Historical names: Butcombe and Aldwick (Manor)
Location: Blagdon, Somerset
Places / associated places: Blagdon, Somerset
Location & Extent
GPS Location & Recorded Land Areas
Representative GPS point: 51.3471, -2.73068
Identity: confirmed — The registry locality, associated place, and historical name Butcombe and Aldwick identify the Somerset manor at Aldwick in the Blagdon–Butcombe area, not the unrelated Aldwick manor in West Sussex. Medieval evidence explicitly describes Aldwick as a Somerset manor with associated lands in Blagdon, Wrington, Bourne, Rickford, Lye, Broadfield, Butcombe, Langford and Churchill. Later local history identifies Aldwick Court as the manor centre and records the manor as extending across Blagdon and Butcombe.
Representative point: 51.34710, -2.73068
Basis: documented_manor_house — Aldwick Court, Aldwick Lane, Blagdon, at OS Grid Reference ST 49201 61326. The site is the surviving Aldwick manor/court-house location; the present house was built in 1791 on the historic estate centre.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to 18th century; extent documented textually, but no sufficiently accessible mapped manor perimeter was located.
Boundary confidence: medium
Boundary basis: The strongest geographic evidence identifies a distributed manorial holding rather than a compact modern administrative area. A medieval inquisition records Aldwick manor and associated lands in Blagdon, Wrington, Bourne, Rickford, Lye, Broadfield, Butcombe, Langford and Churchill, including 12 messuages, a mill, 4 carucates, 20 acres of meadow, 116 acres of pasture and 17 acres of wood. A later county history states that Aldwick manor was partly in Butcombe parish and partly in Blagdon parish. The available evidence does not establish a defensible parcel-by-parcel perimeter, so no polygon is supplied.
Sources:
- The National Archives: ALDWICK MANOR, record F253512: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F253512 — Registry authority record for the exact manor, with primary name Aldwick Manor and historical association with Butcombe and Aldwick.
- Mapping the Medieval Countryside: Inquisition 24-709, Somerset holdings of Aldwick: https://inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/view/inquisition/24-709/710.html — Medieval legal evidence explicitly names Aldwick manor in Somerset and lists associated lands and tenements in Blagdon, Wrington, Bourne, Rickford, Lye, Broadfield, Butcombe, Langford and Churchill.
- Historic England: Aldwick Court, list entry 1129176: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1129176 — Authoritative location for Aldwick Court in Blagdon: OS Grid Reference ST 49201 61326; the listed house is the surviving Aldwick estate/manorial centre.
- Blagdon Area Family History Society: Blagdon history: https://bafhs.org.uk/blagdon/?v=7885444af42e — Local historical account identifies Aldwick as a hamlet in Blagdon, records the Manor of Aldwick and its owners, and states that the present Aldwick Court was built in 1791.
- Delineations of the north-western division of Somerset: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Delineations_of_the_north_western_division_of_the_county_of_Somerset_%28IA_delineationsofn00rutt%29.pdf — Historical county description states that Aldwick manor was partly in Butcombe parish and partly in Blagdon parish, with its court house still in existence.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- No reliable digitised manor map or parcel-level survey sufficient to reconstruct the historical boundary was located.
- The listed Aldwick Court structure dates from 1791, so the representative point denotes the surviving manor-house/estate centre rather than a fully verified medieval building footprint.
- The medieval associated-land list describes the manor's territorial interests and tenements, not necessarily one contiguous polygon.
About the Manor
Aldwick Manor, also recorded historically as West Aldwick or Butcombe and Aldwick, was a manor centred in Aldwick in the parish of Blagdon, Somerset, with associated lands extending into neighbouring places including Butcombe, Wrington, Bourne, Rickford, Langford and Churchill. The manor is distinct from the separately located Aldwick Manor in the parish of Pagham, Sussex. A 1437 inquisitio post mortem records Aldwick as a manor held of the abbot of St Mary Graces beside the Tower of London, with an annual value of £4 6s. 8d. The manor had a court, and local historical material states that the court house survived. Aldwick Court, the later principal house associated with the estate, was built in 1791 by Samuel Baker; the surviving listed building is dated SB/1791. The public evidence located does not establish a complete continuous descent from the medieval Chedder holding to the later Turner and Baker ownership, so the history is necessarily partial.
