Historical names: Abbelode (Manor) | Abload (Manor) | Abloads with Sandhurst (Manor) | Ablode and Santhurste (Manor) | Ablode's Court (Manor)
Location: Sandhurst, Gloucestershire
Places / associated places: Sandhurst, Gloucestershire
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 51.8904, -2.2522
Identity: confirmed — The supplied record's alternative forms Abbelode, Abload, Ablode's Court and Abloads with Sandhurst match the documented Abloads Court/Abbelode site in Sandhurst, Gloucestershire. The Gloucestershire HER identifies Abloads Court as a medieval deserted settlement recorded in the Pipe Rolls of 1190 and 1191–92, while the National Archives record and associated court-roll references support the manor identity. This is distinct from other Gloucestershire estates with similar Abbot- or Abload-related names.
Representative point: 51.8904, -2.2522
Basis: documented_manor_house — Abloads Court, the surviving farmhouse and named manorial site, at OS grid reference SO827213 / NGR SO8274221346. The present building is principally eighteenth- and nineteenth-century, but it occupies the documented Abloads Court manorial complex and deserted-medieval-village site.
Point confidence: high
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval manor; documentary evidence spans at least the late twelfth century through the post-medieval court records.
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The available web-accessible evidence securely locates the manor, court, mill and deserted medieval settlement at Abloads Court, but does not provide a manor map, surveyed perimeter, explicit parcel list, enclosure map, tithe map or other sufficiently precise evidence from which the historical manorial land boundary can be reconstructed. The medieval manor should not be equated with the modern civil parish of Sandhurst or with the present farmyard. The surviving court-roll and rental catalogue references establish manorial administration but do not, without the underlying documents and maps, define the territorial perimeter.
Sources:
- Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record: Deserted Medieval village at Abloads Court, HER 5582: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=108&uid=5582 — Identifies the deserted medieval village at Abloads Court, Sandhurst; gives NGR area SO 82 21 and the more specific reference SO827214; records medieval forms including Abbelada and references in the Pipe Rolls of 1190 and 1191–92; cites archaeological and place-name scholarship.
- Historic England, Abloads Court, listed building entry 1091412: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1091412 — Provides the official listed-site identification for Abloads Court in Sandhurst and the listing NGR SO8274221346. The listed farmhouse is the surviving named court/manor site used for the representative point.
- National Archives Discovery, Abloads Manor, record F241523: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F241523 — Registry authority record for the exact manor record supplied by the user; confirms the archival identity and associated historical forms.
- National Archives Discovery, court roll with other manors, D936a/M/1: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14355864 — Catalogue reference for the 1291–1293 court roll associated with the manor-record research leads; supports the existence of medieval manorial court administration but does not expose a boundary plan.
- University of Nottingham, scholarly study discussing Abbelode and Gloucester Abbey's mill: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/78913/1/Stanley%2C%20Nigel%2C%2014303965%2C%20second.pdf — Discusses the thirteenth-century Gloucester Abbey grant referring to its mill of Abbelode and identifies Abbelode as an early form of Abloads Court, supporting the connection between the place, mill and Gloucester Abbey estate.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The representative coordinate is for the documented Abloads Court manorial site, not a reconstructed medieval manor-centre polygon.
- No historically defensible manorial boundary polygon was found in the accessible evidence. Do not inject the modern Sandhurst parish, civil-parish, postcode, ward or present-day farm boundary as the manor extent.
- The evidence supports Gloucester Abbey ownership in the medieval period and later post-Dissolution administration, but does not securely establish the complete post-1705 descent or the full territorial extent of the manor.
About the Manor
Abloads Manor was the medieval manor associated with Abload or Abbelode at Sandhurst beside the River Severn, later known as Abloads Court or Ablode's Court. The name is recorded in medieval forms including Abbelode and is interpreted as referring to a difficult or dangerous river crossing. The site included a medieval settlement and a mill associated with the Gloucester abbey estate. Gloucestershire Historic Environment Record identifies a deserted medieval village at Abloads Court and records references to the place in the Pipe Rolls of 1190 and 1191–92. The present Abloads Court is a later farmhouse incorporating or replacing the earlier manorial complex; the surviving listed building is principally eighteenth- and nineteenth-century in date. The manor should not be confused with other Gloucestershire estates bearing similar Abbot- or Abload-related names.
