APPLEFORD MANOR

Identity: confirmed — The registry location at Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire matches the historical Appleford in Berkshire, formerly a chapelry or township associated with Sutton Courtenay. Independent historical evidence records Appleford as a distinct manor: it was held by Abingdon Abbey in 1086, surrendered to the Crown in 1538, granted to Sir John Mason in 1551, and later held by the Reade and Eyston families. The supplied 1547-1553 survey, 1548-1549 and 1552 court-roll references, and later quit-rent papers are consistent with this Berkshire manor rather than another same-named place.
Representative point: 51.64016, -1.23566
Basis: documented_manor_site — Manor Farm, Church Street, Appleford-on-Thames, identified locally and archaeologically as the historic manorial farm/site. Historic England records the associated Manor Farm Cottages at NGR SU5281793684, which corresponds closely to this point.
Point confidence: medium
Boundary status: representative_point_only
Boundary period: Medieval to early modern Appleford manor; later manorial tenure documented into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Boundary confidence: none
Boundary basis: The evidence establishes the manor's location at Appleford and indicates that its lands were associated with Appleford's historic open-field agricultural system. However, the available online evidence does not provide a manor-specific map, survey plan, rental map, enclosure allotment schedule, or sufficiently explicit parcel-by-parcel boundary description. The boundary cannot safely be reconstructed from the modern civil parish or from the wider ancient parish of Sutton Courtenay.
Sources:
- The National Archives: Appleford Manor, TNA/MDR record F242307: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F242307 — Registry record supplied for the exact manor and authority reference GB/NNAF/M204560.
- The National Archives: survey with other manors, LR2/187: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14244107 — 1547-1553 survey lead associated with the manor record.
- The National Archives: court roll with other manors, SC 2/154/38: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14328154 — 1548-1549 court-roll lead associated with the manor record.
- British Library Manuscript Collections: Appleford court roll, Add Rolls 49209: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14286726 — 1552 court-roll lead associated with the manor record.
- Royal Berkshire Archives: steward's papers relating to quit rents, D/EX283/2: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N14285825 — 1858-1923 manorial quit-rent papers associated with the Appleford record.
- Manor Farm Cottages, Appleford-on-Thames, Historic England list entry 1052769: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1052769 — Documents Manor Farm Cottages at Church Street, Appleford, NGR SU5281793684, providing the best surviving mapped manorial-site reference.
- Appleford Village History: https://applefordpc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/appleford-history.pdf — Summarizes the manor's history, including Abingdon Abbey ownership, Crown acquisition in 1538, grant to Sir John Mason in 1551, later Reade ownership, and the 1838 enclosure of Appleford's open fields.
- Manor Farm, Appleford-on-Thames map reference: https://mapcarta.com/W217336095 — Provides the approximate WGS84 position 51.64016, -1.23566 for Manor Farm near the parish church.
Warnings / uncertainty:
- The historical manor was in Berkshire; the site is now administered in Oxfordshire following the 1974 local-government boundary changes.
- Appleford was historically associated with Sutton Courtenay, but the Sutton Courtenay ancient parish boundary must not be substituted for the Appleford manor boundary.
- No defensible manor-specific polygon was found in the available evidence; do not inject a boundary polygon.