Feudal Title Index & Research ~ F-J

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 #20 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

LYING IN THE VILLAGE of Cornwood, Fardell is an agricultural area about a mile from the parish church of St Michael’s. Anciently it formed part of the Manor of Cornwood which was included in Domesday Book, the entry being:

Reginald holds Cornwood from the Count. Edmer held it before 1066. It paid tax for two hides.

Land for 5 ploughs. In Lordship 1½ ploughs, 8 slaves; 1 virgate.

8 villagers and 8 smallholders with 2 ploughs and 1 virgate.

Pasture 1 league long and ½ league wide, woodland 2 leagues long and ½ league wide. 3 unbroken mares;

10 cattle, 3 pigs, 22 goats.

Value formerly and now 40s.

Little is known of the early history of Fardell but by the reign of Henry III (1216–1272) it was the property of Warren FitzJoell. He was the last male heir of this family, who may have held it as far back as the reign of Henry II (1154–1189), and was succeeded by his daughter. On her marriage to a member of the Newton family it passed to these local landowners who held it for many generations. Eventually Fardell passed to the Raleighs of Smallridge, a prosperous local family, who built a home here in the 15th century. Wymond Raleigh was Lord of Fardell at the end of the 15th century and he was succeeded on his death by his eldest son, Walter, who was born at Fardell. Walter’s son, Sir Walter, is perhaps one of the most famous names in English history and there was some speculation that this great Elizabethan was born in Fardell, but it seems more likely to have been at the Raleigh’s other residence at Budleigh Salterton. Sir Walter Raleigh certainly spent much of his early life at Fardell and in later life it was his occasional residence.

Raleigh attended Oriel College, Oxford, as a commoner, but initially eschewed a legal or clerical career to become a soldier. He fought with the French Huguenots as a volunteer at the Battle of Jarnac in 1569, but returned to London to enter the Inner Temple as a lawyer. His appetite for adventure overcame him and in 1578 he accompanied his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on an expedition to plunder Spanish ships in 1578. He gained a reputation as a corsair as a pirate and attached himself to the Earls of Leicester and Oxford, entering Court in their retinue. He was quick to establish himself as a popular member of the Court and in 1581 he was famously supposed to have laid his cloak over a puddle in order for Queen Elizabeth to avoid wetting her shoes. Though this story is probably apocryphal but it may well be true. Raleigh went out of his way to flatter the Queen. Another story tells how Raleigh, in a bid to get Elizabeth’s attention, scratched verses onto a window pane with a diamond. He certainly succeeded in his aim and the Queen reward[ed] his wit and elegance with plentiful rewards. Not only was he granted the status of being her favourite he was given lucrative export licences for wool and alehouses, land grants, and was knighted in 1584.

In that same year, he used his new found wealth to instigate a series of colonial adventures in America. He received a patent giving him and his heirs the proprietary right over all territory they occupied on payment of one fifth of all the produce of precious metals. He sent off an exploratory expedition which discovered and claimed a huge, undefined territory which Raleigh named Virginia, after the Queen. Settlers were sent. The venture was ill-fated. The colonists fought with the native Americans and the colony collapsed after two years, forcing Raleigh to sell his rights to a company of merchants.

Two years after this debacle, Raleigh was granted 40,000 acres of land in Ireland where he gracefully introduced the potato and tobacco plants which he had found in America. In 1587, Raleigh reached the zenith of his favour at Court but he was never much more than an amusing companion for Elizabeth, never being allowed any political influence or granted any office. From this point on he began to lose his position of favourite to the Earl of Essex and he went on a series of largely unsuccessful voyages. In 1592, after sailing on a mission to intercept Spanish trade, he was recalled to England and accused of seducing Elizabeth Throgmorton, one of Elizabeth’s Maids of Honour. He was placed in the Tower and only allowed out on a promise to marry her, which he duly did. In 1595 he retired to Dorset, but his wanderlust overcame him and he organised an expedition to South America, hoping to discover the mythical and golden city of El Dorado.

Towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign he became more involved in politics and took part in the suppression of Essex’s rebellion on 1600. On the accession of James I, in 1603, Raleigh’s reputation at Court dimmed. He was not only the most popular man in England, but also a voice of religious tolerance and believed to be an atheist, neither trait endeared him to the new monarch and was very quickly expelled from his formal positions and was forced to sell his estates in Ireland.

That year Raleigh was arrested and charged with conspiracy against the new regime. The prosecution was led by the Attorney-General, Sir Edward Coke, whose brutal questioning and misuse of flimsy evidence aroused public sympathy for the defendant. Popularity counted for nought and Raleigh was sentenced to death and committed to the Tower. He spent a number of years in confinement, carrying out chemical experiments and composing poetry. He finally won his freedom after promising James that he would find gold in South America without encroaching on Spanish Territory. James informed the Spanish Ambassador of the plan and he too promised that Spanish interest would not be harmed. Raleigh set off on March 1617 and his party reached the Orinocco on 31 December, while Sir Walter lay ill with fever in Trinidad. His fleet discovered a Spanish settlement and became involved in a skirmish in which his son and several Spaniards were killed. In despair at the loss of his son, Sir Walter was forced to return home in disgrace and was arrested on his arrival in England for breaking the King’s promise to the Spanish. He was executed on October 26 1618.

On Sir Walter’s death his estate, including the Lordship of Fardell, passed to his son, Carew, who then sold the Lordship to Elizabeth Hele, who was the heiress to a considerable local estate. The Lordship remained with the Hele family until 1740 when it was given to the Pearce family of Bigbury. The Pearces had several Manors in the Ermington Hundred, including Fardell, which was sold by the executors of John Pearce’s will, to Sir Robert Palk, Bart, whose ancestor, Sir Rivers Carew, is the present Lord of the Manor. The descent of the Carews lies on the previous pages. John Pearce’s grandfather was infamous in the county for his unorthodox religious views. He converted to Arianism and preached in London. He opened a new meeting house in the Mint in 1719. Arianism was an ancient Christian heresy which argued that Jesus was not divine, but a created being, and therefore denied the trinity. Arianism died out as a religion in the Dark Ages, but in the 17th century it was revived by some Unitarians and Baptists who moved to it as the ultimate extension of their deism. Pearce was a member of a dissenting schism which began with non-conformists in Exeter, in 1715, and spread throughout the country. Pearce began preaching a form of Arianism in the city and was ejected from his church by the congregation. He and a Mr Hallet established a chapel at the Mint, in Southwark, which at the time still retained its rights as a sanctuary. During his ministry there, Pearce wrote numerous controversial tracts and pamphlets and was held by many to be one of the leading champions of dissenting thought. His epitaph, since removed from the Mint to the George Meeting House, reads a rational, judicious and sagacious interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, a singular lover of truth, a courageous sufferer for maintaining the doctrines of the Gospel of Christ, and for asserting the liberty of Christians.

(Illustrations on this page: the Leicester shield; and a portrait engraving of Queen Elizabeth I.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #25 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987    

The Lordship of Faxton which was an important place in Saxon times is six miles west of Kettering and nine miles north of Northampton. The manor is in the Orlingbury Hundred of Northamptonshire and has an area of about 1,850 acres.

In Saxon times this lordship was a royal demesne belonging to King Edward the Confessor. William the Conqueror was lord of the manor as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. At that time there were two hides there and Wold and Walgrove belonged to this manor.

By the 12th century, the de Baliol family held the lordship. A charter, dated about 1150 illustrated in this catalogue records the gift of the Manor of Faxton on lease by Bernard de Baliol to his kinsman Gerold de Dumont.

The de Baliols continued to hold the overlordship of the manor, which was held under them by the de Peritons and later by the de Vescys and the de Welles.

Lord Welles was lord of the manor in 1417. He settled the lordship on his grandson Lionel, who succeeded him as Lord of the Manor of Faxton in 1421. The Welles family supported Richard Neville Earl of Warwick, when he raised the standard of the Lancastrian cause in Lincolnshire and as a result they lost the lordship which passed to the King.

In 1484 King Richard III granted the Manor of Faxton to Sir Edward Brampton. On the accession of King Henry VII this grant was reversed and John, son of Richard, Lord Welles by Margaret, Duchess of Somerset was granted the lordship.

The lordship came to Thomas Morgan. In 1599 he conveyed the manor to Sir Augustine Nicholls, a High Court Judge. His nephew Francis succeeded as lord of the manor in 1616.

He was Sheriff of Northamptonshire and was made a baronet in 1641. His son, Sir Edward, succeeded him as lord of the manor the following year. The Royalist soldiers were quartered at Faxton before the Battle of Naseby. Later, however, Sir Edward Nicholls became a supporter of the Commonwealth Government and Sheriff in 1657. He died, lord of the manor in 1683 and was buried at Faxton.

From the Nicholls family the lordship passed by marriage, and later conveyance, to an ancestor of the present lord of the manor in 1785.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Charter c.1150

2 Feet of fines receipts 1202, 1288

3 Inquisitions post mortem 1262, 1311, 1314, 1361, 1389, 1422 and 1461

4 Royal Letters Patent, King Edward II 1311

5 Royal Letters Patent, King Edward IV 1467

6 Royal Letters Patent, Queen Elizabeth I 1566

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #5 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987 

Together with the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair granted by King Henry III and confirmed by King James I

The Saxon Lordship of Felsham is eight miles south east of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.

Before 1066 the Abbot of Bury was lord of the manor. He had been given the lordship by Ulf-Ketel, Earl of East Anglia.

In 1268 William de Peche was lord of the manor. He was given a grant of a weekly market on Fridays and an annual fair for three days on the vigil, the feast and the morrow of the Feast of St. John the Baptist by King Henry III. The same Royal charter granted the lord of the manor free warren. These grants were confirmed by King James I in 1608 by Letters Patent under the great seal.

By 1313, the de Morieux family had acquired this lordship. After four generations, the manor passed to Sir John le Strange through his marriage to the de Morieux heiress.

Successive members of the le Strange family were lords of the manor, for a further two hundred and forty years, until 1544, when the local Risby family acquired the lordship. They were lords of the manor until the death of their heiress Catherine when this lordship came to the Fishes. From them the lordship was conveyed to the Harrisons and to John Place until the manor was acquired by the present lord of the manor.

It is understood that this lordship is sold with the royal right to hold a weekly market on Fridays and an annual fair on the vigil the feast and the morrow of the Festival of Nativity of St. John the Baptist. (4th, 5th and 6th July).

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Royal Charter, King Henry III 1268

2 Royal Letters Patent, King James I 1608

3 Court rolls 1645-62, 1740-55

4 Court books 1692-1935

5 Draft Court books 1640-1750

6 Minute books 1598-1653, 1768-1887

7 Rentals & extents 1779, 1813-58, 1881, 1916

8 Presentments & surrenders 1636-1826

9 Stewards papers 1828-33

10 List of tenants 1779, 1891-95

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

This Manor was originally part of the parish of Ash and was situated in Godley Hundred. It extends into the valley of the River Blackwater, which forms the boundary of the County of Surrey. Before the Enclosure Act of 1801 the parish was open land and covered with heather; the common field were enclosed under another Act passed in 1826. It may have been land in this Manor which was purchased for Chertsey Abbey by Bartholomew de Winton from a Sir Walter Raleigh in 1277. In 1866 Frimley was made a separate parish. 

In 1537 the Manor came into the hands of Henry VIII together with other monastic lands and was then held by the Crown in demesne for some years. It was later granted to Sir John White of Aldershot who died seized of it in 1573. Subsequently the Manor descended to Robert White his son and heir who died in 1599. The Manor then passed to his daughters Helen and Mary who had married Richard and Walter Tichborne respectively. It remained in this family until 1790 when it was conveyed by Sir Henry Tichborne and his wife Elizabeth to James Laurell. The latter died leaving a son and heir James, who sold the Manor House to Mr. Tekell in 1799. 

In 1858 the Manor was bought by Mr. J.F. Burrell, and a Mrs. Burrell was living in the Manor House about 1911. It was purchased early in this century by Henry Edwards Paine and Richard Brettwell of Chertsey. Mr. Paine acquired his partner's share at a later date and upon his death, in 1917, it was held by the devisees and their trustees util recently sold to the present vendor. 

The following are extracts from the records which will be handed over to the purchase, with the dates of the courts and the names f the Lords for whom hey were held: 

18th April, 1754 - Lord, Sir Henry Tichborne (6th Bart.) 

"To this Court also came Thos. Weston one of the customary tenants of this Manor and in full and open Court, The Homage being present, acknowledged that he had felled certain timbred trees growing on his Copyhold Premises within this Manor and prayed the Remittance of the Forfeiture he might thereby incur and the Lord of hit Manor thereupon remitted the same to him, he only paying unto the Lord thereof an shilling by way of Acknowledgement of the same."

26th September, 1770 - Lord, Sir  Henry Tichborne (7th Bart.) 

"At this Court the lord of this Manor directed and ordered that two several agreements under the hands of the tenants of this Manor should be enrolled and the same are enrolled accordingly as follows:

• "Frimley in the parish of Ash in the county of Surrey. We whose names are hereunder written Inhabitants of the Hamlet of Frimley in the Parish of Ash in the County of Surrey and also Copyhold Tenants of the Manor of Frimley in the said County of Surrey do hereby consent and agree that such part of the Common as lies between the garden and fishpond in the front of Sir Henry Tichborne's  House (a Roadway excepted) shall be taken and enclosed in the same manner as the said garden now is and in consideration for having received the sum of ten pounds from John Harcourt, Esq., to be appropriated to the use of the Poor of the said Hamlet we do hereby authorise and give consent that the said John Harcourt do inclose the same accordingly as witness our hands this 24th day of April, 1771. John Giles, John Slapp, Thomas Weston, James Belson, William Over, James Giles, James Watson, Walter Paynter, WIlliam Rogers, John Grove, William Iewer, Robert Hall, Richard Field, George Sanders, Thomas Legh."
• "We present and order that no persons turn their pigs or swine into the lanes or Commons of this Manor unringed under the Penalty of one shilling for every Hog, Pig, or Sow there found so unringed." 

25th May, 1795 - Lord, James Lawrell

Inclosure of Bason Wharf, etc., at Ashmore Hill under the Basingstoke Canal Navigation Act presented and allowed.

"It was also found and presented by the Homage that an Inclosure has been made of a considerable piece of ground at Ashmore Hill apparently for the purposes of a Bason Wharf, Wharehouses, and other building which had been there formed and erected and for Yards and Garden but by what authority they know not and thereupon the Steward of the said Manor produced in open Court the Act of Parliament of the eighteenth of his present Majesty's Reign intitled, 'An Act for Making a Navigable Canal from the town of Basingstoke i the County of Southampton to communicate with the River in the Parish of Chertsey in the County of Surrey and to the South East side of the Turnpike Road in the Parish of Turgess in the said County of Southampton.' And also a requisition in writing from the Proprietors of the said Basingstoke canal Navigation *thro' Mr. Charles Best the Clerk of their Committee) bearing date the ninth day of February One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Two and the Plans thereunto annexed for the setting out and erecting these premises under the authority of the said Act and the Steward represented to the Homage that the lord of the said Manor had been put to a very considerable expense in complying with the requisition of the said proprietors having made his election under the authority of the said Act and submitted to take the Burthen upon rather than suffer the said Navigable Canal to have come in and to have established themselves in the Rights and Privileges of this Manor to the probable prejudice of other the tenants thereof And which they would have been entitled to do under the Powers given by the said Act had not the Lord of this Manor taken the expense o f such works upon himself And hereupon the Homage aforesaid testified in Open Court their full Assent and Consent to and approbation and allowance of such Inclosure as aforesaid And prayed that the same might be record on the Rolls of the said Manor." 

The records of this Manor teem with entries relating to encroachment on the Manorial Wastes. Examining the proceedings at courts from 1787 to 1801, there are nine entries relating to encroachments. In the first year mentioned, seven persons were guilty of this offence, the names being: Gavett, Tucker, Birdseye,  Harwood, Goddard, Wilmott, and Gates. At a Court held in 1796 there was another long list including J. & S. Moth, M. & J. Pearce, Tucker (apparently a second time), Giles, Parker, Heartfree, Stovile, Wise, and Harwood (also a second offender). It appears that the offenders, having been called before the court, were allowed to keep the land encroached upon, upon payment to the Lord annually of rents ranging from 2/6d. (Harwood was lucky to get off with this comparatively small rent) up to a maximum of 21/-, which a gentleman of the name of Ware had top ay for the accretion to his property.  

Frimley Green, which was once part of the Manor, was given to the Urban District Council of Frimley and Camberley by Deed of Gift dated 16th October 1935. The Donors were Clara Freeman of Canterbury and Owen Warner of Chertsey, the then lady and Lord of the manor, as Trustees following the death of Mr. H.E. Paine. A draft of the conveyance in question will be amongst the miscellaneous papers to be handed to the purchaser of this Lot. Attached to it is an intersting Plan  showing the ara conveyed. On the North side of the Green is ashown the Pound, into which stray cattle and other animals used to be driven. The site of this Pound was not included int he piece of land conveyed but it had already been conveyed to the Council in 1912. There were also conveyed by the said Deed wide pieces of roadside land running along both sides of the Hatches and Cross Lane. It should be mentioned that except for these portions of the Manorial Wastes such other Wastes as may be vested in the present Vendor are included in the Sale and the purchase will presumably  be entitled to require the Telegraph, Telephone, and Electricity Authorities to pay Wayleave Rentals in respect of any poles, stays, kiosks, and other erections upon such Wastes.

Records to be handed over are:

Court Books: 1705-43; 1744-55; 1744-64; 1767-1803; 1803-39; 1839-61; 1862-79

Rental Books: 1705-1831

Old index to Court Rolls. Draft Deed of Gift referred to above. Draft admissions, surrenders, enfranchisements.

Insurance of Records: £30, premium 15/- p.a. 

Commencement of Title: Deed dated 11th October, 1872 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Lord there and made these two villages into one Manor: he had them both o Roger 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 joined 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   

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: FeudalTitles.com does not guarantee to the validity of Irish feudal titles - which have been abused mightily and exist outside of ANY formal gov't recognition. See: 'Suspicious & Fake Titles' page for more.

Lot #30 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

THIS LORDSHIP was part of the lands granted by Henry II to Richard Strongbow, second Earl of Pembroke, and granted in turn by the Earl to the de Lacys. Until recently the Manor was held by Viscount Gormanston, who is descended from Robert, son of Roger, Member of Parliament for Preston, Lancashire, in 1307. The family almost certainly derived its surname from this town. Nearly opposite Preston, on the other side of the Irish Sea, is Drogheda, whose rich plains stretch down towards Dublin. The Prestons of Preston seem to have become interested in Ireland as merchants; Drogheda had had an extensive wine trade as early as the 13th century. Wine could be brought from the city of Bordeaux, then held by the English, to Drogheda and thence to Carlisle, an important military base for Edward I in his campaigns against Scotland.

