Newent - Manors and Estates

MANORS AND ESTATES

At the time of the Norman Conquest the royal manor of Newent covered the bulk of Newent parish as later constituted, but a manor called Carswalls which was later part of the parish was in separate ownership and another, called Kilcot, included part of the later parish at Gorsley. By 1086, when Newent manor had passed to the abbey of Cormeilles in Normandy, Boulsdon had been alienated to form a distinct manor. By the 13th century two more manors had been formed at Kilcot, and other small ones had been established at Okle and Stalling (later Stallions) under the overlordship of the abbey, to which they owed riding and other services. Other substantial freeholds had emerged by the close of the Middle Ages, and in the early modern period the pattern of landholding became even more complex, with the creation, and later dispersal, by the Porter family of a large estate based on Boulsdon, and by sales made from Newent manor by the royalist Winter family following sequestration of its estate under the Commonwealth.

From 1659 Newent manor belonged to the Foley family, notable ironmasters, who were probably first attracted to it by the opportunity of exploiting the manorial woodland to fuel their Ellbridge furnace, adjoining the parish in Oxenhall, though they added some farmland to the estate in the late 17th century. Later, as non-resident owners with large estates elsewhere, the Foleys were less interested in enlarging their Newent estate, but their 19th-century successors, the Onslows, added farms and established a residence on it, at Stardens. A local tradesman, John Nourse Morse, became an important landowner by purchases in the 1780s but his estate remained intact only for his lifetime, as was the case with a large estate created by Andrew Knowles in the late 19th century. Other attempts to build up estates, including one based on a new house called Clifford Manor on the slopes of May hill, were also short-lived. In much of the parish, however, the general pattern from the 17th century was one of modest-sized freehold farms and that pattern was reinforced in the early years of the 20th by the sale and break-up of the Newent manor and Newent Court estates.

NEWENT MANOR

In 1066 Newent manor, comprising six hides, was held by Edward the Confessor and, as part of an estate based on Westbury-on-Severn, contributed to the one night's royal farm. Soon after the Conquest it passed to the abbey of Cormeilles (Eure). According to the abbey's cartulary, that was by the grant of its founder William FitzOsbern (d. 1071), earl of Hereford, to whom King William had given the manor, but the Domesday survey credits the earl's son Roger of Breteuil as the grantor. (fn. 1) A large part of FitzOsbern's lands passed later to Robert (d. 1168), earl of Leicester, by his marriage to Amice de Gael, and their son Robert ès Blanchemains, earl of Leicester, (fn. 2) included Newent in a confirmation to Cormeilles of Norman and English possessions in 1181. That grant, which was confirmed by Henry II, extended Newent at five hides, including lands in Compton, Malswick, Boulsdon, Cugley, Okle, Stalling, and 'Lindam' and the woods called Yartleton and 'Tedeswode'. (fn. 3) By the early 13th century Cormeilles had established a priory at Newent and had given the prior, (fn. 4) who was also styled bailiff of Newent, the duty of administering the manor and supervising the abbey's other English possessions. (fn. 5)

In 1294 at the outbreak of war with France Edward I took Newent manor in hand but gave temporary custody to Cormeilles abbey and the prior of Newent for the payment of a farm. (fn. 6) Manor and priory were again seized by the Crown at the time of brief fighting in 1324 and returned to the prior for an annual farm of £130. (fn. 7) They were once more forfeit from 1337, the beginning of the long French war, during which custody was usually left with the prior in return for the same annual farm. (fn. 8) Before 1342, however, a grant of custody was made to Henry of Lancaster, earl of Derby, but, after it was confirmed that royal policy for the lands of alien monasteries was that the dispossessed house should have the first option of taking them at farm, priory and manor were re-delivered to the prior. (fn. 9) In 1382 the king gave Cormeilles licence to grant Newent manor to John Devereux and others of his family for their lives, paying the Crown a farm of £126 13s. 4d. while the war continued. (fn. 10) Devereux was released from payment of the farm in 1385 (fn. 11) and remained in possession in 1390 when the former prior, John Smith (Faber), whose establishment was presumably dissolved at the time of the grant to Devereux, was receiving a pension from the profits of the manor. (fn. 12) Henry IV at his accession in 1399 granted Newent at farm to John Cheyne of Beckford (Glos., later Worcs.), who became a member of his council and a trusted diplomat. (fn. 13) Cheyne played a part in the suppression of Owen Glendower's revolt, employing in the campaign a number of his Newent tenants, who were reimbursed by a levy on the manor in 1405. (fn. 14) In 1411, following the permanent dispossession of the lands of the alien monasteries, Newent was included in the endowment of Fotheringhay college (Northants.), a new foundation of Edward, duke of York; the college was to take possession on Cheyne's death, which occurred in 1413 or 1414. In 1419 the college, for which buildings at Fotheringhay were not completed for many years, (fn. 15) considered moving its establishment to Newent. (fn. 16)

Fotheringhay college, which leased Newent manor before 1540 to (Sir) Nicholas Arnold of Highnam, (fn. 17) surrendered the freehold to the Crown in 1547. (fn. 18) The Crown granted it the same year to Sir Richard Lee (fn. 19) and he sold it in 1555 to Edward Wilmot, a merchant of Witney (Oxon.). (fn. 20) Edward conveyed it in 1556 to his son, also Edward, reserving his right to the site of the manor from after his death (which occurred in 1558) to his wife Christian, with reversion to a younger son Alexander. (fn. 21) The younger Edward Wilmot sold the freehold of the manor in 1567 to William Winter of Lydney, (fn. 22) who in 1569 was attempting to oust the tenant, Sir Nicholas Arnold, for non-payment of rent and for waste in the manor woods. (fn. 23) Winter was knighted in 1573 and died in 1589, and the manor passed to his son (Sir) Edward (d. 1619) and then to Sir Edward's son (Sir) John. As a result of Sir John Winter's activities on the royalist side in the Civil War, Newent with his other possessions was in sequestration until 1647, was confiscated in 1649, and was bought back by Winter in 1651 or 1652. (fn. 24) To meet his debts Winter and his son William mortgaged the estate heavily and sold off parts, (fn. 25) and in 1659 they and the mortgagees sold the manor to the wealthy ironmaster Thomas Foley of Great Witley (Worcs.), (fn. 26) who already owned the adjoining Oxenhall manor and Ellbridge iron furnace. (fn. 27)

During the 1660s Thomas Foley and his second son Paul added to the farmland of the manor by the purchase of several small estates. (fn. 28) Thomas died in 1677, having settled Newent and Oxenhall on Paul, (fn. 29) with whose estate at Stoke Edith (Herefs.) the manors subsequently descended. Paul Foley, who became M.P. for Hereford and, in 1695, Speaker of the House of Commons, died in 1699. (fn. 30) He was succeeded by his son Thomas (d. 1737), and Thomas by his son Thomas (d. 1749), who in 1738 conveyed his Gloucestershire estates, reserving the woodland and ironworks, to his son, also Thomas. The last Thomas was created Lord Foley in 1776 after inheriting Great Witley and the estates of the older branch of the family. (fn. 31) His Newent estate then comprised 2,072 a. and included the manor house called the Court House, farms based on Nelfields, Stardens, Compton House, Black House, and Brassfields at Gorsley, numerous smaller holdings and cottages, and 945 a. of woodland, common, and waste land. (fn. 32) At his death in 1777 Lord Foley left his Gloucestershire estates to his third son Andrew Foley (d. 1818) of Newport House, Almeley (Herefs.), who was succeeded in turn by his children Thomas (d. 1822), William Andrew (d. 1828), and Elizabeth (d. 1861). (fn. 33)

