Edmonton: Manors

MANORS.

The manor of EDMONTON was held by Ansgar the staller in 1066 and Geoffrey de Mandeville in 1086 (fn. 1) and descended with Enfield until the death of William de Mandeville in 1189. (fn. 2) William's heir was his aunt Beatrice, sister of Geoffrey de Mandeville (d. 1144) and widow of William de Say (d. ?1144). Beatrice's eldest son William had died in 1177 and most of the Mandeville property, including Enfield, passed to his eldest daughter Beatrice and her husband Geoffrey fitz Piers. Beatrice's second son Geoffrey de Say claimed the Mandeville inheritance (fn. 3) and presumably obtained Edmonton, since he and his heirs held the manor in fee throughout the 13th century. (fn. 4) It was not until 1284, however, that the family agreed to the de facto division of the Mandeville lands, leaving the descendants of Beatrice and Geoffrey fitz Piers with Enfield and those of Geoffrey de Say with Edmonton, which was held of the Crown as a knight's fee. (fn. 5)

The manor descended in a direct line from Geoffrey de Say (d. 1214) to Geoffrey (d. 1230), William (d. 1272), William (d. 1295), Geoffrey (d. 1322), Geoffrey (d. 1359), and William (d. 1375). (fn. 6) Probably originally as part of a mortgage made c. 1361, William de Say granted the manor to Adam Francis (Fraunceys), mercer of London, (fn. 7) who had already built up an estate in Edmonton. (fn. 8) In 1369 Francis granted it to feoffees, (fn. 9) who in 1371 settled it on him for life with remainder to his son Adam in fee. (fn. 10) Adam died in 1375 and was succeeded by his son, (fn. 11) later Sir Adam (d. 1417), (fn. 12) who left all his lands to be divided between his widow and his two daughters. Margaret, Sir Adam's widow, who married Edward Aske, died in 1445; (fn. 13) Elizabeth, Sir Adam's younger daughter, wife of Sir Thomas Charlton, died c. 1450 (fn. 14) and Agnes, the elder daughter and wife of Sir William Porter, died in 1461. In 1461, therefore, the whole manor was reunited in the hands of Sir Thomas Charlton (d. 1465), Elizabeth's son. (fn. 15) Sir Thomas was succeeded by his son Sir Richard, (fn. 16) who supported Richard III and was killed at Bosworth in 1485, whereupon his estates were forfeit to the Crown. (fn. 17)

The manor and other estates in Edmonton were granted in tail male to Sir Thomas Bourchier in 1485 (fn. 18) and the reversion was granted to Sir John Pecche and John Sharpe, the king's servants, in 1510. (fn. 19) By 1521 both Bourchier and Sharpe were dead and the king granted the reversion after the death of Sir John Pecche, who had no male heirs, to Henry Courtenay, earl of Devon and later marquess of Exeter. (fn. 20) Courtenay was in possession by 1523, (fn. 21) although the grant in fee was not made until 1530. (fn. 22) In 1532 he sold the manor and other property to William Sulyard and others (fn. 23) who were licensed in the same year to alienate a moiety of it. (fn. 24) The donation did not take effect and by 1535 the manor was in the hands of the Crown, administered by Thomas Cromwell as the king's bailiff. (fn. 25)

The manor remained with the Crown thereafter, except during the Interregnum when it was bought on behalf of John Reyner of St. Martin's-in-theFields. (fn. 26) For most of the 17th century it formed part of the queen's jointure; from 1629 until 1650 (fn. 27) and from 1660 until her death in 1669 it belonged to Henrietta Maria and from 1672 until her death in 1705 it was assigned to Catherine of Braganza. (fn. 28)