The long Scottish wars may well have given rise [to] the impression to the Prestons that the trade centre was passing from the Lancashire town to Drogheda and that the Irish ports offered a more active field for their energies. So we find William de Preston established at Drogheda in 1307, married to Margaret, daughter of John Cosyn.

The Prestons did not sever all connection with England, as several members of the family were adherents of the rebellious Earl of Lancaster in 1318, and were pardoned by Edward II. Four years later, the Prestons in Ireland had been so successful that William and Adam de Preston were asked by the King to aid Sir Robert Leyburn, the King’s Admiral of the Western Seas, in the Royal Service against the Scots. In 1326, Richard de Preston was appointed Constable of Drogheda Castle.

William de Preston acquired the Lordship of Gafney in 1313, and the acquisition of the lands and Manors continued throughout the century. William was succeeded by his son, Sir Robert, who acquired Rogerstown, Tankardstown, and Ninch Lordships, together with the Barony of Duleek.

Sir Robert Preston was created Viscount of Gormanston in 1478, the oldest Irish Viscountcy. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Edward IV when the King’s son, Richard, Duke of York — who was murdered in the Tower of London by Richard III — held the sinecure post of Lord Lieutenant. The Gormanstons suffered somewhat in the 16th century for their adhesion to the Catholic cause and temporarily lost their lands to Lord Deputy Skeffington, now represented by Viscount Massereene and Ferrard. The Gormanstons survived the plantations of Elizabeth and James I, but espoused the forlorn cause of James II who was dethroned in 1689. The seventh Viscount was indicted for high treason and outlawed in 1691, although he had died the month before publication of his ban. Ninety-nine years later, the family were restored in blood and thrive to this day.

It is worth noting another family connected with the Prestons. In 1394, a young man by the name of Janico Dartois arrived in Ireland from Gascony with Richard II. Richard had been born in Bordeaux and Janico’s lifelong loyalty to him was perhaps as a result of this. Although apparently without any noble background, or even backing, Janico (also spelt Jenico, a name still found in the Viscounts Gormanston to this day) rose rapidly in the favour of the King. He was an Esquire of the Chamber with a grant of 100 marks a year from the Exchequer and served bravely and with considerable success in various wars. In particular, Janico was closely associated with the success of Richard II’s campaign to force the Irish chieftans to submit to him in 1395.

Janico returned to Ireland in 1399 as the right-hand man of Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. King Richard was determined to avenge the death of his cousin Roger, Earl of March and Ulster, who had been killed by the Irish chieftans in 1398 while on a mission to enforce their previous oaths of allegiance to the King.  

Janico headed an army which in two battles killed more than 400 Irish soldiers. But King Richard was forced to abandon his campaign by events in England — the Lancastrians, led by the future Henry IV, threatened his throne. Events soon overtook Richard and he was overthrown, Janico remaining loyal to the last.

For this loyalty he was imprisoned in Chester Castle, but Henry IV ordered his release and took him into his service in 1400. He prospered under the new King and was soon back in Ireland, where he began to receive grants of land. In 1404, he was made Admiral of Ireland in recognition of his efforts against the Irish chieftans. He died in 1426, having served four successive English Kings, and left a son, also Ianico, and a daughter, Joan.

Joan married Christopher Preston, son of Christopher Preston and his wife, Elizabeth de Londres. On the death of the second Janico, his son, also Ianico, succeeded him in the lands. On this Janico’s death in 1464, some of his lands passed to the Viscounts Gormanston.

The Gormanston Register has been published and a copy is available for inspection at the Manorial Society of Great Britain. Viscount Gormanston, whose descent follows on the next page, sold the Lordship in 1989, and it is offered for sale by the present owner.

Descent of the Viscounts Gormanston, sometime Lords of Gafney:

Philip de Preston

Preston

Roger de Preston

Sir Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston = Margaret, dau of Walter de Bermingham, Lord of Carbery

Sir Christopher Preston, 2nd Baron Gormanston = Elizabeth, dau and heiress of William de Loundres

Christopher Preston, 3rd Baron Gormanston = Jane D’Artois

Sir Robert Preston, 1st Viscount Gormanston, ob 1503 = Janet, dau of Sir Richard Molyneux

Sir William Preston, 2nd Viscount Gormanston, ob 1532 = Anne Burnell

Jenico, 3rd Viscount Gormanston, ob 1569 = Catherine, dau of 9th Earl of Kildare

Christopher, 4th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1599 = Catherine Fitzwilliam

Jenico, 5th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1630 = Margaret, dau of Nicholas St Lawrence, Lord Howth

Nicholas, 6th Viscount Gormanston = Mary, dau of 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland

Jenico, 7th Viscount, who, having adhered to the lost cause of James II, was indicted and outlawed for treason in 1691. He was succeeded by his nephew —

Jenico, 8th Viscount Gormanston, succeeded by his brother

Andrew, 9th Viscount Gormanston = Mary Preston

Jenico, 10th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1757 = Thomasine, dau of Baron Trimelstown

Anthony, 11th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1786 = Henrietta Robinson

Jenico, 12th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1860 = Margaret, dau of 2nd Viscount Southwell

Edward, 13th Viscount Gormanston = Lucretia Jerningham

Jenico, 14th Viscount Gormanston = Georgina Connellan

Jenico, 15th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1925 = Eileen, dau of General Rt Hon Sir William Butler

William, 16th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1940 = Pamela, granddau of 9th Earl of Denbigh

Jenico Nicholas Dudley Preston, 17th and present Viscount Gormanston, Premier Viscount of Ireland

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #2 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

LYING ON THE BORDERS of England and Wales, Ganerew is a small parish and village at the foot of Doward Hill two miles from the spectacular view of the River Wye at Symonds Yat. It takes its name from the Welsh Genau'r-rhiw, which means the mouth of the valley on a slope. On the top of Doward Hill is a 70ft observation tower, built in 1831 by R Blakemore which affords extensive views of the border county to the north and the Forest of Dean to the south. Also on the Hill are extensive remains of an ancient Iron age camp and several caves in which the antediluvian remains of rhinoceros, hyena, cave-bear, mammoth and cave-lions have been found. The Lordship covers an area of 840 acres of arable farmland.

The early history and ownership of the Lordship of Ganerew is rather obscure. In 1186 a Charter in the chartulary of the Abbey of Saint Florent-près-Saumur confirms the Chapel of Saint Thomas of Gueneriu to that religious house and to the Priory of Monmouth, but the Lordship is not specifically mentioned. In the taxation records of Pope Nicholas IV in 1291 the Church at Ganerew is recorded as being worth £4 and states that at Genryu the Chapter of Hereford Cathedral had rents of assize to the value of 2s. It seems likely from this that the Canons of Hereford Cathedral were Lords of the Manor at that time.

In 1309, however, the church was found to be in the possession of Alymer de Valence, the Earl of Pembroke, so it is possible that he possessed the Lordship at this point. Alymer was the third son of William of Valence, half-brother of Henry III, and he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke in 1296. He served Edward I during his campaign in Flanders in 1297 and fought against William Wallace in Scotland in 1298. In 1306 he was appointed Guardian of Scotland by Edward, a position he held until his defeat by Robert Bruce at Louden Hill in 1307. On the accession of Edward II that year he fell from favour at court. He was contemptuous of Edward's favourite, Piers Gaveston, who had given him the nickname 'Joseph the Jew' and joined the rebellion against him in 1312. He was commissioned by the Duke of Lancaster to besiege Gaveston at Scarborough Castle. Pembroke forced him to surrender on a promise that his life would be saved and he transported the defeated Gaveston to Deddington. Whilst Pembroke was away Gaveston was seized by the Earl of Warwick and put to death. Pembroke was enraged that his word had been broken and he immediately joined the King's party. Rather than become an ardent supporter of Edward, Pembroke became an implacable enemy of the Lancastrian party. In 1312 he went north as Lieutenant of Scotland but after the English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314, a battle at which Pembroke fought, he was forced to flee to England. From this point on Pembroke formed, and led, a third faction of barons who sought to pacify the country. At his death, Pembroke had become one of the most powerful men in the kingdom but was condemned as a traitor by the Duke of Lancaster. Pembroke died childless, and many contemporaries saw this as Lancaster's successful curse. 

In the 14th century the Lordship was in the possession of the Hatheway family. William de Hatheway is noted as Lord in 1345 and his son Walter was Lord in 1357. Ganerew seems to have remained with this family for some time. In 1641 the Lordship was held by Benedict Hall of Monmouthshire and from him it passed into the hands of the Earls of Shrewsbury. It has remained with the Talbot family since the 17th century and the present Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot is the present Lord of Ganerew. The pedigree of this illustrious family lies overleaf.  

Descent of the Chetwynd-Talbots

Earls of Shrewsbury, Waterford, and Talbot of Hensol, Viscounts Ingestre, Premier Earls of England, Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland

- Ralph de Talbot, mentioned in Domesday = a daughter of Gerard de Gournay, Baron of Yarmouth

- Geoffrey — Hugh, living 1118 = Beatrix, dau of William de Mandeville

- Richard de Talbot, living temp RICHARD I = a daughter of Stephen Bulmer of Appletreewick, Yorks

- Gilbert, granted lands at Linton by RICHARD I and had custody of Ludlow Castle = ?

- Richard, living temp HENRY III = Aliva, dau of Alan Basset, Baron of Wycombe

- Richard, Bishop of London, 1260 — Gilbert, ob 1274 = Gwendoline, dau of Rhys ap Griffith, King of South Wales

- Richard, Feudal Baron of Eccleshall = Sarah, dau of William Beauchamp, Baron of Elmley and Earl of Warwick

- Sir Gilbert Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, Lord Chamberlain to EDWARD III, ob 1346 = Anne, dau of William Boteler, Baron of Wem

- Sir Richard, 2nd Baron, ob 1356 = Elizabeth, dau of John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch

- Gilbert, 3rd Baron, ob 1387 = (1) Lady Petronella, dau of 1st Earl of Ormonde / (2) Lady Joan, dau of 1st Earl of Stafford KG

- (1) Sir Richard, 4th Baron = Ankaret, sis and heir of John, Baron le Strange of Blackmere, ob 1413  

- Gilbert, 5th Baron KG, ob 1419 = (1) Joan, dau of Thomas Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, son of EDWARD III / (2) Beatrix, dau of the Pintos of Portugal

- Ankaret, Baroness Talbot and Strange of Blackmere, dsp 1431

- Sir John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury KG, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, termed by Shakespeare “the Great Alcides of the field”, Lord Lieutenant of Acquitaine; 1442 cr Earl of Shrewsbury; 1446 and Earl of  

Waterford. He was the last Constable of Gascony, after whom the great claret Talbot is named. Created Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland; killed at Châtillon, 1453 = Maud, Baroness Furnival

- John, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford KG, Lord Treasurer of England, k at Northampton 1460 = (1) Catherine, dau of Sir Edward Burnell / (2) Lady Elizabeth, dau of 4th Earl of Ormonde

- John, 3rd Earl, ob 1473 = Lady Catherine, dau of Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham — [collateral] Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton, Worcs, KG PC = Elizabeth, dau of 7th Lord Greystock

- George, 4th Earl, KG, ob 1538 = (1) Anne, dau of William, Lord Hastings / (2) Elizabeth, dau and co-heir of Sir Richard Walden of Erith, Kent — [collateral] George Talbot of Grafton, 9th Earl, dsp 1630 when he was succeeded by his nephew

Francis, 5th Earl, ob 1560 = Mary, dau of Thomas Lord Dacre of Gilsland

George, 6th Earl KG, had custody of MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS for 20 years till her execution in 1587; Lord High Steward of England, Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland, Earl Marshal of England, ob 1590 = (1) Gertrude, dau of Thomas, Earl of Rutland / (2) Elizabeth, dau of John Hardwick of Hardwick, Derbys, BESS OF HARDWICK, a woman of “masculine understanding...proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling”

- (1) Gilbert, 7th Earl, ob 1616 = Mary, dau of Sir William Cavendish — Edward, 8th Earl, dsp 1617 = Jane, dau of 1st Lord Ogle    

- John, 10th Earl, ob 1654 = Mary, dau of Sir Francis Fortescue KB

- George dspvp 1642 — Francis, 11th Earl, killed in a duel, 1667 = (1) Anne, dau of Sir John Conyers / (2) Lady Anna Maria, dau of 2nd Earl of Cardigan

- Charles, 12th Earl, cr (1694) Marquess of Alton, Staffs, and Duke of Shrewsbury, Lord Chamberlain, to whom QUEEN ANNE entrusted the Hanoverian succession in the person of GEORGE I. Great-grandfather eight times to HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II, dsp 1718 — Gilbert, 13th Earl, dsp a priest — George = Mary, dau of 4th Viscount FitzWilliam

- George, 14th Earl, dsp 1787 — Charles = (1) Mary, dau of Robert Alwyn / (2) Mary, dau of Sir George Mostyn Bt

- Charles, 15th Earl, dsp 1827 — John = (1) Catherine, dau of Thomas Clifton of Lytham, Lancs / (2) Harriet, dau of Rev Bacon Bedingfield of Norfolk — Francis = (1) Anne, dau of 1st Earl of Fauconberg / (2) Lady Margaret, dau of William Sheldon

- John, 16th Earl, dspms 1852 — Charles = Julia, dau of Sir Henry Tichborne, Bt

- Bertram, 17th Earl, ob unm 1853 — [the 18th Earl was descended from Sir Gilbert Grafton, 3rd son of the 2nd Earl, supra*]

- Henry John Chetwynd, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford, 3rd Earl and 5th Baron Talbot, Viscount Ingestre, ob 1868 = Lady Sarah, dau of 2nd Marquess of Waterford, an entirely different family and title from the Earls of Waterford

- Charles, 19th Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford, ob 1877 = Teresa, dau of Cmdr Richard Cockerell

- Charles, 20th Earl KCVO, Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland, ob 1921 = Ellen, dau of Charles Morewood of Ladbroke Hall, Warks

- Charles, Viscount Ingestre, dvp 1915 = Winifred Paget, dau of Lord Alexander Paget, son of 15th Marquess of Ailesbury 

- John, 21st Earl, ob 1980 = (1) Nadine Muriel, dau of Brigadier Cyril Crofton, died 2003 / (2) Doris, Dowager Countess of Shrewsbury, died 1991

- Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd and present Earl of Shrewsbury, Waterford and Talbot, Hereditary Lord High Steward of Ireland

*Space limitations do not permit a full pedigree of this most illustrious family, who hold three Earldoms, are Premier Earls of England on the Roll, Hereditary Lord High Stewards of Ireland and many other titles.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #35 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

formerly belonging to John Baliol, the founder of Baliol College, Oxford, and his son, John, King of Scotland.

This lordship, which comprises about 2,170 acres, is in the Calceworth Hundred of Lincolnshire, six miles from Alford and seven miles from Louth. Gayton le Marsh was an important Saxon place. There was an elegant church here before 1066.

By 1254 John Baliol was lord of the manor. He was one the wealthiest barons at that time, in his own right and that of his wife, Devorguila, who was co-heiress of two great inheritances. He was Regent of Scotland during the minority of King Alexander III.

In about 1263 Baliol gave the first lands in Oxford to found his College there. This endowment was increased on his death in 1269, and later by his widow.

John Baliol, youngest son of the College founder, succeeded to the lordship because his two elder brothers had died. He successfully claimed the crown of Scotland because his maternal grandmother, Margaret, had been the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of King William the Lion and grandson of King David I. He was crowned King of Scotland in 1292.

From the Baliols this lordship came to an ancestor of the present lord of the manor, Lord Willoughby de Broke, who’s family have held the lordship for centuries.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Court rolls 1344-1655

2 Court books 1482-1517, 1501-1730

3 Rentals, terriers, surveys etc., 1546-1841  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: FeudalTitles.com does not guarantee to the validity of Irish feudal titles - which have been abused mightily and exist outside of ANY formal gov't recognition. See: 'Suspicious & Fake Titles' page for more.

Lot #24 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

Girley was part of the great Liberty of Meath granted by Henry II to Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and Ulster. The grant encompassed the whole of the county of Meath:

Henry King of England &c has granted to Hugh de Lacy for his service the land of Meath with its appurtenances by the service of 50 Knights to hold to him and his heirs as Murcard Ha Mulachlyn held it or any other before him. And for increase to the gift all fees which he has or shall acquire about Dublin, while he is the King’s Bailiff (Governor), to do service to the King at his city of Dublin.

Hugh’s great great grandfather, Walter, had attended William the Conqueror in the invasion of England almost 120 years before. Walter’s grandson, also Hugh, invaded Wales in the early years of Henry I’s reign. Hugh was succeeded by two sons, the eldest, Walter, and Hugh. Hugh was constituted Constable of Ireland and obtained the Earldom of Ulster from King John for betraying John de Courcy, the ancestor of the present Baron Kingsale. But Hugh himself fell foul of that irascible King and was banished the country. Walter obtained a grant of Meath and its Manors from King John. Walter married Margaret, daughter of William de Braose, Lord of “the kingdom of Limerick” in the reign of Henry II. Their surviving daughter, Matilda, married John le Botiller to whom she brought considerable holdings in Meath, including Girley. Her daughter and heiress, also Matilda, married William de Londres, Baron of Londres. In 1381, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of the last de Londres in the male line, married Christopher Preston, ancestor of the recent holder of Girley, Viscount Gormanston. The de Londres, however, seem to have alienated the Lordship to the de Prestons before their alliance with that family.

The Le Poers, who completed the Preston holding in Meath and Connaught in 1414, also came to Ireland with Richard de Clare, in the person of Sir Roger de la Poer. The historian, Gerald of Wales, says of him that “there was not a man who did more valiant acts than Roger le Poer, who, although he were young and beardless, yet he shewed himself a lusty, valiant, and courageous gentleman, and who grew into such good credit, that he had the government of the country about Leighlin, as also in Ossory, where he was traitorously killed”. Edmund Pouere mentioned in the Gormanston Register at the National Library, Dublin, was the brother of Nicholas Le Poer whose son Peter was created Lord Le Poer, Baron of Curraghmore, by Henry VI in 1452. His descendant, Richard Power (sic) was advanced to the Viscountcy of Decies and Earldom of Tyrone in 1673. The family are now represented by the eighth Marquess of Waterford, John De La Poer Beresford, and have changed Power back to the Anglo-Norman spelling.

We now turn back to the Prestons. Sir Robert Preston was created Viscount of Gormanston in 1478, the oldest Irish Viscountcy. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Edward IV when the King’s son, Richard, Duke of York — who was murdered in the Tower of London by Richard III — held the sinecure post of Lord Lieutenant. The Gormanstons suffered somewhat in the 16th century for their adhesion to the Catholic cause and temporarily lost their lands to Lord Deputy Skeffington, now represented by Viscount Massereene and Ferrard. The Gormanstons survived the plantations of Elizabeth and James I, but espoused the forlorn cause of James II who was dethroned in 1689. The seventh Viscount was indicted for high treason and outlawed in 1691, although he had died the month before publication of his ban. Ninety-nine years later, the family were restored in blood and thrive to this day.

