Beeston-next-Mileham

(Anciently held in-chief of the Crown)

LIKE THE Domesday Manor of Mileham, this Lordship was held by Alan, son of Flaad, ancestor of the present Dukes of Norfolk (vide Smith's Peerage, vol II, to be published in 1994), by grant of William the Conqueror some time before 1086. Alan gave the monks at Castleacre, Norfolk, the orchard at Kempston, and 20 acres at Sprole which Turch Rufus held. He was succeeded by his son, William FitzAlan, whose wife was Isabel, daughter and heir of Helias de Saye, niece of Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Lady of the Honor of Clun, Shropshire, by which William became Baron of Clun. He was already Baron of Oswestry which he purchased at the same time as this Manor. William's great grandson, John, succeeded in 1218, and he married Isabel, daughter and co-heir of William d'Albini (Albany), Earl of Arundel, and sister of Hugh, by whom he had a son and namesake, John.

On the death of Hugh, Earl of Arundel, in 1244, John FitzAlan was assigned Arundel Castle. In 1250, John was granted permission to make a park at Mileham. Maud, his wife, was the daughter of Robert de Verdun and in 1267, as a widow, the Sheriff of Norfolk delivered the Manor to her in dower. Their son, Richard, who held 76 Knights' Fees in the county, seems to be the first FitzAlan to bear the title, Earl of Arundel, a feudal Earldom, based on the ownership of Arundel Castle.

In 1287, it was found that the Lord of Mileham and Beeston had the view of frankpledge, the assize of bread and ale, a tumbrel, gallows, pillory, toll and team, and in this year was ordered to provide 600 men for Edward I's expedition against Rhys ap Meredith of Wales. Eight years later, he was ordered by the King to attend his brother, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, at Plymouth and escort him to Bordeaux, capital of the English province of Gascony. He died in 1301, seised of this Manor and left a son, Edmund, by Alison, daughter of the Marchese de Saluce, Italy. Edmund was a great favourite of Edward II, against whom most of the English nobility rose in revolt in 1326, led by Queen Isabella, the daughter of Philip IV of France. Unfortunately for Earl Edmund, he fell into this lady's power at Bristol and was summarily beheaded outside the gates of Bristol Castle, in sight of the powerless King. By his wife, Alice, the daughter of John, Earl Warenne and Surrey, a son and heir called Richard. The Lordship was temporarily allotted to John de Eltham, the King's brother, but in 1331, Richard was restored in blood and honours and had livery of his late father's Norfolk Lordships. He married Eleanor, daughter of Henry Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster. There is an inventory of his goods at his death in 1375 among the Duke of Norfolk's muniments at Arundel, where it is stated that he had 108,367 marks in cash and lands, a vast sum of money. His son and heir, Richard, married Elizabeth, daughter of William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton. It was not hard to fall out with Richard II and in 1393, Richard Arundel was arrested, and beheaded in Cheapside, London, by Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal and Earl of Nottingham, with the King as a spectator.

The Lordship with the Norfolk Hundreds of Launditch and South Greenhoe seems to have been granted to the King's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. Gloucester also fell foul of Richard II and was carried off in secret to Calais, then an English possession, where he was smothered to death. The Manor was taken by the Crown. Two years later, Henry, Duke of Lancaster, the son of John of Gaunt, overthrew the capricious King Richard, whom he supplanted as Henry IV.

In 1400, the new King restored Earl Richard FitzAlan's son, Thomas, in blood and honours, and in 1402, Sir John Harsick was holding the Lordship of the Earl of Arundel. Earl Thomas married Beatrice, a natural daughter of the King of Portugal, but died without issue in 1415. Mileham and Beeston passed under the entail to Sir John FitzAlan, Lord Maltravers, a cousin and next male heir to the late Earl. John married Alionore, daughter of Sir John Berkeley of Beverstone, Glos, and died in 1431, leaving two sons, John and William. John succeeded as Earl of Arundel and died in France four years later. His son, Humphrey, by Maud, daughter of Robert Lovell, died in infancy, and the Earl's property passed to his brother William FitzAlan. William survived the civil wars that convulsed the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV (the War of the Roses) and died in bed in 1488. By his wife, Joan, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and sister to Richard, Earl of Warwick ("Warwick the Kingmaker"), he had a son, Thomas.