Although the demesne lands, called Sayesbury or Bury manor or farm, had been leased out since the 15th century (fn. 29) and had been detached in 1571, (fn. 30) the manor with its perquisites was not leased out until 1665. (fn. 31) It was then let on short leases, constantly extended and assigned by the lessees to others until in 1716 William Gould, merchant of London, purchased it in fee farm. (fn. 32) The connexion with the Crown, however, by then consisted of a nominal rent (fn. 33) and the lessee was thereafter regarded as lord of the manor. (fn. 34) William Gould (d. 1733) was succeeded by his son James (d. 1767). The manor passed to James's nephew Thomas Teshmaker (d. 1771), whose widow Sarah held it (fn. 35) until 1800, when it was conveyed in fee to Sir William Curtis, Bt. Curtis, who died in 1829, devised the manor in tail male to his son Sir William (d. 1847), who was succeeded by his son Sir William (d. 1870), whose successor was his grandson, Sir William Michael Curtis. (fn. 36) In 1916 it passed to a cousin, Sir Edgar Francis Egerton Curtis, and in 1943 to Sir Edgar's second cousin once removed, Sir Peter Curtis of Romsey and afterwards of Bishop's Waltham (Hants). (fn. 37)

The manor of DEPHAMS or Deephams took its name from a London citizen, Roger de Depham. Between 1314 and 1355 Depham acquired property in north-east Edmonton from 17 people, mostly by purchase or exchange, (fn. 38) but the largest estate came to him in 1347 as chief creditor after John le Venour had forfeited his estates for debt. (fn. 39) John le Venour had inherited most of his 196-acre estate from his mother, Sibyl, daughter and heir of Robert Blund (d. 1290). (fn. 40) The Blund inheritance had originated in a grant of ¼ knight's fee by Geoffrey de Mandeville to Robert Blund of London c. 1154–66. (fn. 41) In 1263 the Blund fee had been described as the 'manor of Edmonton' (fn. 42) and in 1281 the estate, although small in demesne, had included pleas of court, customary works, and other manorial appurtenances. (fn. 43) In 1353 the Blund ¼ fee, with ¹/5 knight's fee held in 1242 by Geoffrey de Querendon, (fn. 44) was held by Roger de Depham, Robert de Plesington, and William Causton, all of whom had some interest in John le Venour's lands. (fn. 45)

In 1358 Roger de Depham conveyed all his property in Edmonton, Tottenham, and Enfield to feoffees who conveyed it to Adam Francis (d. 1375) in 1359. (fn. 46) Francis died seised of some of Depham's property (fn. 47) but he may have sold the manor, as its descent did not follow that of the capital manor and Francis's other lands. It was held by John Innocent, under-treasurer of England (d. c. 1401), (fn. 48) and may be identifiable with the house, land, and rent which Innocent bought in 1392 from John Hende, who had bought it in 1389 from Elisha Bocking, skinner of London, and his wife Isabel. (fn. 49) John Innocent gave Dephams to Isabel Rampton, who married Nicholas Brenchley of London. Brenchley sold it to the bishop of Winchester (fn. 50) who conveyed it to Jane de Bohun, countess of Hereford (d. 1419), from whom it passed to the Crown, which exchanged it with Henry Somer for the manor of Graunt Courts (Felsted, Essex). (fn. 51) Somer, Chancellor of the Exchequer, (fn. 52) who had acquired other property in Edmonton, was confirmed in Dephams in 1422. (fn. 53) According to a later account by his bailiff Somer granted the estate to his daughter Anne, who married, probably as a child, Thomas Charlton the younger, heir to Edmonton manor, and when Somer died there was a violent dispute between his widow Catherine and Charlton's father, Thomas Charlton the elder. Anne was said then to have married Sir Richard Vere and Catherine to have given Dephams to Ralph de Cromwell, Lord Cromwell, Treasurer 1433–43, c. 1438. (fn. 54) In reality Somer did not die until 1450, when he still received issues from Edmonton, his daughter's name was Agnes, and his heir was his grandson James Vere. (fn. 55) Cromwell, however, as a fellow treasury official, may have had some interest in Dephams during Somer's lifetime. On Cromwell's death in 1455 Dephams passed to Sir Thomas Charlton the younger, then owner of a moiety of the capital manor, (fn. 56) and thereafter the manors descended together until 1531, when Henry Courtenay, marquess of Exeter, sold Dephams to Richard Hawkes. (fn. 57) In 1539 Robert Hawkes sold it to William Stanford of London (fn. 58) who conveyed it in the same year to John Grimston, (fn. 59) lessee of Dephams since 1535. (fn. 60) Grimston's grandson Gabriel Grimston was much in debt in the 1570s and in 1582 he mortgaged two-thirds of Dephams to William Curle and the reversion to a third, which was held by Gabriel's mother in dower, to Thomas Wroth. (fn. 61) The property was the subject of a dispute between Curle, who claimed to have purchased it, and Grimston's other creditors. (fn. 62) By 1588, however, all interest was surrendered to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, when he bought Curle's title, (fn. 63) having in 1585 acquired that of William Dowgill, a London haberdasher, who had acquired the interests of the other creditors. (fn. 64) Burghley's lands passed to Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, and in 1628 Robert's son William, earl of Salisbury, sold Dephams to Thomas Style, who had been the lessee since 1608. (fn. 65) Thomas Style was succeeded by his sons Maurice (d. 1659) and Thomas (d. 1679). (fn. 66) By will dated 1717 George Style of Peckham (Surr.) devised Dephams to his sister Sarah, who married into the Ravenscroft family, which retained the estate for most of the 18th century. (fn. 67) Thomas Hylord Ravenscroft alienated it to Thomas Cock of Tottenham and Thomas's son John was the owner in 1819. (fn. 68) John Cock sold Dephams in 1822 to Andrew John Nash and George Augustus Nash, (fn. 69) whose family still held land in the area in 1893, (fn. 70) although Dephams had become a sewage farm in the 1870s. (fn. 71)