It is worth noting another family connected with the Prestons. In 1394, a young man by the name of Janico Dartois arrived in Ireland from Gascony with Richard II. Richard had been born in Bordeaux and Janico’s lifelong loyalty to him was perhaps as a result of this. Although apparently without any noble background, or even backing, Janico (also spelt Jenico, a name still found in the Viscounts Gormanston to this day) rose rapidly in the favour of the King. He was an Esquire of the Chamber with a grant of 100 marks a year from the Exchequer and served bravely and with considerable success in various wars. In particular, Janico was closely associated with the success of Richard II’s campaign to force the Irish chieftans to submit to him in 1395.

Janico returned to Ireland in 1399 as the right-hand man of Thomas Holland, Duke of Surrey. King Richard was determined to avenge the death of his cousin Roger, Earl of March and Ulster, who had been killed by the Irish chieftans in 1398 while on a mission to enforce their previous oaths of alleigance to the King. Janico headed an army which in two battles killed more than 400 Irish soldiers. But King Richard was forced to abandon his campaign by events in England — the Lancastrians, led by the future Henry IV, threatened his throne. Events soon overtook Richard and he was overthrown, Janico remaining loyal to the last.

For this loyalty he was imprisoned in Chester Castle, but Henry IV ordered his release and took him into his service in 1400. He prospered under the new King and was soon back in Ireland, where he began to receive grants of land. In 1404, he was made Admiral of Ireland in recognition of his efforts against the Irish chieftans. He died in 1426, having served four successive English Kings, and left a son, also Janico and a daughter, Joan. Joan married Christopher Preston, son of Christopher Preston and his wife, Elizabeth de Londres. On the death of the second Janico, his son, also Janico succeeded him in the lands. On this Janico’s death in 1464 some of his lands passed to the Viscounts Gormanston.

The Gormanston Register has been published and a copy is available for inspection at the Manorial Society of Great Britain.

(Illustrations on this page: the Massereene and Ferrard arms; the Preston arms; and a full-length figure of a bishop or knight from a monumental brass.)

Descent of the Viscounts Gormanston, sometime Lords of Girley

Philip de Preston

Preston

Roger de Preston

Sir Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston = Margaret, dau of Walter de Bermingham, Lord of Carbery

Sir Christopher Preston, 2nd Baron Gormanston = Elizabeth, dau and heiress of William de Loundres

Christopher Preston, 3rd Baron Gormanston = Jane D’Artois

Sir Robert Preston, 1st Viscount Gormanston, ob 1503 = Janet, dau of Sir Richard Molyneux

Sir William Preston, 2nd Viscount Gormanston, ob 1532 = Anne Burnell

Jenico, 3rd Viscount Gormanston, ob 1569 = Catherine, dau of 9th Earl of Kildare

Christopher, 4th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1599 = Catherine Fitzwilliam

Jenico, 5th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1630 = Margaret, dau of Nicholas St Lawrence, Lord Howth

Nicholas, 6th Viscount Gormanston = Mary, dau of 1st Viscount Barnewall of Kingsland

Jenico, 7th Viscount, who having adhered to the lost cause of James II was indicted and outlawed for treason in 1691. He was succeeded by his nephew

Jenico, 8th Viscount Gormanston, succeeded by his brother. — Andrew, 9th Viscount Gormanston = Mary Preston

Jenico, 10th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1757 = Thomasine, dau of Baron Trimelstown

Anthony, 11th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1786 = Henrietta Robinson

Jenico, 12th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1860 = Margaret, dau of 2nd Viscount Southwell

Edward, 13th Viscount Gormanston = Lucretia Jerningham

Jenico, 14th Viscount Gormanston = Georgina Connellan

Jenico, 15th Viscount Gormaston, ob 1925 = Eileen, dau of General Rt Hon Sir William Butler

William, 16th Viscount Gormanston, ob 1940 = Pamela, granddau of 9th Earl of Denbigh

Jenico Nicholas Dudley Preston, 17th and present Viscount Gormanston, Premier Viscount of Ireland and Baron of Ivecolyan

(Two figures from monumental brasses — a kneeling lady and a kneeling figure — illustrate this page.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #38 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

The Lordship of Golcar is in the Agbrigg Wapentake of Yorkshire.

In the reign of King Edward the Confessor, Leuine was lord of the manor. By the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, the lordship had come to Dunston, who held it from Ilbert, an owner of large estates in this part of Yorkshire.

The present lord of the manor is Lord Savile. The Savile family is one of the oldest in Yorkshire and has many branches. The Lordship of Golcar has been owned by this family since at least 1225, when Henry de Sayvill was lord of the manor.

In 1225 John de Dewsbury and Odo de Richmond, parsons of Dewsbury, granted to Henry de Sayvill, their parishoner, a licence to have a chantry in his chapel at Golcar.

This lordship is thus coming up for sale to the public for the first time; having been in one family for at least 660 years.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Court Rolls and Papers 1619-1838

2 Rentals c. 1660

3 Valuations 1839, 1846

4 Jurors Presentments 1784

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #32 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

This lordship is in the Andover Hundred of Hampshire. In 1130 the King's Sheriff had the receipts from the manor.

By 1167 William Mauduit, Chamberlain to King Henry II was lord of the manor. Apart from a few years when the lordship was held by Sir Alan de Plugenet the Mauduit family held the lordship until it passed to Sir Henry Greene.

In 1318 it is recorded in the Charter Rolls that King Edward II gave Thomas Mauduit a grant of free warren in the Manor of Grately. This Thomas Mauduit was however on the wrong side at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 where he was taken prisoner. The manor was confiscated by the King and he was executed. King Edward III restored the manor to his son, John Mauduit who was lord of the manor in 1332.

Sir Henry Greene married Maud, the daughter of John Mauduit, who died in 1364. Sir Henry was a privy councillor to King Richard II. Sadly however for his loyalty to King Richard, he was executed on the orders of Henry Bolingbroke and the manor again came to the Crown.

When Henry assumed the throne he must have had a twinge of conscience because he returned the manor to Sir Henry's son Ralph in 1327. He was knighted and died, lord of the manor in 1417.

Sir Ralph was succeeded by his brother John, who is mentioned in the Feudal Aid of 1428 and 1431. He died, lord of the manor of Grately, in 1433, when his son Henry succeeded to the lordship. He was twice married, but he left only a daughter, Constance. She carried the manor in marriage to Lord John Stafford, third surviving son of the First Duke of Buckingham.

Lord John Stafford was created Earl of Wiltshire in 1470. His son, Edward the Second Earl of Wiltshire, died, Lord of the Manor, but without any children, in 1499. The Earldom of Wiltshire thus became extinct. The Lordship of the Manor of Grately reverted to the heirs of Sir Henry Greene's two sisters, Lady de Vere and Lady Huddlestone.

For this reason, the manor was divided between the different families until 1577 when Lord Audley and his father-in-law, Sir James Mervyn, purchased the whole lordship from the different owners. Lord Audley died in 1617, after which the manor came to the Carey family of Carey Street in London. From whom the lordship was purchased by Leonard Pickering, who left it in his will to his niece, Miss Pickering. She was also Lord of the Manor of Wilcote in Oxfordshire. From her the ancient Lordship of Grately came to the present lord of the manor.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Royal Charter King Edward II 1318

2 Account roll with other manors 1536 – 37

3 Account roll with other manors 1566 – 67

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 waning 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 #17 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

Together with the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair granted by King Edward I.

The Lordship of Grayingham comprises a secluded village fifteen miles north of Lincoln and two miles south of Kirton-in-Lindsey. The manor, which has an area of about 1,650 acres, is on the Cliff range portion of the Lincolnshire Wolds in the Corringham Wapentake.

In 1277 Philip de Rye was lord of the manor. He conveyed the lordship to the Charles family, who continued to hold the lordship for the next century. By 1271 Johanna, widow of William Charles was lord of the manor. She was ward of the heir, Edward Charles. He succeeded to the lordship and is recorded as paying a subsidy there in 1327, but by 1332 his son John was lord of the manor.

He conveyed the lordship to John Charteray. He was succeeded by his nephew, Thomas Guyan of Wolfton Guyan, Somerset, who granted the lordship to John and Lawrence, sons of another John Charteray, who was a chaplain.

After this the lordship passed to Isabella, widow of Sir William de Wylughby Lord of Thorrock. Her daughter, also Isabella, inherited the manor. She married John Boyse. Their son, John succeeded to the lordship. The last of this family to hold the lordship was Elizabeth Boyse, who’s second husband was Robert Sutton. He was lord of the manor in 1526.

By 1546 Ambrose Sutton had inherited the lordship. The last of the Sutton family to hold the lordship was Margaret, widow of Henry Sutton. She married William Thorold of Marston who was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. His eldest son Sir Anthony Thorold was High Sheriff in 1569 and an ancestor of the present lord of the manor.

It is understood that this lordship is sold with the royal right to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays and an annual fair on the vigil the feast and the morrow of the Festival of St. Barnabus (21st, 22nd and 23rd June).

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Royal charter, King Edward I 1291

2 Ministers’ accounts with Kirton in Lindsay 1412/3, 1456/7, 1482/3, 1542/3

3 Abstract of survey 1616

4 Notes from court rolls 1509

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #22 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

In the Parishes of Great Ashfield Higham and Hunston

"At the time of Edward the Confessor, one of the Manors in Ashfield was held by Achy with three carucates of land. There were 9 bordars, 4 plough teams in demesne, 12 acres of meadow, wood for 60 hogs, 2 rouncies, 2 beasts, 25 sheep and 10 hives of bees value 60/-. By the time of the Norman survey the ploughteams in demesne had come down to 3, 60 hogs had been reduced to 15 and the 25 sheep to 10 but the value had remained unaffected." 

According to Copinger, "From Robert le Blund, the Domesday tenant, both Manors mentioned in Ashfield descended as one in his family in the same Court as the Manor of Ixworth in this Hundred to the time of Sir William le Blund, who was slain at the Battle of Lewes in 1264. On Sir William's death, without issue, this Manor passed to Agnes, his sister, and one of his co=-heirs who had married William de Crickelot. The King took homage of him for this Manor as one of the heirs of Sir William le Blund. William died about 1299, when he was found to have held this Manor and those of Ixworth and Ousden, leaving a second William de Crickelot his son and heir. This William died about 1307 and the Manor passed to his son, a third William, who died in 1310."

The 4th William de Crickelot died in 1343 and was succeeded by his son, another William, who died in 1354. The latter having no children, he and his wife, Joan, granted the Manor to Richard de Pakenham, who had married Joan, an heir of the Crickelots. Richard de Pakenham died 1383. In 1387 Roger de Wolferston, John Rokele and John Filyoll were join tenants of the Manor. John Filyoll died seized of it in 1390, and the Manor passed to his two youngest daughters, Joan, wife of Thomas House, and Anne Filyoll. It remained in the Filyoll and House families until the death of George House in 1460 leaving Robert Mortymer his heir. During the first half of the next century it was vested in the Guilford family until it was sold by Sir John Guilford in 1549 to Sir Thomas Darcy (Lord Darcy). He sold it in 1553 to Sir Robert Rochester, whose son and grandson sold it to Sir Thomas Bacon, Knt. in 1561; in 1587 he sold it to Jeffrey Lytell, whose son John was lord in 1627. The Manor came later to the Smith or Hovel family and remained in their hands until Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Smith, married the Rector of Ashfield, the Rev. Thomas Thurlow. Edward Thurlow, their eldest son, became Lord High Chancellor in 1778 and was elevated to the peerage in as Baron Thurlow of Ashfield. He was Solicitor-General and Attorney-General in 1771. 

The Manor remained in the Thurlow family until it was sold in 1896 by the 5th Baron to Henry Edwards Paine of Chertsey; his steward was George Frederick  Beaumont of Coggeshall and his first court was held on 3rd February, 1896, at the "Hovel Arms," Gt. Ashfield, named as was so often the case after the family so closely connected with the Manor. Richard Almack, of Long Melford, was Steward for Lord Thurlow, and his Deputy in 1871 was Joshua George Steed, a well-known family in the district. 

This is one of the Manors in which the custom of  Borough-English existed, i.e., descent to the youngest instead of the eldest son. This custom did not extend to collaterals for there is evidence int he records that failing a son, the property passed to the eldest brother. (vol. F, page 63 and vol. G, page 145).

The Court Records include many interesting items, from which the following are a few extracts:

Court held 29th May, 1735: 

"Whereas Henry Theobald son of Isaac Theobald Copyhold Tenant of this manor lately incroached upon the Waste of the lords of this manor by making a new hedge and ditch next to the road leading from Ashfield Church to Botonhaugh Green further into the said road than he ought to have done thereby taking into his own land a small parcel of ground parcel to the Waste of this manor. The said Henry Theobald now in open court acknowledges the said trespass and offence and submits to pay to the Lords of this manor as a fine of the same two shillings and sixpence. In consideration of which sum the said Lords do acquit him of the said offence and of all further prosecution on account thereof."

Court held 7th June, 1750: 

"At this Court the Lords upon the petition of John Rust Gentleman Bond Tenants of this Manor do grant Licence to him to take down one Bakehouse and Stable and Moat-house parcel of the bond Messuages late of John Fike, he the said John Fiske removing the materials and erecting the like buildings on the other Copyhold lands contiguous to the bond messuage late of John Amyas and which are all now holden by the said John Rust by copy of the Court Roll of this Manor and for this Licence he give to the Lords a fine of two shillings and sixpence." 

Court held 14th June, 1764:

"At this Court William Brooke, Bayliff of this Manor informs this Court that about twelve months since he took two weather sheep on driving the Common belonging to this Manor called Butnall Green which were not claimed by any person having a right of Common on the said Waste and the Lords of this Manor of their special favour granted the said two weather sheep to the said William Brook for his own use."

Court held 23rd May, 1771:

"Also at this Court the lords of this Manor at the request of Coppinger Moyle Esquire Copyhold Tenant by Alexander Cooke his attorney Licence is granted to the said Coppinger Moyle to drain the water from a certain pit on the Lord's Waste called Buttonhough Green near the Messuage of the said Coppinger Moyle called the Schoolhouse being injurious to his said Messuage and to cut Anthills and Molehills on the said Waste to fill up the said pitt and he pays to the Lords for this License the fine of One Penny." 

Records to be handed over are:

Court Books: 1729-1751; 17512-1773; 1773-1801; 1802-1828; 1828-1864; 1864-1921

Index to Court Books, Rentals, etc.

Particulars of Properties, Enfranchisements, etc., revised to 1913.

Extracts from Confirmed Apportionment of Tithe dated 30th December, 1848.

Copy of Plan of the Parish of Hunston, undated

Extracts from Plan of Great Ashfield, showing Buttonhaugh Green Allotments.

Rentals commencing 1786, 1819, and 1831.

There will also be handed over an envelope containing earth, which was taken from a copyhold property upon its seizure, after the necessary proclamations had been made, upon failure of the heirs to come to the Court to be admitted.

Insurance of records: £300, premium 15/- p.a.

Commencement of Title: Deed dated 12th October, 1896

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 (insured 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 #25 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

In the County of Essex 

This is the only Manor in Great Holland, which lies on the coast between Little Holland and Frinton-on-Sea. In the Domesday Book, under the Hundred of Tendring and amongst the lands of Walter de Lode, it is stated that "Holanda was held by Lestan as 6½ hides. Then as now 17 villeins. Then and afterwards 10 bordars; now 11. Then and afterwards 5 serfs; now 3. Then and afterwards 4 ploughs on the demesne; now 3. Then and afterwards 11 ploughs belonging to the men; now 8. Woodland for 100 swine and 14 acres of meadow. It is worth now as then 14 pounds." The editor of the Victoria History of Essex, from which this translation is taken, has a note to the effect that it is not clear in which of the Hollands, or where, this Manor lay and it seems likely that the Manors of Great and Little Holland were held together at that time; reference should be made to page 470a of the History for further information as to what is there considered to be the particulars of Little Holland. 

According to Morant, at the beginning of King Edward I’s reign the manor belonged to Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Lord Chancellor. It was still in the same family in 1330 through Madam Burnell, she and her second husband John de Handlo holding it of the King in capite, as parcel of the barony of Montfichet, by the service of half a knight’s fee, and yearly payment of three shillings to the ward of Colchester Castle. In 1355 Sir Nicholas de Handlo succeeded, taking the surname of Burnell from his mother, and the Manor remained in that family for over a hundred years until it came to James Boteler, Earl of Lancaster. King Edward IV gave the Manor in 1474 to Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, and Isabella his wife, sister of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, that King’s father. 

In 1551 Edward VI granted the Manor to Sir Thomas Darcy, afterwards Lord Darcy, and Elizabeth Countess Rivers appears to have sold it about the year 1639. Later in that century the manor belonged to Joseph Thurston, Recorder of Colchester, and after his decease an Act of Parliament was passed for the sale of part of his estates by his widow, Mary, daughter of Sir Isaac Rebow, Kt. The Trustees under the Act conveyed the manor to Daniel Bayley of Colchester and such subsequent holders included Sir Richard Hopkins, Elizabeth Barrow, Robert Martin of Rowhedge (1748), and John Kirby his son-in-law (1763). It remained in the Kirby family from 1763 to 1846 and during the last 30 years of that period the Lords were Trustees of the Kirby estate; they included the Rev. Joseph Jefferson, Archdeacon of Colchester, and George Round, no doubt of the Birch family. Later Lords were Samuel Dennis and his wife Elizabeth (1846-1865), David Cree and David Cree the younger (1865-1890) and George Frederick Beaumont, who purchased the manor in the last mentioned year. 

The Stewards of the manor during the last 200 years or more were Richard Bacon (1734-48), Samuel Carter (1748-65), John Round (1765-92), Thomas Maberley (1792-1846), Henry Spurling (1846-65), John Frederick Robinson (1865-85), William Fennell (1885-90) and George Frederick Beaumont, who held his Courts in person. 

There were Courts Leet, as well as Courts Baron and Customary Courts, in this Manor, and at the Courts Leet the business included election of Constables, Bread and Ale Tasters, Common-drivers (with duties relating to the common) and Reeves (with duties relating to the fields). There is also a record of the appointment of a Pindar, i.e. one impounding straying cattle. 

The following are a few extracts from entries in the records: 

4th October, 1748. It was presented that "John Dennis occupies a stable built on parcel of the Waste ground of this manor without admission. Whereupon the first proclamation was made to seize the same." 

3rd August, 1812. "The Homage present ... Robert Lilley, of Kirby ... for erecting a tenement on part of the Waste of this Manor without the Lady’s license so to do which tenement the Bailiff is directed to prostrate." 

22nd March, 1748. Robert Young was presented for felling seven spire elms on the copyhold lands belonging to Sarah, his wife, without the Lord’s license. At a later court he was pardoned provided he used the timber for repairing the premises. 

