MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.
Beornwulf,
King of Mercia 823–5, granted 15 hides at Standish
under Evesbury to St. Peter's, Gloucester. (fn. 87) With
others of the abbey's estates it was held in 1066 by
Aldred, Archbishop of York, and in 1086 by his
successor, Thomas. It was then assessed as 15 hides,
of which the abbot had one, Hugh, Earl of Chester,
had one unjustly, and Durand the sheriff had 3, (fn. 88)
but those fragments of the 15-hide estate may have
been outside the boundaries of the later parish of
Standish. (fn. 89) In 1086 King William granted possession
of Standish to Gloucester Abbey, (fn. 90) and in 1095
Thomas, Archbishop of York, rendered Standish
along with other estates to the abbey. (fn. 91)
Gloucester Abbey retained STANDISH manor
until the Dissolution. In 1291 it had 4 plough-lands
there in demesne, (fn. 92) and in 1354 was granted free
warren there. (fn. 93) In 1202 Bishop Mauger of Worcester
confirmed a grant by which the abbot, Thomas
Carbonel, was said to have restored to the abbey
almonry the whole manor except for a pension of 4
marks paid to the abbot. (fn. 94) In 1301 the Archbishop
of Canterbury intervened to prevent the profits of
the manor from being used to supply the monks with
a sumptuous table at Standish; he upheld the arrangements made by Abbot Thomas, and enjoined that all
the issues were to be delivered to the subalmoner for
distribution as alms. (fn. 95) In or before 1324 the manor
was taken into the king's hand (fn. 96) because the abbot
had, 10 years earlier, withdrawn the alms of a
quarter of corn a week by which the manor was
said to be held, but the abbey regained possession
after showing that the charter of 1086 was a grant
in free alms. (fn. 97) In 1347, however, Bishop Bransford
confirmed his predecessor's confirmation of 1202. (fn. 98)
In the early 16th century the alms were distributed
at Gloucester in corn, in gowns, and small cash
sums to 13 poor men, and in a weekly disbursement
of 8d. known as the abbot's almsdish, but because
that method attracted a disorderly and infectious
crowd Abbot Malvern replaced it by instituting
the fraternity of the Holy Cross, to comprise a prior
and 12 other poor men including preferably former
tenants of Standish called Peter's Men, who would
attend daily services in the abbey church and receive
gowns and doles of cash and bread. (fn. 99) In 1535 the
gross income from Standish manor, £125 a year, was
much higher than that from any of the abbey's other
country estates; from the income £29 was distributed
in money and food to 13 paupers praying for the
soul of King Beornwulf, and £63 in other alms. (fn. 1)
The Crown granted the manor in 1547 to the
Duke of Somerset, (fn. 2) and in 1552, after the duke's
attainder, to Sir Anthony Cooke. (fn. 3) In 1556 the Crown
licensed the sale of the manor to Thomas Winston
and Richard Stephens, (fn. 4) who in the same year agreed
upon a division of the manor. Stephens was to have
the manor-house, demesne lands, and mills, which
George Huntley then held (fn. 5) under a lease of 1537
to his father John. (fn. 6) Richard Stephens was licensed
to alienate ⅓ of his estate in Standish to Walter
Stephens and another ⅓ to Edward Stephens; (fn. 7)
Edward was Walter's brother, and his heir in 1559, (fn. 8)
and in 1561 and 1562 lived at Standish. In 1561,
however, Richard and Edward Stephens sold all
their property in Standish to Thomas Winston and
his wife Anne. (fn. 9)
Thomas Winston (d. 1562) was succeeded by his
infant son Henry, (fn. 10) who came of age in 1581. (fn. 11)
Henry became Sir Henry Winston of Standish, (fn. 12)
whose daughter and eventual coheir Sarah married
John Churchill and carried the name Winston
into the Churchill family. (fn. 13) Sir Henry Winston was
succeeded in 1609 by his son Henry, (fn. 14) who with his
wife Cassandra conveyed Standish manor to
William Button in 1611. (fn. 15) From William Dutton
(d. 1618) the manor passed to his younger son Sir
Ralph, (fn. 16) who died in 1646 (fn. 17) leaving an infant son
William as his heir. (fn. 18) From William Dutton (d.
1675) the manor descended with the Duttons'
Sherborne estate, (fn. 19) although in 1818, before the
first Lord Sherborne's death, Standish belonged
to his son John, (fn. 20) who in 1839, as Lord Sherborne,
had 1,750 a. in Standish. (fn. 21) John's great-grandson,
James Huntley Dutton, Lord Sherborne, in 1921
sold his Standish estate, which had been enlarged by
small purchases, to the Gloucestershire County
Council. Although the council sold some of the
land, (fn. 22) it remained the chief landowner in 1939 (fn. 23) and
in 1967.