A manor-house, probably dating from the Blunds' tenure in the 12th and 13th centuries, (fn. 72) was situated in the centre of Depham's estate, east of Jeremy's Green Lane and approximately on a line with Plesingtons. By 1585, however, the house had disappeared, leaving only a large barn and the moated site. (fn. 73) Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey (d. 1678), the murdered J.P. of the Popish Plot, was said to have lived at Dephams (fn. 74) and a 'new brick-built messuage' was referred to in 1679. (fn. 75) The 19thcentury Dephams Farm, east of the earlier manorhouse, (fn. 76) was pulled down between 1897 and 1920. (fn. 77)

The manor or manors of BOWES and DERNFORD, (fn. 78) with the tenements of Polehouse and Fords sometimes called the manor of POLEHOUSE, (fn. 79) derived from families of the 13th and 14th centuries. Land in south-west Edmonton and in Tottenham which had belonged to John Bowes (de arcubus), a mid-13th-century London citizen, (fn. 80) and land in north-west Tottenham which belonged to the late 13th- and 14th-century Dernford family of Tottenham, (fn. 81) had by 1370 become part of the estates of the Wykwane family of London and Edmonton. (fn. 82) In 1370 Thomas Wykwane sold a house, some 380 a. and rent in Edmonton, Tottenham, and Enfield to John Bernes, mercer of London, (fn. 83) and Henry Wykwane conveyed land in south-west Edmonton to Thomas Langham, vicar of Edmonton, from whom Bernes acquired them in 1372. (fn. 84) Polehouse took its name from John atte Pole (d. 1361), a London rope-maker, who conveyed his estate, which included land formerly held by the Ford family and 1/12 knight's fee which had belonged in 1235–6 to William son of Geoffrey, (fn. 85) to Gilbert Nusom and William Gosselyn. (fn. 86) In 1362 the last two sold the estate, consisting of 5 houses, nearly 400 a. and rent in Edmonton and six other Middlesex parishes, to John Bernes (d. c. 1373). (fn. 87) Bernes's lands passed to his cousin Thomas King of Tottenham, who in 1383 conveyed them to John of Northampton, the former mayor of London. (fn. 88)