Although encroachments on the manorial wastes were severely dealt with it was not beyond the power of the Lord to grant a licence to enclose parts of the commons or waste land, but the consent of the majority of the homage was necessary. The Lord usually required the payment of an annual rent for any such pieces of land granted and the same suits and services then attached to the pieces of land as attached to original copyhold lands. 

At least one Court held 1679 on which are noted numerous properties which were heriotable, viz., the best beast or chattel was liable to be taken by the Lord on a death or transfer of copyhold property. It also emphasises that the custom of descent in the Manor was Borough-English; the youngest son instead of the eldest inherited on the death of a tenant intestate. Three of the copyhold tenements are described as being "War-lands" and there is a note at the end of the document to the effect that “Every acre of War-land containeth two acres of land of standard measure and all Warr-land is heriotable.” 

At a court held on 15th July, 1741, there is recorded the admission of Catherine, the wife of the Rev. Henry Gough, to certain copyhold properties in Great Holland, as only daughter and heir of Robert Canham, who lived at Beaumont Hall. This lady was none other than the famous beauty Kitty Canham, who provided material for a chapter of the late Sir Gurney Benham’s “Essex Scenes” (published by Benham & Co. Ltd., 1928). The author of his Court shows up an inaccuracy in the story; the Rev. Alexander Henry Gough was said, on p.50, to have become enamoured of Catherine Canham soon after his induction, but as his appointment as Vicar was in August, 1745, he had already been married to her over four years. 

Such interest as the Vendors may have in the foreshore, which is claimed by them but the claim has not been admitted by the Crown, is specifically excluded from the sale. 

Such minerals, and roadsides wastes and commons as may belong to the Lords are included in the Sale. There is an Enclosure Map which gives some particulars of the reservation of minerals to the Lords. A good example of a copyhold tenant enfranchising a property without, in the same document, obtaining a conveyance or release (see Lord’s rights in minerals, etc. is provided by a deed dated 1st February, 1919, between George Frederick Beaumont and Charles Henry Jonas, a builder of Frinton. To get the property (Larges Farm situate round Holland Green) freed from the rights reserved to the Lord by the Copyhold Act 1852, £48 had to be paid, years after the enfranchisement, the sum of £20. 

The fines in this Manor were arbitrary and the Courts were, at times, held at the Ship Inn, Great Holland, e.g., the Court Baron and Customary Court of 26th July, 1913, was held there. 

Note: All the manorial records specified below will be handed over on completion, but the purchaser will be required to give to the vendors acknowledgement of the right of them and their successors in title owning or owners for the time being of the said foreshore to production of copies thereof. 

THE RECORDS to be handed over on completion are:
Court Rolls. 1545-1649; 1652-83; 1685-97; 1699-1704; 1709-1714; 1716-34.
Court Books. 1738-61; 1761-1801; 1802-31; 1832-65; 1865-1921.
Enclosure Award and Map. Dated 28th July, 1849, by R. R. Jay.
Rental and Custom Roll. 1679.

Insurance of Records £400, premium £1 p.a. 

Commencement of Title: Deed dated 14th February, 1890

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #19 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

This ancient lordship is situated three miles north of Castleford in the Skyrack Wapentake of Yorkshire.

The manor was granted to Earl Laci by William the Conqueror. He is recorded as the lord of the manor in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Earl Laci was one of the most powerful and influential of the Norman barons. His family held this lordship during several reigns. Roger de Laci fought with King Richard I on crusade at Acre.

Robert de Laci, Lord of the Manor of Great Preston, was present at the sealing of Magna Carta. He was created Earl of Chester and Earl of Lincoln.

The Earl of Lancaster succeeded to this lordship and the Laci estates. He rebelled against the King and was defeated at Boroughbridge in 1322.

The lordship then came to the de Swillington family. In 1401 Roger de Swillington was lord of the manor. An inquisition post mortem of 1491 states that George Hopton was Lord of the Manor of Great Preston.

The Lowther family have held the this lordship for many generations; Sir Charles Lowther being the present lord of the manor.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Feudal Aids 1401

2 Inquisitions post mortem 1427-28 and 1429-30

3 Inquisitions post mortem 1479-80 and 1491

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #18 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

or

Lot #20 of Manorial Services Auction - 2004 UNPUBLISHED/ABORTED - Stephen Johnson

Great Ripton is in the Hundred of Great Chart one mile west of Ashford in the County of Kent. The lordship was part of the possessions belonging to St. Augustine’s Monastery in Canterbury at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The Valoign family were lords of the manor by Knights service.

In the reign of King Stephen the lordship was held by Ruellon de Valoign, Sheriff of Kent, who is known to have dwelt here in 1154. His descendant held the manor in the reign of King Henry II, and by 1260 Waretius de Valoign was lord of the manor.

Sir William de Valoign attended King Edward I in Scotland. He was Sheriff of Kent for several years at the beginning of that reign. Under King Edward III, Henry de Valoign was lord of the manor, and, in 1340, he had a charter of free warren for this manor and other lands. He paid aid for these at the ceremony when the Black Prince was made a knight.

Henry de Valoign’s, descendant Waretius de Valoign left two daughters and co-heirs, one of whom married Sir Francis Fogge. He became possessed of the manor as his wife’s dower.

His descendant, Sir John Fogge was Comptroller and Treasurer of the Household to King Edward IV, and served as a knight in Parliament. His attachment to King Edward IV led to an attainder by King Richard III. Through this, his lands became forfeited, although King Richard did give his royal word for the protection of his person. He lived to see his lands restored by King Henry VII. He founded a college at Wye and became a great benefactor.

On his death, in 1490, the manor descended to Sir John Fogge who disgavelled his lands in 1539. He died in 1654 and gave this lordship to his only son, Edward Fogge, who died without children in 1577. The lordship then passed to George Fogge, his father’s brother, who conveyed it to Sir Michael Sondes of Throwley. He in turn conveyed the lordship to an ancestor of Lord Hothfield.

Ashford Church has some fine tombs of former lords of the manor.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Rentals 1795

2 Court rolls Henry VII-Elizabeth I 

3 Court minutes 1615-45

4 Rentals 1445-46, 1582, 1632

5 Quit rent accounts (with other manors) 1742

((2004 Catalogue Begins))

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

Great Snoring lies on the road from Fakenham to Wells and is in the North Greenhoe Hundred. The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is built of flint and stone in the Decorated style. Adjoining it is a fine red brick Rectory said to have been built by Sir Ralph Shelton about 1485. 

"The Conqueror," says Blomefield (vol. 9, p. 254), "on the ejection of Ketel, took possession of this Lordship consisting of 3 carucates of land, on e villain and 22 borderers, 9 servi, 3 carucates in demean, with 3 carucates of the tenants, paunage for 8 swine, 8 acres of meadow, a mill and 180 sheep:  Godric took care of it for the King, and was steward of it. Thurseford was a beruite to it, and was measured together with it as I shall show there. It stands by a little stream or rivulet, called probably in the Saxon age, the Nar or Snar, as Little Snoring does on another, both which streams are soon after united." 

Blomefield could not trace how long the Lordship of this manor remained in the crown, but says that it was in the family of De Burgiloun in the 41st of Henry III. The Manor remained in this family, but with the name changed to Burgolyon, until a cousin of Hugh Burgolyon, Sir Ralph Shelton of Shelton, Norfolk, succeeded and was Lord in 1353. He was at the battle of Cressy. The Shelton family retained it until 1611, when Sir Ralph Shelton sold it to Thomas Richardson, serjeant-at-law, afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench.  This sale, says Blomefiled, "gave rise to a joke or pun, that is said to have been made by Sir Ralph, which was, 'That he could sleep without Snoring'." This Sir Ralph had married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Robert Jermyn, of Rushbrook in Suffolk. Rushbrook Hall, the residence of Jermyns and Rushbrooks, is the lovely red brick mansion that figures periodically in the press as not suitable for County Council or other purposes and may eventually come under the demolition hammer. (It is a curious coincidence that the compiler of these particulars was at school at the end fo the last century with a descendant still living, of t hose Rushborooks, and that this brother was at school in Ruchbrook Hall when his school was evacuated from Adldeburgh during the first World War).

After Sir John Richardson, son of the Lord Chief Justice, had succeeded to the Lordship it came in 1693 to James Ward, of Hindringham. He gave it to Mr. Nonne of Thorpland, who held it in 1713. Later Lords included John Balders and the Manor eventually came by purchase to Henry Edwards Paine and thence through his devisees and their trustees to the vendor. 

The following are a few extracts from the records showing the type of business transacted at the Courts Baron held on the dates stated:

7th Nov., 1735: 

Lord: John Nonne 

Steward: James Martin 

Jury of the Leet: John Fleming Tivorne, Nicholas Mathis, Thomas Wright, John Rogers, Henry Rix, son, John Clark, John Spooner, William Clarke, John Jokill, Thomas Capes, John Youles, and Thomas Jokill. 

"Who choose for Constables for the town of Great Snoring for the ensuing year or until they shall be legally discharged from the said office Henry Shepheard and William Maunder  being present in Court are sworn into the said Office." 

8th Feb., 1734:

Lord: John Nonne

Steward: James Martin

"And lastly the Homage aforesaid as well as on the part of Thursford do present all Copyhold Tenants of the said Manors and owe suit and service at this Court and have this day made Default in their appearance and do amerce them twelve pence apiece."

17th July, 1749:

Lords: John Balders, James Jones

Steward: D. Jones

"It is found by the Homage of this Court that Lowry Raby, Richard Clarks Weaver, William Jacknife, Thomas Jacknife, and Jeremiah Bochester have severally cut and graved divers quantities of turf and thereby broke the soil of the lord of the said Manor on the Commons or Waste of Great Snoring in the County of Norfolk commonly called Great Snoring Common to the Prejudice of the Lord of the said Manors and contrary to the custom of the said Manors. Therefore the Homage aforesaid do amerce them Ten shillings apiece to be paid in a reasonable time after notice thereof." 

9th Oct., 1749:

Lords: John Balders, James Jones

Steward: D. Jones

The Homage presented that:

"At this Court the above said John Branthwaite acknowledges to hold of the the lor d fo this Mnaor certain lands and tenements late of the said John Twiddy lying in Great Snoring aforesaid in fee and common soccage and by fealty suit of court and at the yearly rent of one halfpenny and gives the lord a releif and his fealty is spared." 

6th March, 1778:

Lords: Ann Jones

Steward: Daniel Jones

"To this Court comes Chels Groom of Great Snoring aforesaid, wheelwright, and humbly craves the favour of the Lady of the said Manor to grant unto him license to lay and Deposit Timber and wood upon a certain piece of Waste Land called Butts Green (being piece of land lying within the said Manor) for which Licence he the said Charles Groom give and doth offer to agree to pay unto the lady of the said Manor the yearly sum of five shilling s and thereupon the Lady of the said Manor doth by the hands of her said Steward grant such License unto the said Charles Groom during her will and pleasure and no longer, subject to the payment of the said sum of five shillings to be paid to her by the said Charles Groom on the tenth day of October in ever yare, while the said Charles Groom shall continue to enjoy the comfit of the said License." 

Records to behanded over are:

Court Books: 1647-86 and 1647-53; 1654-56; 1658-69; 1670-82; 1682-1717; 1701-09; 1710-28; 1729-52; 1752-81; 1782-1807; 1808-61; 1862-1935

Insurance of Records:  £ 400, premium  £1 p.a.

Commencement of Title: Deed dated 27th February, 1901

There is an Enclosure Award dated 1815 for Great and Little Snoring with a map, coloured copy of which is available for inspection and will be displayed at the Exhibition.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #12 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

Together with Samphire Island: about seventy acres in extent and valuable wild fowling rights.

The Lordship of Great Wigborough was also known as the Lordship of Abbess or Abbots Hall. It is situated on the River Blackwater, four miles south of Colchester, Essex. The area of the lordship is about one thousand acres.

The Nunnery of Barking owned this lordship in King Edward the Confessor’s time. After the Norman Conquest, King William the Conqueror allowed the Nunnery to retain the lordship. The manor is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the lordship was vested by Act of Parliament in the person of his Late Majesty King Henry VIII. On the 10th April 1540 he granted this lordship to Thomas Lord Cromwell. When he was executed the lordship was forfeited to the Crown and its revenues used for the support of Princess Mary, later Queen Mary I.

In 1555 the lordship was granted to Sir Charles Tuke, Secretary to Cardinal Wolsey at the time of his death. By 1562 the lordship had come to Queen Elizabeth I. She granted it to Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. Ten years later he was executed for treason and, once again, this lordship reverted to the Crown. This time Queen Elizabeth retained the lordship for a further twenty-two years but, in 1594, she granted it to Thomas the old Duke of Norfolk’s son by his second wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Dudley.

In 1603 he was created Earl of Suffolk and he died, lord of the manor, in 1626. The Suffolk family retained the lordship until 1640, when it was conveyed to Sir Mark Guyon. On his death, in 1686, the lordship passed to his daughter Rachel, who carried the manor in marriage to John Bullock.

The Bullock family retained the lordship until 1809, when Sir Henry Bullock, M.P., died lord of the manor. In 1811 Henry Cline acquired the lordship. From Henry Cline the lordship came to the family of the present lord of the manor.

There are valuable oyster layings in the River Blackwater. For centuries these provided an extra income to the lord of the manor. The Court Rolls from 1661 show the rents received. Under the 1922 Law of Property Act, these copyhold tenancies were enfranchised for a payment. Thus, the actual oyster layings in the river are no longer manorial property, but they could be repurchased in the future.

The freehold of “Samphire Island”, known locally as Sunken Island, about seventy acres, will be conveyed with the lordship, together with wild fowling rights let for £200 per annum. The new lord of the manor will have this income transferred to him.  

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Royal Letters Patent, King Henry VIII 1540

2 Royal Letters Patent, King Henry VIII 1545

3 Court rolls (with other manors) 1565-1810

4 Court books (with index to each) 1730-1786

5 Compotus 1639

6 Compoti 1642, 1643

7 Survey (and copy 1596) 1596, 1641

8 Two Surveys 1596, 1641

9 Rentals of the manors of “Wigborough als. Abbeshall” and “Salcott” 1644

10 Rental c.1645

11 Rental of “Great Wigborough with Salcott” 1772

12 List of customary tenants c.1850

13 Court book index 1885-1927

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #13 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

In 1086, at the time of the Domesday Survey this manor was part of the soc of Wakefield Manor. King William I was Lord of the Manor which is in the Agbrig Wapentake of Yorkshire.

Soon after 1086, the king granted the lordship to Earl Warren. From the Warren family the lordship came to an ancestor of the present lord of the manor, Lord Savile, whose family have held this lordship for many generations.

During the centuries through which the Savile family have held the lordship, the lords of the manor have been the High Sheriffs of Yorkshire and frequently statesmen of renown.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Court Papers 1609 – 1788

2 Court Rolls 1619 – 1751

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #21 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

This lordship is situated about three miles north of Empingham, close to the Old Great North Road, in the Alstoe Hundred of Rutland.

At the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086 this lordship belonged to a man called Grimbald. He was succeeded as lord of the manor by his son, Robert, who founded the Priory of Austin Canons at Owston. His grandson, another Robert, died, lord of the manor, in 1216.

By 1243 the Grimbalds had granted this lordship to the Dive family, when John de Dive was lord of the manor. In 1262 William de Dive died, lord of the manor, and was succeeded by his son, John, who died in 1293. The lordship then passed through two heiresses to the de Basing family.

Margaret, widow of William de Basing, was lord of the manor in 1316. Her son, Sir Thomas de Basing, had succeeded to the lordship by 1342, and was holding the manorial courts. He died in 1349 and was succeeded, as lord of the manor, by his son, John, who died in 1384 leaving a son, Thomas, and a widow, Elizabeth.

In 1400 Thomas de Basing died without children, and was succeeded, as lord of the manor of Grimbalds, by his brother, Sir John de Basing. He died in 1445, when his heir was his sister, Alice, widow of Thomas Mackworth. She was succeeded by her son, Henry, who died, lord of the manor, in 1487. It was his grandson, George Mackworth, who conveyed the lordship to Everard Digby. The next Lord of the Manor of Grimbalds was Sir John Harrington in 1510.

This John Harrington died in 1523 and was succeeded by his son, also John, who was knighted in 1536 and died in 1553. His son, Sir James Harrington, and his wife, Lucy, settled the lordship in 1573, on the marriage of their son, John, with Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Kelway, Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liveries. He was M.P. for Rutland. King James I raised him to the peerage as Lord Harrington of Exton in 1603, and honoured him with looking after the Princess Elizabeth.

He died, lord of the manor, in 1613, when his son, also John, succeeded to the lordship of Grimbalds. He conveyed the lordship to Sir Baptist Hicks, who was later created Viscount Campden. He settled the manor on his daughter, Juliana, wife of Lord Noel in 1629.

A few days after this settlement was made, Viscount Campden died and Lord Noel succeeded to the lordship. He also succeeded to the Viscounty of Campden. It was his son who was created the first Earl Gainsborough in 1682. The lordship has remained in the Gainsborough family until the present day.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Inquisitions post mortem 1313, 1315

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: FeudalTitles.com does not guarantee to the validity of Irish feudal titles - which have been abused mightily and exist outside of ANY formal gov't recognition. See: 'Suspicious & Fake Titles' page for more.

Lot #4 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

We find John le Ward, Lord of Capesthorne, Cheshire, towards the end of the reign of Edward III (1327–77), and he acquired the manorial estate, or part of it, by marriage to Sarah, daughter and heiress of Randle de Capestorn (sic). The Manor of Capestorne is noticed in Domesday Book (1086) and was part of the original demesne of the Norman Earldom of Chester, held by Hugh de Abrincis (Avranches) and surnamed “Lupus” (the Wolf), a name still used in a street in Belgravia, London — a nineteenth-century attempt perhaps by the Grosvenors, then Marquesses of Westminster (and Cheshire landlords in Capesthorne and adjacent Eaton) to link themselves to this illustrious ancient family.

The Wards who succeeded the Capestorns were possibly a younger branch of the Wardes of Somerford, near Northwich. Some of the family appear in the Plea and Recognizance Rolls, but they are numerous in the Thornycroft deeds. In the Plea Rolls of 32 Henry VI (1454) is an enrolment of a fine levied by John Ward of Capesthorne in favour of his son William of three messuages, 16 tofts, one mill, 500 acres of land, five of meadow, 80 of pasture, 20 of wood, 20 of moss, and 20 of moor in the Manor. Ormerod, in his 

History of Cheshire (vol iii) from which the information about Capesthorne is extracted, suggests that John Ward had a son Peter by his second wife, Elizabeth, and that this Peter was living in Ireland in 1637 and was ancestor to Lord Bangor. Charles Mosley, however, Editor of the latest edition of Burke's Peerage and Baronetage(1999), states that the first of the family to settle in Ireland was Bernard, Lord of Carrickshannagh, Co Down, which he bought from the Earl of Kildare in 1570 and renamed Castle Ward. This accords with John Lodge in The Peerage of Ireland (1789) who has Bernard Ward marrying a daughter of the Leighs of High Leigh, Cheshire. Their son Nicholas married into the Leycester family of Cheshire, and produced four sons, of whom the eldest Bernard is noticed in the pedigree chart. The second, Robert, was created a Baronet by Charles II, but died without issue, when the Baronetcy expired and his estate passed to his nephew Michael. The third son Thomas was killed fighting for Charles II at Worcester in 1651 and the fourth, Nicholas, bequeathed his estates to the University of Dublin on condition that that centre of learning educate free of charge one of his descendants.

