MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES
In the late Anglo-Saxon period all or part of Alvescot
belonged probably to the large royal manor of Bampton,
which was gradually broken up. (fn. 1) By the mid 11th
century most of the later parish was divided among three
manors of between 2 and 4 hides each, which became
merged into a single Alvescot manor by the mid 14th
century. From the 1360s to the Dissolution it was owned
by Edington monastery in Wiltshire, passing thereafter
to a number of mostly non-resident owners; from the
17th century it was gradually diminished by sales and
enfranchisement of holdings, resulting in the creation of
some sizeable freeholds owned by minor local gentry,
and by the mid 19th century, when still held with
manorial rights, it comprised under 300 acres. The only
other significant early estates were the so-called manor
of Puttes, owned in the Middle Ages by Cirencester
abbey, and a small glebe of under 30 a. belonging to the
rector. (fn. 2) The following account traces the main manors
and estates, and the houses on which they were centred.
Alvescot Manor
The manor of Alvescot, which included the site of the
church, was held in 1066 by Goda, and in 1086, as 2
hides, by the English thegn Saeric, with whose other
lands it passed before the early 12th century to Richard
de la Mare (fl. 1108 X 1123). (fn. 3) In the late 12th century it
was held by another Richard de la Mare, succeeded
before 1198 by his son Henry. (fn. 4) A relative, Odo de la
Mare, may have claimed some right in the early 13th
century, when part of a yardland was allegedly held of his
gift. (fn. 5) Then and presumably earlier the manor, with
Saeric's lands in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire, was held in chief by serjeanty of acting as usher for
the king's hall, or in 1242 of providing a knight to guard
the king's treasury, (fn. 6) one of several similar serjeanties in
the Bampton area which presumably originated as
services on the royal demesne before the Conquest. (fn. 7) The
service was still recorded c. 1300, but the manor was held
in chief in 1351 as ¼ knight's fee, and in 1401–2 (when
greatly enlarged) as ½ fee. (fn. 8)
From Henry (d. 1236 X 1239) (fn. 9) the manor passed to
his sister Gunnore and her husband Geoffrey son of
William, alias Geoffrey of Alvescot or of Alwoldsbury (d.
c. 1242). (fn. 10) Henry's widow Cecily seems to have claimed a
third as dower. (fn. 11) Gunnore died c. 1249, leaving as heir
either a son of Henry de la Mare, or the son of her uncle
Henry de Tracy; (fn. 12) both were minors, and the Crown may
briefly have granted the manor to Guy de Rochfort,
apparently lord in 1251 and 1253. (fn. 13) The lord about 1260
was Henry de la Mare, perhaps the elder Henry's son; he
was a notorious brigand who in the mid 1260s plundered several churches, including that at Alvescot, and
was subsequently killed escaping from Bampton prison.
The manor consequently escheated to the Crown, which
in 1267 granted it successively to William de Valence,
earl of Pembroke, to Robert Waleraund, and to Thomas
de Clare. (fn. 14) In 1276 Thomas exchanged his lands with
Robert Mucegros (d. 1280), who soon after granted
Alvescot to his mother Cecily as dower. (fn. 15)
Cecily was owner in 1285 (fn. 16) but died before c. 1300,
when the manor was held by Robert's daughter Hawise,
wife of John de Ferrers. Before 1316 she married Sir John
de Bures of Boddington (Glos.), and in 1330 they settled
the manor on themselves for their lives with remainder
to Richard of Monmouth and Parnel de Ferrers. (fn. 17)
Claims by the Pusey family, who alleged descent from
Henry de la Mare, were defeated, (fn. 18) and in 1343 Richard
son of Thomas of Monmouth quitclaimed the reversion
to Robert de la Beche and Simon Asshe, who succeeded
on John de Bures's death in 1350. (fn. 19) In 1352 they granted
the manor to Edmund de la Beche, archdeacon of Berkshire, who the same year granted it to William of
Edington, bishop of Winchester; in 1360 he granted it
with other lands in Alvescot to the newly founded
monastery of Edington (Wilts.), (fn. 20) which made further
acquisitions in the 1360s and retained the enlarged
estate until the Dissolution. (fn. 21)
In 1540 Alvescot was granted to Sir Anthony Hungerford (d. 1559) of Down Ampney (Glos.), and passed