In 1395 Northampton conveyed the estate, for the first time called the manor of Bowes and Dernford, and the tenements of Polehouse and Fords, to feoffees, citizens of London, (fn. 89) who in 1402 conveyed it to other feoffees to the use of Henry Somer (fn. 90) and a subsidiary interest was quitclaimed at the same time by heirs of John Innocent. (fn. 91) The feoffees conveyed the manor in 1406 to Sir John Daubridgecourt and others (fn. 92) who sold it in 1410 to Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, and others, (fn. 93) to whom Henry Somer quitclaimed in 1411. (fn. 94) The property was purchased with John of Gaunt's money and conveyed in 1411 to the king, (fn. 95) who granted it to the chapter of St. Paul's in 1412. (fn. 96) Bowes and Polehouse manor was a sub-manor of the capital manor (fn. 97) until 1572, when the Crown released it from suit of court, an annual rent, and the provision of a hunting dog. (fn. 98)

Except during the Interregnum, when Polehouse was sold to the lessee, (fn. 99) the chapter remained in possession until its property passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1872. (fn. 100) Copyholds were progressively enfranchised between 1853 and 1936, after which the lordship of Bowes and Polehouse manor lapsed. (fn. 101) During the 15th century the manor was leased in its entirety to individual canons of St. Paul's (fn. 102) but the demesne was sub-let as two farms, centred on Bowes and Polehouse respectively, by 1438. (fn. 103) The two demesne farms were leased separately from the 16th century (fn. 104) and in 1804 the Bowes and Dernford estate was divided into six lots. (fn. 105) Part of Bowes, including the site of the manorhouse, was sold to the lessee, Thomas Sidney c. 1866 (fn. 106) and on his death in 1889 it was put up for auction as building land. (fn. 107) It was not sold, however, and was leased to the guardians of St. Mary's, Islington. In 1899 it was sold for building. (fn. 108) The rest of Bowes, except 25 a. which was sold to P. L. Powys Lybbe in 1895 and 40 a., mostly in Tottenham, which was sold to Wood Green U.D.C. in 1927, (fn. 109) was let on building leases in 1913 and 1923. (fn. 110) In 1958 the Church Commissioners sold their freehold interest in Bowes and the near-by Tottenham rectory estate. The purchasers were mostly tenants of the individual houses although the remaining houses were sold in 1960 to Mountsfield Properties Ltd. (fn. 111)

The Polehouse demesne farm was disposed of earlier. At inclosure in 1801 St. Paul's sold 25 a. to Joseph Dorin and 26 a. at Palmers Green to William Eaton. (fn. 112) Pauls grove (16 a.) at Winchmore Hill, originally part of the Polehouse estate but long leased separately, was sold in 1881 to J. Donnithorne Taylor. (fn. 113) In 1883 the commissioners conveyed 30 a. to Edmonton local board for a cemetery. (fn. 114) In 1920 the rest of the Polehouse estate was included in the sale of 170 a. of mostly rectorial land to Edmonton U.D.C. for building. (fn. 115)

Bowes manor-house was mentioned as 'the place of Bowes' in 1384 (fn. 116) and the moated site survived in 1889. (fn. 117) The farm-house c. 1580 stood west of Green Lanes, just south of its junction with Tottenhall Road, (fn. 118) and was a plain, probably plastered building of two storeys and attics. (fn. 119) It was much altered in the mid 19th century by the lessees Thomas Wilde, Lord Truro, and Thomas Sidney, a former mayor of London, (fn. 120) but disappeared in the building development of 1900. (fn. 121)

Polehouse may be identifiable with Gisors Place, the house originally belonging to the powerful London family of that name, which had passed to John atte Pole by 1332. (fn. 122) It stood west of Fore Street, north of its junction with Silver Street, (fn. 123) included a hall and five chambers in 1649, (fn. 124) and in 1672 was assessed for 14 hearths. (fn. 125) By 1860 it was a brick-built and tiled house which had long been divided, half being occupied as a private house and half as Priory school. (fn. 126) It was demolished when the Great Eastern Railway line from Bethnal Green was built through the site in 1872. (fn. 127)

The manor of Willoughbies can be traced from 1305 when Philip Willoughby, dean of Lincoln, (fn. 128) died seised of a house, 189 a. of land and rent in Edmonton held of Geoffrey de Say for rent and suit of court and of Holy Trinity priory, the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and Richard le Keu for rent. Philip was succeeded by his brother Sir William Willoughby, then aged over 80, (fn. 129) but the estate, by 1342 described as a manor, (fn. 130) was apparently held by the Beaumont family in 1328. (fn. 131) On John, Lord Beaumont's death (1396) the manor of WILLOUGHBIES passed to his son Henry, a minor. (fn. 132)