The eldest son Bernard was born in 1606 and married a daughter of Major West of England who gave him Nicholas, his heir, who succeeded to the estates. His second son was named Cromwell after his godfather, the Earl of Ardglas. The third was Bernard who became by marriage a relative of the Viscounts Erne. Nicholas's son and heir Bernard was born in 1654 and succeeded to the family inheritance. He married Mary, sister of Michael Ward, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Bishop of Derry, and was killed in a duel in 1690 by Jocelyn Hamilton of the Earl of Clanbrassil's family. Hamilton was also mortally wounded. His second son, Michael, succeeded him and married Anne Catherine, daughter and coheir of James Hamilton of Bangor, a descendant of the Hamilton brothers who obtained great tracts in 1613 from James I, one of whom is now represented by the Duke of Abercorn, the other by the present Viscount Bangor. Michael's son, Bernard, was created Baron Bangor in 1770 and Viscount Bangor 10 years later.

In 1569–70, a patent was passed empowering Sir Nicholas Bagenal, Marshal of Ireland, to form Down into a county and several “countries” or “precincts” into baronies, including the Barony of Bangor. Jurisdiction and lands within the Barony seem to have been granted to the Hamilton brothers by patent of James I in 1613, and Groomsport came into the Wards by the marriage of Michael Ward with Anne Catherine Hamilton a century or so later. The present Lord Bangor has the original disposition of the Hamilton Estates in his possession. Lord Bangor still lives at Castle Ward, Bangor, Co Down. Lady Bangor is better known as the authress, Sarah Bradford, whose biography of Queen Elizabeth II (published in 1996) is the most perceptive of the present Queen, and perhaps the most provocative of all royal biographies.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #7 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

THIS LORDSHIP takes its name from its position at the confluence of two streams, the Harbourne and Englebourne, and consists of mainly pasture, covering an area of 1,325 acres. It is listed in Domesday Book and the entry reads:

HARBOURNEFORD. In South Brent Parish, Stanborough Hundred, held as Hurbeneford from the Barony of Dartington in fees.

After the Norman Conquest, the Lordship was part of the Barony of Harberton, held by the Valletort family. It remained with this family until the death of the last Valletort in the 13th century, and the Lordship was divided in moieties between the heiresses. One of these, Joan de Valletort, brought the moiety known as Harbourneford to the de Pomeroy family, on her marriage to Henry de Pomeroy, during the early reign of Henry III (1216–72). Their son, Henry, was said to be the last of that family which possesses “the Quality of Peer” and as such was called to Parliament. The de Pomeroy's had arrived with the Conqueror, but were not of noble extraction. Instead, they sought influence through marriage into the nobility. Their descent lies on the following page.

Perhaps the most notable member of this family was Sir Henry de Pomeroy who angered Richard I. Sir Henry had lands seized by the King in punishment for having come back to England from the continent without the King's consent. Richard then demanded 700 marks for their return. At this point Richard, travelling back from his expedition to the Holy Land, was captured and imprisoned, in Germany by Leopold, Duke of Austria. Sir Henry took the opportunity to join the rebellion of Prince John, and sacked the Monastery on St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, setting himself up as a local warlord. On hearing that Richard had returned to England, Sir Henry gave the Mount to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is said to have died of fright. In another version of this story, Richard sent a Sergeant at Arms to Sir Henry's home at Berry Castle. The messenger was received and treated well for a number of days. Just before the Sergeant was due to leave, he revealed the true nature of his visit and arrested his host. Sir Henry lost his head in fright and stabbed the messenger. Fearing for his life he fled to St Michael's Mount and entered the monastery, bequeathing his land to the local religious community.

The history of Harburtonford remains obscure until the 17th century, when the Lordship was in the possession of the Palk family with whom it remained until the marriage of Elizabeth Palk and Sir Henry Carew, ancestor of the present owner, in 1806. The Carew family are of ancient extraction. They originated with Walter Fitz Other, Castellan of Windsor. Fitz Other's son, William Fitz Walter, moved to Pembroke Castle during the reign of Henry I (1154–1189) [sic] and his son William lived at Carew castle in Pembroke, from where the family derived its surname. Instrumental in the Carews' move to Devon was Sir John Carew, whose father had come into the possession of the estates in that county on his marriage to the daughter and heir of Sir William Mohun. When Sir John came of age, in 1332, he was summoned to Ireland to defend his estates there. In 1349 he became King Edward III's (1327–1377) escheator in Ireland. Sir John accompanied Prince Lionel's (afterwards, the Duke of Clarence) expedition to Ireland in 1362.

During the 15th century the Carew family lost most of their lands in Ireland but consolidated their estate in Devon at Haccombe, which came into the possession of Sir Nicholas Carew on his marriage to Elizabeth Croker in the mid-15th century.

One of the most exotic members of the Devonshire Carews was Bamfylde Moore. Born in 1693, his father was the rector of Bickleigh. When he reached 12 years of age, Bamfylde was sent to school in Tiverton, where he fell into bad ways. One day he and two schoolmates, who had a small pack of hounds, hunted a deer over several miles of farmland. They caused so much damage that the farmers came to Bamfylde's father to complain. He was so scared of being punished that he ran away and joined the gypsies and entered a life of swindling and deceit. He travelled to Newfoundland and returned to marry the daughter of an apothecary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. On the death of Clause Patch, the King of the Gypsies, Bamfylde was elected to be his successor. This did not prevent his being convicted of vagrancy and being transported to Maryland. With the help of some native Americans he escaped, and, posing as a Quaker, he worked his way back to England and continued his criminal life until his death in 1770. The Lordship is offered on behalf of Sir Rivers Carew.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #21 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

The Lordship of Hardwick lies in the parish of Tilbrook, and although it was historically part of Bedfordshire, it was transferred to Huntingdonshire in 1888. The parish is composed mainly of arable land and is crossed by the River Til.

Hardwick formed part of the Manor of Tilbrook at the time of Domesday Book, in 1086, when it was the property of William de Warenne. The entry reads:

William of Warenne also holds Tilbrook.

It answers for 5 hides.

Land for 6 ploughs; they are there.

20 Freemen and 4 smallholders.

Meadow for 5 ploughs.

Value 100s; as much when acquired. Before 1066 £4.

De Warenne fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and, on the death of the Conqueror, he was loyal to his successor, William Rufus, and rewarded with the Earldom of Surrey in 1088. It is thought that the Earl died in the same year, after receiving a leg wound at the siege of Pevensey, Sussex.

He was succeeded by his son, William, the second Earl, who was a fierce opponent of Henry I (1100–1135). Henry had blocked Surrey’s marriage to Matilda, the daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, and he was never forgiven by de Warenne. Surrey incited the Duke Robert, of Normandy, to invade England in 1101. For this treachery he was stripped of his title and lands. He was restored in 1103 after a reconciliation between Henry and the Duke. Surrey then remained a model of loyalty. He fought with the King in his wars in France in the 1130s, and was present when Henry died at the castle of Lions in December 1135. Surrey died a year later and was succeeded by his son, William, the third Earl.

Early history of Hardwick is scarce and it is likely that Hardwick came into the hands of Geoffrey Fitz Piers, Earl of Essex, in about 1199. After his death it passed to his nephew, Humphrey de Bohun, second Earl of Hereford and in 1287 his son Humphrey declared that the whole of Tilbrook belonged to him. In 1302 Hardwick is recorded as belonging to Peter de Herdwyk, who, in that year, granted it to Bartholomew de Enfield for life. In 1311 it came to its overlord, Humphrey de Bohun, who settled the Manor on his son William in 1315. William was created Earl of Northampton in 1336.

Hardwick remained with the Bohuns until 1428 when it came to the Earls of Stafford through the marriage of William de Bohun’s granddaughter, Anne, to Edmund de Stafford. On Anne’s death the Manor passed to her son, Humphrey, Earl of Buckingham, who was later created Duke of Buckingham. Humphrey was killed at the Battle of Northampton, fighting for the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses and Hardwick was seized by the Crown.

In 1484 Richard III (1483–1485) granted the Manor out to Thomas, Lord Stanley and his son, Lord Strange. However, when Henry VII seized the Crown in 1485, he restored Hardwick to the Buckinghams. It remained with them until 1521, when, on the execution [of] Edward, Duke of Buckingham, it was again seized by the Crown. Two years later it was granted to Sir Richard Wingfield. Born in about 1469, Sir Richard was the tenth (or eleventh or twelfth, according to some sources) son of Sir John Wingfield of Letheringham. Details of his  

early life are sketchy but he was thought to have been one of the commanders of the army which defeated a Cornish rebellion in 1497. In 1500 he was esquire to the body at the meeting of Henry VII and the Archduke Philip of Austria and at some date before 1505 was appointed as a marshal of Calais Castle. Soon after this he undertook a career as a diplomat and a number of missions before being sent in 1515 to France to congratulate Francis I [on his] accession to the French throne. During all this time Sir Richard had been promoted to deputy governor of Calais but resigned his post in 1519. He was apparently a popular man in the port since witnesses speak of the weeping eyes of the inhabitants on the day of his departure. On his return to England, Sir Richard was one of four ‘sad and ancient knights’ given the unenviable job of curtailing Henry VIII’s extravagance. A year later, however, Wingfield, considered by the King as one of his ‘trusty and near familiars’, led to his appointment as English Ambassador to the Court of France. At the famous meeting between Henry and Francis at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June 1520, Wingfield rode with the King. Throughout 1521 Wingfield travelled between England and France in a bid to  

pacify the Emperor Charles and avoid war. Wingfield was held in high regard by Charles, who demanded that the Englishman should receive the Garter, a reward which was indeed granted to him in 1522. Such was Wingfield’s influence that Charles visited England in 1522 on good terms with Henry. In November of that year, as a reward for his outstanding contribution to diplomacy, Wingfield was granted the Castle and Manor of Kimbolton and the Manor of Hardwick. He died in 1525.

The Lordship of Hardwick remained with the Wingfield family until 1612 when it was alienated to William Hawkins. By 1643 the Manor was in the hands of Sir St Andrew St John. In the 18th century it had come into the hands of John, 10th Baron St John of Bletso and has remained with this family until recently. Their descent lies on the following pages.

(Illustrations on this page: the Buckingham shield; the Saint John of Bletso arms with the motto DATA FATA SECUTUS; and a full-length engraving of an armoured knight, labelled Sir John Wingfield.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #24 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

Formerly owned by Robert the Bruce King of Scotland

The Lordship of Hart is situated about four miles north of Hartlepool in the Ward of Stockton, and comprises about 2,895 acres.

William the Conqueror granted the Lordship of Hart to Robert de Brus one of his followers at the Conquest and “a noble knight of Normandy”.

The second Robert Brus fought at the battle of the Standard against the Scots. His son, a third Robert Brus was the founder of the Royal line of Scotland.

His father gave him Annandale in Scotland, and being thus a liegeman of the Crown of Scotland, he was taken prisoner in fair battle by his own father, who sent him to the English Monarch, and he, struck probably with the extraordinary situation of the parties and pleased with the good faith of the father, placed his captive once more at the disposal of his own parents. The young Lord of Annandale complained that his valley of Ann afforded no wheaten bread and his father, to compensate for this privation gave him the wheat-producing Manor of Hart.

Robert Brus, who paid a hundred shillings scutage in 1171, was succeeded as lord of the Manor of Hart by a son of the same name, who was in turn succeeded by William. William was followed by another Robert, of Hart and Annandale, who married Isabel, daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon and granddaughter of Henry, Prince of Scotland, the source of the royal blood in the Bruce family.

The next Robert (sixth of the name) adhered firmly to King Henry III in the Barons’ War and was one of the principal agents in the successful assault on the rebellious barons at Northampton. Commanding the Scottish auxillaries he was, however, taken prisoner at Lewes. The victory of Evesham restored him to his honours and to his northern government at Carlisle.

The sudden death of King Alexander III of Scotland, followed by that of his grandchild, Margaret of Norway, six years later, opened the Scottish succession to a crowd of competitors. Of these John Baliol, Robert Bruce and John Hastings were all direct vassals of the English Crown and two were Barons of the Palatinate.

King Edward I, appointed arbiter, decided in favour of Baliol. Robert Bruce died in his castle at Lochmaben, and his cause was taken up by his son Robert Bruce the 8th, who acknowledged Baliol in 1293 and remained loyal to England. He died in 1304, Lord of the Manor of Hart, and was succeeded by the 9th Robert Bruce, who, when Scotland was under invasion by the English, asserted his claim to the throne.

He was crowned King of Scotland on 27th March 1306. Within a year he was, however, in exile in Ireland. He survived, to win the battle of Bannockburn, and to continue to rule Scotland, seeing that his son David, who succeeded him as King, married Joan the daughter of King Edward I.

On the coronation of Robert Bruce as King of Scotland, the lordship of Hart was seized and granted to Robert Clifford, who had faithfully served against the Scots in the war. Robert Clifford fell at Bannockburn, leaving a son and heir Roger Clifford, who was then under age. Bishop Kellaw asserted the rights of his See to the wardship and committed the Manor of Hart to the custody of William de Elmeden. Roger Clifford joined the Earl of Lancaster against King Edward II and was wounded and taken prisoner at Boroughbridge. Soon afterwards he was beheaded at York.

The Lordship of Hart escheated to the Crown. King Edward II granted Hart to John of Bretagne, Earl of Richmond. He was soon after surprised and taken prisoner by King Robert Bruce at Byland Abbey. After two years of detention in Scotland he fled to France, never to return to England. In 1330 Robert Clifford, brother and heir of Roger was restored to all the honours and estates of his family.

In 1344 Robert Clifford died Lord of the Manor of Hart. The Clifford family continued to hold the lordship for three more centuries.

George Clifford, Third Earl of Cumberland was obliged to alienate several portions of his inheritance to defray the expenses of his nine voyages to the West Indies. In 1586 he conveyed the lordship of Hart to John, Lord Lumley, ancestor of the Earl of Scarborough.

In 1772 Richard, Earl of Scarborough sold the lordship to Sir George Pocock. Sir George died lord of the manor in 1793 and was succeeded by his only son, another George. From the Pocock family the Lordship of Hart passed to an ancestor of the present owner.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Feet of fines receipts 1198, 1200

2 Charter 1288

3 Royal charter King Edward I 1306

4 Royal Letter Patent, King Edward I 1306

5 Royal charter, King Edward II 1322  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 

Admiralty 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 #14 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

and 

Lot #25 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

((1987 Catalogue Begins))

This lordship, which is recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086, is situated in the Ashwardham Wapentake of Lincolnshire about seven miles south east of Sleaford. The area of the manor is about 2,600 acres.

Soon after the Norman Conquest this lordship was held by the Latimer family. Lord Latimer built a strongly fortified mansion here at Thorpe Latimer. The site is still surrounded by a broad deep moat crossed by a bridge.

Lord Willoughby de Broke, the present lord of the manor, is heir-general of the Latimers and also Baron Latimer. His family have been lords of the manor for generations.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Royal Charter, King Henry III 1259

2 Court rolls 1411-1632

3 Terrier & rental 1703-1707

4 Rentals, surveys, extracts, etc. (with other manors) 1501-1855

5 Copyhold deeds 1673-1686

((~2002 Catalogue Begins))

HELPRINGHAM is a large village and Parish [on] the road from Spalding to Sleaford, seven miles southeast of the latter place. It consists of 3,405 acres of land. The Lordship is crossed by Car-Dyke, a massive Roman channel, thought to be the second largest Roman construction in England after Hadrian’s Wall. Car-Dyke was excavated in 1999 and there are several theories about [its] purpose which have been proposed. Some archeologists argue that it was a drainage channel while others maintain that it was a boundary for an Imperial Estate.

Helpringham is mentioned [in] Domesday Book, (1086) and the entry reads:

In Helpringham Aelfric had 7 Carucates of Land, and 3 bovates taxable. Land for as many ploughs and oxen.

Robert of Vessey has 3 ploughs in Lordship;

13 villagers and 9 smallholders with 4 ploughs

Meadow, 15 acres

Value before 1066 £3; now £12

Soon after Domesday the Lordship of Helpringham seems to have passed to the Latimer family. They had a seat at Thorpe Latimer, in the parish, which was heavily fortified. The site, now an orchard, has the remains of a defensive moat. The first notable member of this distinguished medieval clan was William de Latimer of Yorkshire who prosecuted Geoffrey de Valoins in 1190 in a dispute about land in Yorkshire. The surname of Latimer is remarked from an old inquisition to have been attributed to Wrenoc, the son of Meirric, who held certain lands by the service of being latimer that is interpreter between the Welsh and English. Of this name English History has boasted of several distinguished personages. William’s grandson, and namesake for instance, was made Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1254 and was for some time Governor of York Castle. Two years later, he fought in Scotland for Alexander III (son-in-law of Henry III) against rebels and was rewarded by being made Escheater-General of England, north of the Trent. In 1270, he accompanied Prince Edward (later Edward I) on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He seems to have spent the next 30 years fighting; in Scotland, Wales and France and was summoned to Parliament as Baron Latimer of Danby in 1299. He was succeeded by his son William, who was also summoned to Parliament as a Baron in 1305. Like his father, William had a distinguished military career under Edward I in Scotland and in 1314 fought at the Battle of Bannockburn for Edward II (1307–1327). In 1319, he took the side of Thomas Earl of Lancaster in that nobleman’s dispute with Edward, but was pardoned after returning to the King’s banner to take part in Lancaster’s defeat at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322. He was rewarded with the governorship of York Castle. The descent of the Latimers lies on the following page.

William was succeeded in his estates by his son William, who in turn was succeeded by the 4th Baron, his son, also William. This Latimer continued the family tradition of loyal military service, fighting for Edward III in 1359. In the same year he was appointed Governor of Bécherel in Brittany and in 1360 was made lieutenant of the whole Duchy. A year later he was made a Knight of the Garter. In 1368 he returned to England as warden of English forests beyond the Trent and then Chamberlain to the King’s Household. During this time he was held in high favour of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose influence was then at its peak. As Gaunt’s influence waned, Latimer’s position weakened and he was impeached by the “Good Parliament” of 1376 as a bad counsellor. He was charged with having been guilty of oppression in Britanny and taken bribes for the release of captured ships and embezzling in fines due to the King. He was found guilty and stripped of his offices. This punishment lasted a few weeks. On the death of the Black Prince Lancaster recovered his power and Latimer was restored with him. On the accession of Richard II in 1377 Latimer was once more in full favour with the Monarch and continued to serve the Crown until his death in 1381.   

