West Drayton: Other estates

OTHER ESTATES.

The estate called Rowtheys was so named after its chief house which stood south of Burroughs, and between the village and the river. (fn. 1) It was a copyhold estate, founded in the 16th century, with the greater part of its lands in West Drayton open fields. The estate was built up in the first half of the century by Thomas Burnell, a prominent member of the Mercers Company of London, (fn. 2) who is first recorded as a tenant in his own right and that of his wife Margaret (d. 1529) (fn. 3) in 1516, and who died about 1549. By 1540 Burnell had united two West Drayton estates, called Palmers and Fitzhughs, totalling 120 acres, (fn. 4) with a rental of £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 5) The estate was entailed upon a son, William, and in 1558 a William Burnell and Constance, his wife, were in possession of Palmers. (fn. 6) In 1549, however, 64½ acres, including Fitzhughs, of which Rowtheys was then a part, were in the occupation of a John Burnell, who was admitted in 1540. (fn. 7) William and John appear to have been cousins of John Burnell of Westminster (d. 1551), a former officer of the cellar of Henry VIII. (fn. 8) In 1570 John Burnell sold Rowtheys to William Day (1529- 96), (fn. 9) Provost of Eton College and later Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 10) The estate then comprised the house with an adjoining hopyard, a farm-house, four closes with 9 acres of pasture, 80½ acres in the open fields, and 10½ acres in the common meadow, apparently an equivalent for forage rights there. It subsequently descended for more than a century in the Day family. It was owned successively by William Day, until 1575, his brother Roger (d. by 1607), his brother's wife Jane (fl. 1609), and his nephew, George (fl. 1630). George Day (d. 1680), son of the nephew, devised the estate to his wife Anne, from whom it passed to Grace Day, who married Richard Perkins in 1683. (fn. 11)

Richard Perkins, who also had lands near Shitterton, Bere Regis (Dors.), was arrested near there in 1701, with a relative wrongly suspected of being the Duke of Berwick. (fn. 12) He died about 1710, and Rowtheys eventually descended to James Perkins, who had sold the estate in two parts by 1759. Rowtheys itself, with 10 acres, was bought by Brabazon Ellis. It was still standing in 1777, when a John Ryley was in occupation, but was burned down the following year. In 1791 the site was sold to John Johnson, a broker, who built a new house on it in 1794. The bulk of the estate, 23 acres of inclosed ground, 75 acres in the open fields, and the forage rights, was bought by William Batt (d. 1759), whose nephew, Matthew, was admitted in 1759. (fn. 13) William Batt, described as a 'gardener', (fn. 14) was already living in West Drayton in 1730. (fn. 15) The Batts were prominent farmers in the district for more than a century. In 1824 Matthew Batt owned an estate of 130 acres, the successor to Rowtheys, while William Batt owned another 46 acres. (fn. 16) From 1781, either separately or in association, members of the family rented the demesne farm of West Drayton manor, amounting, in 1828, to 197 acres. (fn. 17) Copts Corner farm-house, bought by William Batt in 1794, was the 'home farm' of this estate. (fn. 18) In 1826 William and Matthew Batt were also jointly farming the demesne of Drayton or Colham Garden manor, as subtenants of B. H. Gill, (fn. 19) and this estate continued in the occupation of members of the family until 1872, when it was broken up. (fn. 20) In 1833 the Batts were assessed to land tax for almost half of the land in the parish, which they either owned or rented. (fn. 21) They were still among the principal landowners of the parish in 1870. (fn. 22)