The manor was enlarged by the acquisition by marriage of an estate originally belonging to the Aguillons. In the early 13th century Sir William Aguillon had land and tenants in Edmonton, (fn. 133) as had Sir Robert Aguillon c. 1255. (fn. 134) In 1286 Robert had died seised of demesne meadow land and rents, held of William de Say, (fn. 135) and his widow Margaret Rivers had held the property as dower until her death in 1292, when it had passed to Robert's daughter Isabel, wife of Hugh Bardolf, Lord Bardolf. (fn. 136) Their grandson John, Lord Bardolf, had granted his demesne meadow land to William Causton in 1337 (fn. 137) but the rest of his property in Edmonton seems to have descended to Thomas, Lord Bardolf (d. 1408), and through Thomas's daughter Joan and her husband William Phelip, Lord Bardolf, to their daughter Elizabeth who married John Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont (d. 1460), between 1425, and 1436. (fn. 138)

William, Viscount Beaumont, John's son, was attainted as a Lancastrian in 1461. The Yorkist William Hastings, Lord Hastings (d. 1483), was already drawing the profits of the manor, possibly as mortgagee, and in 1464 he was granted Willoughbies during the lifetime of Catherine, second wife of John, Viscount Beaumont (d. 1460). (fn. 139) In 1467 Hastings was granted, without any encumbrances, all Beaumont's estate in Edmonton and Tottenham, (fn. 140) and in 1475 he granted the manor to feoffees, (fn. 141) who in 1484 granted it to Hastings's widow Catherine. (fn. 142)

In 1485 Henry VII restored Willoughbies manor to William, Viscount Beaumont, who leased it in 1486 for life to Catherine Hastings and her son Edward. (fn. 143) The king, acting on behalf of Beaumont, who had lost his reason in 1487, confirmed the lease in 1505. (fn. 144) Beaumont died in 1507 leaving the children of his sister Joan (d. 1466) and her husband John, Lord Lovell, as his heirs. Since Joan's son Francis, Viscount Lovell, had died attainted in 1487, the Crown claimed Willoughbies after Beaumont's death. (fn. 145) In 1509 the king granted the manor as dower to William Beaumont's widow Elizabeth and her second husband John de Vere, earl of Oxford, (fn. 146) and in 1521 he granted the reversion in tail male to Sir Wistan Brown, knight of the body. (fn. 147) Brown was dead by 1543–4 (fn. 148) and the manor was held by his son John in 1546, when the king conveyed a reserved rent and the reversion on Willoughbies to Sir Philip Hobby, gentleman of the privy chamber, in an exchange. Hobby granted it for life to Queen Catherine, who died in 1548. (fn. 149)

By 1551 the manor of Willoughbies, consisting of a toft, 130 a., and 40s. rent in Edmonton and Tottenham, was in the hands of Jasper Phesaunt, who conveyed it in that year to John Machell. (fn. 150) Machell's son, John, conveyed it in 1597 to Peter Collet (d. 1607), merchant tailor of London, whose daughters and coheirs were Hester, wife of Sir Anthony Aucher, and Sarah, wife of Peter Hayman. (fn. 151) The Auchers' portion was alienated to Sir Ferdinando Heybourne, from whom it passed to Ferdinando Pulford and his mother Anne, who sold it in 1638 to George Pryor. In 1638 Pryor also bought the Haymans' portion from Sir John Melton, who had purchased it from Sir Peter and Henry Hayman in 1631. (fn. 152) On the death of George Pryor in 1675 the whole manor descended to his son Charles, who died without issue in 1700 after conveying the Edmonton portion of Willoughbies to his step–daughter Lucy, wife of William Beteress, dyer of London. Charles's sisters in 1701 vainly contested the title of Lucy's son William Beteress, (fn. 153) who in 1708 mortgaged the Edmonton portion, which by this date had become detached from that in Tottenham, to Dr. Arthur Wolley of London. (fn. 154) William's sister and heir, Lucy, sold the Edmonton estate in 1717 to William Buckle and William Smith of London, (fn. 155) whose son William conveyed it in 1764 to William Snell of London. (fn. 156) Snell conveyed it in 1767 to Nathaniel Chauncey, (fn. 157) whose heirs were still in possession in 1800. Charles Snell Chauncey was the owner in 1819. (fn. 158)