apparently through the male line to Sir John (d. 1582),
Sir Anthony (d. 1589), and Sir John (d. 1634). (fn. 22) He, with
his son Anthony, his brother Sir Anthony (d. 1627), and
others, sold it in 1619 to Sir William Ashcombe, who in
1611 had acquired the residue of a 99-year lease to
Bartholomew Peisley of Bampton. (fn. 23) Ashcombe died in
1627, leaving as coheirs six infant daughters: Hester,
who married Sir Edward Alston; Ann, who married Sir
Thomas Longueville; Katherine, who married Robert
Hales; Mary, who married John Lenthall, son of the
Speaker; Frances, who married Sir Edmund Bray; and
Margaret, who married Robert Ashton. On Mary's and
her infant son's death in or before 1649 reversion of her
sixth was divided among the other coheirs, but in
1652–3, following various conveyances, all the portions
were sold to William Rainton (d. c. 1652) of Shilton
(then Berks.) and his father-in-law Charles Trinder of
Holwell, who also acquired reversion of lands held for
life by Ashcombe's widow Katherine and her second
husband Thomas Hales, Robert's father. (fn. 24)
Trinder greatly reduced the manor through sales and
conversion to freehold (fn. 25) and died in 1657, when the
remaining estate passed subject to various trusts to his
granddaughter Jane Rainton, who married Reginald
Bray (d. 1688) of Great Barrington (Glos.). (fn. 26) It passed
presumably to Reginald's son Edmund (d. 1725) and to
Edmund's son Reginald Morgan Bray, the lord in 1735, (fn. 27)
who in 1740 was succeeded by his sisters and coheirs
Mary, wife of John Blewitt of Salford, and Frances, wife
of Thomas Bushell of Cleeve Prior (Worcs.). The
Blewitts seem to have sold or surrendered their right to
Bushell, who took the surname Fettiplace; he died in
1767, leaving his lands in trust for his eldest son Robert
Fettiplace (d. 1799), with reversion to his younger son
Charles (d. 1805) and daughter Frances. Her son
Richard Gorges (later Gorges Fettiplace) succeeded in
1805. (fn. 28)
Richard died in 1806 leaving his estates to five sisters:
Elizabeth, wife of Charles Henry Sheldon; Meliora, who
married Deliverance Dacre; Mary (d. c. 1807), who
married Thynne Howe Gwynne; Diana; and Arabella.
Alvescot seems to have been settled in 1810 on Arabella,
who in 1813 married John Gwynne of Crickhowell
(Brecon), and died in 1839, leaving Alvescot and other
lands charged with payments to her husband, who had a
life interest. John established his right before 1847
following a Chancery suit, and died in 1852, when
trustees under Arabella's will sold most of the estate,
then only 230 a., in lots. Manor farm (73 a.) was separately sold in 1853, with manorial rights and quitrents, to
trustees of the former rector Thomas Neate (d. 1856)
and his son Arthur (d. 1870), the current rector, who in
1855 added Godwins (later Rectory) farm (c. 74 a.). (fn. 29) On
Arthur's death the estate was left in trust for his children
Thomas Arthur, Charles Burnaby, Revd Walter (rector
of Alvescot 1878–1917), and Eleanor, with provision for
his widow Eleanor (d. 1906), but by 1907 Charles
Burnaby Neate, a naval commander, had evidently
acquired full control. (fn. 30) His son Major A.C. Burnaby
Neate sold Godwins farm in 1920 but retained the lordship, (fn. 31) which in the 1980s was excepted from the sale of
Manor Farm by the Neates' descendant Mrs F. Hall. (fn. 32)
Manor Houses and Residence
The Medieval Manor House The de la Mares and
possibly Cecily de Mucegros seem to have lived in
Alvescot, (fn. 33) and in 1251 and 1253 Guy de Rochfort was
granted 20 cartloads of fencing wood (clausture) for
enclosing his 'court' there. (fn. 34) The 13th-century manor
house lay probably in Old Court ground north-east of
the church, where earthworks define a large rectangular
enclosure adjoining earlier settlement remains (Figs 4
and 5): (fn. 35) the site's proximity to the church and mill
suggests association with Alvescot rather than Alwoldsbury manor, (fn. 36) though as no 11th or early 12th-century
pottery has been found there may have been an earlier
house nearer the church. (fn. 37) The curtilage is bounded on
the north and east by a hollow way running towards the
mill, and on the west by a massive double ditch, part of
which seems to extend southwards beyond the curtilage.
