Blaisdon: Manors and other estates

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

Blaisdon was not mentioned by name in Domesday Book but may have then formed part of William son of Baderon's manor of Longhope. (fn. 1) The manor of BLAISDON was apparently included in the knight's fee which Richard of Blaisdon and Walter son of Robert held from Margaret de Bohun in 1166; (fn. 2) the de Bohuns' overlordship was recorded until the late 14th century, (fn. 3) although c. 1300 the lords of the two moieties of the manor were said to hold by the serjeanty of serving as foresters-in-fee. (fn. 4)

In 1199 ½ knight's fee in Blaisdon was being disputed by Baderon of Blaisdon and Robert son of Walter (alias Robert de Shipton), and Robert quitclaimed his right in it to Baderon in 1203. (fn. 5) Baderon may have been succeeded by his son Richard. (fn. 6) Walter de Mucegros held the manor of Blaisdon at his death c. 1265 when his heirs were Walter of Blakeney and John of Didmarton. (fn. 7) Walter of Blakeney's moiety had passed by 1300 to Ellis of Blakeney (fn. 8) and he or a successor of the same name retained it in 1339; (fn. 9) by 1346 it had passed to Philip Marshal. (fn. 10) John's moiety had passed by 1272 to Ralph of Abenhall (fn. 11) who was succeeded in 1301 by his son John (d. 1316). (fn. 12) John of Abenhall's nephew Reynold settled the moiety of the manor on himself and his wife Sibyl in 1318, (fn. 13) and in 1333 on himself and his wife Joan with remainder to his sons Reynold and John. (fn. 14) The elder Reynold died in 1341 and the two sons held the moiety in 1346 and 1349. (fn. 15) The reversion after their deaths, however, belonged to their brother Ralph of Abenhall who granted it in 1347, with the reversion of another estate at Blaisdon held by Hugh of Abenhall, to Robert of Staverton. (fn. 16) Robert granted the reversion in the next year to Richard Talbot. (fn. 17) In 1358 Geoffrey Marshal, chaplain, and John Aram granted one moiety of the manor to Flaxley Abbey (fn. 18) which was said to own ½ knight's fee in Blaisdon in 1374 while 1/10 fee was held by Philip Marshal and 1/20 fee by Richard Onyman. (fn. 19) In 1407 the abbey and John Blakeney held moieties of the manor. (fn. 20)

Flaxley Abbey's moiety of the manor was granted with its other possessions in 1537 to Sir William Kingston (d. 1540). (fn. 21) In 1544 it was confirmed to Sir William's son Sir Anthony, (fn. 22) who was succeeded at his death in 1556 by his son Edmund Kingston, who was apparently illegitimate. Edmund conveyed the estate in 1565 to his brother-in-law Edward Barnard, who devised it at his death in 1570 to Edmund's son Anthony Kingston (d. 1591). (fn. 23) The estate passed to Anthony's son William (d. 1614), who was succeeded by his uncle Edmund Kingston (d. 1623). (fn. 24) Edmund's estate passed to his son William (fn. 25) and to William's son Anthony, who was living at Blaisdon at his death in 1687. Anthony's estate had passed by 1705 to Thomas Wade, but c. 1707 Thomas's claim was disputed by Anthony's nephew Henry Carter. (fn. 26) Mrs. Wade held the estate in 1750 (fn. 27) and by 1757 it had passed to John Wade. (fn. 28) John Wade of Woodchester died holding the estate in 1793 and was succeeded by Anna, the wife of William Gordon. (fn. 29)

The moiety of the manor held by John Blakeney in 1407 was apparently held in 1476 by Roger Cowley (fn. 30) and in 1527 by William Cowley. (fn. 31) In 1546 William Cowley settled the moiety of the manor on himself with remainder to his sister Joan and her husband Thomas Kyrle; (fn. 32) Thomas and Joan, who lived at Walford (Herefs.), had evidently succeeded to the estate by 1554. (fn. 33) Joan, as a widow, held the estate in 1563, and her son James apparently held it in 1584. (fn. 34) By 1608 it had passed to John Ayleway, (fn. 35) and Robert Ayleway of Blaisdon sold land there in 1652; (fn. 36) Robert Ayleway and Richard Long were dealing with the moiety of the manor in 1673, (fn. 37) and a Mr. Long held it c. 1703. (fn. 38) In 1638 Henry Payton of London and in 1656 Samuel Sheppard of Minsterworth made leases of lands as lords of Blaisdon manor, (fn. 39) but whether their right was to the Ayleway's moiety or to that of the Kingstons, traced above, has not been discovered.