On Latimer’s death, the Lordship of Helpringham passed to his heiress, Elizabeth who married John Nevill, who was summoned to the Parliament of 1404 as Baron Latimer. John Nevill’s son and namesake died without issue and the Lordship passed to his daughter Elizabeth, who married Sir Thomas Willoughby. There followed a dispute between the Nevills and De Brokes about who was entitled to the Barony of Latimer. The claim was settled during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–47) when the Barony though conceded by Robert Lord Willoughby de Broke to Richard Nevill, 2nd Lord Latimer, has been considered since to belong to the Barons Willoughby de Broke. Certainly, the Lordship of Helpringham was with this family until the 19th century. In 1856, Robert, the 17th Lord Willoughby de Broke is listed as being Lord of Helpringham and having 400 acres of land in the area. The Lordship was sold in the 20th century ((see catalogue above!)).

Documents associated with this Manor:

Court Rolls 1411–1632 British Library

Terrier and Rental 1703–1707 

Rentals and Surveys 1501–1855 

Court Books 1729–1924 Lincolnshire RO

Minutes 1780–1819 

Fines 1877–1886 

Members 20th century 

(The Willoughby de Broke achievement of arms, with the motto VERTUE VAUNCETH, and a decorative tailpiece, illustrate this page.)

Descent of the Latimers, Baron Latimer of Denby, sometime Lords of Helpringham:

William le Latimer, living 1190–91 = ?

William le Latimer, living 1254 and in the Holy Land with Prince Edward, 1270; summoned to Parliament as Baron Latimer of Danby, having in 1299 received a grant of the Manor of Danby from the King; died 1305 = Alice, dau of Walter Ledet (or Braybrooke), by which marriage he obtained the Feudal Barony of Warden in Northants and the Manor and Hundred of Corby

William, 2nd Baron, died 1327 = (1) Lucy, dau of Robert de Thweng, divorced for adultery; (2) Sybil, widow of William de Huntingfield

(2) William, 3rd Baron, died 1335 = Elizabeth, dau of Lord Botetort

William, 4th Baron, died 1381 = Elizabeth FitzAlan, dau of Richard, Earl of Arundel

Elizabeth = John Nevill, Lord Nevill of Raby

John Nevill, Lord Raby, and Baron Latimer (1404) in right of his mother, dsp 1430, having no issue by Maud, dau of Thomas Clifford, Lord Clifford, and widow of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cambridge

Elizabeth Nevill, Lady of Helpringham = Sir Thomas Willoughby, whose grandson became Lord Willoughby de Brooke, and the Manor descended in this family till the 19th century

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #8 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

The Manor of Heptonstall is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in Yorkshire; a quiet residential village perched on the moors high above Hebden Bridge.

Two hundred years ago, however, it was a very different sort of place, a bustling weaving village far more important than Hebden Bridge. In the 16th Century it had rivalled Halifax as an industrial and marketing centre.

The lordship has for many centuries belonged to the Savile family and has descended to Lord Savile the present lord of the manor.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Court Rolls 1677 – 1769

2 Court Rolls and Court Papers 1660 – 1831

3 Courts and Tourns Papers 1556 – 1558

4 Extract of Court Roll 1621

5 30 Court Rolls 1677 – 1769

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #15 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

In the Parishes of Wendling, Gressenhall, Longham, and Great Fransham 

These Manors, which extend into several parishes, are in the Launditch Hundred, and lie to the north-west of East Dereham.

According to Blomefield (vol. X, page 47) whose account is very scrappy, they belonged to the Abbots of Castleacre, being part of Earl Warren's Fee, and on the Dissolution of the Monasteries they were conveyed by Prior Thomas to King Henry VIII. It appears that in 1557 they were held by the Duke of Norfolk and afterwards came into the possession of Sir Thomas Gresham; his widow left them to her son by her first marriage, William Read, and the latter settled them on his wife Mary.

In 1634 Mary Read married Sir Edward Spencer, who became Lord in her right. In 1754 the Manors were held by James Smyth, his Steward being Nathaniel North.

Blomefield's last reference to the Manor of Heringeshaw was that "Mr. Smith of East Derham is the present Lord, bought by him from Mrs. Susan Thompson, together with the Manor of Heringeshaw." The Court Books, however, give the names of the Lord whose Court Baron was held on 18th May, 1754, as James Smyth. 

At this Court the Homage presented upon their oaths that "All tenants who suit and service at this Court and have made Default in their appearance here this day are and every one of them according to the customs of this Manor to be amerced...six pence apiece and their names are referred to the suit roll of this Court."

At a later Court Baron of the same Lord, the Steward this time being Thomas Smyth, probably hi son, it was recorded in respect o a tenant aged 15 that "The Lord of this Manor doth according to the ancient right usage and custom of this Manor by his said Steward grant the care and guardianship of the said messuages lands and premises and the person of the said Catherine Byles (the infant referred to) to the said Nathaniel Byles her father and doth assign and appoint him to be guardian of the said Catherine during her minority to receive and take the rents etc. of the said premises he rendering a just account of the same to the said Catherine when she shall attain the age of 21 years, according to the custom of this Manor." Sometimes it was the custom of that the Lord took a part of the income during a minority, but not in this case.

At a Court Baron held on 10th June, 1795, the Homage presented that William Chamberlayne, of Kempston in Norfolk, had a Licence from the Lord to "fell an Ash Timber Tree growing on the Common Pasture in the said Manor of Heringshall near to a fence belonging to lands of him the said William for which he paid to the said Lord the sum of five shillings and did thereby desire an entry of such his payment to be made in the Court Books of this Manor." This entry emphasises the importance the copyholder attached to transactions of this nature being recorded in the Court Books.

By far the most interesting entry in the Records of these Manors is that found in the proceedings at a Court Baron:

26th October, 1837:

Lord: Thomas Smyth

Steward: William Nissen

"To this Court cometh Horatio (3rd Earl) Earl of Nelson (by Thomas Wharton his Attorney) and acknowledges to hold of the Lord of the said  Manor in Free and Common Soccage certain Freehold Lands and Tenements of the said Manor lying in Great Fransham in the said county late the Estate of Thomas Bolton Esq. (2nd Earl Nelson who died 1st November, 1835), before of Abel Brereton Gentleman and formerly Poulters at the Annual rent of Tenpence and by fealty and suit of Court and he the said Horatio Earl of Nelson (by his Attorney) putteth the lord of the said Manor is siesen of the said rent by payment of ten pence for a Relief and his fealty is respited and so forth." 

Wendling:

Reference to Burke's Peerage, etc. (1937) shows that there was a close association between Wendling and the Nelson family.

Thomas Nelson born in 1580 is there shown as of London and Norfolk. His only son Edmund is described as of "Wendling and Scarning, Norfolk" and was baptized in 1629. The eldest son of Edmund, by a second wife, was William "of Scarning, and afterwards of Dunham Parva, baptized at Wendling 24th March, 1654."

Later we find "Horatio Nelson 1st Baron and Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, was born at the Parsonage House, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, 29th September, 1758." Upon his death at the Battle of Trafalgar without issue, his brother the Rev. William Nelson succeeded. Upon the latter's death on 28th February, 1835, he was succeeded by his nephew Thomas Bolton, who assumed the title, surname and arms of Nelson. It is he who acknowledged that he was a Freehold Tenant of the Manor at a rent of tenpence and by fealty and suit of Court. 

The Nelson Pedigree is of course well established and evidenced, but this connection of a family with the Manor of over 200 years shows the value of these old records for genealogical and historical purposes. 

The Lord of these Manors had the privilege of holding a Court Leet.

The Records to be handed over are:

Court Books: 1623-1662; 1674-1724; 1725-1768; 1771-1840; 1840-1923

Rentals: 1775-1844; 1852-1893; 1929 (in 1852-1893 Book).

Particulars of Tenants, etc.

Insurance of Records: £350, premium 17/6

Commencement of Title: Deed dated 30th July, 1901 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #11 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

The manor of Hindley, is in the Hundred of West Derby, Lancashire. The area is about 2,610 acres.

Hindley was one of the fifteen herewicks of the royal manor of Newton before the Norman Conquest. After 1066 the lordship was part of the fee of Makerfield and, in 1212, one part was held in thegnage, in conjunction with Ashton, by Thomas de Burnhull. The remainder was held by local families. Swain, son of Leofwin held the Burnhull share and gave it to a certain Gospatrick in free marriage. In 1212 Roger, the son of Gospatrick, held this portion of Thomas de Burnhull. Two oxgangs were at the same time held by Adam de Hindley of ancient feoffment, that is by a title  going back at least to the time of King Henry I. Another half plough land was held by Richard de Hindley son of Robert, portions of which had been given to the Hospitallers and to Cockersand Abbey. Some portions were still held in demesne.

In 1308 half of the manor was claimed by Robert son of Fulk Banastre. This was afterwards recovered by Robert de Langton, baron of Newton from Jordan de Worsley, and in about 1330 the lordship of the whole manor; together with the lands in it, was granted to Robert de Langton, who was younger son of Robert de Langton.

From this Robert descended the Langtons of Lowe in Hindley; the last of the line being Edward Langton, who died in 1733.

There was a dispute in 1528 between Robert Langton of the Lowe and others as to the title to waste lands and the right to dig coal.

Peter Langton, at his death in January 1572, held the manor of Hindley of the heirs of Thomas Langton of Makerfield in soccage by fealty only. His heir was his son, Robert, then aged 26 years. The tenure is stated as in free soccage by a rent of three pepper corns in the inquisition that followed the death, in 1595, of Robert Langton, who was succeeded by his son Philip. Robert Langton of the Lowe, a Justice of the Peace but of “mean living” was in 1590 reported to be “well affected in religion”. He had spoiled his estate and “used bad company”. At the same time Edward Langton of Hindley, probably Robert’s brother was indicted as a recusant.

Abraham, son and heir of Philip Langton, was convicted as a “papist delinquent” in 1652 and had his estates sold for treason. He does, however, appear to have recovered a portion of them later. His son Philip succeeded him and in 1694 was tried for participation in the Lancashire Plot. In January 1688, he broke an innkeeper’s head with his cane for proposing the health of the Earl of Derby.

In 1687 a fine was made concerning the manor of Hindley, 70 messuages, a watermill, a dovecote, gardens, lands, woods, furze and heath, turbary, moor and moss and 80s. rent in Hindley and Westleigh. Philip Langton was succeeded as lord of the manor by his son Edward Langton who, as a “papist” registered his estate in 1717. Edward died in 1733 without children, leaving his property to Catherine his wife for life, and to nephews and nieces named Pugh after her death. William Pugh had Hindley and his nephew and heir Edward Philip Pugh of Coetmor in Carnarvonshire sold the manor of Hindley and the Lowe Hall to the ancestor of the present owner, His Grace the Duke of Sutherland.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Deed of conveyance 1325

2 Quit claim deed 1361

3 Deed of grant 1433

4 Royal Letters Patent, King James I 1607   

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #39 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

dating from Queen Edith c. 1050

IN THE GREAT SURVEY of England made in 1086 by William I, otherwise known as Domesday Book, the Lordship of Hinton Netherhall formed part of the larger manor of Hinton. Previous to the Norman invasion, Hinton had been a possession of Queen Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor. Queen Edith, who is thought to have been the eldest child of Earl Godwine of Wessex, was unusually well educated for a Saxon girl, receiving tuition at Wilton Abbey and married Edward the Confessor in 1045. Although sometimes referred to as “Lady,” she is also often described as “Queen” or “hallowed Queen”. She was renowned for her beauty and piety and tradition has it that Edward never consummated his marriage with her due to his own deeply held religious beliefs. Though pious, Edith was less scrupulous in politics and she is thought to have taken considerable bribes to influence the King and was considered to have inherited her family’s tendency to greed. She amassed considerable estates in Cambridgeshire, including Hinton Netherhall, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Essex, and Wessex. Her relationship with Edward was one of complete submissiveness in public, often sitting at his feet at banquets and he in turn is said to have loved her. Despite this, when her father and brothers, Earl Godwine and the future King Harold, were outlawed in 1051 for conspiring against him, Edward made no objection to the proposal of Archbishop Robert that he should be separated from her. All her property was seized, and she was exiled to Wilton Monastery. When her father was reconciled with the King a year later, Edith was allowed back to Court and her land, including the Lordship of Hinton Netherhall, was restored to her. She is said to have stood at the foot of Edward’s deathbed at Christmas 1065, cherishing his feet and trembling at his prophecy of evil. Edward commanded her into the care of her brother Harold, despite her affinity for the cause of Harold’s enemy, Earl Tostig of Northumbria, and on her husband’s death retired to Winchester to await the outcome of Tostig’s expected encounter with her brother. Tostig failed at the battle of Stamfordbridge, Yorkshire, in September 1066, and she is regarded then as wishing William Duke of Normandy to succeed her husband. It was no surprise, therefore, that after the Conqueror’s victory at Hastings in October of the same year she paid him tribute and acknowledged him as King. She survived the Norman conquest with her lands intact until her death in 1075.

In 1086, Hinton Netherhall was held of the Honour of Richmond and appears to have been in the possession of the Hinton family. The entry in Domesday for Hinton reads:

Count Alan holds Cherry Hinton. 7 hides.

Land for 13 ploughs.

In lordship 3 hides; 4 ploughs there.

19 villagers, 22 smallholders with 9 ploughs.

4 slaves; meadow for 3 ploughs, 4 mills at 25s;

pasture for the village livestock;

4 ploughshares, from the marshes 25d; from the cart 6d.

The total value is and was £18; before 1066, £12.

After this time it came into the hands of the Mowbrays, during the reign of Richard II (1377–1399). When the Mowbray line became extinct, in 1476, the Lordship passed to the Berkeley family. William, Marquess of Berkeley, then gave the Lordship to Sir Reginald Bray. Bray was the second son of Sir Richard Bray, who had been one of the Privy Council during the reign of Henry VI (1422–1461). Reginald began his career as the receiver-general of the household of Sir Henry Stafford. He spent the next few years discreetly fighting against the Yorkist cause and on the accession of Henry VII (1485–1509) in 1485 he joined the Tudors. He quickly became a favourite of Henry who rewarded him richly by making him a Knight of Bath and then a Knight of the Garter. When Henry went to France, in 1492, Bray was entrusted with looking after the King’s estates held of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1495, he was granted, for life, the Isle of Wight, Carisbrooke Castle, and a number of Lordships. A year previous to this he had been made High Steward of Oxford and Cambridge universities. In 1497, there was a rebellion in Cornwall by Lambert Simnell, a pretender to the throne, and Bray fought for the King at the Battle of Blackheath. After the rebellion had been crushed, Bray was made Knight Banneret. He also was a talented architect and his designs can be seen in the form of St George’s Chapel at Windsor and Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster Abbey. He died in 1503, without issue, and the Lordship of Netherhall Hinton passed to the Savoy Hospital. When this institution was dissolved it was granted as part of the founding endowment of the Royal Hospitals of St Thomas’s and Christ’s in London in 1553, the Special Trustees of which are the present Lords of the Manor. A copy of the 1553 Grant of King Edward VI will be handed to the new owner.   

The Lordship lies in the parish of Cherry Hinton, two miles to the south of Cambridge and today forms a suburb of the city. In the 17th and 18th century it was a noted centre for the production of saffron.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #39 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

At the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086, King William I was lord of the manor. Soon after this the King conveyed the Manor of Hipperholme to John, Earl Warren, who was also lord of the manor of Wakefield.

From the Earl Warren the lordship came by descent and purchase to an ancestor of the present lord of the manor, Lord Savile.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Estreats from court rolls 1350-1660 (not consec.)

2 Surveys of copyhold land 1607, 1701-26

3 With Northowram — survey in form of presentment Henry VIII – Elizabeth I

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #29 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

Newington lies on the road from Abingdon to Wallingford, from which it is distant four miles, and the Manor formerly formed part of what was known as the “Holcombe Estate”. 

The Victoria County History for Oxford gives the following translation of the entry with regard to this place in Domesday Book (fol. 155):— 

“The Archbishop of Canterbury holds Newtone, it belonged and belongs to the Church. There are 15 hides, there is land for 18 ploughs now in demesne (there are) 6 ploughs and 5 serfs; and 22 villeins with 10 bordars have 13 ploughs. There are 15 acres of meadow and two furlongs of pasture. Woodlands 1 league in length and 1 league in breadth. When it is stocked it is worth 25s. Of this land Robert de Oilgi has 1 hide and Roger 1 hide, in King Edward’s time it was worth 11 li; now it is worth 15 li.” 

It is not possible to say what portion of this parish was comprised in the manor of Holcombe as there is also a Manor of Newington. Nor is it possible to give the early history of this Manor or its devolution from one Lord to another. Probably it is one of those Manors which was held as part of the Holcombe Estate from the very earliest times. From an Abstract of Title, which will be handed over to the Purchasers, it is clear that it was vested in the Lowndes-Stone-Norton family prior to 1811 as a Settlement of that date is referred to. By a Deed dated 1st July 1848, in which the earlier deeds in the Estate are recited, Roger Fletcher Earles conveys Stone Norton of Brightwell Park in the County of Oxford barred the entail which affected the property by conveying it to Richard Du Cane of No. 1 Grays Inn Square, Middlesex. In 1911 Mr. Norton conveyed “The Manor of Holcombe in the County of Oxford with the Rights, Members and Appurtenances thereunto belonging or appertaining”, together with the Holcombe Estate of 581 acres, and the quit rents specified in the Schedule, to George Simmins of Warrington Road, Croydon, subject nevertheless to a free quit rent of £2 3s. 10d. payable to the Lord of the Manor of Newington. 

On the 20th October, 1911, Mr. Simmins conveyed the Manor together with certain quit rents to Henry Edwards Paine of Chertsey and it was held by him until his death in 1917, since when it has been vested in the devisees under his will and their Trustees. 

In addition to conveying the Manor with the rights, etc., as above, the following specific quit rents arising out of copyhold properties were conveyed to the purchaser:— 

Owner of Property: Joseph Pulley, Great Milton, Willingford, Oxfordshire

Description of Property: Two Cottages and Gardens coloured Brown on plan (63 part)

Occupier: Mrs. Jennings and Keen

Amount of Quit Rent: 15/-

Owner of Property: The same

Description of Property: Two Cottages and Gardens coloured Brown on plan (68 part)

Occupier: Wheeler

Amount of Quit Rent: 2/6

Owner of Property: Thomas Moore,  Holcombe, Newington

Description of Property: One Cottage and Garden coloured Blue on plan (68 part)

Occupier: Thomas Moore

Amount of Quit Rent: 3/6

The quit rent of £2 3s. 10d., as appears from certain Auction particulars of Sale which will be handed to the Purchaser, to be charged on Lots 2 and 3 in exoneration of the other Lots, of which the Manor and quit rents constituted No. 14. No evidence of the exoneration shall be required other than appears in the documents to be handed to the Purchaser. 