Elizabeth Foley was succeeded by her nephew Richard Foley Onslow, the son of her sister Harriet and Richard Onslow, formerly vicar of Newent. R.F. Onslow, who made Stardens his residence, died in 1879, and Newent and Oxenhall passed to his son Andrew George Onslow (d. 1894), and to Andrew's son Andrew Richard Onslow, who lived at the house called the Furnace in Oxenhall. (fn. 34) The estate underwent several changes in composition, including the addition of Newtown farm before 1878, the sale of Nelfields in 1890, (fn. 35) and the addition of Great Cugley farm in 1893. (fn. 36) It was put up for sale in two portions, in 1910 and 1913, as a result of which it was divided into separate freehold farms; Newent woods, comprising 688 a., (fn. 37) were acquired by the Huntley Manor estate of the Ackers family. (fn. 38)

Newent Priory and the Court House

Newent priory occupied a walled precinct on the north side of the town, bounded by the vicarage garden on the north-west, by part of New Street and by Lewall Street (as those names were originally used) on the south-west and south, part of Church Street on the south-east, and the churchyard on the north-east. To the north, between the precinct and Ell brook, lay a park and other demesnes with a coney warren, fishponds, dovecot, and, by the late 13th century, a fulling mill. (fn. 39) The gate of the precinct opened on to the town's market place at what was later the south end of Court Lane and had a porter's lodging adjoining in 1368. (fn. 40) The gateway survived until the early 19th century, and in 1673 a chamber over its arch belonged to the adjoining house, formerly the boothall. (fn. 41) The domestic buildings were apparently close to the west end of the parish church on or near the site of the later manor house. It was presumably there that the farmer of the manor, John Devereux, built himself a new 'great chamber' in 1390. (fn. 42) The buildings near the east end of the precinct also included a barn and a carthouse in 1338; (fn. 43) the former was perhaps beside Court Lane where a barn, used to store the rectory tithes, was replaced in 1889 by the town's police station and magistrates' court. (fn. 44) The northwest part of the precinct, beyond the course of Peacock's brook, was occupied by other farm buildings, including in the early 15th century two barns, an oxhouse, a hayhouse, and a mares' stable. (fn. 45) The priory establishment was probably very small, perhaps comprising only the prior and one or two other monks, but 11 household and farm servants were employed in 1347. (fn. 46)

The manor house, occupying the north-east end of the priory precinct was called the Court House until the early 19th century, when to distinguish it from a new mansion built near by (Newent Court) it became known as Old Court. Few, if any, of the post-medieval lords used it, the Winters living at Lydney, the Foleys at Stoke Edith or Almeley, and the Onslows locally at Stardens or the Furnace. For much of the 18th century the Court House was leased to the Beale family: (fn. 47) it was successively the home of the clothier Miles Beale (fn. 48) (d. 1713), his son Miles (d. 1748), who rebuilt the house, (fn. 49) and the younger Miles's son John (d. 1775), who served as High Sheriff of the county in 1752. (fn. 50) A later tenant was Samuel Richardson, (fn. 51) who was High Sheriff in 1787. (fn. 52) By 1805 the Richardson family had sublet the house to James de Visme, who occupied it for a few years (fn. 53) before moving into his new house, Newent Court. Richard Onslow, vicar of Newent 1803–49, occupied Old Court for most of his incumbency. (fn. 54) It was alienated from the manor in 1870 when R.F. Onslow sold it to Charles James Cooke, a Newent solicitor, whose mortgagee took possession of the house before 1879 and sold it to Andrew Knowles of Newent Court. At the sale of the Newent Court estate it was bought in 1910 by Clara, Amy, and Gertrude Hutchinson; (fn. 55) Amy was living there in 1935. (fn. 56) In the late 20th century it became a hotel, which closed in 1999 when the house (once again known as the Court House) was bought by Mr and Mrs R. Morris. (fn. 57)

The main eastern and southern ranges of the Court House, (fn. 58) as rebuilt in the early 18th century, form a T and are of brick, of two storeys with dormered attics and brick-vaulted cellars. The eastern range presents a symmetrical five-bayed façade to the church, formerly reached by a gate, now blocked, in the churchyard wall. The rebuilding incorporated on the north-west a slightly lower wing from an earlier house, which may have influenced the irregular plan. The southern bay of the older wing was remodelled at the rebuilding, but the remainder, apparently of the 16th century, was timberframed, of two storeys and attics, and with four star-plan brick chimneys on an internal stack. (fn. 59) That older part of the wing was replaced in 1871. (fn. 60) Also in the 19th century single-storeyed service additions were built to the west. The main rooms in the eastern range comprise a threebayed panelled room, a smaller southern room extended c.1800 by a Gothic bay, and on the first floor two rooms, separated by closets, which were also redecorated c.1800. The southern range contains the main staircase.

Newent Court

The former demesnes to the north of the priory precinct, including lands called Upper and Lower Park, Upper and Lower Court Orchard, and meadows beside Ell brook, were leased under the manor from the late 15th century. In 1624 they were divided among several tenants, the Parks being held by copy. (fn. 61) They remained part of the manor, subject to mortgages by the Winter family, in 1657 (fn. 62) but were apparently alienated soon afterwards and passed to Sir Edmund Bray (fn. 63) (d. 1684). They then descended with the Walden Court and (later) Okle Clifford estates to James de Visme, (fn. 64) who c.1810 built a mansion called Newent Court (or New Court) and landscaped the grounds to provide a setting for the house and walks for visitors to the nearby Newent spa. He incorporated as features the stretch of the new Hereford and Gloucester canal that traversed his land and the old mill pond on the far side of the canal, and he made a large new lake covering c.4 a. in Court Orchard south of the house. (fn. 65) He died in 1826 and was succeeded by his son Revd James Edward de Visme (fl. 1838). (fn. 66) Later, house and grounds passed to George Reed, a West India merchant, and before 1856 they were acquired by John B.H. Burland (fl. 1870). (fn. 67) In the mid 1870s Newent Court was bought by Andrew Knowles, who built up a large estate in Newent and Taynton, his purchases including the Moat farm in 1877 and Nelfields farm in 1890. At his death in 1909 the estate comprised c.2,000 a. (fn. 68) It was split up by sales in 1910 and 1911. (fn. 69)

Newent Court with its grounds was bought in 1911 by Everard Charles de Peyer (fn. 70) (d. 1925). (fn. 71) The house was badly damaged by a fire in 1942 but later that year it was bought for the use of Ribston Hall High school, Gloucester; the cost, because of wartime restrictions on expenditure, was borne by the headmistress Gertrude Whitaker who was reimbursed by the governors after the war. Until the early 1950s pupils stayed there for a few weeks at a time to gain practical experience in horticulture and animal husbandry. (fn. 72) Later the house was unoccupied for some years before being demolished c.1970 (fn. 73) to make way for new housing. James de Visme's house was a substantial Regency mansion with a Doric portico on the west entrance front and a semicircular bay on the east front. It was altered in the late 19th century when a small tower was added on the entrance front. Ornamental lodges with mock timber framing stood at the drive entrances on High Street to the west and Gloucester Street to the south-east; (fn. 74) the latter survived at the entrance to a new housing estate in 2005. The lake and adjoining part of the grounds were restored and landscaped as a public amenity by Newent town council in the late 1990s. (fn. 75)

BOULSDON MANOR

A hide of land that formed part of Newent manor in 1066 and which Durand, sheriff of Gloucestershire, held from Cormeilles abbey in 1086 (fn. 76) was evidently the later manor of Boulsdon. In the 14th century Boulsdon, with an estate in Frampton on Severn, was held from Durand's descendants, the de Bohuns, earls of Hereford; (fn. 77) it also owed a chief rent of 5s. to the lord of Newent (fn. 78) and in 1597 Boulsdon manor was said to be held directly from Newent manor. (fn. 79) One of the manorial assets of Boulsdon was the tract of common land on the slopes of May hill called Clifford's Mesne, suggesting that the Cliffords, lords of Frampton, may have held the manor in the 12th century, though the common may have been named from a later member of that family, owner of part of the manor at the start of the 17th century.