Banks north-east of the enclosure near Shill brook, and a
circular platform within it, may be remains of fishponds
and of a circular dovecot, and a long narrow strip down
the curtilage's western edge was perhaps the garden
mentioned in the 14th century. In 1351–2 the house and
garden were worth nothing, (fn. 38) and ruinous demesne farm
buildings mentioned in 1439 (fn. 39) may have occupied a
different site. By the 16th century the demesne was
worked from Manor Farm near the Kencot—Black
Bourton road, (fn. 40) and in 1653 Old Court ground was a
vacant close. (fn. 41)
8. Butlers Court from the north
Butlers Court A new manor house, evidently that now
called Butlers Court, west of the green, (fn. 42) was adopted
presumably in the early 17th century by the resident
Ashcombes. (fn. 43) Sir William's widow Katherine was apparently resident in 1643–4: as one of an ardent royalist
family she entertained Charles I on 17 September 1643,
presumably at Butlers Court, during his march from
Gloucester to Newbury (Berks.), and in 1644 she
supplied grain for the Oxford garrison. (fn. 44) By 1652 the
manor house was leased, (fn. 45) and in 1659 Butlers Court and
its land were sold to John Saunders of Alvescot. (fn. 46) Later
owners included possibly Goddard Carter (d. 1725) and
his son-in-law Samuel Adams (d. 1750), rector of
Alvescot, (fn. 47) William Bolt, who from c. 1796 may have
resided, (fn. 48) and in the 19th century the Butler family of
Faringdon (then Berks.), one of whom lived there from
the 1850s to 1870s. (fn. 49)
The main four-bay range of the existing house, of
limestone rubble with a stone-slated roof, is of the earlier
17th-century, and was built probably for the
Ashcombes. The four-light mullioned windows with
individual hoodmoulds on the south front originally
served three rooms, with a staircase against the east
stack; the high assessment of 9 hearths in 1662 (fn. 50) perhaps
included outbuildings or remains of an earlier house. In
the 18th century a parallel north-east service wing was
added, and in the early 19th century the house was
heightened, and circulation was improved by insertion
of an east—west corridor and a staircase on axis with a
new south entrance. Later in the 19th century the west
service room was made into a dining room with a Gothic
bay-window, probably by Frederick Butler, and an east
entrance was created. The approach to the house was
changed to the north-west about 1924. (fn. 51) Two early
16th-century timber doorways, inserted in the main
corridor, seem to have been brought from elsewhere.
Lords of Alvescot from the mid 17th century to the
mid 19th were non-resident, (fn. 52) and Thomas, Arthur, and
Walter Neate, as rectors, occupied the rectory house. (fn. 53) A
member of the Neate family may have briefly lived in
Manor Farm about 1920. (fn. 54)
Alwoldsbury Manor
Four hides in Alwoldsbury, held in 1066 by the Saxons
Ealdwine, Saewold, and Eadwine, were granted before
1086 to Walter son of Ponz. (fn. 55) Overlordship descended
with Walter's other lands to the Hastings, Blakenham,
and St Philibert families, but seems effectively to have
ended by the late 14th century. The manor formed part
of a reputed barony, of which the Oxfordshire portion
was held as 1½ knight's fees. (fn. 56)
In the late 12th century or early 13th William of
Hastings granted or confirmed a knight's fee in Alwoldsbury and Stowell (Glos.) to William son of Geoffrey,
presumably the William who, with his mother Cecily,
alienated most of the Stowell land in 1192. Since
William and Cecily claimed through primogeniture
their family's lordship may have been long established. (fn. 57)
Alwoldsbury, held as ½ fee and later as a whole fee, (fn. 58)
passed to William's son Sir Bartholomew of Hethel (fl.