Ownership / Holder Account
The earliest secure documentary evidence found is a charter dated 1 September 1382 by which William Chedder of Bristol senior, Roger Seward and William Draper granted their manor of Aldwick in Somerset to Robert Chedder of Bristol senior, Joan his wife and Robert their son, with successive remainders. By the 1437 inquisitio post mortem of Joan, widow of Thomas Brook and formerly wife of Robert Chedder, the manor of Aldwick belonged by right to Thomas Chedder after the deaths of Robert Chedder, Joan, Richard Chedder and William Chedder. Local historical material identifies Richard Chedder as lord of Aldwick in the Ubley court rolls in 1433, although the underlying roll was not located online during this research. A 1555 deed of partition concerning the estates of Richard Newton and his wife Isabel, daughter and coheir of Thomas Chedder, expressly includes the manor of Aldwick and lands in Blagdon and Aldwick. The deed involved Sir Giles Capell, Sir Henry Capell, Sir Thomas Gryffyn and Lady Jane Gryffyn, and demonstrates that Aldwick was then within the Newton-Capell-Gryffyn inheritance; it does not, by itself, establish the precise allocation of the manor between the parties or the exact date of transfer from the Chedder line. A local Blagdon history states that the manor subsequently passed through the Newton, Capell, Turner and Baker families. The dates and individual conveyances for the Turner and Baker stages remain undocumented in the online sources consulted. Samuel Baker is securely associated with Aldwick Court, built in 1791, and with the later Aldwick estate, but the surviving public evidence found does not prove whether he held the entire manorial lordship or only the principal estate and demesne lands.
Manorial Rights & Privileges
Historic manorial rights / privileges (1)
Manorial court
Provisional
The registry states that Aldwick had a court; local historical material also records that the court house survived.
Records & References
Sources and references mentioning this manor/title which are not necessarily conveyances or transfers.
38 records found · showing 1–8.
1796-1796: court roll
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1788-1788: survey
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1781-1782: court rolls (2)
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1769-1776: court rolls (5)
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1756-1756: survey of copyholds
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1755-1755: map
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1755-1764: court rolls (5)
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
1755-1755: survey of leases
Held by: Somerset Heritage Centre (South West Heritage Trust)
Conveyance & Descent
First holder to present holder: blood proximity & distance travelled
First recorded holder: Robert Chedder of Bristol senior, Joan his wife and Robert Chedder their son
Present holder:
Recorded title journey: 5 holder entries in this manor's saved Conveyance & Descent history.
No recorded holder currently has a usable saved direct-blood or collateral-blood relationship path from which to calculate proximity percentages.
First recorded holder → present holder
A usable saved blood relationship path between the first recorded holder and the present holder has not yet been recorded, so that first-to-present genealogical distance cannot be calculated.
Robert Chedder of Bristol senior, Joan his wife and Robert Chedder their son, Robert Chedder senior was a Bristol merchant and civic figure, the source identifies the parties as holders of the manor rather than assigning a territorial title.
Transfer: Grant by charter from William Chedder of Bristol senior, Roger Seward and William Draper
Holding arrangement: Joint — The charter created successive interests: Robert Chedder senior and Joan held a free-tenement interest, while Robert their son held an estate tail, with further remainders stated in the charter.
Shared holding: Chedder family holding under the 1 September 1382 settlement
Previous holder: William Chedder of Bristol senior, Roger Seward and William Draper
The 1437 inquisitio post mortem reproduces the material terms of a charter dated 1 September 1382. It explicitly describes the property as the grantors' manor of Aldwick, Somerset, together with lands, tenements, rents, services and reversions in the named surrounding vills. Robert the son later died without issue; Robert senior and Joan subsequently died, after which the reversionary structure determined the next Chedder successor.
Source: E-CIPM 24-710, inquisitio post mortem of Joan, wife of Thomas Brook, knight, writ 24 April 1437, inquisition at Bristol 3 July 1437, lines 186-191; TNA reference C 139/84/62 mm. 1-4. — source link
Richard Chedder, Esquire, lord of Aldwick in the 1433 Ubley court-roll account.