The chief house of the manor was Standish
Court. The buildings were described in detail in
1548: they were mostly of stone and included a hall
23 ft. wide, a parlour 18 ft. wide with a freestone
fireplace, 10 chambers of which one was 30 ft.
wide and another had a freestone fireplace and two
glazed windows, two stairways, and outbuildings
including a dovecot. The porch mentioned in 1548
was apparently the gatehouse, (fn. 24) built in the 14th or
15th century, of which the ruined archways have
survived. The medieval house may have included a
chapel, for a decayed chapel of St. Mary was
recorded c. 1703. (fn. 25) Although features such as the
stream and fishpond recorded in 1548 have survived in a modified form, the only part of the living
quarters still existing in 1967 was a two-story
rough-cast wing: the west wall contains four
windows with stone mullions and four-centred
heads to the lights, and the wing is identified with the
buildings described in 1548 by its 18-ft. width and
by the existence of a projecting stone stairway and
an early-16th-century stone fireplace on each floor,
the lower one panelled on the chamfer. South-west
of the wing and at right-angles to it, where the hall
is likely to have been, a two-story stone range was
built in the later 17th century, with mullioned and
transomed windows and a segmental hood on
brackets over the main door. Subsidiary buildings
of coursed rubble adjoining the range on the south
and west may have been built at the same time or
later.
The house was occupied by the lord of the manor,
Sir Henry Winston, in 1590, (fn. 26) by his son Henry in
1610, (fn. 27) and by Sir Ralph Dutton in 1631 (fn. 28) and
1634. (fn. 29) In 1672 William Dutton lived there, and the
house had 9 hearths. (fn. 30) It was apparently let as a
farm-house by 1735, (fn. 31) and it remained one until
the sale of the estate in 1921. In 1923 F. Winterbotham bought the house and began to restore it; (fn. 32)
it was presumably then that the new Standish Court
Farm was built. Winterbotham sold the house c.
1935 to Sir Philip Stott, Bt., whose son, Sir George,
sold it in 1946 to Mr. L. A. Beck. Eleven years later
Mr. Beck converted the house and its outbuildings
into seven dwellings and sold them separately. (fn. 33)
Between 1618 and 1646 Sir Ralph Dutton was
licensed to sell what was then described as the manor
of COLETHROP to Giles Yate. (fn. 34) Giles Yate of
Colethrop was succeeded c. 1675 by his son William,
whose younger son Charles succeeded to the Colethrop estate. Charles died in 1721, and left as his
heirs six daughters of whom Dorothy received
Colethrop and married Powell Snell, of Guiting
Grange. Charles, the third son of Dorothy and
Powell Snell, sold Colethrop manor, with 278 a.,
to Samuel Niblett, of Gloucester, (fn. 35) in 1770. (fn. 36)
Niblett, who died in 1798, came of a family that
included Andrew Niblett, a parishioner of Standish
in 1584, (fn. 37) and several others of the same surname in
the 17th century. (fn. 38) Samuel Niblett's grandson,
Daniel John Niblett, had 470 a. in Colethrop in
1843. (fn. 39) He also owned Haresfield Court, with which
Colethrop thereafter descended. (fn. 40) The chief house
of the Colethrop estate, Colethrop Court, (fn. 41) was
presumably the house with 8 hearths occupied by
Mr. Yate in 1672. (fn. 42) The old house, described as a
handsome seat c. 1710 (fn. 43) and as a large capital
mansion c. 1770, (fn. 44) had been pulled down by 1872, (fn. 45)
and by 1882 a new farm-house called Manor Farm,
and later Colethrop Court or Colethrop Farm,
occupied the site. (fn. 46)
Between c. 1260 and c. 1280 William of Colethrop
was succeeded in Colethrop by his son, John of
Colethrop. (fn. 47) John of Colethrop c. 1300 and in 1315
made what appear to have been settlements of his
lands in Colethrop. (fn. 48) In 1362 Joan, late the wife of
John Ditchley, granted evidently the same estate to
Roger Norris, (fn. 49) to whose son John the lands were
confirmed in 1379 (fn. 50) and 1381. (fn. 51) In 1435 Hugh
Twissell and his wife Joan settled an estate partly in
Standish of Joan's inheritance; (fn. 52) in 1461 John
Twissell and his wife Joan settled ah estate in
Colethrop that included a pasture called the Haye. (fn. 53)
The grouping of deeds relating to the Twissells'
estate suggests that it was derived from that of
William of Colethrop. (fn. 54) In 1500 or 1501 Robert
Twissell died having settled an estate including
300 a. of pasture called the Haye, 200 a. of meadow
in Standish, and 40 a. of arable in Colethrop. His
widow Margaret and his son and heir George (fn. 55)
further settled the estate in 1503. (fn. 56) George Twissell
died holding land in Standish in 1534, (fn. 57) and in
1539 Edward Twissell held an estate called THE
HAYES, (fn. 58) for which he paid an assized rent to
Standish manor. (fn. 59)
Edward Twissell sold all his lands in Standish
in 1546 to William Capell and his son Edward, and
William conveyed all his interest to Edward Capell
the following year. In 1581 and 1592 the estate
belonged to Richard Capell, whose son and heir
Richard mortgaged it in 1602 to Gregory Wiltshire.