Thomas of Boulsdon owned woodland in Boulsdon, presumably as part of the manor, in 1258, (fn. 80) and a man of that name paid the chief rent for the manor in 1278. (fn. 81) It passed by the early 14th century to William of Boulsdon, (fn. 82) who was a principal taxpayer in Newent parish in 1327 (fn. 83) and evidently owned Boulsdon together with the estate in Frampton. (fn. 84) In 1346 Margery of Foxcote was licensed to hear mass in a private oratory at her manor house at Boulsdon. (fn. 85) In 1373 Richard le Ward held ½ knight's fee in Boulsdon and Frampton. (fn. 86) Thomas Boulsdon held the manor of Boulsdon and lands in Frampton at his death in 1473, when he was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth. (fn. 87) It seems that the two estates were later subject to a partition, perhaps among daughters of Elizabeth and her husband John Alley. Roger Porter was dealing with a third of Boulsdon manor in 1517 (fn. 88) and his descendants retained a manor at Boulsdon. In the early 17th century, however, there was another manor there, belonging with part of Frampton to James Clifford (d. 1613) (fn. 89) of Fretherne, whose executors and trustees were engaged in litigation over it in the 1620s; (fn. 90) it has not been traced later.

Roger Porter, a lawyer from an established Newent family, (fn. 91) died in 1523 (fn. 92) when his Boulsdon manor passed to his son Arthur. Arthur was under-steward of Llanthony priory, Gloucester, and at the Dissolution purchased several of the priory's estates and took up residence at the Newark, Hempsted. (fn. 93) He was succeeded at his death in 1558 by his son Sir Thomas Porter (fn. 94) (d. 1597) and Sir Thomas by his son (Sir) Arthur Porter. (fn. 95) Sir Arthur owned an extensive, though scattered, estate in Newent, and, as much of the land lay outside Boulsdon tithing, the original estate had evidently been augmented, probably by Roger Porter. Roger incurred an unusually high tax assessment (£50 on lands and £26 13s. 4d. on goods) at Newent in 1522, (fn. 96) and in 1539 his son Arthur owned 18 houses and numerous parcels of land in Newent town. (fn. 97) Sir Arthur Porter's estate comprised that town property and many small farms in Boulsdon, Cugley, Malswick, Compton, and the rural part of Newent tithing. He dispersed it by sales, including a group of small farms in Cugley and Boulsdon to Thomas Hill of Oxenhall and John Pitt of Cugley in 1607, (fn. 98) the manor of Southorles to Thomas Woodward before 1610, and the house in Newent town called Porter's Place to John Latton before 1615; (fn. 99) most of the houses in the town went to individual owners. Parts of the estate were further subdivided by the new owners, and by 1640 the chief rents, totalling £4 17s., that Sir Arthur had owed to Newent manor for his various properties had become the responsibility of 32 separate owners. (fn. 100)

The manorial rights of Boulsdon passed from Sir Arthur Porter, apparently through one or more intermediate sales, to John Latton and his brother Edward Latton, who released his right to John in 1615. (fn. 101) The manor passed to John's son, also called John, who sold it with Porter's Place and other lands to Thomas Estcourt of Taynton in 1626. In 1629 Thomas and Richard Estcourt sold the manor, on which Clifford's Mesne was then mentioned, to Walter Nourse. Walter (d. 1652) was succeeded by his son, also Walter, who died in 1663 and was succeeded by his wife Mary. Mary surrendered it in 1677 to her son, another Walter Nourse, who retained it until his death in 1743. (fn. 102) It passed to Walter's son John (d. 1754), rector of Damerham (Wilts., later Hants), who left it to his sister Elizabeth (d. 1757). She left it to a kinsman, William Nourse of Weston under Penyard (Herefs.). William died in 1788, and his son John (fn. 103) sold off his estate in parcels, Boulsdon manor with some land in the tithing and Porter's Place, together with Southends farm, being acquired in 1789 by John Nourse Morse. Morse, a Newent mercer who had acted as the Nourse family's steward or agent for some years, (fn. 104) died in 1830, leaving Boulsdon manor and Southends to his son John and after John's death, which occurred in 1842, to trustees for sale. (fn. 105) The manorial rights of Boulsdon, which in 1788 comprised only chief rents of £1 3s. owed by freeholders in the tithing, the right of soil in the waste of Clifford's Mesne and Kent's green, and the right to hold courts, (fn. 106) have not been traced for some years after 1842. Later in the century, however, they were believed to belong to P.R. Cocks of Clifford Manor, who had the quarry rights on Clifford's Mesne. (fn. 107)

Clifford Manor

Philip Reginald Cocks, who succeeded to the title of Lord Somers in 1883, (fn. 108) became owner of a group of smallholdings and cottages on Clifford's Mesne, partly by carrying out inclosures of common land. (fn. 109) In the late 1870s and early 1880s he also formed an estate at Glasshouse elsewhere on the slopes of May hill by a series of small purchases of land (some of it in Taynton parish), (fn. 110) and in 1882 he built himself a house at Glasshouse which he named Clifford Manor. (fn. 111) Described as 'lord of the manor of Clifford's Mesne', (fn. 112) he died in 1899. By the following year his house and estate had been acquired by Theodore GrimkéDrayton, who added Green farm, north of Newent woods, to give himself a total estate of 295 a. In 1912 Grimké-Drayton put his estate up for sale (fn. 113) and the manorial rights of Boulsdon were bought with Clifford Manor by Francis Frederick Grafton. (fn. 114) The rights, which a few years later — the chief rents deemed uncollectable — were thought to comprise only a quarry on Clifford's Mesne, (fn. 115) apparently passed to later owners of Clifford Manor, John Richard Glasson (fl. 1931) and Lt.-Cmdr. F.C.R.R. Younghusband (fl. 1939). (fn. 116)

Clifford Manor was designed in grand baronial style, but on a small scale, by Medland & Son, (fn. 117) its most eyecatching feature an embattled tower with a taller circular stair turret. (fn. 118) The rock-faced Gorsley stone contrasts with clay tiles and brick chimneys. The house was converted as several dwellings c.1963. (fn. 119)

Great Boulsdon Farm

According to a tradition recorded by the lord of the manor Walter Nourse c.1725 the early medieval lords of Boulsdon had a castle standing on a mound, (fn. 120) which was later identified as being close to the Newent–Clifford's Mesne road, near Great Boulsdon Farm. (fn. 121) The farm was possibly the estate described as the site of the manor of Boulsdon that was owned in 1640 by Edward Gwillim and perhaps had been included in a conveyance made to Edward or a predecessor of the same name by Sir Arthur Porter in 1610. (fn. 122) If Great Boulsdon was Gwillim's estate, it returned to the ownership of the lords of the manor before 1703 when Walter Nourse remodelled its farmhouse, then known as Panhills (or Pennells). (fn. 123) John Nourse sold Great Boulsdon c.1789 to Edward Hartland, (fn. 124) who sold the 139-a. farm back to the lord of the manor J.N. Morse in 1819. (fn. 125) At his death Morse left it to be put up for sale, but William Morse, apparently his grandson, bought it from his devisees in 1831. William died in 1837, and in 1842 Great Boulsdon was sold for the benefit of his creditors to Edmund Rudge, a Tewkesbury tanner. (fn. 126) Rudge (d. 1843) was succeeded by his nephew Edmund Rudge, who held it, subject to complex transactions resulting from mortgages and his divorce from his wife Frances, until his death in 1886. His trustee sold the farm in 1891 to Octavius Price, a Newent solicitor. (fn. 127)

Great Boulsdon was a timber-framed L-plan house of the 17th century, with two storeys, attics, and a cellar under one wing. Each wing contained two rooms a floor, with hall and kitchen in the main range. At the early 18th-century remodelling the west wing was extended in brick to five bays and the west face cased in brick. In the early 19th century the east face was also brick clad, and later in the century the west face was refenestrated and large dormers inserted. (fn. 128) Alterations in the late 20th century included an extension to give access to an upper flat, and a lean-to on the entrance front.