Ownership / Holder Account
The securely evidenced medieval lordship belongs to Gloucester Abbey, formally the Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester, whose estate records refer to Abload and whose manor at Abload is identified in later historical and archaeological scholarship. The abbey's demesne tithes from Ablode are recorded in the early thirteenth-century Historia of St Peter's Abbey, and a thirteenth-century Gloucester abbey grant refers to its mill of Abbelode. The estate passed after the Dissolution to the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester. By about 1629 the Abloads estate or court was acquired on lease by Sir William Guise of Elmore. The Guise family held Abload or Ablode's Court during the seventeenth century, with John Guise of Ablode Court documented by the later seventeenth century. A scholarly estate survey records that the Guise acquisition was a lease made about 1629 and that the property was sold in 1705, but the purchaser and the subsequent descent of the manorial interest have not been securely identified in the sources consulted. The evidence therefore establishes a partial descent from Gloucester Abbey to the Guise family but does not justify filling the post-1705 gap by inference.
Records & References
Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.
9 records found · showing 9–9.
1291-1293: court roll, with other manors (9 membranes)
Held by: Gloucestershire Archives
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Abbey of St Peter, Gloucester, later Gloucester Abbey
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 3 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Abbey of St Peter, Gloucester, later Gloucester Abbey, Benedictine abbey of St Peter at Gloucester
Transfer: The manor and associated demesne at Abload are evidenced as belonging to Gloucester Abbey. The early thirteenth-century Historia of St Peter's Abbey refers to the abbey's demesne tithes from Ablode, while later Gloucestershire scholarship explicitly identifies the boat mill as belonging to Gloucester Abbey's manor of Abload in Sandhurst. The post-Dissolution corporate successor was the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester, but the precise legal date and form of that transition for Abload are not established by the sources used here.
Shared holding: Gloucester Abbey estate
Previous holder: Not securely identified
This is the earliest securely evidenced lordship link for the exact Abload estate at Sandhurst. The evidence concerns the manor and its demesne or appurtenant mill, not merely a tenancy by an individual. A tradition that Henry I granted Abload and Paygrove Wood in 1101 is repeated in modern summaries, but it has not been treated as a separate high-confidence conveyance because a sufficiently direct primary or authoritative source for the transaction was not located.
Source: Historia of St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, vol. 1, passage concerning the dispute over the abbey's demesne tithes from Ablode; John Rhodes, Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, vol. 124, discussion of the boat mill belonging to Gloucester Abbey's manor of Abload in Sandhurst. — source link
Sir William Guise, lord of Elmore, member of the Guise family of Elmore, Baronet, member of the Guise family of Gloucestershire, lord of King's Barton
Transfer: Acquisition by lease from the Gloucester ecclesiastical estate. A scholarly survey of the Guise family records the acquisition of Ablode's or Abload Court as a lease about 1629, and a Gloucestershire historical study states that around this period the manor of Abloads in Sandhurst was bought by Sir William Guise, lord of Elmore.
Holding arrangement: Other
Shared holding: Guise family of Elmore
Previous holder: Gloucester Abbey estate and its post-Dissolution ecclesiastical successor, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester
The evidence indicates a leasehold or estate acquisition rather than an independently demonstrated transfer of the freehold lordship. Sir William Guise is directly linked to Abloads in Sandhurst, but the exact deed, term, legal capacity and relationship between the leasehold court estate and the continuing ecclesiastical lordship have not been established from the publicly accessible sources consulted.
Source: J. V. Beckett and others, List of Parliamentary Families, entry for Guise, recording Ablode's (Abload) Court as acquired on lease about 1629; Gloucestershire Family History Society article on the Hawkins family, citing the purchase of the manor of Abloads in Sandhurst by Sir William Guise. — source link
John Guise of Ablode Court, Esquire, Gloucestershire
Transfer: The Guise family continued to hold or occupy the Abload Court estate. John Guise is directly described in biographical and genealogical sources as being of Ablode or Abloads Court, and the Guise family estate summary records the court as sold in 1705. The precise instrument, parties and legal nature of the 1705 sale are not identified in the sources consulted.
Holding arrangement: Other
Shared holding: Guise family of Elmore and Ablode Court
Previous holder: Sir William Guise and the Guise family of Elmore
John Guise is included because he is directly associated with Ablode Court, not merely because he belonged to the Guise family. The evidence does not securely establish whether he held the freehold, a lease, or the residence and estate under a family arrangement. The Guise estate was reportedly sold in 1705, but the purchaser is unknown and no later holder is entered here.
Source: Dictionary of National Biography, entry noting Dionisia, daughter of John Guise of Ablode Court, Gloucestershire; List of Parliamentary Families, Guise entry recording Ablode's Court as sold in 1705. — source link
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JSON API
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