1250), before 1279 to Master William de la Mare, who
perhaps held in custody or by lease, and to Bartholomew's daughters Emme (fl. 1285–1316), wife of John de
la Penne, who received five sixths, and Alice, wife of
William de la Penne, who received the rest. (fn. 59) The larger
share passed before 1327 to Emme's son Adam de la
Penne (d. by 1349), who acquired additional lands from
his brother John, to Adam's widow Maud, and before
1356 to their son John, who that year granted the manor
to William Golafre. Golafre granted it in 1357 to
William of Edington, who in 1360 gave it to Edington
monastery, (fn. 60) and the Alwoldsbury estate became
absorbed into Alvescot manor. (fn. 61) Alice's sixth, not
mentioned later, may have been among various de la
Penne lands acquired by the monastery in the later 14th
century; a freehold in Alwoldsbury and elsewhere,
granted by Adam's brother Lawrence to Edmund de la
Beche in 1351, passed also to the monastery, and
presumably became part of the combined manor. (fn. 62)
Manor House
Thirteenth-century owners may have lived at Hethel
(Norfolk), (fn. 63) but John de la Penne was 'of Alwoldsbury' in
1315 and 1336, and, since the family dated or witnessed
several charters at Alwoldsbury or Alvescot, some
presumably resided. (fn. 64) Adam de la Penne held a house
with the demesne in 1333, but assuming that earthworks
north-east of the church mark the site of Alvescot manor
house no manorial site is known. (fn. 65)
Bromscott and Pemscott Manor
Two hides and a yardland at Bromscott and Pemscott
were held in 1066 by the Saxons Aeluric and Aelwin, and
in 1086, under Robert of Stafford, by the Norman
Goisbert. (fn. 66) The estate's later descent is unclear: in the
mid 13th century Gunnore de la Mare held one carucate
in Bromscott and Pemscott of Vivian de Staunden for
rent of 1 mark, (fn. 67) but though Robert de Staunden
claimed the estate in 1280 it may by then have formed
part of Alvescot manor, which in the early 14th century
was once called the manor of Alvescot, Bromscott, and
Pemscott. (fn. 68) Over 100 a. in Bromscott granted in 1351 by
Laurence de la Penne to Edmund de la Beche passed
probably to Edington monastery with Alwoldsbury
manor, (fn. 69) and no significant estates at Bromscott or
Pemscott were mentioned later. (fn. 70)
Puttes 'Manor'
An estate at Puttes, called in the mid 16th century the
manor or farm of Puttes Alscotte (or Alvescot), (fn. 71)
belonged until the 13th century to Clanfield manor.
Probably before 1200 it was subinfeudated to William
Baynel: in 1242–3 his heirs seem to have held ½ knight's
fee in Puttes and Clanfield under the lord of Clanfield,
who in turn held of the honor of St Valery. (fn. 72) Before 1279
the Puttes land, totalling 6½ yardlands and assessed at ¼
knight's fee, was given to Cirencester abbey (Glos.),
which retained it until the Dissolution, administering it
with lands in nearby Broadwell parish. (fn. 73) The lord of
Clanfield's mesne lordship continued in the 14th
century, and overlordship passed with the honor of St
Valery and later with that of Ewelme until the 19th
century. (fn. 74)
In 1542 the Crown granted the manor or farm of
Puttes, then a small inclosed estate, to Sir Thomas Pope
(d. 1559), with other Cirencester abbey lands. Thomas
settled it on himself and his wife Elizabeth (d. 1593), on
whose death it passed to his nephew Sir William Pope (d.
1631), later earl of Downe, and to William's grandson
Thomas Pope (d. 1660), earl of Downe. (fn. 75) Before 1670 it
was apparently sold with other lands to the lawyer
Ambrose Holbech (d. 1662) or his son Ambrose (d.
1701), (fn. 76) and in 1671 Holbech and others sold the farm of
Puttes, Pitts, or Pitlands, then 2½ yardlands, in two
halves, (fn. 77) which passed by the mid 19th century to the
Godwin and Nalder families. (fn. 78) No manorial rights are
known.