Porter's Place

The house called Porter's Place that descended with Boulsdon manor for many years was the home of Roger Porter (d. 1523). (fn. 129) It stood on the south-west side of the market square in Newent town with c.40 a. of closes and orchards belonging to it, extending southwards towards Southends Lane. (fn. 130) It was the home of the Nourse family in the 17th century and the early 18th, (fn. 131) but it was demolished before 1789 and the site was sold by J.N. Morse's devisees in 1831. (fn. 132) A new house of modest proportions (Albion House) was built on part of the site c.1870. (fn. 133)

CARSWALLS MANOR

In 1066 Wulfhelm held 1 hide at Carswalls, in Compton tithing on the east side of the parish, and in 1086 Roger de Lacy held the same with Odo as his tenant. (fn. 134) In 1236 an estate there, described as ¹/5 knight's fee, was held by Gerard de Hussemane from Walter de Lacy, (fn. 135) while another estate, comprising ½ hide and rents, belonged to Parnel, widow of Randal de Solers. (fn. 136) Ingram de Solers quitclaimed ½ yardland at Carswalls to William de Hussemane in 1255 (fn. 137) but had an acknowledgement of his right to a house and ploughland from Roger de Solers in 1268. (fn. 138) Also known as Ingram of Carswalls, he retained his estate in 1278 when it owed a chief rent of 5s. to Newent manor. (fn. 139) John of Carswalls held ¼ knight's fee at Carswalls in 1303 (fn. 140) and was probably the man called John Ingram who owed the chief rent for Carswalls c.1315; (fn. 141) the ¼ fee had passed by 1346 to Richard Carswalls. (fn. 142)

No later record of Carswalls has been found until c.1523 when John Heylond was succeeded there by his daughters Isabel, wife of John Haverd, and Joan, wife of John Westerdale. (fn. 143) In 1560 John Gooding and his wife Elizabeth conveyed Carswalls manor to Elizabeth's son Philip Haverd (fn. 144) and in 1575 Philip, with his wife Anne, conveyed it to Richard Green (fn. 145) (d. by 1596). (fn. 146) Green's son, also Richard, married Dorothy Pauncefoot, and it was presumably through her that her brother Grimbald Pauncefoot (d. 1668) (fn. 147) held Carswalls in 1640. (fn. 148) It passed to Grimbald's son Poole Pauncefoot (d. 1687), to his son William (d. 1691), (fn. 149) and to William's son, another William Pauncefoot (d. 1711). (fn. 150) After a division between coheirs half of the Carswalls estate was settled in 1728 on the marriage of Sarah Pauncefoot and William Bromley (fn. 151) (d. 1769). In 1778, when the estate comprised Carswalls Manor, Newtown, and Line House farms in Compton and Ravenshill farm in Boulsdon, William's son Robert Bromley of Abberley (Worcs.) sold half of it to Sir George Smith Bt, of East Stoke (Notts.), the owner of the other half. Sir George, who was the county sheriff for 1775–6, changed his name in 1778 to Bromley and in 1803 to Pauncefote. At his death in 1808 his estate, comprising over 700 a., passed to his son Sir Robert Howe Bromley, who in 1811 sold Newtown and Line House farms to James Cummins (d. 1834). (fn. 152) Carswalls Manor farm, comprising 300 a., belonged by 1838 to Paul Hawkins Fisher (fn. 153) (d. 1873) of Stroud, who was succeeded by his son Charles Hawkins Fisher (d. 1901). (fn. 154) The Fisher family sold the farm in 1902 to the tenant T.B. Holloway, who offered it for sale in 1914, when it included farm buildings at Little Carswalls. (fn. 155) In 2005 Carswalls Manor farm, comprising c.81 ha (c.200 a.), was owned and farmed by members of the Carter family.

The large farmstead, occupying a prominent site beside the road to Upleadon, retains the remnants of a moat and a derelict brick dovecot of c.1700. The house and the farm buildings were rebuilt in brick in the late 18th century or the early 19th. The L plan of the house, of two storeys and attics over a cellar, may repeat that of its predecessor, and the double-pile south wing, which contains a dog-leg stair and a single chimneystack with diagonal fireplaces, may incorporate fabric of c.1700. The windows are segment-headed. (fn. 156) West of the house stands a ruinous single-storeyed outbuilding on an L plan; the farmyard to the east contains a large barn to which an engine house was added c.1900.

KILCOT

Three medieval manors are recorded at Kilcot, a name that was formerly applied to a large area in the northwest part of Newent parish and the adjoining detached portion of Pauntley parish (transferred to Oxenhall in 1883). A manor called Kilcot was held in 1086 by Ansfrid of Cormeilles, lord of Pauntley, and in the mid 13th century part of that manor, including lands at Gorsley and in the detached bit of Pauntley, was granted by Ansfrid's successors to Cormeilles abbey, lord of Newent manor, reserving a chief rent of 8s. The lands in that grant were sometimes accorded the status of a separate manor, and evidently formed the ⅓ knight's fee at 'Gorsley' that the prior of Newent was said in 1398 to have formerly held. (fn. 157) Two other manors recorded at Kilcot from the 13th century were connected tenurially with Taynton and seem to have emerged independently of Newent manor, for there is no record of a chief rent paid from them to the lords of Newent. One belonged to Robert de Mucegros at his death in 1254, when it was described as a ploughland held of Arnald du Boys as of Taynton for ¹/5 knight's fee. (fn. 158) It descended with Robert's manor of Great Taynton to the Ferrers family, whose estate in both places was held in chief as ½ fee during the 14th and early 15th centuries. (fn. 159) In 1351 it was styled the manor of Taynton and Kilcot. (fn. 160) The Kilcot land of that estate has not been traced after the Middle Ages. The other manor, based later on the house called the Conigree, was held by Bevis de Knovill in the late 13th century and descended with the manor of Little Taynton. (fn. 161) Presumably it was created by subinfeudation from the Mucegros manor, for Kilcot wood was held by John de Mucegros in 1258 but by Bevis de Knovill in 1270 (fn. 162) and Bevis's successors were later said to hold their manor from the Ferrers family. (fn. 163)