In 1504, Earl Thomas constituted Henry Fermor of Barsham, Norfolk, his feodary in this Manor. Thomas was succeeded by his son, William, by Margaret, daughter of Richard Wydvil, Earl Rivers, brother to Elizabeth, Queen to Edward IV. William married Anne, daughter of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, ancestor of the present Duke of Northumberland, and died in 1544, leaving a son, Henry, who was Constable of England at the Coronations of Mary I and Elizabeth I. Henry was the last of the FitzAlans to hold this Lordship for in 1559 he sold it to Sir Thomas Gresham of London. Gresham's executors sold the Manor to Henry Bastard who reconveyed it to Stephen Barnwell. Stephen was descended from Thomas Barnwell of Offaly, Ireland, and was living at Mileham in the reign of Elizabeth. His son, Edward, married in 1618, at Elsing church, Norfolk, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Playters, of Sotterley, Suffolk.

The Barnwells, who figure in the Court Books for almost the next 300 years, were Lords of the Manor until 1889 when an action for debt was brought against the estate of the late Reverend Charles Barnwell of Mileham Hall in the Chancery Division. The Court ordered the sale of the Manor and it was purchased by James John Winter of Drayton Norfolk who successors in title held it until recently. The Manor continued to be active until well into the present century, and we give an extract from one of the Court Books, dated 3 May 1911:

Proceedings had and taken out of Court at the office of George Frederick Beaumont, Gentleman Steward, of the said Manor... Whereas at a General Court Baron holden for this Manor of the 11th day of May one thousand nine hundred and eleven the Homage presented a certain absolute surrender in writing bearing date the 24th day of March one thousand nine hundred and eleven.... passed out of Court by Henry Thorpe, a copyhold tenant of this Manor, to the use of Charles King the Younger of Beeston in the said county of Norfolk, Dealer, his heirs and assigns and which said surrender has been enrolled in the Court Books of the said Manor and thereupon at the same Court the first proclamation was duly made according to the custom of this Manor for the said Charles King the Younger to come into Court and be admitted tenant... Now let it be remembered... the said Charles King the Younger (by Ernest William Saunders, Gentleman, his Attorney) came before the said George Frederick Beaumont, Gentleman Steward of the said Manor, and prayed the favour of the lord of this Manor to admit him tenant... And the said Charles King the Younger... was admitted tenant... to whom the Lord of this Manor, by the hands of said Steward, doth grant and deliver seisin thereof by the rod (per virgam: motto of the Manorial Society).

The Lordship is also known as Beeston next Mileham, Beeston and Mileham on the part of Mileham, and Beeston and Mileham on the part of Beeston.

Rights, customs and incidents

In 1287, it was found that the Lord of Mileham and Beeston had the view of frankpledge, the assize of bread and ale, a tumbrel, gallows, pillory, toll and team, and in this year was ordered to provide 600 men for Edward I's expedition against Rhys ap Meredith of Wales.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• Indenture 1891 Manorial Society
• Glazed Cloth Map 1833
• Index 1700
• Conveyance 1891 1894
• Tenants & Customs 1894
• Particular 1894
• Rental 1787
• Court Books 1700-1727, 1727-1755,
• 1755-1772, 1772-1796,
• 1797-1822, 1822-1852,
• 1853-1880, 1881-1930

Historical holder / succession information

1. James John Winter of Drayton Norfolk
   purchased_by · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: The Court ordered the sale of the Manor and it was purchased by James John Winter of Drayton Norfolk who successors in title held it until recently.