Woolhampton

Overlordship

The manor of WOOLHAMPTON belonged to Godric the Sheriff in the time of Edward the Confessor, and in 1086 was in the possession of Henry Ferrers, whose descendants held it in demesne or overlordship until 1266. When Robert Ferrers, sixth Earl of Derby, forfeited his lands for rebellion in that year, the overlordship of Woolhampton seems to have been granted with his other possessions to Edmund Earl of Lancaster, whose grandson Henry Earl of Derby and Duke of Lancaster died seised of it in 1361. There is apparently no further mention of the overlordship, which must have passed to the Crown on the accession of Henry Duke of Lancaster to the throne as Henry IV.

Lordship account 1

The manor of Woolhampton was granted to the Prior and brethren of the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem before 1159 by Robert Ferrers, second Earl of Derby, whose gift was confirmed by King John in his charter of 1199. The Hospitallers are described about the same time as holding a moiety of Woolhampton of the gift of Geoffrey de Hostreville. Possibly the latter was co-tenant of the Ferrers fee with the predecessor of Henry de Chequers (see below). In 1227 the prior of the Hospitallers, Robert de Diva, agreed that the moiety of Woolhampton held by Henry de Chequers should do suit of court at the hundred of Reading, in return for which the abbot, Adam of Lathbury, quitclaimed to the prior all his right to suit and service from the other half together with his right to fines and the goods of fugitives. The Knights Hospitallers remained in possession of the manor of Woolhampton until the Dissolution. In 1544 Henry VIII granted the lands of the hospital in Shalford and elsewhere to William Wollascott, who afterwards obtained from Queen Elizabeth licence to alienate them to Thomas Farmer and Edmund Plowden. This alienation, however, appears to have been made only for the purpose of a settlement, as William Wollascott the younger was in possession of both Shalford and Woolhampton in 1613, and the manors followed the descent of the manor of Brimpton until 1906, when Woolhampton was bought from Mr. James Blyth, then lord of the manor, by a syndicate. The property is now being developed for building purposes.

Lordship account 2

In 1227 Henry de Chequers had a holding in Woolhampton, which had previously belonged to Roger Panculf, as under-tenant of Ferrers. His son and heir Ralf de Chequers died seised of the estate before 1286, leaving as co-heir his daughter Katherine the wife of William Hawtrey; her share was settled in that year upon William and Katherine and their children with remainder to William's son and namesake. Thomas was the son and heir of this second William, but the estate appears to have passed to Ralf Chenduit, son apparently of Agnes Chenduit, co-heir of Ralf de Chequers. The property seems to have afterwards passed to Sir Thomas de Sibthorpe, clerk, who granted land described as a twentieth of a knight's fee and rents in Woolhampton in 1341 to the Prior and brethren of St. John in exchange for rents in Sibthorpe and the advowson of the church there. In the following year, when the living of Sibthorpe fell vacant, the prior tried to evade his share of the agreement, but Thomas brought an action against him in the court of King's Bench and recovered the presentation. The tenements in Woolhampton granted by Sibthorpe were held of the Earl of Derby by the service of one-twentieth of a knight's fee, and were worth, together with a rent which he also gave, 8 marks yearly. It seems clear, however, that what the Hospitallers came into possession of was the quarter of a fee which had belonged to Ralf Chenduit, for the prior was said to be holding this in 1428. It was amalgamated with the other lands of the Hospitallers in Woolhampton. A messuage and 2 virgates of land in Woolhampton were held of the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem in 1390 by Simon Godewyne, who in that year released his right in them to William Fauconer. In 1458 the property was settled on Margaret (Fauconer) the wife of Robert Fitz Elis or Physeles, who died seised of the property in 1469, leaving as her heir her granddaughter Sibyl the wife of George Ingilton. Sibyl was succeeded by Robert Ingilton, perhaps her son, who died in 1503, leaving a widow Anne and a daughter and heir Joan. The descent of his holding in Woolhampton after this date is unknown.

Lordship account 3

There was another manor in Woolhampton, not entered in Domesday Book, which was held in the 13th century by William Revel of Robert Achard by service of half a knight's fee. It seems to have passed to Ellis de St. Albans, rector of Wethersfield, before 1331, in which year it was valued at £20. It was then said to be held of the Abbot of Reading, but this was perhaps a mistake, as the overlordship, if this estate be the same, would have descended in the Achards and Delamares, the heirs of the last Robert Achard of Aldermaston. The half fee of Ellis de St. Albans was held in 1428 by John Delamare, who possibly belonged to a younger branch of the Delamares of Aldermaston. After this date its history becomes obscure, but it possibly reverted to the elder branch of Delamare at John's death, and descending to Sir Humphrey Forster became amalgamated with his lands in Woolhampton.