Gorsley and Brassfields

By 1390 part of the estate that derived from the grant to Cormeilles abbey in the mid 13th century had become known as the 'court of Gorsley' and was charged, as it also was in 1482, with payment of the 8s. rent owed to the lords of Pauntley. (fn. 164) It adjoined the west side of the detached portion of Pauntley parish and in 1624, though not apparently later, was itself regarded as within Pauntley. (fn. 165) The name Gorsley Court became attached to a small house in that area in the late 19th century, but as that house was built on an encroachment made on Gorsley common after 1775 it is unlikely to have formed part of the medieval estate. (fn. 166) In 1482 the court of Gorsley was in the hands of the lords of Newent, following the death or forfeiture of the tenant Walter Hill. (fn. 167) In 1539 it was held from Newent manor by copy, together with two fields to the south-east called Broadfield and Blethefield (later Broadgrove and Bleisfield) which may also have been included in the mid 13th-century grant. By the early 17th century those lands had been divided into small leaseholds, the tenant of the court of Gorsley, Thomas Hill, having five under-tenants in 1624 and Broadgrove and Bleisfield being divided among nine tenants. (fn. 168) Later, under the Foleys, the tenancies were consolidated, Broadgrove and Bleisfield becoming a single farm called Brassfields. (fn. 169) Also attached to Newent manor, but probably deriving from another source, was the adjoining part of Gorsley common forming a detached part of Cugley tithing; it was progressively inclosed by cottagers. (fn. 170) At the start of the 20th century the Onslows' estate in the Gorsley area comprised Brassfields farm, smaller farms based on Brockmore Head, Bull Hill, and the house called Gorsley Court, and numerous cottages and smallholdings. (fn. 171) At the sale of the estate in 1913 all those appear to have passed to separate owners, presumably in most cases the sitting tenants.

Kilcot Manor and the Conigree

In 1270 Kilcot wood, and evidently a manor, belonged to Bevis de Knovill, (fn. 172) who in 1285 had a grant of free warren in his demesne lands in Kilcot and Little Taynton. (fn. 173) After his death in 1307 his Kilcot manor descended with Little Taynton manor, following a divided ownership in the late Middle Ages before passing to the Cassey family of Wightfield, in Deerhurst. It remained in the same ownership as Little Taynton until the mid 17th century (fn. 174) save that in 1580 Henry Cassey settled Kilcot wood on the marriage of his son Thomas, who succeeded him in the whole estate in 1595. (fn. 175)

In 1653 John Atkinson of Stowell conveyed Kilcot manor to John Bourne, (fn. 176) who in 1686 was living at the house called the Conigree (later Conigree Court), apparently the ancient site of the manor. (fn. 177) Bourne (d. c.1709) (fn. 178) was succeeded by his daughter Dorothy, the wife of Walter Nourse (d. 1743). Kilcot passed with Walter's Boulsdon manor in turn to his son Revd John Nourse (d. 1754) and daughter Elizabeth (d. 1757) and then, under the provisions of John's will, it went to their cousin Mary, wife of John Lewis of Llantilio Crossenny (Mon.). She by will dated 1760 left it to her youngest son John Lewis, who sold Kilcot in 1782 to John Nourse Morse; under him it returned to the same ownership as Boulsdon manor. (fn. 179) Morse was diligent in attempting to preserve his rights over part of Gorsley common that belonged to his Kilcot manor, (fn. 180) but he alienated Kilcot wood in 1792. (fn. 181) At his death in 1830 he left the estate, comprising a farm based on the Conigree and numerous cottages on Gorsley common, to his daughter Isabella Beale and after her death in 1856 his trustees sold the manorial rights and some cottages and land to a Newent solicitor Edmund Edmonds and the Conigree to Charles Clarke of Ashleworth. (fn. 182) Edmonds retained the lordship in 1882. (fn. 183) The Conigree was offered for sale by the heirs or executors of John Cannock in 1896 (fn. 184) and was bought then or shortly afterwards by Edward Conder, who also acquired the manorial rights of Kilcot. (fn. 185) Conder (d. 1910) was succeeded by his son Edward. He died in 1934 and his widow Bertha (fn. 186) and executors offered the Conigree with 94 a. for sale in 1952. (fn. 187) By 1960 it was owned and farmed by J.M. Smith, (fn. 188) who was succeeded there by his son Mr M.J. Smith. (fn. 189)

Conigree Court, which occupies a low hill near the east side of Kilcot tithing just south of the Newent–Ross road, was presumably medieval in origin and named from a rabbit warren maintained by the early lords of Kilcot. In the earlier 17th century the house was leased to various wealthy tenants, one of whom is said to have carried out much building work. (fn. 190) John Bourne was apparently one of the few owners to live at the Conigree, and after his death it was usually leased as a farmhouse (fn. 191) until Edward Conder remodelled it as his own residence in 1897. (fn. 192) The earliest part of the house is the projecting north-western wing, probably built in the early to mid 17th century as a self-contained timberframed house of two or three bays facing south-west. The entrance was north of the stone stack on the southern side. The western end is raised on a high stone plinth and possibly had an agricultural use, perhaps as a cider house and cellar. The eastern end may have functioned as a kitchen open to a roof which retains some smoke-blackened timbers. In the late 17th century or the early 18th the eastern end of the house was extended or rebuilt in brick, and a range at right angles, extending north, was built or rebuilt. Conder's alterations in the 1890s doubled the house in size by adding a second, west pile of rooms to the east range and a northern wing of reception rooms. The front, with new work built in red brick and decorative half timbering, became an asymmetrical E. (fn. 193) The east front was partly tile-hung, and a small extension was made to its south end. The floor was removed from the northern bay of the old house to create a double-height library as part of that suite. The southern wing was devoted to service rooms, and was made into a separate house in the 20th century.

OKLE

The area called Okle in Malswick tithing, on the east side of the parish, was divided among freehold estates in the Middle Ages. In the mid 13th century three men surnamed 'of Okle' (de Acle) held estates from Newent manor by performing riding service and suit at the county and hundred courts for the lords. (fn. 194) One of them, Reynold of Okle, was apparently the man of that name who was sheriff of Gloucestershire in several years at that period. (fn. 195) Members of the three families still held the estates c.1315. (fn. 196) Joan 'ate' Okle had licence for a private oratory in her house at Newent in 1347 (fn. 197) and John of Okle of Newent served as a verderer of the Forest of Dean before 1358. (fn. 198)

Okle Clifford

One of the Okle estates was later known as the manor of Okle Clifford, having presumably passed at some time to a branch of the Clifford family. Its descent has not been traced until the late 15th century when it was probably the estate at Okle for which Henry Pauncefoot was liable for suit to Newent manor in 1473. (fn. 199) Later (before 1501) Llanthony priory purchased Okle Clifford manor from Robert Hyett of Newland and N. Pauncefoot of Twyning. The manor was also claimed by John Roberts of Newland and his wife Maud, daughter of William Dulle, in her right, but in 1507 they released their claim to Llanthony for a payment of £60. (fn. 200) The priory retained Okle Clifford until the Dissolution, by which time the site of the manor and demesne lands were held on a long lease by John Morgan. (fn. 201) The Crown leased the site and demesne in 1578 to Freeman Young (fn. 202) and sold the freehold of the manor before c.1600, when William Garnett sold it to Jeffrey Suckley (d. 1610 or 1611). Suckley's son Edward, (fn. 203) with his wife Anne, conveyed the manor in 1616 to Revd Timothy Gate, (fn. 204) and in 1627 Gate and others conveyed it to John Keys, whose widow Barbara and son William were in possession and living at Okle Clifford in 1646. (fn. 205)

