Coppenhall (aka Hyde or Hyde Coppenhall)

THIS LORDSHIP, also known as Hyde, or Hyde Coppenhall, can be found in the eponymous parish. It lies four miles from the ancient town of Penkridge and is very rural, comprising a mixture of pasture and arable land.

The Lordship is ancient and a reference to it can be found in Domesday Book:

Robert (Earl of Stafford) himself holds 1 hide in Coppenhall, and Burgraed holds of him.

3 free men held it. There is land for four ploughs.

In demesne is 1 plough and 8 villeins and 6 bordars with 3 ploughs.

It is worth 12s.

Robert, Earl of Stafford was overlord of Coppenhall and it is likely that the actual Lord of the Manor on the ground, was in fact Burgraed. The overlordship remained with the Staffords for many centuries. Burgraed appears to have been succeeded by Ulpher de Coppenhall from whom it descended to Geoffrey de Coppenhall. His son, known as Robert Fitz Geoffrey, had received the Lordship by 1222, but by this time a separate moiety had been granted away to the Bagot family and this may well have formed the core of the present Lordship of Coppenhall or Hyde, since the latter was the named land held by William Bagot in 1182. He was succeeded by his son William. The relationship between these two estates remains rather confusing but by the end of the 13th century it appears that the Bagots had achieved ascendancy and the Coppenhall family had diminished in importance or merely become extinct. In 1276, William Bagot received a settlement of the Lordship of Hyde Coppenhall and in 1303 his son, also William, received a grant of free warren in the Lordship and he is described as the Lord of Coppenhall in 1316. After this time, and before his death in 1324, he sold the Manor to Ralph Stafford.

Coppenhall remained in the Stafford family, as part of its baronial estates for the next two centuries. In 1461 the Lordship passed to Sir Humphrey Stafford of Hooke. He hailed from a cadet branch of the family who had settled in the West Country. Little is known of his early life but after the death of his father at the hands of Jack Cade's rebels in 1450, he inherited the family lands and in 1460 the larger estates of a cousin from Hooke, leaving him as one of the biggest landholders in Dorset.

During the Civil War of the 1450s and 60s, Stafford was firmly in the Lancastrian camp, a loyalty which arose from his family ties with the Earl of Wiltshire, one of the leaders of that party. He took an active part in what became known as the Wars of the Roses and in 1460 he was captured by Yorkist rebels at Calais attempting to defend the town. As a matter of expediency, he affected an instant conversion to the Yorkist cause and when they eventually took power later that same year Stafford entered Parliament as MP for Somerset. His conversion was not merely ephemeral since he fought for his new party in battle, at Mortimer's Cross, in February 1461 and then at the bloody battle of Towton a few weeks later. In the aftermath of this battle he was knighted.

With the Yorkists now firmly in power, Stafford was well rewarded for his support with a number of lucrative government positions and elevation to the House of Lords as Lord Stafford of Southwick. Within a few months he had garnered enough land and influence to make him one of the dominant political and economic figures in the whole South-west, especially after gaining control of the extensive and ancient Courtenay estates in Devon. Among his positions were the stewardship of the Duchy of Cornwall and the keeper of Dartmoor, but these were just the most notable of the many offices which he was granted. This swathe of official offices culminated with his elevation to the Earldom of Devon in May 1469. The profusion and variety of papers bearing his signature are witness to Stafford's incredible work rate on behalf of Edward IV (1461-83).

He sat in judgment on a myriad of courts and legal sessions throughout the period and also found time to fight the Scots in 1462 and in 1468 was sent on a diplomatic mission to Brittany. By the end of the 1460s, he had established himself as a firm favourite of the King. However, as rapid as his rise had taken him, his downfall was swifter. By 1468 the Earl of Warwick (the 'King Maker') had become frustrated with his own lack of influence with the king and had begun to plot and agitate against him. He identified Stafford as one of the prime evil counsellors who, he argued, were undermining royal authority. Stafford's reputation in the country was low even before he was summoned by Edward to help defeat a northern rebellion led by the shadowy Robin of Redesdale. He was in joint command of a force of 7,000 men with the Earl of Pembroke, but the two argued fiercely over tactics and Stafford split the force to camp separately. This loss of troops proved fatal for Pembroke who was consequently beaten by the rebels at the battle of Edgcote. With his army and support in disarray, Stafford fled west but was captured and executed at Bridgewater on August 17, 1469. He died childless, and this led to a series of legal actions over the settlement of his estates.

The Lordship of Coppenhall was then taken by another Humphrey Stafford, claiming his right through a lineage from the Staffords of Hooke. However, this was disputed and in 1473 descendants of the Earl's aunt Alice dispossessed Humphrey Stafford. These included Elizabeth and her husband Sir John Coleshill and Anne with her husband John Willoughby. The son of the latter couple, Sir Robert Willoughby was confirmed as Lord of the Manor in 1483 and he was later raised to the peerage as Lord Willoughby de Broke. He died seised of the Manor of Coppenhall in 1502 and this was found to be worth £7 and held from the Earl of Stafford.

Lord Willoughby was succeeded by his son Robert and it remained in the family until 1552 when it was conveyed for life to Anne Neville, a granddaughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. Afterwards the Lordship returned to the Willoughby family and has remained as the possession of the barons until the present day. The current Lord of Coppenhall is the 21st Baron Willoughby de Brooke.

Rights, customs and incidents

In 1276, William Bagot received a settlement of the Lordship of Hyde Coppenhall and in 1303 his son, also William, received a grant of free warren in the Lordship and he is described as the Lord of Coppenhall in 1316.
The Lordship of Coppenhall was then taken by another Humphrey Stafford, claiming his right through a lineage from the Staffords of Hooke.

Source notes

Catalogue transcribed by the Lord of Finchingfield - a friend to learning

Historical holder / succession information

1. Sir Humphrey Stafford of Hooke
   1461 · passed_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: In 1461 the Lordship passed to Sir Humphrey Stafford of Hooke.
2. 21st Baron Willoughby de Brooke
   current_holder_statement · catalogue_stated_current_holder
   Source wording: The current Lord of Coppenhall is the 21st Baron Willoughby de Brooke.