Unfortunately no Manorial Records came into the possession of the present Vendor on his purchase and all which will be handed over, in addition to the Conveyance to Henry Edwards Paine of 20th October, 1911, and the Contract and Abstract of Title referred to above, both dated 1911 and a rental showing that the Stewards collected the quit rents for some years. Owing to the abolition of copyhold tenure on 31st December, 1925, by the Law of Property Act, 1922, as amended by the Act of 1924, these rents would not be payable now. The Vendor has no evidence that the Lord recovered compensation for them before the time allowed by the Act, but whether he did or not the purchaser could now collect them. 

The Vendor having no Manorial Records has searched the Public Records Office with a view to ascertaining whether any of them are in existence and if so, where they are deposited. The only information obtainable was that there is a Court Roll of Sir George Carleton (Bart.) dated 1647 enrolled at the end of a Draft Court Book for Cheveley, Cambs. and Lydgate, Suffolk. This document has been inspected by the Vendor and the chief items of interest in it are a number of “ordinances” for the inhabitants and tenants of the Manor. They relate to such things as the pasturing of livestock. 

Commencement of Title. Deed dated 20th October, 1911. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 #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 #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 #32 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

The Lordship of Hougham is situated on the River Witham six miles from Grantham and nine miles from Newark in the Wapentake of Loveden, Lincolnshire. The area of the manor is about 2,460 acres.

In the Domesday Survey, of 1086, it recorded that the Bishop of Lincoln was lord of the manor with the Countess Judith as overlord. Later the de Bussy family became Lords of the Manor of Hougham.

The Thorolds have held the lordship for many generations, Sir Anthony Thorold being the present lord of the manor.

The beautiful church has a Norman arcade in the south aisle, an early English tower and a porch with the original Saxon cross. There are tombs of former lords of the manor, in particular of Sir Hugh de Bussy about 1300, whose recumbent effigy, in mail armour, lies so that his head is on a cushion. His hand grasps a sword and from his neck is suspended a long shield with the arms of Bussy. There are also tombs of the Thorold, lords of the manor.

The manor house has a moat, Hougham is steeped in history and will provide many interesting subjects for research for the new lord of the manor.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Marriage settlements and ordinary deeds 1708-1817

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #4 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

At the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 Hunsworth was part of the extensive township of Comersall, which had two herewicks and fourteen carucates of arable land. The manor is in the Yorkshire Wapentake of Morley. Hunsworth was held by Richard de Tong in 1166, and the lordship descended through that family.

An undertenancy was created in 1195 when Richard de Tong granted Hunsworth and other manors to John, son of Asulfr, and Richard de Thornhill, his son, to hold for a fourth part of a knight’s fee.

In 1257, King Henry III, granted a charter, part of the provisions of which related to Hunsworth. Sir Richard de Thornhill, had died, seised of the manor, when his son, John, was still a minor. Edmund de Laci, the overlord, died in 1257, and his son and heir was also a minor. Alice, Edmund’s widow, dealt with the administration of Hunsworth and granted to Sir Bryan de Thornhill, son of Alan “free mulcture of corn brought to Hundesworth mill”. It is believed that this was a water-mill standing where the mill at Balme was later built. So “for a certain consideration” the tenants of the Thornhills and the Saviles from both Hunsworth and Cleckheaton for centuries brought their corn to the mill for grinding into meal.

In 1302/3 John de Thornhill is recorded as holding a carucate of land in Hunsworth from Richard de Tong. He was granted free warren in his lands there by Royal Charter in 1317, and he died seised of the manor in 1322.

In 1412 Elizabeth Savile, lady of Thornhill, is recorded as holding the manor from John de Tong. John Savile held the manor of Hunsworth when he died in 1505, and his heir, Henry, was an ancestor of the present lord of the manor, Lord Savile.

The Manor of Hunsworth which has an area of about 1,380 acres is in the parish of Birkenshaw-cum-Hunsworth, lying 3½ miles from Bradford and 1½ miles from Cleckheaton.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR

1 Court roll 1344

2 Rentals 1555 - c. 1660

3 Surveys 1674 and 1604

4 Valuations 1837, 1839 and 1660

5 Court rolls 1324 - 1751

6 Papers 1630 - 1838

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #18 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - June 1986

This ancient manorial lordship is recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086. In 1309, William de la Park was Lord of the manor. His son, another William, inherited the lordship and was Lord of the manor in 1345.

The Parks family continued to hold the manor until Joan, a daughter and heiress married John Duke of Brampton.

The Dukes of Brampton were lords of the manor for many years until they sold the lordship to the Richmond family, from whom it passed by marriage to Charles Garnyes and subsequently to the present owners.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR:

1 Court books 1649-1737, 1740-1839, 1841-1932

2 Copy court rolls 19th century

3 Notes on proceedings of courts c. 1653-1702

4 Notes of surrenders, etc. c. 1658-1702

5 Rentals Mid. 17th century

6 Court Roll (Henry VI)

7 Court Roll (Charles II) 1613

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #15 of Bernard Thorpe Auction - March 1987

This ancient lordship is located three miles north of Penistone and two miles south of Denby Dale in Yorkshire.

Ilbert de Laci was lord of this manor at the time of the Domesday Survey of 1086. He was a great landowner in Yorkshire.

On the death of William the Conqueror the de Laci family supported his elder son Robert in his claim to the Crown of England. William Rufus, the second of the Conqueror’s sons assumed the Crown and the de Lacis accepted this. When William Rufus was killed, they again took up the cause of Duke Robert against the youngest son Henry.

At the battle of Tenchebrai, the fortunes of war declared in favour of Henry. The two Lacis, father and son, were banished and the lordship of Ingbirchworth was forfeited to the Crown. It was first conferred on Henry Traverse and later on Guy de la Val.

In the reign of King Stephen, Ilbert de Laci regained royal favour and was reinstated in the lordship. He died without children and the manor came to Henry de Laci, who founded a Cistercian monastery at Kirkstall in 1147. On Henry de Laci’s death, his son, Robert, succeeded to the lordship of Ingbirchworth. He was one of the barons present at the coronation of King Richard I.

Robert was succeeded by his cousin, the Laci heiress. She married Richard Fitz Eustace, Baron of Halton and hereditary Constable of Chester. Their son succeeded to the two immense family estates and the lordship of Ingbirchworth. He died on a crusade in the Holy Land. His son, Roger de Laci, Constable of Chester and Lord of the Manor of Ingbirchworth, fought by the side of King Richard I at Acre.

His son, also Robert, lord of the manor, was one of the barons who was present at the sealing of Magna Carta. He married a daughter of the Earl of Chester and Lincoln and, in 1232, was created Earl of Lincoln in the right of his wife. Their grandson, Henry, was one of the most eminent nobles at the time of King Edward I. He died lord of the manor and third Earl of Lincoln in 1312.

On his deathbed Henry de Laci summoned Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, the husband of his only child and heiress, Alice, and exhorted him to stand up against King Henry II on behalf of the English nobles, who were being supplanted by French courtiers.

The Earl of Lancaster succeeded to the lordship and Laci estates. He rebelled against the King and was defeated at Boroughbridge in 1322. Then the Elland family obtained this lordship. From them the manor came, by marriage of their heiress, to an ancestor of the present lord of the manor, Lord Saville, whose family name held the lordship for more than six hundred years.

DOCUMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANOR

Court rolls 1610 - 1613

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #10 of Stanford & Son's 'Second Auction' - Dec 1955

(Identical histories provided for lots 8 & 9 of this auction - those being the Manors of Wereham Hall and Kavenham-Stoke-Wereham respectively.)

Although these three Manors are and always have been quite separate for the purpose of administration and the holding of courts, the y are geographically very much intermixed. They lie in the three Parishes of Wereham, Stoke-Ferry, and Wretton which are contiguous and lie in the North of the River Wissey on the main road from Thetford to Kings Lynn in the Hundred of Clackclose.

In Domesday Book the following is the description of Wereham (alias Wigreham) and Stoke-Ferry (Stockes): 

2 Ploughlands was held by Toli, a Freeman, 

T.R.E. then (there were) 15 villeins afterwards, and now 11; 

There are now 8 Bordars. 

Then (there were) 6 serfs, now 4 and 20 acres of meadow. 

Wood (land) for 12 swine.

Then as now (there were) 2 plush on the Demesne.

Then 1 1/2 Ploughs belonging to them now 1; 

Then as now half a mill and 1 Fishery,

then as now *there was) 1 Rouncey and 28 Mares (eque) and 25 foals (pulli) and 2 beasts. 

Then (there were) 15 swine, now 7. Then 90 sheep, now 260.

And it is worth 100 shillings, but it rendered 8 pounds for (ad) all custom.

To this Manor belong 4 Freemen *with) 12 acres.

In Stokes (Stoke Ferry) (there are) 4 Freemen by commendation and all custom, with (d) 12 acres and 1 Freeman with (2) 2 acres. 

There also Rogers and Hugh held 2 sokemen with (de) 74 acres. 

Then as now (there were) 1 1/2 (ploughs) and 10 acres of meadow. 

All this is worth 20 shillings. 

The whole of Wigreham (Wereham) is half a league by length and (the same) in breadth and renders 6 1/2 pence in (every) 20 shillings of the King's Gled.

Blomefield, writing of Wereham, says that it takes its name from a stream or run of water, issuing out of a pond in the midst of the town. There is in fact a largish pond with seven weeping-willow trees lying close to the Church and Wereham Hall, the Manor House. 

King William granted the Manor of Wereham Hall to Rainold, son of Ivo, one of the Norman adventurers. His great possessions later came to the Earls of Clare, who were the capital Lords of the town. Jeffrey Fitz-Piers Earl of Essex held the Manor of Cavenham (Kavenham) in the reign of King John of the Earl of Clare, and on his founding the Priory of Shouldham gave a moiety of the town to the said Priory. In the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry III the Prior had a charter for free warren, free bull and boar, the amercements of Brewers and Bakers in hi s homage, and owed once a years suit of court at Clare. "In three Edw. I the Prior was found to have the leet a gallows, etc." After the Dissolution it was granted to Sir Edmund Bedingfield of Oxburgh by the name of Manor and Grange of Cavenham. According to Blomfield Cavenham Grange lay about a mile North-East of the town of Wereham and in the same Parish. In 1570 the rent of assize of the free tenants was four pounds four and ten pence. In 1718 Sir Henry Bedingfield conveyed the Manor to Sir Edward Nightingale of Kneesworth in Cambridgeshire. It remained in this family until about 1816 when it passed to G. R. Eyres. He was soon followed by Charles Sanders. The Stewards during the Nightingale ownership were members of the Micklefield family, during the earlier years, and later Charles Sanders and John Houchen. In 1826 J. B. S. Bradfield was Lord and R. B. Sanders was Steward. Mr. Bradfield remained Lord until 1874 and was followed by the Rev. Sanders Etheridge and Edward Etheridge. By 1878 the Manor had been acquired by Henry Edwards Paine and Richard Brettell of Chertsey and two years later Mr. Paine acquired Mr. Brettell's half-share of the Manor. Hie remained Lord until 1917 when he died and the Manor was thereafter vested in the devisees under his will and their Trustees  until recently sold y them to the present Vendor. During the early part of Mr. Paine's ownership, Mr. H. B. D. Mason acted as his Steward, but later on the Stewardship was taken over by George Frederick Beaumont of Coggeshall, Essex. 

The Manor of Wereham Hall was, according to Blomfield, held in 1235 by Robert Bardolf and Thomas Rede of the Earl of Gloucester and Clare. During the reign of Edwards I it came to Sir Ingelram Belet K.B., through his marriage to Bardolf's daughter, and his son Robert succeeded on his death. Subsequent owners were members of the Belet , Benstead, de Wesenham, de Hinton, Walkfare, de Fransham and Tooth families. Later Lords were Roger Davy, Sir Lewis Orrell, Sir Thomas Lovell, K.G., Sir Francis Lovell, Sir Thomas Derham (1615), Stephen Edgar, 1652, Benjamin Dethick, 1683. During these years it would seem that the Manor House descended together with the Lordship of the Manor, but in 1751 John Dethick, son of Benjamin, conveyed the Lordship o the Manor and demesne without the Hall to John  Heaton of London. Blomfield gives a pedigree of the Dethick family which comes from Dethick Hall in Derbyshrire.

As regards Wretton, Blomfield informs us that there are no capital Lordship in the Parish and it was not therefore mentioned in the Domesday Book. He refers for an account of it to his remark under the other Manors in this group. He does however, make an interesting reference to proceedings taken in 1240 by the Prior of Shouldham, whose Manor of Kavenham extended into Wretton, in which he claimed "merchettam" from William de la Ferte, who was acquitted because he proved that he was a Freeman and no villein. Blomfield gives this explanation of Merchetta: "This was the Fine paid to be free from a savage custom which used to exist i many Manors, by which exemption was obtained by the bride of a tenant from lying the last night with the Lord of the Manor." This would seem to be the same custom or practice which is usually referred to as "Droit de Seigneur" or "Jus primae noctis" but it differs in that the right was apparently exercised on the last night before the marriage instead of the first night of the the marriage. 

The Courts of this group of Manors were held from Wereham Hall, when the Estate and Lordship of the Manor were in the same ownership, at the Manor  House itself, but when they became separated most of the Courts were held at the Crow Hotel, Stoke Ferry. On on e occasion the Duke's Head in Stoke Ferry was chosen. 

With regard to the Manor of Iron (alias Wyrun) Hall which extended into all three Parishes, according to Blomefield it was held in 1231 by Stephen de Stokes and his wife Basilea. The Capital Lord was Earl of Gloucester and Clare. In the reign of Henry III, John de Stokes held it of Peter de Narford, and in 1321 Robert de Sale had an interest. Later Lords were Nicholas Gamage, and his wife Alianore; Guy St. Clare and his wife Margery; John Flynn (1346) who paid a sum towards making Edward III's son a knight: John Bray (1350); John de Wessenham; John de Denham; Richard Tooth; Roger Davy and John Heaton. In 1839 Abraham Sewell was Lord and in in 1857 the Manor was purchased by H.B.B. Mason, whose Steward was Richard Scarle. 

The customs in all o these Manors were the same. On testacy copyhold properties descended to the oldest sons s at Common Law, while the Fines on Death or Alienation were "arbitrary," i.e. based upon two years' annual value, instead of "certain," i.e. fixed sum of a sum all amount. The Lords had the usual right to take a third of the proceeds of the sale of any timber felled on copyhold properties.

The following are a few extracts of interesting entries to be found in the Court Boos of the manor of Kavenham-Stoke-Wereham: 

Court Baron held 5th December 1743

Thomas Rumball appointed Guardian "as well to take care of the body of the said Ann Harvey as to receive the rents and profits of the said premises during her minority...rendering account thereof." 

Court Baron held 24th October, 1757

Lord: Geoffrey Nightingale

Steward: Roger Micklefield

And the said Homage presented all Persons that owe suit and service at this Court and have this day made default in their appearance and amerce the m six pence apiece and refer their names to the suit rolls. 

General or Customary Court, held 12th November, 1824

Lord: Charles Sanders

Steward: John Houchen

Also at this Court the Homage present that John Sparrow Springfield hath encroached upon the Rights of the Lord of this Manor by also and also by building upon a certain part of the Waste Lands adjoining the Estate of James Bradfield Sanders Bradfield Esquire int he occupation of Charles Sanders Esquire Lord of this Manor.

General Court Baron held 27th October, 1762

At a court held on this date at the Crown Inn, Stoke Ferry, by Jeffrey Nightingale the Byelaws for the Manor of Kavenham-Stoek-Wereham were recorded in the form of the Verdict of the Homage. These are too long to be set out, but are most interesting. Amongst the various subjects dealt with are the method of assessing Fines, the felling of Timber, the keeping of Sheep in the Common Drove or Waste Ground, impounding by the Pindar, letting Beasts stray into fields growing cord and grass, digging of Turf, etc.

At a later Court held on 9th November 1773, the Verdict was substantially the same as at the previous Court with the addition of three more clauses, one of them dealing with the powers of  Fen Reeves and the division of penalties for offences between the Lord of the Manor and the Poor of the three respective Parishes wherein such penalties or forfeiture might from time to time happen. 

The following is a cutting from the Provincial Paper, which will be handed over with the Records of Lot 9, as a showing that the Lords of the Manor in 1877 were alive to the value of the Sporting Rights over the Wastes of the Manor. 

Manor of Kavenham, Stoke, Wereham and Wretton, 

IN THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK

-----------

WE, the undersigned, Lords of the above Manor,

hereby give notice that we have delegated to 

Samuel Henry Winfield, Esq., of Stoke Ferry the

right and power to deal with trespassers in the above

Manor; also the right to shoot over and exercise the

Lord's rights in and upon the waste lands within 

the Manor

PAINE & BRETTELL.

Chertsey, 17th September, 1877.

There is an Enclosure Award dated 1818 for the Parishes of Stoke Ferry, Wretton, Wereham and the little Hamlet of Winnold deposited at the office of the Clerk of the County Council, Norwich. The Vendor has a photocopy of this which has been coloured. It is a most interesting Map as it not only shows the bounds of the three Manors but also shows for instance Wereham Church with the Village Pond and Wereham Hall - the Manor House in close proximity.  It also shows how intermixed the lands of the three Manors are and it gives the names of many tenants which appear also in the Court Records. The copy of this Map will be available for inspection at 53, Chancery Lane, W. C. 2 prior to the Sale and also at the exhibition on the morning of the Sale (see Remarks and Stipulations). If required, couloured or uncoloured copies could be supplied to interested persons.

Negotiations are being opened with the Telegraph, Telephone and Electricity Authorities for wayleave agreements in respect of poles, stays, kiosks, etc., erected on the wastes of the Manor ant it is expected that further information will be available for giving out at the Auction. 

The Records which will be handed over to the Purchaser of each Manor will be as under:

Lot 8 - Manor of Wereham Hall

Court Books: 1839-1894; 1894-1920

Minute Book: 1881-1887

Enfranchisement Particulars

Insurance of Records:  £100, premium 5/- p.a. 

Commencement of Title: 1st October, 1881

Lot 9 - Manor of Kavenham-Stoke-Wereham

Court Books: (all the foregoing include Iron Hall) 1536-1597; 1602-1615; 1615-1633; 1633-1641; 1642-1653; 1674-1686; 1700-1793; 1794-1819; 1819-1841; 1842-1867; 1867-1920 (including a rental)

Minutes and Minute Books: 1664-88; 1720-45; 1745-59; 1799-1814; 1815-1882; 1881-87- 1888-91; 1908; 1932

Rentals: 1887-1900

Particulars: 1813-1914

docket Book: 1697-1806

Index Book: 1801-1819

Print of Enclosure Act: 1815

Insurance of Records:  £400, premium £1 p.a.

Commencement of Title: 11th April, 1876

Lot 10 - Manor of Iron Hall

Court Roll: 1387

Court Book: 1839-1900

Commencement of Title: 1st October, 1881

Insurance of Records:  £200, premium 10/- p.a.