Okle Clifford manor was later acquired by William Rogers (d. 1662). His second son Richard Rogers owned it at his death in 1677 and devised it to his elder brother William on condition of the payment of legacies to their three sisters. (fn. 206) William died in 1690, leaving it to his brother John (d. 1721), (fn. 207) who was succeeded by his son, also John Rogers (fn. 208) (d. 1735). The younger John was succeeded by his brother Edward (d. 1763), who devised Okle Clifford to his wife Elizabeth, and it was later divided between their daughters Laetitia, who married Charles Jones, and Elizabeth, who married Edward Bearcroft, a prominent barrister. The half share of Elizabeth (d. 1774) and Edward (d. 1796) passed in turn to their son Philip Rogers Bearcroft (d. c.1806) and their daughter Elizabeth, who inherited the other half of the manor on the death of her aunt Laetitia Jones in 1806 or 1807. Elizabeth married James de Visme (fn. 209) (d. 1826) of Newent Court, whose son Revd James Edward de Visme sold Okle Clifford, comprising a large moated manor house and 309 a. between the Newent– Gloucester road and Okle green, to the Gloucester municipal charity trustees in 1858. The trustees, who added the estate to the endowments of St Kyneburgh's hospital in the city, (fn. 210) maintained it as a single tenant farm, rebuilding the house in 1860. (fn. 211) Okle Clifford farm remained part of the estates of the Gloucester municipal charities in 2005. (fn. 212) The farmhouse of 1860, standing outside and just to the north of the remnants of the moat, was designed in classical style and built of orange-red brick with stone dressings. It is of two storeys with a very deep plan under a single pitched roof and has projecting bay windows, a porch on the main west front, and cellars. A north-east wing contains a cheese room accessible both from inside the house and by an outside stair. In the farmyard west of the house contemporary barns have big ventilated bays, and there is also a cock barn, cow stalls, and a stable, the last perhaps a survival from the 18th century.

Okle Grandison

A manor called Okle Grandison, evidently another of the three estates recorded from the mid 13th century, was in the possession of the lords of Oxenhall by 1437, and its name suggests that it had belonged to members of the Grandison family who held Oxenhall manor in the mid 14th century. (fn. 213) The 'lady of Grandison' mentioned in a Newent manor account roll in 1390 (fn. 214) may have been Alice de Brian, then owner of Oxenhall. Okle Grandison continued to descend with Oxenhall, (fn. 215) whose lord leased the manorial rights and demesne lands to Philip Bradford in 1444. (fn. 216) Francis Finch and another man (probably Finch's creditor) sold the manor of Okle Grandison to Thomas Foley in 1660, (fn. 217) two years after Foley bought Oxenhall from Finch. It seems that his purchase comprised only the manorial rights, for the Foleys later had no land in the Okle area and after the mid 18th century ceased to distinguish Okle Grandison as a separate unit in the records of their Newent and Oxenhall estate. A part of the manor's tenant land, called Rough Birches, lay on the north-east side of Okle green, and presumably its other land and the manor house mentioned in 1536 and 1659 were in the same area. (fn. 218)

Okle Pitchard

The third of the estates held by men surnamed 'of Okle' in the 13th century was possibly that later called Okle Pitchard (or Pitcher). The origin of the subjoined name, perhaps a family name, has not been discovered. Arnold Colwall held Okle Pitchard as a freehold under Newent manor c.1607, (fn. 219) and he conveyed it in 1610 to Jeffrey Suckley, (fn. 220) owner of Okle Clifford. At Suckley's death in that or the following year his heir was his son Edward, (fn. 221) but in 1612 some of the lands of the estate and a mill, the later Okle Pitcher mill, belonged to Edward's younger brother, Peter Suckley, who left them to Edward at his death in 1618. (fn. 222) The estate passed to Roland Suckley, who conveyed it in 1624 to John Bradford (fn. 223) (fl. 1640). (fn. 224) About 1775 Okle Pitchard was said to belong to George Smith. (fn. 225) In 1838 the estate, or its residue, was represented by a house, Okle Pitcher mill, and a few adjoining fields, all owned by the miller James Humpidge. The mill was on Ell brook north of the lane leading from the Gloucester–Newent road towards Upleadon. (fn. 226)

OTHER MANORS AND ESTATES

The Grange at Malswick

A large moat known as the Grange, in Malswick tithing beside the lane running from the Gloucester–Newent road southwards towards Kent's Green, (fn. 227) may have originated as the site of an outlying set of farm buildings for Newent priory. Described as a messuage called the Grange, it was leased under Newent manor in 1539, (fn. 228) and in 1563 the lord of the manor, Edward Wilmot, sold it in reversion, from the end of Sir Nicholas Arnold's lease of the manor, to William Dobyns, owner of Walden Court. (fn. 229) It remained in the possession of the owners of Walden Court in the mid 17th century, (fn. 230) but was sold later to Charles Jones of Malswick (d. 1716) who was succeeded by his son Charles (d. 1740). The Joneses, both styled gentleman of Malswick, (fn. 231) presumably occupied a substantial dwelling-house at the Grange, but in the mid 19th century, when it formed part of Rymes Place farm, there was only a small cottage and a barn on the site. (fn. 232) Both buildings had been removed by 2005.

Hayes Farm

Hayes farm, in Compton tithing west of Pool Hill hamlet, may take its name from a small manor called 'Hege' which in 1086 was held, together with Pauntley manor, by Ansfrid of Cormeilles. (fn. 233) There is, however, no definite record of the farm before the mid 16th century and no evidence of any claim by its owners to manorial status. There were possibly dwellings on or near the site of the farmhouse c.1315, when the free tenants of Newent manor in Compton included Peter de Heye, holding a messuage and ½ yardland, and Thomas de Heye, holding recently enfranchised customary land. (fn. 234) In 1542 Hayes farm belonged to the Newent chantry of SS James and Anne, whose chaplain leased it to William Wall. (fn. 235) After the dissolution of the chantries the Crown sold it in 1550 to two speculators, (fn. 236) who sold it later to the tenant; Wall, then described as of Pauntley, retained it in 1565. (fn. 237) Another William Wall paid a free rent to Newent manor for Hayes in 1640, (fn. 238) and another William Wall was said to have a handsome house and a good estate there c.1710. (fn. 239) He died in 1717 and Hayes farm then descended with his estate at Lintridge, in Dymock, until the early 19th century. (fn. 240) In 1816 John and Mary Terrett sold Hayes to John Matthews, a Newent mercer, who sold it in 1841 to Henry Thompson, another mercer of the town. In 1849 Thompson sold the farm to another John Matthews, (fn. 241) who was declared bankrupt before 1855 when the farm was bought by the Newent solicitor Edmund Edmonds. Edmonds sold it to Mary Harrison of Birkenhead, who died in 1866 leaving the farm to her daughter Susan, the wife of James Henry Frowde. (fn. 242) Frowde, who had performed for many years as a clown with Hengler's Circus before retiring in 1861, (fn. 243) also became owner of the adjoining Walden Court farm. In the 1890s his son James Charles William Frowde was farming at Hayes, then a farm of 147 a., and in 1901, after his parents' deaths, he joined other members of the family in selling Hayes and Walden Court to John Leather Stelfox. Stelfox's executors sold Hayes farm in 1925 to the tenant Wilfred Barton, whose widow Edith sold it in 1957 to Walter Maddox. (fn. 244) He transferred it soon afterwards to his son Mr Gerald Maddox, who farmed there until 2003 when he sold the house and 28.5 ha (70 a.) to Mr Nigel Freeman and the remainder of the land to another purchaser. (fn. 245) The farmhouse is in part of the 17th century and timber-framed but has large additions of the 19th century. (fn. 246)

