New Hutton

(Mines and minerals for the Manor are excluded in the sale.)

Nestled in the rolling hills between Killington Reservoir and Kendal is the township and Lordship of the Manor of New Hutton. It is a small but ancient settlement built around the church of St Stephen’s. It neighbours the parish of Old Hutton but both seem to be of the same age. The name is thought to derive from the building of small huts or enclosures on what was hunting ground in the very early period of Norman domination in the 11th century. The division of New and Old Hutton is supposed to have occurred when the original estate was divided between the two sisters of William de Lancaster during the reign of Edward I. The township contains several small settlements including the hamlets of Borrans (a Norse word for a field with outcrops of rock) Millholm and Rawgreen.

After William had subdued most of England, the North remained a problem for a number of years into his reign. In order to try to subdue it, a huge swath of land from Northern Lancashire to what was the county of Westmorland was granted to Ivo de Talebois, a powerful Norman nobleman who had besieged and captured the rebellious Hereward the Wake, at Ely in 1071. Ivo was granted this estate as long as he could subdue it and his grip was strengthened after the accession of William II in 1087. The territory eventually became the basis of the feudal Barony of Kendal and the Manor of Hutton, was included in the baronial extent. It passed from Ivo to Eldred, to Ketel and thus to Gilbert de Talebois.

After the death of Gilbert, the estate passed to his son, William, who took the name de Lancaster. For much of this period of the 12th century, Cumberland and Westmoreland were under the control of the Scottish kings and it was not until the reign of Richard I (1189-99) that the Barony of Kendal was formerly erected in favour of Gilbert Fitz-Reindred, the son-in-law of William by his daughter Halwise. Gilbert’s seal can be found on Magna Carta and he was one of the barons who rebelled against the rule of King John. He was succeeded early in the reign of Henry III by his only son William de Lancaster (III) who was the last true Baron of Kendal. At his death the barony was divided between his two sisters; Helwisia and Alice, and it was divided into three fees, Richmond, Marquis and Lumley, a division which remains until the present day. Hutton formed one of the manors of the Richmond Fee and was divided between the two sisters, as New and Old Hutton, becoming two distinct manors and then parishes. Alice took the Richmond Fee and this passed to her descents after her marriage to William de Lindesay.

Several generations of William de Lindesays followed. At the death of the third, in around 1386 it was found that he was the Lord of Richmond Fee which included the manors Hutton. Of his son and heir one historian of the Barony noted that we find nothing in particular, save only that he died without any male of his body. The manor thus passed to his brother, Christian, who was married to Ingelram de Guisnes, Lord of Coucy in France. The couple lived there but their son and heir, William, was considered as an ‘alien’ of foreign and unable to inherit. New Hutton along with the rest of the Richmond Fee manors was therefore escheated to the Crown on his death.

In 1347 Edward III granted New Hutton and the other Richmond Fee manors to John de Coupland. He was a relatively lowly squire from Northumberland who had the wit and skill to capture the Scottish king David at the Battle of Neville’s Cross on 16 October 1346. Coupland was knighted by the king and granted land and position. The grant of the Richmond Fee was one of a number of such gifts. John was infamous in the North of England and Scotland for his brutality and was killed in December 1363 by 20 men when he crossed Bolton Moor in Richmondshire. Despite three subsequent inquiries the murderers were neither found nor arrested. The estate remained in the possession of his wife, Johan or Joanna, until her death in 1375 .The manor then reverted to Ingelram de Courcy and then to his daughter, Phillipa, the former wife of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford. A rental of 1390 notes a rental of Philippa, Duchess of Ireland: the moiety of the hamlet 95 (i.e. New Hutton) be-longs to the lady; the names, acreage and rents of 21 tenements are recorded; intakes named Deregaete and Warthbegarthe are mentioned; the moiety of the watermill yeilded 13s. 4d. John de Brughe held Hotton Park for £8 rent; sum total £17 1s. 8d. Roll at Levens She died childless in 1413 and Windermere then reverted to The Crown for a second time.