Willoughby Moat, which probably surrounded the medieval manor-house, was in 1801 and c. 1865 in south-east Edmonton near the border with Tottenham, east of Dyson's Road. (fn. 159) By 1619, however, the main house had been built just inside Tottenham parish. (fn. 160)

The manor of HOLY TRINITY priory, Aldgate, in Edmonton (fn. 161) derived from the 1/5 knight's fee held in the 12th century by Hugh Peverel. (fn. 162) Between 1235 and 1364 his grandson, also called Hugh Peverel, (fn. 163) conveyed the 1/5 fee, (fn. 164) which included the homage and customary services of tenants, a capital messuage (managium), at least 60 a. and rent to the canons in return for a corrody. (fn. 165) Between the 12th and 14th centuries, especially during the priorate of Richard de Temple (1222–48), Holy Trinity priory accumulated land and quit-rents in Edmonton from over 60 people. (fn. 166) There were some grants in free alms but most of the property was purchased in small amounts. Apart from Hugh Peverel, the most important grantors were the Heyruns and John FitzJohn. Ralph Heyrun and his two sons, Ralph and Robert, conveyed property in the early 13th century (fn. 167) and John Bucointe, who also held from the Heyrun fee, made further grants in 1203 (fn. 168) and 1217. (fn. 169) Many of the other grants were of land and rent held of the Heyrun fee and by 1242–3 Holy Trinity was being assessed for the ¼ knight's fee that had once been Ralph Heyrun's. (fn. 170) From John FitzJohn of Edmonton the priory obtained about 70 a. and rent between 1250 and 1265. (fn. 171) In 1253 the king granted the canons free warren in their demesne lands in Middlesex. (fn. 172)

Holy Trinity had a grange at Clapper's Green but it was leased out by 1303–14 (fn. 173) and the priory preferred to draw quit-rents rather than farm its estates directly. (fn. 174) Most of the estate was granted out for quit-rents (fn. 175) and the rest, mostly in northern Edmonton or the woodland in the south and west, was entirely leased out in 1328, when the priory derived some two-thirds of its income in Edmonton from quit-rents. (fn. 176) By c. 1380 some of the property had become merged in Adam Francis's estate (fn. 177) and when the priory was suppressed in 1532, the quitrents were cancelled because the property from which they issued was already in the hands of the Crown. (fn. 178) Some of the priory's demesne land in Edmonton was granted to St. Paul's in 1544 and was thereafter treated as part of Tottenham rectory. (fn. 179) After inclosure in 1801 the Edmonton portion of the estate totalled 67 a. in the south of the parish, east of the Bowes estate. Most was sold in 1930 and 1958–60. (fn. 180)

The rest of Holy Trinity's demesne, 150 a. of woodland in the west of the parish, was granted in 1543 to John Tawe and Edward Taylor, (fn. 181) who alienated it in 1545 to John Grimston of Edmonton. (fn. 182) Grimston granted the woods to his daughter Alice and her husband Nicholas Askew in 1546. (fn. 183) Alice's second husband Thomas Trussell sold the woods in 1564 to Geoffrey Walkeden, skinner of London, and his son Thomas, (fn. 184) who sold them in 1574 to William Cecil, Lord Burghley. (fn. 185) The Cecils retained the woodland longer than their other lands but the former Holy Trinity estate was split up during the early 17th century. Some was sold to John Clapham in 1614, (fn. 186) some to George Huxley of Weir Hall before 1627 (fn. 187) and some had become part of Sir William Curtis's estate by inclosure. (fn. 188)