south of the county town of Oakham and  on the southern shore of Rutland Water, the largest reservoir in England.  

It is thought that Manton formed one of the seven berewicks of the royal manor of Hambleton  Churchsoke. Half of the manor was given separately to Cluny Abbey by Henry I and this remained a  possession of the abbey until its lands were seized by Henry V in 1414. Since Cluny abbey was an ‘alien’ house,  being near Lyon, when England was periodically at war with France, Manton was taken over by the Crown.  This occurred in 1342 when a lease of the manor was made to John de Ufford, a clerk of Edward III who  was also the proctor of the Abbot of Cluny in England. In 1355 Manton was returned to the Abbot and it  was then leased to Nicholas de Tamworth and his wife Joan for the rest of their lives. When the manor was  seized again, in 1377, Nicholas and Joan were allowed to retain it and Joan inherited the whole estate on her  husband’s death.  

Joan’s second husband, Sir Gilbert Talbot, became Lord of Manton in around 1392 and on his death  in 1399 it was granted to Sir Simon Felbrigge. Talbot was the grandfather of the famous warrior knight,  John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1412, the king’s esquire, William Porter obtained a licence to travel to  France to negotiate the purchase of the manor from the Abbot of Cluny and he was unsuccessful but after  the abbey’s English estates were seized by Henry V in 1414, Porter was granted custody of the manor and a  year later it was granted to him in fee by the service of presenting a rose to the king every year. The whole  manor was confirmed on Porter by a grant of 1423 but he sold it soon afterwards to Ralph, Lord Cromwell.  

Cromwell never resided at Manton and instead gifted the estate to the trustees of the Holy Trinity  Almshouses in Tattershall, Lincolnshire which he had founded in 1438. On Cromwell’s death, in 1455, the  grant was confirmed by his heirs, Joan and Maud. Edward IV himself confirmed their ownership by royal grant  in 1478.  

Like almost all religious houses, the almshouses in Tattershall were dissolved under the auspices of  Thomas Cromwell in 1539. Manton was found to have an annual value of £6 2s 7d. It was held by the Crown  until 1545 when it was granted to Charles, Duke of Suffolk. His tenure lasted a few short weeks before his  death and Manton passed to his son, Henry. Henry was just six years old when he died in 1551 and the Suffolk Estates were divided amongst a number of his kin. Manton was finally  awarded to Sir Henry Sidney but he soon sold it to Michael Lewis  of Collyweston in Northamptonshire. He was survived by his wife,  Elizabeth and his brother, Clement who then sold Manton to William  Kirkham of Fineshade. Kirkham then sold it to Roger Dale, a lawyer  of the Inner Temple. However, this appears to have been some kind  of mortgage and Kirkham found himself hauled before the Court  of Star Chamber for financial malpractice. Though he was fined a  colossal £31,000 for divers very heinous practices and great abuses  by him committed this was later reduced to £200. Kirkham, it seems  did not learn a lesson from this continued his crooked ways and the  original fine was re-imposed. It appears that Roger Dale purchased  Manton from Kirkham, knowing of this full well but expecting the  fine to be remitted anyway. Despite King James intervening to remit  the fine in 1609, Kirkham and his son continued their deceits carrying  unconscionable minds not only to defeat their creditors but to trouble  and encomber. Eventually Dale was able to take control of the manor.

This rather troubled period for the manor continued into the 17th century. In 1625 Roger Dale the younger  sued his own mother, Margaret for withholding goods from him which had belonged to his own wife and  for failing to carry out the terms of his father’s will. Eventually the manor passed to his son Charles and he  made a settlement of it in 1656 and it was sold by his four daughters to the Rev. Abraham Wright of Oakham  in 1682. Wright died a few weeks later and his son, James then sold it to a cousin, James Wright. He was a  successful lawyer of the Middle Temple and the author of the History of Rutland, which he published in 1684.  Wright controversially converted to Roman Catholicism during the reign of Charles II and died, unmarried  in 1716. His heirs appear to have been his nieces, Elizabeth Shield and Penelope Smith, who sold the manor  two years before Wrights’ death, in 1714. The purchasers were Thomas Roberts and John Sharpe. It seems as though more sales took place since the Lord of the Manor in 1741 was Kenelm Johnson, Sheriff of Rutland.  He sold Manton to Thomas Jackson.   

The Lordship continued change hands frequently over the next fifty years. In 1821 it was purchased  by George Watson Smyth who passed it to his son, Edward in 1830. On his death in 1869 it descended to  George Bradley and Edward Westwood. From these gentlemen it passed to Benjamin Pulleyne of Headingly  in Yorkshire. It came into the hands of his Trustees in 1907 and later descended to the Nicholson family who  sold it to the family of the present owner in 1989.  

A selection of manorial documents in the public domain:

1473-1474: bailiff’s accounts Kent History and Library Centre 

1491-1492: bailiff’s accounts (2)