Pounceneys

THIS LORDSHIP lies in the half hundred of Clavering in the Parish of Clavering, and is a subinfeudation of the capital Manor of Clavering. It was held by Suene at the time of Domesday Book, although Pouncesneys is not named. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, it was held by Robert, the son of Wimarc. Suene was one of the greatest landholders in Essex in 1086.

Henry II granted Clavering to Robert FitzRoger who was surnamed de Clavering and it remained in the family until about 1240. John FitzRobert by his wife, Ada de Baliol, had a son Roger who was holding in capite of the honor of Rayleigh at his death in 1248. Roger’s son, Robert, was summoned to Parliament between 1295 and 1309 when he died, leaving a wife, Margery de Zouche and a son John. John was called to Parliament between 1309 and 1331, and died in 1332. By his wife, Hawise, daughter of Robert de Tibetot, he left an only daughter, Eve, who married first Ralph de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, and second Thomas de Audley by both of whom she had children. By marriage, probably with Eve’s daughter, Ralph de Nevill came possessed of Clavering and Pouncesneys which is how towards the end of King Edward III’s reign this Lordship came into the Nevill family, Lords of Raby and and Earls of Westmoreland. Ralph’s grandson, also Ralph, married Joan the Maid of Kent, daughter of Edward III and sister to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. She was succeeded by her son, Richard Nevill, Earl of Salisbury.

In the 1460s, the Nevills made further marriages with the Royal Family - Anne Nevill married Edward Prince of Wales, son of King Henry VI, then married Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III. The eldest daughter, Isabel, who inherited the Manor, married George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, brother to King Edward IV. She died in 1478 and on the execution of her son, Edward, Earl of Warwick, in 1498 the Manor was forfeited to the Crown.

The Earl of Warwick’s sister Margaret married Sir Richard Pole and in 1513 successfully petitioned King Henry VII for this Lordship. She was styled Countess of Salisbury, but was attainted in 1539 as was her son, Henry Lord Montague, and both were beheaded in 1541 because of their Royal descent from the ancient Plantagenet line.

The Lordship remained in the Crown until 1578 when Queen Elizabeth I granted it to William Lord Burghley, who sold it in the same year to Sir Francis Barrington Bt. The Nevills (sic) retained the Overlordship and resumed direct control of Pouncesneys on the death of John Barrington in about 1700. It has remained in the Aldworth-Nevilles, Barons Braybrooke, whose descent is on the following page.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• Court Rolls: 1363-99, 1485-1561, 1567-1613, 1605, 1603-13
• Accounts: 1503-90, 1581, 1583, 1583-90, 1592-1601
• Court Book: 1568-90
• Terrier: c1575
• Surveys: 1546-1639
• Rentals: 1613-14, 1687, 1695

Pounceneys was a subinfeudated holding of the manor of Clavering. The land was held by Suene in 1086, although Pouncesneys was not separately named in Domesday Book. The Clavering interest passed through the FitzRobert/de Clavering family, then through the Nevill family by marriage. The manor was associated with the Nevills and later the Crown following the forfeiture of the Earl of Warwick's property in 1498. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, successfully petitioned for the lordship in 1513, but it reverted to the Crown after her attainder in 1539. In 1578 Elizabeth I granted it to William, Lord Burghley, who sold it in the same year to Sir Francis Barrington. The Nevills retained the overlordship and resumed direct control after John Barrington's death around 1700; the record states that it thereafter remained with the Aldworth-Nevilles, Barons Braybrooke.