New Hutton was granted by Henry IV to his third brother, John Duke of Bedford, on whom it remained until his death in 1436. Henry VI then granted it to John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset ,but he died childless and the king passed it to his daughter, Margaret, who was Countess of Richmond in her own right. Born in 1443 she was descended from John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III, a lineage which gave her royal claim. As a young teenager she was placed under the protection of Henry VI’s own half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper Tudor. This arrangement was made specifically to marry her off to Edmund, which she duly did in 1455. Only a few months after her marriage the 12 year old girl became pregnant. This was as a result of a rather brutal act on Edmund’s part and was a ritual known as the ‘courtesy of England’. By making her pregnant Tudor secured a life’s interest in Margaret’s estates, which were worth £1,000. Even in the 15th century this was considered too young an age to conceive and she seems to have suffered considerable internal damage and had no further children for the rest of her life. Tudor, however appears to have received no censure for his actions save perhaps a divine one, since after just six months of his wife’s pregnancy Tudor was killed by the plague. Fortunately she carried her child to term and gave birth to a son, Henry. This act alone embroiled her in the internecine struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster, which was now raging across England. Within a year she had married Henry Stafford, second son of the Duke of Buckingham.

The history of her son Henry at Bosworth in 1485 brought triumph for the family. At the first Parliament of the new regime she was declared femme sole, a woman in law capable of actions independent of her husband and in 1487 she was granted a huge landed trust for the monarchy including, of course, New Hutton and the Richmond Fee. Margaret died in 1509, a few weeks after seeing her grandson crowned Henry VIII. Her lands and estates came back to the Crown and Henry granted New Hutton to his illegitimate son, Henry, Duke of Richmond, who died in murky circumstances aged just 17 in 1536. Two years earlier a strange incident was reported at New Hutton by James Layburn (Deputy Steward of Kendal) to Mr. Thomas Cromwell. The persons named in the enclosed list entered by night in harness, the lands of my lord of Richmond, called New Hutton in the barony of Kendal, and sowed corn and grain on John Becke’s tenement, taking an oath not to discover each other. I beg they may be brought to London, or a commission be appointed to inquire and punish. I am steward under master Parr and therefore show you the truth. What this dispute was about and why the miscreants were planting crops at night sadly remains unrecorded.

The Lordship of the Richmond Fee and New Hutton remained in the hands of the Crown for the next 150 years. It was granted to various members of the Royal household to provide an income, and developed a rich and efficient system of tenancy and administration. The final royal holder of the Manor was Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles. A survey of her estate in 1677 found that the annual value of New Hutton was £10 9s 9d the same as it had been in a survey made in 1596.. After her death in 1705, the Lordship and the Richmond Fee were granted to the Lowther family. William Lowther had been appointed steward of the Fee in 1662, a position he inherited from his father, Sir John Lowther. It was therefore a natural step to award this long established Yorkshire family the actual estate.

The Lordship of New Hutton remained in the hands of the Lowther family for the next 300 years. They became one of the leading landowners in the North of England and possessed over 80,000 acres of Westmorland and Cumberland alone. The family were raised to the peerage in 1696 when John Lowther was created Viscount Lonsdale. After this line became extinct in 1751 the estate was settled on a cousin, when Sir John Lowther was created Earl of Lonsdale. The Lordship remained in the hands of the Lowther family until the late 1980s when it was purchased by the family of the present Vendors.

Rights, customs and incidents

(Mines and minerals for the Manor are excluded in the sale.)
Henry VI then granted it to John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset ,but he died childless and the king passed it to his daughter, Margaret, who was Countess of Richmond in her own right.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• 1603-1639: estreats National Archives
• 1619-1665: rentals
• 1658-1658: court roll Cumbria Archive Centre, Carlisle
• 1664-1679: verdicts
• 1672-1677: estreat of new tenants
• 1679-1683: court rolls, with other manors (Kendal barony)
• 1758-1936: call book
• 1837-1838: notices and perambulations
• 1883-1901: admittances
• 1925-1929: stewards’ papers

Historical holder / succession information

1. his son, William [source claim requiring identity review]
   passed_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: After the death of Gilbert, the estate passed to his son, William, who took the name de Lancaster.
2. his brother, Christian [source claim requiring identity review]
   passed_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: The manor thus passed to his brother, Christian, who was married to Ingelram de Guisnes, Lord of Coucy in France.
3. Lowther family
   1705 · granted_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: After her death in 1705, the Lordship and the Richmond Fee were granted to the Lowther family.