Transfer: Succession within the Chedder family; the precise instrument of transfer is not established in the sources located
Shared holding: Chedder family
Co-holder: Thomas Chedder
Previous holder: Chedder family holding established by the 1 September 1382 charter
A local history account states that Richard Chedder was recorded as lord of Aldwick in the Ubley court rolls in 1433. The 1437 inquisitio post mortem of Joan records Richard as her next heir on the date of her death and states that, when he died without issue on 8 June 1437, the manor and related estates then belonged by right to his brother Thomas Chedder. The court-roll statement and the IPM together provide direct evidence of Richard's connection with this manor, although the original 1433 court roll was not inspected online.
Source: Blagdon and Failand Historical Society, 'Blagdon', statement that Richard Chedder was recorded as lord of Aldwick in the Ubley court rolls of 1433; corroborated by E-CIPM 24-710, lines 79-91, which records Richard as heir in the Chedder estate succession and his death without issue on 8 June 1437. — source link
Transfer: By right as brother and heir of Richard Chedder, following Richard's death without issue
Shared holding: Chedder family
Co-holder: Richard Chedder
Previous holder: Richard Chedder, Esquire, lord of Aldwick in the 1433 Ubley court-roll account.
The 1437 inquisitio post mortem states that Richard Chedder was Joan's heir but died without issue on 8 June 1437, after which the manor of Aldwick and the associated estates belonged by right to Thomas Chedder, Richard's brother and heir. Thomas died on 3 June 1443. The 1443 IPM confirms Thomas's death and identifies his daughters Isabel, wife of John Newton, and Joan, wife of Richard Stafford, as his heirs, but the particular Aldwick holding is not itemised in that surviving inquisition.
Source: E-CIPM 24-710, writ 12 July 1437 and Bristol inquisition 30 July 1437, lines 79-94, especially line 91; E-CIPM 26-119, writ 6 June 1443 and Bristol inquisition 22 June 1443, lines 49-71. — source link
Newton-Capell-Gryffyn inheritance: Isabel, wife of John Newton, and the later heirs of Richard Newton including Sir Giles Capell, Sir Henry Capell and Sir Thomas Gryffyn with Lady Jane Gryffyn, knight
Transfer: Inheritance and partition settlement; the exact conveyance into the Newton line and the final allocation under the partition are not established
Holding arrangement: Share — The deed records competing or shared hereditary interests; exact shares in Aldwick are not stated in the source summary.
Shared holding: Newton-Capell-Gryffyn inheritance
Previous holder: Thomas Chedder and his heirs
A deed of partition dated 28 June 1555 concerns the manor of Aldwick and lands in Ubley, Witcombe, Blagdon and Aldwick. It identifies Sir Giles Capell and Sir Henry Capell as connected with the inheritance of Richard Newton through Isabel, daughter and coheir of Thomas Chedder, and Sir Thomas Gryffyn and Lady Jane Gryffyn as representing the other Newton coheirship. This is direct evidence that Aldwick was within the Newton-Capell-Gryffyn inheritance by 1555. It does not prove a specific sole holder, exact shares, or the date at which Aldwick passed from the Chedder heirs into the Newton family.
Source: Somerset Archive and Record Service, DD/X/BDN/6, Deed of Partition dated 28 June 1555, 'Deeds for the manor of Aldwick'; the catalogue description names the manor of Aldwick and the Chedder, Newton, Capell and Gryffyn relationships. — source link
Baker family, represented by Samuel Baker, Solicitor, associated with Aldwick Court.
Transfer: Unknown; local history reports the Baker family as a later owner, while Historic England records Samuel Baker as the builder of Aldwick Court in 1791
Holding arrangement: Other — Not stated
Shared holding: Baker family and Aldwick Court estate
Previous holder: Turner family
Local Blagdon history identifies the Baker family as the later family in the reported descent of Aldwick Manor. Historic England records that Samuel Baker built Aldwick Court in 1791, and the local account describes him as a successful solicitor associated with Aldwick. These sources securely connect Samuel Baker with the principal Aldwick Court estate, but they do not establish a dated conveyance from the Turner family or prove that he held every element of the manorial lordship. The entry is therefore recorded as a later estate-holder stage with a qualification rather than as a fully proven sole manorial title.
Source: Blagdon and Failand Historical Society, 'Blagdon', statement that the Manor of Aldwick passed through the Newton, Capell, Turner and Baker families; Historic England, Aldwick Court listing, stating that the house was built by Samuel Baker and dated SB/1791. — source link
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JSON API
Machine-readable published manor data, including public images, mapped land areas, notes, rights, conveyances, relationships, records, source/document-library entries and public file links.
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