Whatcombe or Wadecombe

Overlordship

The manor of WHATCOMBE (Watecumbe, xi–xiii cent.) was held in alod of King Edward the Confessor by Seward, but by 1086 it had passed to Geoffrey de Mandeville. He shortly afterwards granted it as 'the land of Edward called Watecumba' to his newly-founded priory of Hurley, to which it was confirmed by Henry II. Ailward, the prior's bailiff, was in charge here in 1166–7 and 1167–8, but by the middle of the next century the manor had been granted to Bartholomew Peche, who paid for it a rent of 1d. to the prior. The Priors of Hurley held the overlordship until 1275–6 or later, the priory being then a cell of the abbey of Westminister, but no further mention of their overlordship has been found. In 1508 the manor is returned as held of the duchy of Lancaster.

Lordship

After the death of Bartholomew Peche the manor seems to have passed to Herbert Peche, who was perhaps his son. Herbert died seised of Whatcombe in 1272, leaving a son Bartholomew, but Herbert's widow Lucy held it in dower. Bartholomew predeceased his mother in 1282–3, and his son Bartholomew succeeded on Lucy's death. He paid 100s. in 1312 for three years' respite from taking knighthood, but had been knighted before 1316, when he presented to the church of Whatcombe. His son Sir John, who succeeded before 1328, conveyed the manor in 1349 to Thomas de Coleshill and others, who agreed in 1350 to reconvey it on the occasion of the marriage of John son of the said Sir John Peche to Lady Isabel Montbocher, daughter of Sir Richard de Willoughby, if the said Sir Richard would pay down a sum of 1,200 marks. In 1352 the younger John Peche sold the manor to Sir Hugh de Berwyk. Sir Hugh died in 1403 and Gille his wife late in December 1407; their son and heir Hugh had died early in November the same year, leaving as his heir his brother Thomas. Thomas granted the manor in 1409 and 1415 to trustees, who in 1416 gave it to Margaret wife of Ralph Boteler, sister and heir of Thomas de Berwyk. It would seem that Margaret afterwards married William Haute, for in 1425 the manor was settled on William and his wife Margaret. It had reverted to the Botelers before 1456, when John Boteler, who may have been son or grandson of Ralph, presented to the living. In 1458–9 he and his wife sold the manor to John Norreys. John Norreys of Yattendon died 1 September 1466 and was succeeded by his son Sir William Norreys, who presented to the living in 1467 and again in 1469. Between that date and 1500 he seems to have sold the manor to John Isbury, who granted it in 1502 to the chantry of the Holy Trinity which he was founding at Lambourn. This grant was confirmed by the king in 1508. The chantry came to the Crown at the Dissolution. Whatcombe Manor had been leased in 1537 for forty-five years to Thomas and Margaret Gest at a yearly rent of £8 13s. 4d. It was valued 17 November 1557 for sale to Roger Young, by whom it was purchased for £225 6s. 8d. Roger Young of Basildon granted to his eldest son William an annuity of £16 out of this manor in 1582, and two days later granted the manor, subject to this annuity, to his second son Roger, who succeeded on the death of his father in 1589. With his wife Christina Roger conveyed this manor to trustees in 1600 and died before 1639, leaving a son William, who in that year received the manor from the surviving trustee. He mortgaged it to Henry Barker, but redeemed it in 1657 and settled it in 1666 on himself and his wife Mary and his eldest son William, with remainder to his third son Charles. He died before 1698, when his son William seems also to have been dead, without leaving issue, for Charles Young then settled the manor on himself and his wife Gertrude, with remainder to his four sons, William, Charles, Francis and Anthony, in succession, subject to a certain life interest held by their uncle Roger. Charles Young died between 1705 and 1715, when his widow Gertrude was returned in a list of recusants, together with her sons William and Charles. William mortgaged the manor in 1730 to Bartholomew Tipping of Woolley Park, and in 1742 he, with the consent of Bartholomew Tipping, transferred the mortgage to John Stirling to hold in trust for Dame Anne Scroggs. He died before 1763, when Charles Young, described as a wine merchant of Southampton and eldest son of William and Mary Young, re-mortgaged the manor to John Stirling. On Charles's death, unmarried and intestate, 9 September 1782, letters of administration were granted to his only surviving sister Elizabeth. By her will proved in 1788 she bequeathed the manor of Whatcombe to her kinsman John Hyde of Marlborough. John Hyde mortgaged the manor in 1817 to John Benbow and died in 1819. His heir Charles Hyde sold it in 1820 to John Benbow, who conveyed it 7 July 1821 to Mrs. Wroughton. She was the daughter of John Chardin Musgrave, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, by Catherine only daughter of Bartholomew Tipping of Woolley Park. She had inherited the manor of Woolley from her uncle Bartholomew Tipping the younger in 1798, and had previously married the Rev. Philip Wroughton. From Mrs. Wroughton the manor has descended with the manor of Woolley (q.v.) to her great-grandson Mr. Philip Musgrave Neeld Wroughton, its present possessor.