The Scarr

A farm in the north part of Compton tithing, originally called Atherlard's Place but from the 18th century usually known as the Scarr, presumably took its name from the Atherlard family which was recorded at Newent c.1315. (fn. 247) It was evidently the 'Atherleys' held c.1607 by Guy Dobyns (fn. 248) and later by Samuel Dobyns, probably the same who died in 1679. (fn. 249) It apparently passed to Guy Dobyns (d. 1682), whose son Samuel (fn. 250) settled Atherlard's Place on his marriage to his wife Hester in 1685, subject to his mother Bridget's life interest in a half share. (fn. 251) Bridget died in 1689, Samuel in 1709, and Hester in 1727. (fn. 252) The estate passed to Samuel's son also Samuel (d. by 1743) and to his widow Elizabeth, from 1754 the wife of Edward Sergeaunt of Mitcheldean. In 1800 Edward died and Elizabeth sold the farm, then 228 a., to Joseph Hankins of Upleadon. (fn. 253) From Hankins, later also owner of Walden Court, it passed to his son Thomas (d. 1864). (fn. 254) William John Phelps of Dursley owned the Scarr in 1879 (fn. 255) and N. Phelps in 1900. By the latter date the farm had been enlarged to 356 a. and had a modern farmhouse with extensive new farm buildings, as well as outlying buildings and farm cottages at Newbarn and Strawberry Hill. (fn. 256) In 1912 the farm was owned by A.W. Clifford of Dursley. (fn. 257) In 1937 Scarr farm was bought by the Land Settlement Association and divided into numerous smallholdings. (fn. 258) The original farmhouse, part of which remains as a farm cottage, stood close to the lane leading from Newent to Botloe's Green. (fn. 259) It was replaced shortly before 1882 by a large, symmetrical, three-bayed house of red brick to the south-east. (fn. 260)

Southends (or Southerns)

In 1539 a farm based on the house called Southends (or Southerns) in Southends Lane was occupied, apparently as a freehold under Newent manor, by Robert ap Powell in right of his wife. (fn. 261) It was later held by Christopher Bradley, and c.1607 belonged to John Mayle (fl. 1624). (fn. 262) By 1640 it belonged to Walter Nourse (fn. 263) (d. 1652), lord of Boulsdon manor and owner of the nearby Porter's Place estate, and it passed to his younger son Timothy. (fn. 264) Timothy Nourse was ordained and became a preacher and theologian at Oxford, but in 1672 he converted to Roman Catholicism and retired to Southends, where he remodelled the house. He died in 1699, (fn. 265) leaving Southends to his wife Lucy but with the option of taking other lands in its place. It presumably passed then, or on Lucy's death in 1732, to Timothy's heir, his nephew Walter Nourse (fn. 266) (d. 1743). In 1789 John Nourse, Walter's eventual successor to Boulsdon manor, sold Southends, a farm of 110 a., to J.N. Morse. (fn. 267) Morse (d. 1830) left it to his son John (d. 1842) and in 1844 his trustees sold the house and part of the farm to Thomas Cadle of Ross-on-Wye (Herefs.) and the rest of the farm to Thomas's brother John, (fn. 268) who added it to his adjoining Moat farm. Thomas Cadle (d. 1859) left his Southends estate to support his wife Harriet and his daughters during her lifetime and then to his son Joseph Draper Cadle, who emigrated to Australia before 1863. (fn. 269) By 1877 Southends belonged to Henry Thomson, (fn. 270) who used most of the land as orcharding for his cider-making business until that failed in 1911. Southends was later bought by John Wilkins of Billinghurst (Sussex), who in 1918 sold Southends house and the land, then let separately with a modern farmhouse called Southcote, to his respective tenants. (fn. 271)

Southends is a two-storeyed house on an irregular three-pile plan. It may originally have been a late 16thor early 17th-century timber-framed house that faced east with hall and perhaps two cross wings, of which the southern one has survived almost intact. By Timothy Nourse's late 17th-century alterations the sizeable house was encased in brick, and it was altered further in the 18th century when a tall single-storeyed kitchen was added (or perhaps rebuilt) at the west end of the southern wing. Other 18th-century alterations included the insertion of a tall window to light the (probably original) dog-leg stair in the southern wing. At that time or in the next century the north side of the northern wing became the entrance front, and in the mid 19th century the wing was reroofed and a symmetrical façade applied to its front. Service additions were made to the western side and a twostoreyed bay-window created on the south front facing the garden, which incorporates a slightly sunken area due south of the house. The surviving farm buildings include two 17th-century barns, both altered during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Southorles Manor and the Moat

An estate known as the manor of Southorles or Lower Southerns was based on the house called the Moat in the north part of Cugley tithing. Early owners were perhaps Roger of Southorle, a free tenant of Newent manor in Cugley in 1290, (fn. 272) John of Southorle, who was appointed a collector of rents on Newent manor in 1342, (fn. 273) and William Southorle (apparently also known as William Southern), who was involved in disputes with the farmer of the manor, John Cheyne, and his tenants in 1407. (fn. 274) Ownership has not been clearly traced until the early 17th century when Sir Arthur Porter sold Southorles manor and the Moat to Thomas Woodward before 1610. Thomas, who by the time of his death in 1623 had added various other houses and lands in Cugley to his estate, settled the Moat and the manor on his second son Thomas with remainder to his third son Christopher. (fn. 275) Christopher was living at Worcester at his death in 1656 or 1657 and may by then have made the Moat estate over to his son Christopher. (fn. 276) The younger Christopher (d. 1699) added to it the adjoining Stallions farm as well as some lands in the area that had passed from his grandfather to other family members. He left his whole estate, a total of 379 a., to his son Thomas (fl. 1717). (fn. 277) Thomas's heir was apparently his nephew Christopher Woodward, who was described as of the Moat at his death, aged 21, in 1731, (fn. 278) and the following year the estate was settled on the marriage of Christopher's sister Elizabeth to Edward Chinn of Newnham. (fn. 279) In 1768 Elizabeth, by then widowed, settled the estate on the marriage of her son Edward Chinn (d. 1791). Edward was succeeded by his son, also Edward, who sold the estate to Henry Fowke of Tewkesbury in 1802. (fn. 280) Fowke sold it in 1810 to Revd William Beale (d. 1827). (fn. 281) Beale devised it to his youngest son Theophilus, who sold the 113-a. estate in 1830 to his father-in-law Joseph Cadle of Westbury-on-Severn. Cadle (d. 1833) was succeeded by his son John (d. 1859), whose trustee sold it in 1861 to Charles Richardson of Almondsbury. In 1877 Richardson sold the Moat with 170 a. to Andrew Knowles. (fn. 282) At the dispersal of Knowles's Newent Court estate (fn. 283) the Moat was sold with 342 a. in 1911 to Charles Priday, a Gloucester corn miller who died in 1926. Priday's family retained the Moat until 1957 when they sold it to Harold Keene, (fn. 284) whose son, Mr M.H. Keene, owned and farmed it together with the neighbouring farms of Stallions and Caerwents in 2005. (fn. 285)

The Moat house stands on an almost rectangular island in the centre of a rectangular moat, very wide from east to west, perhaps having been widened in relatively recent times. The building contains fabric of earlier than c.1800, when the present double-pile gentrified farmhouse was built in red brick with 5 bays, 2½ storeys, and a hipped slated roof. The entrance to the island is across a bridge from the farmyard to the north, and the main front faces south over a garden which fills the rest of the island. (fn. 286) The plan of the main block is regular with central hall and staircase flanked by drawing and dining rooms, pantries and large servants' hall, which suggests an extensive farm establishment. A one-and two-storeyed north-eastern wing contained a kitchen and cellar. The farmyard has contemporary barns and shelter sheds, a red brick barn of high quality being decorated with Gothic panels.