The Purchaser of this Lot will receive an acknowledgment of his rights to production of those Court Books to be handed to the purchaser of Lot 9 which relate also to his Manor.

There is an Enclosure Award dated 1818 for the Parishes of Wereham, Stoke-Ferry, and two with a Map attached, a coloured copy of which will be available for inspection and will be displayed at the exhibition.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: FeudalTitles.com does not guarantee to the validity of Irish feudal titles - which have been abused mightily and exist outside of ANY formal gov't recognition. See: 'Suspicious & Fake Titles' page for more.

Lot #17 of Manorial Auctioneers - Undated but Post-2002

Catalogue gifted & transcribed for the archive by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

IVECOLYAN was part of the great Liberty of Meath (which extended far beyond the present borders of the modern county) and was granted by Henry II to Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln and Ulster. The King’s Charter to Earl Hugh is among the Gormanston papers at the National Library in Dublin:

Henry King of England &c has granted to Hugh de Lacy for his service the land of Meath with its appurtenances by the service of 50 Knights to hold to him and his heirs as Murcard Ha Mulachlyn held it or any other before him. And for increase to the gift all fees which he has or shall acquire about Dublin, while he is the King’s Bailiff (Governor), to do service to the King at his city of Dublin.

Hugh’s great great grandfather, Walter, had attended William the Conqueror in the invasion of England almost 120 years before. Walter’s grandson, also Hugh, invaded Wales in the early years of Henry I’s reign. The de Lacys, therefore, are a prime example of a family for whom the art of war was the only legitimate pursuit of profit for anyone with noble ambitions. This was the knub of the chivalric code that emerged in the French heartland between the Somme and the Meuse from about 1100 onwards. It was not enough to live well. Any successful merchant or money lender might do that. One had to live nobly and one thing on which all the chroniclers are agreed is that the noble caste of knights knew how to fight and to live nobly on the profits of fighting.

Hugh de Lacy, however, incurred the King’s wrath for in 1181 he married the King of Connaught’s daughter (her name is unknown), without Henry II’s consent, and was stripped of the governorship of Dublin. Four years later, he was murdered by one Malvo Miadach, ‘a mean person’, in revenge for the severity with which he treated the workmen who had built his castle in Meath. Hugh I was succeeded by two sons, the eldest, Walter, and Hugh II. Hugh II was constituted Constable of Ireland and obtained the Earldom of Ulster from King John in 1205 for betraying John de Courcy, the ancestor of the present Baron Kingsale. The grant of the Earldom, the earliest such found for Ireland, is among the Gormanston Archive papers at the National Library:

[John son of] King Henry, King of England, lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, has granted to Hugh de Lacey for his homage and service all the land [of] Ulster, with all its appurtenances, of which he has girt him to be Earl  

Hugh II himself fell foul of that irascible King and was banished the country. He obtained a grant of Meath and its Manors from King John. Walter married Margaret, daughter of William de Braose, Lord of “the kingdom of Limerick” in the reign of Henry II (1154–89). William had also inherited great tracts of land from his grandmother, the daughter of the Earl of Hereford. In 1209, King John sought hostages from his nobility, England having been placed under papal interdict and the King fearing that Pope Innocent III might release the Barons of their oaths of loyalty to the Crown. John was in dispute with the Pope about high Church appointments in England, particularly over the papal nomination of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton, whom the King barred from the country. It was not just a matter, as in other countries, of John asserting royal authority, it was also a matter of money, the King needing the ‘usufruct’ (the income) of the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury while it remained vacant. When John’s commissioners arrived to seize the Braose children, Lady Maud peremptorily told them that she would not entrust any of her sons to a King who had murdered his own nephew, Prince Arthur of Brittany. Whereupon, the Braoses fled to Ireland.  

Another story has it that John punished de Braose for his cruelty in killing 3,000 Welsh. Matthew of Westminster relates another story: 

The noble lady Maud, wife of William de Braose, with William, their son and heir, were miserably famished at Windsor, by the command of King John; and William, her husband, escaping from Scorham, put himself into the habit of a beggar, and privately getting beyond sea, died soon after at Paris.

Maud and William are said to have been starved to death by the King at Windsor. Their surviving daughter, Matilda, married Geoffrey de Geynvill, or Geneville. Geoffrey was brother to the Sire de Joinville, the chronicler, whose history of St Louis, King Louis IX of France, is in Penguin paperback. Joinville accompanying the King on crusade to Tunisia, where he died in 1270 and is buried under a large sarcophagus in Tunis. Matilda brought considerable holdings in Leinster, including the Barony of Ivecolyan. Her daughter and heiress, also Matilda, married William de Londres, Baron of Londres. In 1381, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of the last de Londres in the male line married Christopher Preston, ancestor of the present holder of Ivecolyan, Viscount Gormanston, whose descent is as follows:

Descent of Geneville

Peter de Geneville of Provence, living 1244, brother (?) of John de Joinville, chronicler to St Louis IX King of France, died 1249 = ?

Geoffrey de Geneville, Lord of Trim, died 1307 = (2) Matilda, daughter of Walter De Lacy.

Geoffrey, dup [dvp]. — Peter. — Sir Simon de Geneville, Lord of Culmullin = Joanna, Lady of Culmullin.

Three daughters of whom Elizabeth married Sir William de Loundres (See Gormanston Pedigree).

To understand the position and achievements of the great Norman leaders such as the De Lacys and to grasp the true course of Irish history, we must bear in mind that these immense grants of land and Palatine privileges in Meath, for example, were largely speculative, in the sense that the subjects of the gift were seldom at the time of the grant in the King’s possession or power, but had to be won and held by the sword of the donee and his followers. The description of the grant of Ulster to John de Courcy in the Song of Dermot shows that it was left to the grantee to make effectual his dominion over the lands given:

To one John he granted Ulster, / If he could conquer it by force; / John de Courcy was his name, / Who afterwards suffered many a trouble there.

Another aspect of the conquest, which only recent historians have brought out clearly, shows us that the relation of Henry II and his early successors to his grantees, was that of Feudal Overlord, rather than that of Sovereign (indeed Henry VIII is the first King of England to describe himself as King of Ireland). King John was Dominus Hibernae (Lord of Ireland) and is so styled in the grant of Connaught to Walter de Lacy, the brother of Hugh de Lacy II in 1205. To appreciate the situation of Henry II and his successors, we must approach it from the more central point of historians, such as Sir James Ramsay, who show that the continental possessions of the King, as head of the House of Anjou, were far more extensive than his English lands and that his title to Touraine, Maine, Brittany, and other Angevin states was far better, and his control and possession there far more effective, than in any part of the British Isles outside England proper. As Henry was content to be Overlord of his various Angevin dominions, so he was content to be Overlord of such parts of Ireland as his Feudal Barons could conquer for him. These feudal ties were crucial and prevented the great Norman leaders from giving continued attention to Ireland, when (as in the case of the De Lacys) possessions in England or Normandy involved [a] duty of service there.

Thus we see the De Lacys and others of the King’s vassals in Ireland frequently summoned to his French possessions to help him in his wars or to put down revolt, and this meant a constant change of Irish governors and administrators. Hugh de Lacy, the first of that name who came to Ireland, was one of those eminently fitted to reconcile the interests of the invaders and the native Irish. As already noted, he married an Irish wife, the daughter of Roderic or Rory O’Connor, King of Connaught. The chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) although a FitzGerald, speaks glowingly of the liberality and courtesy with which Hugh won the hearts of the Irish people, and drew round him their natural leaders. The first of the De Lacy name who appears in English history is Walter de Lacy (sometimes spelt Lascy, or Lasci). Little is known of his origin except that he came from Lassy, or Lassy, in the Canton of Condé-sur-Noireau, Vire, Normandy. Walter accompanied the Conqueror into England in 1066 and acquired large estates on the Welsh border, the principal being Ewyas Lacy, Staunton Lacy, and Ludlow. Probably, the grant of these lands entitled him to a Feudal Barony in England, though he retained the name of his Norman Seignory — at any rate, we find his descendants recognized as Barons in England. Walter’s death is variously given as 1084, 1085, and 1089. Walter’s brother, or cousin, Ilbert also came over with William the Conqueror and became possessed of the now Royal Barony of Pontefract and many other Manors in Yorkshire. A descendant of Ilbert’s, John de Lacy, Constable of Chester, was appointed jointly with Richard de Bee, custodian of Dublin Castle, and John’s grandson afterwards became Earl of Lincoln. 

Walter de Lacy had three sons: Robert or Roger, Hugh, and Walter, and a daughter, Emma or Emmeline. Robert or Roger succeeded his father as second Baron de Lacy, in Normandy, but after his rebellion against William II Rufus (1087–1100) (in which he was joined by his cousin Robert de Lacy, Lord of Pontefract), his lands were seized by the Crown in 1091, and granted to his brother Hugh who became third Baron, and died sometime before 1121. The next brother, Walter, was Abbot of St Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester, and died unmarried in 1139. The fourth Baron was Gilbert, the son of Emma, and nephew of Hugh, the third Baron. Emma’s husband’s name is not known, but Gilbert assumed the De Lacy name and succeeded to the Barony, an early example of acquisition jure uxoris; or perhaps rather the correct interpretation is that the possession of feudal lands, in days when tenure was all important, entitled the holder to the feudal rank of Baron. Gilbert was succeeded by his son Hugh as fifth Baron de Lacy. The English lands of his father seem to have been for a time in the King’s hands, but they were recovered before 1163, and in 1165 Hugh had possession of more than 58 Knights’ Fees in Shropshire. It was this Hugh who came over to Ireland with Richard de Clare in the first Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. Hugh seems to have had a sister, Rosea, whom he married to Gilbert de Nugent, first Baron of Delvin, which family is now represented by the Earl of Westmeath. Hugh died in 1186 and by his first wife, Rohais, or Rose de Monemue (Monmouth), he had four sons: (1) Walter, who succeeded him in the Barony of De Lacy and in the Seignory of Connaught and Meath; (2) Hugh, created Earl of Ulster in 1205; and two other sons (vide pedigree at the end of this history).

Hugh I was three times Justiciar (Governor) of Ireland for the English King — 1172–3, 1177–82, and Hugh II followed suit in 1208 for King John. The Lordship of Meath, which was granted in 1172 and is partially quoted above, comprised, it is estimated, some 800,000 acres, covering the modern county of Meath, together with extensive portions of Cos Westmeath, Offaly, and Longford. Hugh II obtained further grants in 1205 in Connaght (Connaught), and the family enjoyed princely jurisdiction over about 20% of Ireland. In Meath, they levied their own armed forces; made peace and war, with little interference from the Crown; held their own courts for civil and criminal cases; collected their own revenues, and made large feudal subgrants to their nominees, whose tenure entitled them in many cases to the rank of Baron — a position recognized in the families of the feudatories for centuries, and in several cases acknowledged by the Crown as the root of title to a Parliamentary Peerage.

The ultimate heir to Walter and Hugh II was Gilbert, who had two daughters and heiresses, Margaret and Matilda, who partitioned their lands and held a moiety of the Lordship of Meath — the former getting Westmeath and the latter Meath. References in Sweetman’s Calendar and the Gormanston Calendar seem to show conclusively that each of these moieties in the daughters and their heirs were recognized as separate Lordships, the holders of which enjoyed in their respective territories the same palatine powers and jurisdiction as were exercised in the undivided Lordship.

The Lordship of Connaught, like that of Meath, was considerably greater than the present province of the same name. “For his homage and service” also throws light on the feudal structure, for it was possible for an Earl to owe service to another Lord for his lands, just as most medieval Kings of England owed, and performed, service to the medieval Kings of France, often in person, though usually as heirs to the English Throne and not as Kings regnant. As already noticed in the De Lacy pedigree, Hugh was succeeded briefly by his brother, then by his daughter and heiress, Matilda, who married David FitzWilliam, third Baron of Naas (pronounced Nace). 

From this marriage were ultimately descended in the female line the Prestons of Gormanston, who thus represent the Barons of Ivecolyan, and also the other Matilda, the senior coheiress of the senior male line of Maurice FitzGerald, first Baron of Naas, the senior line of the Irish FitzGeralds. The Le Poers, who completed the Preston holding in Connaught in 1414, also came to Ireland with Richard de Clare, in the person of Sir Roger de la Poer. Gerald of Wales says of him that “there was not a man who did more valiant acts than Roger le Poer, who, although he were young and beardless, yet he shewed himself a lusty, valiant, and courageous gentleman, and who grew into such good credit, that he had the government of the country about Leighlin, as also in Ossory, where he was traitorously killed”. Edmund Pouere mentioned in the pedigree was the brother of Nicholas Le Poer whose son Peter was created Lord Le Poer, Baron of Curraghmore, by Henry VI in 1452. His descendant, Richard Power (sic) was advanced to the Viscountcy of Decies and Earldom of Tyrone in 1673. The family are now represented by the eighth Marquess of Waterford, John De La Poer Beresford, and have changed Power back to the Anglo-Norman spelling.  

We now turn back to the Prestons. Sir Robert Preston was created Viscount of Gormanston in 1478, the oldest Irish Viscountcy. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland in the reign of Edward IV when the King’s son, Richard, Duke of York — who was murdered in the Tower of London by Richard III — held the sinecure post of Lord Lieutenant. The Gormanstons suffered somewhat in the 16th century for their adhesion to the Catholic cause and temporarily lost their lands to Lord Deputy Skeffington, now represented by Viscount Massereene and Ferrard.

The Gormanstons survived the plantations of Elizabeth and James I, but espoused the forlorn cause of James II who was dethroned in 1689. The seventh Viscount was indicted for high treason and outlawed in 1691, although he had died the month before publication of his ban. Ninety-nine years later, the family were restored in blood and thrive to this day. The Barony of Ivecolyan is located near Gormanston Castle in eastern Co Meath. The Gormanston Register has been published and a copy is available for inspection at the Manorial Society of Great Britain.

(Illustrations on this page: the Le Poer arms; a griffin engraving; and a full-length figure of an armoured knight from a monumental brass.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot #11 of Manorial Services Auction - July 2021 - Stephen Johnson

With historic rights to market and fair

Perhaps unwittingly the name of this manor  has entered into mainstream western culture. It is  widely thought to have provided Sir Walter Scott with  the name for his most famous book - Ivanhoe. It is  reported that he was much taken with a local rhyme  which commemorated the loss of this and other  manors in the 14th century when a member of the  Hampden family supposedly struck Edward, the Black  Prince during a game of tennis; 

Tring Wing and Ivinghoe 

For striking of a blow 

Hampden did forgo 

And glad he could escape so 

Scott took the name for the eponymous hero but sadly, for such an interesting story the rhyme is  entirely erroneous since neither Ivinghoe, Tring or Wing for that matter ever belonged to a member of the  Hampden family, or even the Black Prince. 

Ivinghoe lies in a parish of the same name in the east of the county, four miles from Tring. It gives its  name to the Ivinghoe Hills in the south of the parish which are flanked by the ancient Icknield Way, the pre-Roman road which runs for over 170 miles roughly from Berkshire to Hampshire. Beacon Hill was the site  of a Medieval warning beacon.  

The history of the Manor can be traced to before the Norman Conquest when it was part of the  estate of the Church of St Peter in Winchester. Some sources note that Ivinghoe was granted to the church  by Queen Emma, the wife of Ethelred in 1042, in commemoration of her son Harthacanute who had ruled  as king of England for just two years before his death. After the Norman conquest 24 years later the Manor  remained as part of the church’s lands and is recorded in Domesday Book as being assessed for 20 hides  and being valued at £18. The land in Ivinghoe was very fertile and provided the Bishops with an abundance  of produce as well as timber from their considerable woodlands. Wheat crops, barley, oats, peas and beans  were all grown here and in 1318 the Bishop received protection for the corn which was being sent from the  Manor to London. In the same year he was granted a charter of a weekly market to be held every Thursday.

St Peters held Ivinghoe until 1551 when it was surrendered to Edward VI by Bishop John Poynet.  Within a few weeks the young king had granted the Manor to Sir John Mason and his wife Elizabeth. Mason  was one of a number of men who had been born into relatively humble families but who succeeded in  achieved great wealth and eminence during the Tudor period. Perhaps the most famous of these men was  Thomas Cromwell. Mason was born at Abingdon in 1503, the son of a cowherd. He was lucky to have an  uncle who was a monk and who educated the young boy. In 1518 Henry VIII stayed in the small town for a  number of weeks in a bid to escape an outbreak of disease in London and it seems likely that this was when  Mason came to the king’s attention. He was admitted first to Oxford and then as a scholar of the king at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1532 he entered the diplomatic service and represented the king throughout France,  Spain and Italy. In 1537 he entered the service of Sir Thomas Wyatt, the English envoy in Spain. In 1542 he  returned to England and took up the post of Clerk to the Privy Counsel and after the death of Henry in 1547 served the young King Edward VI, being rewarded with several manors including that of Ivinghoe.  After Edward’s death, Mason initially supported Jane Grey as queen but he luckily failed to sign the Duke of  Northumberland’s proclamation and so evaded arrest and execution after Mary claimed the throne a few  days later. Mason made a quick reverse and proclaimed Mary. Despite being a Protestant he remained in  the Queen’s favour throughout her reign but his Manor of Ivinghoe was returned to the Crown which then  returned it to the Bishop of Winchester.

When Elizabeth became queen in 1558 Ivinghoe was almost immediately retrieved by the Crown  and regranted to Mason. After his death a year later it passed to his son Anthony, who is still recorded as  Lord of the Manor in 1582. Four years later it was alienated, or sold, to Charles Glenham. His tenure was very  short and within the year he had sold it to Lady Jane Cheyne, the widow of Henry, Lord Cheyne. In 1603 she  sold Ivinghoe to the trustees of Sir Thomas Egerton who received the estate in 1604. In 1617 Egerton was  created Earl of Bridgewater. The fourth Earl, Scroop Egerton was raised to the Dukedom of Bridgwater in  1720. Ivinghoe remained in the Eger ton family until 1829.Under the will of 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.

Documents associated with this manor in the public domain:

1200-1300: Register of inquisitions of customs British Library 

1403-1404: account roll Buckinghamshire Archives 

1551-1680: stewards papers 

1559-1586: court rolls (draft) 

1600-1700: court rolls 

1607-1612: rentals 

1613-1613: toll book of Ivinghoe fair 

1622-1666: court rolls 

1659-1668: court rolls (draft) 

1582-1582: customs of the manor 

1669-1804: court rolls (draft) with related papers 

1514-1515: court rolls, with other manors, Warwickshire Record Office 

1533-1534: court rolls Hampshire Archives 

1540-1549: court book s 

1548-1549: survey, with other manors The National Archives 

1668-1673: court rolls Hertfordshire Archives 

1682-1704: court book 

1683-1807: list of tenants (alphabetical) 

1700-1900: notes on customs 

1705-1722: court rolls  

1757-1949: court books 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------