West Morden

LYING IN THE parish of Morden, this Lordship was anciently associated with that of East Morden. West Morden is a hamlet in its own right, about a mile from its eastern neighbour. It is included in Domesday as part of a singular Lordship for which the entry reads;

Morden. Four thanes held it before 1066. It paid tax for three hides

and 2 1/2 virgates of land. Land for three ploughs. In lordship 1 plough;

1 1/2 virgates.

8 villagers and 10 smallholders with 2 ploughs and 3 hides and 1 virgate.

A mill which pays 45d; meadow, 14 acres; pasture, 3 leagues

in both length an width; woodland 2 furlongs long

and 1 furlong wide. 14 pigs, 85 sheep, 5 goats.

The value was and is 60s.

The earliest record we have of West Morden as a singular Lordship comes in 1286 when it is recorded as belonging to John Beauchamp of Hatch. He was distantly related to the great Beauchamp nobles of Warwick though he had married very well, to Cicely, heiress of William de Vivonne. In 1283 he was summoned to attend Parliament as a baron by writ at Shrewsbury. This was to be his only attendance since he died a few weeks later. He was succeeded by his son, John, who had been born in 1274, in 1295 when he had come of age. This John had fought for Edward I (1272-1307) in Scotland and was summoned to attend Parliament at Salisbury in 1296. He then seems to have attended most of the following Parliaments up until his death in 1336. He was invariably referred to as Lord Beauchamp and was knighted by the Prince of Wales in 1306. In 1321 he succeeded to the extensive estates of his mother, which included Bullingham in Cambridgeshire and served as Governor of Bridgwater Castle in 1325. At his death it was found that West Morden was held of him by John Cifrewast and this family continued as chief tenants under Beauchamp’s successor, John. This Lord of the Manor was summoned to Parliament in 1336 and again in 1342 as a baron by writ. In the intervening period he served Edward III (1327-1377) in France. He died in 1361.

West Morden then seems to have been sold by Beauchamps heir, John, to Peter Rake, a London merchant. He was recorded as granting out land in the Lordship to William Bishop of London, in what was an early example of the sort of land speculation which would become common in the Tudor period.

In 1409 a deed granted on the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist (25 April) by Sir John Tichborne, Lord of West Morden, gave to his trusted steward, William Warner; ‘all his lands, tenements, woods, meadows, rents and services, with a water mill, in Dorsetshire’. Quite a golden handshake. Warner seems to have kept it for a only a short time before it came to the Warre family of Somerset. Their chief tenants in West Morden were the Filiol family. In 1426, John Filiol is recorded here at his death.

The Warre family continued to hold the lordship until the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547) when it passed to the Willoughby family of Woodlands. From them it came to Lady Wharton and from her to the Erle family. It has descended with this family, which became that of Plunkett Erle Ernle Drax, who retain it to the present day.

Rights, customs and incidents

West Morden is a hamlet in its own right, about a mile from its eastern neighbour.
He was recorded as granting out land in the Lordship to William Bishop of London, in what was an early example of the sort of land speculation which would become common in the Tudor period.

Associated manorial documents / archive references

• Compoti 1470-78 Dorset Record

Historical holder / succession information

1. Willoughby family of Woodlands
   1509|1547 · passed_to · historical_holder_or_transferee
   Source wording: The Warre family continued to hold the lordship until the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547) when it passed to the Willoughby family of Woodlands.