Edburton: Manors and other estates

MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.

No manor of Edburton was recorded in 1086, but what was later the manor seems likely to be 2½ hides of the 4 hides of Paythorne in Fulking, which Levenot held of King Edward in 1066, the 2½ hides being held in 1086 of William de Braose apparently by Levenot. (fn. 1) They seem to have passed to the archbishop of Canterbury, from whom William de Braose held a fee in Edburton in the 1210s. (fn. 2) The mesne tenancy of that fee descended with the rape until 1279 or later, (fn. 3) and c. 1285 it was called EDBURTON manor. (fn. 4) By that date it had come to be held with Perching in Fulking, with which it afterwards descended in the Poynings family and the family of Browne, Viscounts Montague, until the later 18th century. When Perching was resumed by the Crown at that period, (fn. 5) Edburton passed with other former Montague estates to W. S. Poyntz, (fn. 6) who in 1836 sold Edburton farm to the Crown. (fn. 7) About 1841 it comprised 317 a. (fn. 8) It was sold by the Crown in 1984 to the National Freight Consortium plc. (fn. 9)

Aburton Farm, (fn. 10) the manor house of Edburton manor, is a spacious early 17th-century building with walls of squared clunch, red brick dressings, and ovolo-moulded oak window frames. The main east-west range has two external chimneystacks on the south side, and may once have had a south wing at its west end. Some internal refitting was done in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the west end and part of the south front were remodelled in the early 20th century. Stone fragments apparently of 16thcentury date existed in the garden of the house in 1958. (fn. 11) The attached farm buildings include a dovecot of unusual form. (fn. 12)

The manor of TRULEIGH was held by Bedling of Earl Godwin before 1066, and by William, a knight, of William de Braose in 1086. (fn. 13) The overlordship later descended with Bramber rape. (fn. 14) In the 19th century the manor occupied the western half of the parish. (fn. 15)

William of Northo apparently had an interest in Truleigh manor in 1316, (fn. 16) and in 1332 both he and his sister-in-law Nichole of Hartridge were taxed in Edburton. Nichole's son-in-law John Percy (fn. 17) may have had an interest in the manor by 1334, (fn. 18) and in 1339 died seised of a moiety held of the rape with Woodmancote as 1¼ fee. (fn. 19) His widow Elizabeth and her second husband William Burton were dealing with the moiety in 1341-2, (fn. 20) and John of Farnborough, William Fillol, and others were dealing with it in 1354-5. (fn. 21) William of Northo died seised of what was evidently the other moiety in 1338; (fn. 22) it afterwards passed from his son William (fl. 1357-8) to Michael Poynings, (fn. 23) thereafter descending with Poynings until 1531. (fn. 24) In that year Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, conveyed the entire manor of Truleigh to Sir Thomas Nevill, (fn. 25) who conveyed it in 1540 to Richard Bellingham; (fn. 26) another Richard Bellingham, apparently the latter's grandson, (fn. 27) died seised of it in 1592. (fn. 28)

In 1593 (fn. 29) and 1597 (fn. 30) Truleigh belonged to Sir Thomas Shirley of Wiston (d. 1612), (fn. 31) and in 1610 to Sir Benjamin Pellatt (fn. 32) (d. 1637), who was succeeded by three granddaughters and coheirs, Anne, Catherine, and Rose. (fn. 33) Catherine and her husband William Hippisley (fn. 34) in 1653 acquired Anne's share of the manor. (fn. 35) After William's death in 1657 (fn. 36) Catherine sold her interest in 1662 to George Kilner, who also bought Rose's share in 1665, (fn. 37) by which date he had the whole manor. (fn. 38) Kilner's niece (fn. 39) Mary Olive, a widow, mortgaged the manor in 1681, and in 1682 and 1694 the manor court was held in the name of John Olive, (fn. 40) presumably her son. (fn. 41) In 1705 he sold the manor to Robert Leeves, whose son and heir, (fn. 42) also Robert (d. 1744 × 1749), devised it to his brother Samuel. In 1776-7 it belonged jointly to Samuel's three coheirs, who were surnamed Lamport, Johnson, and Edwards. (fn. 43) Charles Johnson Gogney (d. 1781 or 1782), apparently the younger Leeves's nephew, (fn. 44) devised a third to his widow Elizabeth, and in 1782 the whole manor seems to have been settled on Henry Johnson.

Johnson was described as lord in 1785 and later; (fn. 45) he died between 1797 and 1799, and his widow or his son and namesake sold Truleigh in 1803 to Nicholas Hall. Hall sold it in 1814 to George Wyndham, earl of Egremont, (fn. 46) after which it descended with Coombes (fn. 47) until Charles Wyndham, Lord Leconfield, sold first, in 1920, the demesne land, and later, in 1925, the manor, to John C. Buckwell. (fn. 48) By 1927 Truleigh had passed to Capt. L. N. Masters, (fn. 49) and in 1933 it was bought by V. L. Windus (d. 1950), whose son, R. L. Windus, owned it in 1984. (fn. 50)

Capital messuages on each of what appear to have been the two moieties of Truleigh manor were mentioned in 1338-9. (fn. 51) The south side of Truleigh Farm, the manor house of Truleigh manor, may incorporate the flint rubble walls of an older building, but the house is substantially 18th-century. There was some internal refurbishment in the early 19th century, and the house was extended on the east and north sides in castellated style in the 1920s. The large collection of farm buildings, mostly 19th-century, includes a castellated dovecot, presumably also of the 1920s.

A ½ hide which had apparently formed part of Truleigh manor in 1066 was held of it in 1086 by Ansfrid. (fn. 52) Its location is not known.

Summers Deane presumably gave rise to the surname Somerdenn recorded in Edburton in 1296. (fn. 53) In 1361 and 1389-90 Summersdeane farm was held with Horton manor in Upper Beeding; at the latter date it comprised 60 a. (fn. 54) It may have continued to descend with Horton, since it also belonged to the lord of that manor c. 1841, when it had 196 a. in Edburton, (fn. 55) and in 1910. (fn. 56) The descent has not been traced further.