By 1713 part of the manor had been acquired by Robert Hayle, (fn. 40) whose widow Anne held it until her death in 1736. (fn. 41) The Hayles' estate was later said to have represented a share in the Kingstons' moiety which became vested in George Kingston (d. 1644), descending to his son Anthony and to Anthony's son George (d. 1689), (fn. 42) but the elder George is recorded as holding lands in Blaisdon only by a lease for 99 years granted by his brother Anthony shortly before his death in 1591; (fn. 43) the history of the advowson (fn. 44) makes it more likely that the Hayles' estate was the other moiety of the manor acquired from the Longs. Although the Hayle family retained an estate at Blaisdon which was the largest after that of the Wades in 1754, (fn. 45) their share of the manor was apparently devised by Anne Hayle at her death to her sister Elizabeth, who married a Mr. Chinn; Elizabeth devised it to her daughters Anne Chinn, Mrs. Jones, and Mrs. Richardson, who sold their claim c. 1800 to Anna Gordon, (fn. 46) thus uniting the two moieties.

Anna Gordon, whose first husband was dead by 1802, (fn. 47) married secondly a Mr. Burland (d. by 1811). (fn. 48) She was succeeded before 1839 by her son Robert Gordon who then owned c. 620 a. in Blaisdon, including Velthouse and Spout farms and over 200 a. of woods. (fn. 49) Robert, who lived at Kemble, died in 1864 and his daughter Anna sold the estate in the following year to Henry Crawshay, an ironmaster (d. 1879). (fn. 50) Henry was succeeded by Edwin Crawshay, and c. 1890 the estate was acquired by Peter Stubs (d. 1905). Stubs was succeeded by his daughter Mary Helen who married Colin MacIver. (fn. 51) Colin MacIver died in 1927 and his widow in 1928 (fn. 52) and the estate was put up for sale in 1931; (fn. 53) it was sold in parcels over a period of several years in the early 1930s. (fn. 54) Part of the estate, including the manorhouse Blaisdon Hall, Stanley farm, and Stud farm, and some of the woodland, was bought in 1935 by the Salesian Society which established an agricultural school for training deprived children; the farmland was sold c. 1960 but Blaisdon Hall continued as a school for vocational training. (fn. 55) The Huntley Manor estate acquired 175 a. of woodland in Blaisdon c. 1932. (fn. 56)

There were chief houses for both parts of the manor in the 14th century, (fn. 57) but few later lords of the manor were resident and apparently no particular house was regarded as the manor-house until the Crawshays built Blaisdon Hall in the 1870s. (fn. 58) The house, which stands on high ground to the north of the village in a wooded park commanding a view across the Severn, is a large ornate stone building mainly in the Jacobean style; it has mullioned windows, pinnacled and decorated gables and dormers, tall chimneys, and a tower with two stages of decorative pilasters above the main entrance. An addition was made on the north in 1907, (fn. 59) and school buildings were built near the house by the Salesians in the mid 20th century.

A serjeanty in Blaisdon was recorded in 1255 when Richard de Grenville held it; he then agreed to acquit his under-tenant Walter of Prescott of the service owed to the Crown. (fn. 60) The estate was later taken into the king's hands on account of Richard's unlawful alienation of it to his brother William, and in 1256 Henry III granted it to his mason John of Gloucester. (fn. 61) In 1260 the king granted it to his cook Henry de Wade. (fn. 62)

An estate at STANLEY was said to have been acquired by the Bullock family in Elizabeth's reign, (fn. 63) and John Bullock of Stanley was mentioned in 1637. (fn. 64) Edmund Bullock of Stanley died in 1764, (fn. 65) and the estate was held by William Bullock c. 1780. (fn. 66) In 1839 George Bullock owned 102 a. based on Stanley House, (fn. 67) a two-story 17th-century timber-framed house with a later brick addition. The estate was later acquired by the MacIver family and was put up for sale with their other property in 1931. (fn. 68)