Lesser Estates
Shield Farm Estate
An inclosed estate of some 136 a., chiefly former
demesne north of Alvescot village, was sold by Charles
Trinder in 1653 to Thomas Hales and his wife Katherine
(Ashcombe), evidently reserving 8s. 6d. quitrent. Hales
sold the estate in 1658 to John Wheeler of Minster
Lovell, who before 1664 built for it a 'fair mansion
house', later called Shield or Shill Farm. (fn. 79) In 1671
Wheeler settled both house and estate on his son John,
who in 1673 sold them to William Blake of Cogges;
Daniel Blake sold them in 1725, charged with charitable
annuities, to Simon Harcourt, Viscount Harcourt,
whose descendant the Revd William Vernon Harcourt
sold them in 1867 to John Nalder of Alvescot. (fn. 80) Nalder's
executors sold the estate, still charged with the Blake
charity annuities, in 1909. (fn. 81)
Shield Farm, (fn. 82) demolished about 1937, (fn. 83) was a large
stone-built house with a hipped, stone-slated roof, built
on an L-plan. It had a symmetrical south-facing front of
3 bays, and was 2-storeyed with cellars and attics, the
latter lit by dormer windows. Stone steps led to the
central doorway, which opened into a hallway leading to
the four principal downstairs rooms; service rooms were
in the projecting north wing. In 1681 there were 16
rooms excluding closets, and the house was taxed on
probably 15 hearths in 1662 and 13 in 1665, the highest
assessment in the parish. (fn. 84) Three downstairs rooms,
called the hall, dining room, and little parlour in 1681,
were wainscotted. John Wheeler the elder may have
briefly lived there around 1664 when he requested a pew
in Alvescot church, (fn. 85) but the house and land were
usually let to tenant farmers until the early 20th
century. (fn. 86) By 1909 the house was 'dilapidated', and
evidently remained so until its demolition. (fn. 87) A nearby
farmhouse for a tenant, 'new built' in 1681, was
mentioned in 1723 but not later. (fn. 88)
Park and Rectory Farms
Farms and estates acquired by various members of the
Kirby family during the 17th and 18th centuries passed,
in the late 18th century, to Walter Kirby (d. 1801), who
at inclosure held four houses and 260 acres. (fn. 89) The larger
part, including Rectory and Park farms, passed after his
death to members of the Godwin family, who in 1855
sold Rectory farm to the Neates, then lords of Alvescot. (fn. 90)
Park Farm, on the edge of the former green near
Lower End, was perhaps the house formerly called
Crutchfields, which was detached from Alvescot manor
in 1653, and acquired by Richard Kirby (d. 1696) in
1657 with a yardland, closes, and a parcel in a nearby
common ground called the Park. (fn. 91) The existing
L-shaped building (Fig. 9) includes remains of a gabled
17th-century house of two storeys and attics, with an
original north stack, beams and roof timbers, and a west
stair-projection. That house's south end was replaced by
a classical, ashlar-faced, two-storeyed range of three bays
with a central entrance hall and staircase, built at right
angles probably in 1741 by Richard Kirby (d. 1756): his
initials, with that date, were formerly on the east gable. (fn. 92)
Perhaps at the same time the east front of the north-east
range was refaced in ashlar, the house was reroofed, and
a service outshut was added in the rear angle. The stone
hood over the 17th-century east entrance, matching that
on the main front, may be later, and panelling in the west
room is imported. Resident owners, besides Richard
Kirby, may have included his nephew James Kirby (d.
1793) and James's wife Margaret, (fn. 93) whose initials appear
on an adjacent barn with the date 1770. (fn. 94) Walter Kirby
subsequently let the house to a local farmer, and it
remained a farmhouse until the late 20th century. (fn. 95) In the
19th century a rubble-built bakehouse and storeroom
were added at the north end, which was remodelled in
the 20th century with a conservatory on the west.
9. Park Farm from the south-east
Outbuildings to the west of the house include the fine
stone barn of 1770, with its original queen-strut roof.
Others are a cattle shelter with cylindrical piers, and a
former stable and hayloft which was converted into a
house about 1992. Seventeenth-century mullioned
windows, two of them timber, survived in the stable c.
1989, (fn. 96) and came presumably from the house.