Wixford

THIS small Manor and parish covers 569 acres in the valley of Hay Brook, a tributary of the River Arrow. It lies two miles south of Alcester in the Hundred of Barlichway. In Domesday it was known as Wiflacford, becoming Wixlesford in the 16th century.

The Lordship was granted by Ufa, Sheriff of Warwickshire, to Evesham Abbey in 973. The Abbey soon lost the land, however, as Ufa's son, Wulfgeat, who, having secured the lands in a grant for life, attempted to pass them on to his successor, Wigor. Wigor is mentioned as the holder before 1066 in Domesday and soon after Abbot Ethelwig bought back the Manor. Thus by 1086 Evesham Abbey held the lands once more.

Evesham Abbey, in Worcestershire, was founded on land granted by King Ethelred in 709. The Bishop of the Wiccii, Egwin, laid the foundations and became its first abbot. The church was over 300 feet long with nine bays and the monastery was said to maintain 75 monks and 65 serfs. It was desecrated in 1265 by a massacre of fugitive from the Battle of Evesham within the church but survived until the Dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, when its income was said to be over £1,000. Henry II set up his military headquarters in the Abbey and the Earl of Lancaster and other Barons slian at the Battle were buried in it. Only an arch from the vestibule and the bell tower survive.

Going back to Domesday, the entry for Wixford states: Evesham Abbey holds five hides in Wixford. Land for six ploughs. In lordship two; three male and two female slaves; four villagers and six smallholders with two ploughteams with two ploughs. A mill at 10s and 20 sticks of eels; meadow, 24 acres; woodland one furlong long and 1/2 wide. Value before 1066, 40s; later 30s; now 50s. Wigot held this land before 1066.

The Abbots of Evesham continued as Overlords of the Manor until the Dissolution. In 1206, the profits, said to be £4, were appropriated for the use of the monastery cook. In 1252 the Abbot was holding of the King in Chief, the service for which is unknown. In 1276 the abbot claimed the Manor of Wixford of the Hundred of Wixford 'by a grant of Henry III with assize of bread and ale, and gallows'. Then, in 1285, the abbot denied that it was a Hundred, claiming that it was simply a Manor in the King's Hundred of Barlichway.

Wixford was granted by Abbot Robert (1104-22) to Ralph Boteler of Oversley in fee farm for a rent of £4. John Boteler held the Manor in free socage in 1287 and when the male line of the Boteler family died out, it passed to Thomas Molyneux, the third husband of Elizabeth Boteler. He was Lord of the Manor in 1398 and Robert Molynton was Lord in 1418. Mary, wife of Sir Ralph Nevill, younger son of the Earl of Warwick, died seized of the Manor in 1458 and was succeeded by her son, John Nevill. He died in 1482, Wixford passing to his grandson, Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe.

He settled the Manor on his second son, Henry, in 1532 on a later marriage to Elizabeth Boynton. Sir Henry, as he later became, conveyed the Manor in 1537 to Thomas Cromwell, who was executed in 1540. The Lordship passing to the Crown. The next year it was granted to Sir Thomas Throckmorton, in whose family the Manor has remained to the present day. A descent of the Throckmorton family is therefore given at the back of the catalogue.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• Courts (wom) 1385-1423 (inc) Shakespeare Birth Place Trust RO
• Computus (wom) 1540-41
• Views of Frankpledge 1540-54 (inc)
• Court Book (wom) 1542-44 Hereford & Worcestershire RO
• Rentals & Surveys (wom) c1599

Historical holder / succession information

1. John Boteler
   1287 · held_manor · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: John Boteler held the Manor in free socage in 1287 and when the male line of the Boteler family died out, it passed to Thomas Molyneux, the third husband of Elizabeth Boteler.
2. He [source claim requiring identity review]
   1398|1418 · lord_of_manor · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: He was Lord of the Manor in 1398 and Robert Molynton was Lord in 1418.
3. He was Lord of the Manor in 1398 and Robert Molynton [source claim requiring identity review]
   1398|1418 · stated_lord · historical_holder
   Source wording: He was Lord of the Manor in 1398 and Robert Molynton was Lord in 1418.