In 1616 Gregory had an estate of over 200 a. in
Standish and Colethrop, (fn. 60) formerly Richard Capell's;
in 1624 he was bankrupt, (fn. 61) and his conveyance of
land in Standish, Hayes, and Colethrop to Thomas
Browne, Thomas Pury, and James Wood in 1634 (fn. 62)
may have been for the sale of the estate. In 1775 the
Hayes belonged to a Mr. Buckle, (fn. 63) and it is possible
that Roger Buckle owned it in 1672 when he had a
house in Colethrop or Hardwicke. (fn. 64) By 1797 Thomas
Martin had bought the Hayes; (fn. 65) in 1843 Mary
Martin owned and occupied it, with 175 a. (fn. 66) It was
afterwards added to the Nibletts' Haresfield Court
estate, and was owned in 1967 by Miss A. Tidswell. (fn. 67)
There is no indication that any of the owners of
the Hayes between the early 14th century and the
early 17th lived in Colethrop, and most of those
recorded are known to have lived elsewhere. Hayes
Farm was built in the 17th century, perhaps by
Gregory Wiltshire; it is a three-storied house of
stone with a Cotswold stone roof and has a nearly
symmetrical front of three gables. Inside is a fireback dated 1661. Roger Buckle's house in 1672 had
4 hearths. (fn. 68) In or before 1775 Mr. Buckle appears to
have occupied the land himself, as did his successors
the Martins. (fn. 69) The house was thoroughly restored in
1947 as Miss Tidswell's home.
Another estate in Colethrop had been part of
Llanthony Priory's manor of Haresfield. (fn. 70) In
1543 Richard Andrews was licensed to sell to William
Bond lands in Colethrop, which were then occupied
by Alice Bond, widow. (fn. 71) In 1597 John Bond died
seised of lands in Colethrop, and his heir was his
infant grand-daughter Mary Young, who later
married Edmund Snow. (fn. 72) Edmund, Mary, and
Thomas Young conveyed the estate in 1620 to
Thomas Clissold, (fn. 73) and afterwards it is likely to
have become merged in the Colethrop manor
estate. (fn. 74)
About 1775 George Fielder bought from the lord
of Standish manor a considerable estate in Putloe. (fn. 75)
Elizabeth Fielder, daughter of George and sister of
another George, married William Croome (d. 1802)
of North Cerney, and their son James Fielder
Croome owned the Putloe estate in 1803. (fn. 76) In 1818
James Fielder Croome owned PUTLOE COURT,
Putloe Farm, and Gables Farm, (fn. 77) and in 1823 his
Putloe estate amounted to 279 a. (fn. 78) He died in 1836,
and in 1843 his trustees owned 327 a. in Standish
parish; (fn. 79) his only son, James Fielder Croome, died
unmarried in 1853, his widow Mary in 1862, and
his only daughter, Mary Elizabeth, wife of George
Pardoe, without children in 1903, (fn. 80) and the estate
passed to a younger branch of the family. The
Revd. William Michell Croome, great-grandson of
William and Elizabeth, (fn. 81) sold Putloe Court in 1920
to the tenant, William George Sealey, for whose wife
and son, Mr. Lawrence Sealey, Putloe Court
and 330 a., including Church farm and Barracks
farm in Moreton Valence, were held in trust in
1967. (fn. 82) Putloe Court incorporates a timber-framed
structure, but the main part is a square building of
c. 1700 of cream and red brick with stone dressings
and platbands. A barn by the house has numbered
posts and trusses, braced with curved struts; the
upper members of the trusses are themselves curved,
forming small upper crucks.
The great tithes of Standish belonged to Gloucester Abbey, as appropriator of the rectory. (fn. 83) In 1541
the Crown granted the rectory and tithes to the see
of Gloucester, (fn. 84) and the bishop owned most of the
great tithes in 1839, when they were commuted for
corn-rents. The tithes were held at the time on lease
by the three major landowners, and some land was
successfully claimed as tithe-free. (fn. 85)