Stallions (Stalling)

Land called Stalling, on what was later known as Stallions hill west of the Moat estate, formed a freehold under Newent manor in the 13th century. It was apparently held by Robert of Stalling in the 1240s, (fn. 287) and the same or another Robert held it in 1285, when he unsuccessfully disputed Newent priory's right to use a way over his land towards Yartleton woods. (fn. 288) Robert of Stalling died before 1293, holding a house and 43½ a. by the same riding service as was owed by the three Okle estates. (fn. 289) His son and heir John of Stalling came of age in 1304, (fn. 290) but Reynold Ayleway held the estate c.1315. (fn. 291) Its later medieval descent is not known, but at some date it was acquired in fee by the lords of Newent manor: in the early 17th century lands called Stalling comprised a leasehold under the manor. (fn. 292) The lessee in 1640 was Christopher Woodward, (fn. 293) of the Moat, whose son Christopher bought the freehold from the Winter family in the late 1650s. (fn. 294) In the 18th century Stallions (as the estate was by then usually known) comprised a barn and c.100 a., (fn. 295) and a small farmhouse was built there before 1806. The farm descended with the Moat until 1806 when Henry Fowke sold it to John Hartland. Hartland sold it in 1811 to Thomas Hartland, later of Nelfields Farm, who died in 1844; his trustees sold it the following year to Thomas Cadle (d. 1859), owner of Southends farm. The mortgagee, Lindsey Winterbotham of Stroud, (fn. 296) later acquired possession and sold Stallions in 1864 to Henry Thomson. Thomson sold it in 1884 to Andrew Knowles of Newent Court, (fn. 297) and ownership then passed once more with the Moat. (fn. 298) The farmhouse was rebuilt in 1979. (fn. 299)

Stardens

A substantial freehold estate in Compton tithing accumulated by Nicholas of Stardens (fl. 1292, c.1315), (fn. 300) was possibly the origin of Stardens farm lying north of the town near the Upleadon road. Half of a house called Stardens and other lands called Stardens were among possessions of Newent's two chantries, St Mary and SS James and Anne, at their dissolution in 1548. (fn. 301) In the early 17th century the farm belonged to William Pauncefoot, who sold it to Peter Leigh, steward of Newent manor. (fn. 302) Leigh's son William settled it, comprising a house and 127 a., on the marriage of his son, also William, in 1653. The younger William died before 1658 when his widow Marianne and her husband Robert Barber sold Stardens to George Dalton. Dalton sold it in 1664 to Thomas Foley (fn. 303) and it then descended as a tenant farm on Newent manor. (fn. 304) R.F. Onslow remodelled and enlarged Stardens as his own residence in 1864, (fn. 305) and in 1911 at the sale of the Onslow estate the house was bought with c.48 a. by Col. William Frederick Noel (d. 1923). (fn. 306) The house later passed through various hands before being converted to three dwellings in 1952; (fn. 307) one part housed a country club for some years from 1963. (fn. 308) Stardens appears to have been rebuilt in the late 18th century, and in 1840 was a threebayed, 2½-storeyed brick range with a hipped roof. (fn. 309) Onslow's rebuilding, to a design by John Middleton of Cheltenham, (fn. 310) turned that house into a Gothic mansion, giving it large tripartite windows and irregular wings built of local stone with limestone dressings. (fn. 311) The more elaborate eastern wing contained the principal rooms, which faced west, the drawing room being lit by a projecting traceried bay; the entrance front was on the eastern side. The interior was quite plainly finished, but in 1910 had a staircase lit by a window with armorial glass and wood panelled ceilings in the main rooms. (fn. 312)

Walden Court

Walden (or Walden's) Court farm, based on a house in Compton tithing south of Pool Hill and including land in Pauntley parish, has not been found recorded before the mid 16th century. The origin of the name, presumably derived from early owners, is not known. It was apparently the estate, described as the site of the manor of Compton and said (probably incorrectly) to have been once held from Gloucester abbey, that Guy Dobyns owned at his death in 1544; Guy was probably the man of that name who in 1522 had a high assessment (£20) on his goods at Compton. (fn. 313) In 1544 Guy's son and heir John Dobyns was under sentence of outlawry for the murder in 1538 of the constable of Newent. (fn. 314) William Dobyns owned Walden in 1563 when the lord of Newent manor sold him the reversion of three nearby copyholds in Compton tithing (fn. 315) that were subsequently absorbed into the farm. (fn. 316) In 1604 Walden was settled on Randall and Philip Dobyns and the heirs of Philip, (fn. 317) and Randall Dobyns owned it in 1640. (fn. 318) Later the estate was acquired by Sir Edmund Bray of Great Barrington, who died in 1684, leaving it to his grandson Reginald Bray (d. 1712). It passed to Reginald's brother Edmund (d. 1725), who left Walden Court to his son and namesake. The younger Edmund (d. 1728) was succeeded by his elder brother Reginald Morgan Bray. In 1734 he sold the estate to John Rogers of Okle Clifford, (fn. 319) with which it then descended until 1813 when James and Elizabeth de Visme sold it, comprising the house and 233 a., to Joseph Hankins. (fn. 320) Joseph (d. 1824) left it with the Scarr, his adjoining farm, to trustees, who were to use it to support his wife Mary and sons during her life and then to sell it. His youngest son Thomas, one of the beneficiaries of the trust, bought the farms from the trustees in 1835. (fn. 321) He died in 1864, (fn. 322) and Walden Court passed later to James Henry Frowde, who was living there in 1879 and 1885. (fn. 323) His family sold the farm in 1901 with Hayes farm to J.L. Stelfox. Stelfox's executors sold it in 1925 (fn. 324) to Henry Hinds, whose family owned and farmed Walden Court farm, comprising 48.5 ha (120 a.), in 2005. (fn. 325)

Walden Court was built in the late 16th or early 17th century as a two-storeyed timber-framed house with a large hall with a rear stack and probably two cross wings. The exterior displays close-studding and large mullioned and transomed windows, somewhat enhanced in the 19th century. The service end was replaced in the 19th century and the rear of the other wings, which contains the parlour, has also been replaced. In the 19th century the hall was partitioned into hall and sitting room. Cusped lights in the windows may relate to the use of the hall for religious services in the time of J.H. Frowde, (fn. 326) and many small piecemeal additions were made at that period and later. A large brick barn with two threshing floors dates from the late 17th century or the early 18th, and in the 19th century other farm buildings were provided, one dated 1872.

Newent Rectory

The rectory of Newent, comprising all the grain and hay tithes, descended with the Newent manor estate until the early 18th century. In 1291, including the profits of the annexed chapel of Pauntley, it was valued at £26 13s. 4d. (fn. 327) From 1382, when the manor passed from Cormeilles abbey, it was let at farm for £80 a year, (fn. 328) and in 1506 the farmer was the prominent Newent landowner Roger Porter. (fn. 329) In 1535 the rectory tithes were on lease from Fotheringhay college for £14 a year (fn. 330) (presumably not intended as a reflection of their value) and in 1555 Sir Richard Lee included them at the same rent in a renewal of the lease of the manor to Sir Nicholas Arnold. (fn. 331) Paul Foley, at his death in 1699 gave the rectory tithes, said a few years later to be worth £140 a year, (fn. 332) to trustees who were to hold them for 31 years to augment three Herefordshire churches (St Peter's in Hereford, Dormington, and Mordiford) and at the end of the term to assign them to the vicarage of Newent or another church or charity at their discretion. (fn. 333) The trustees chose to convey the tithes to Newent vicarage c.1728. (fn. 334)