MANOR.
In 1279 c. 2 carucates in Lower
Haddon, later LITTLE HADDON manor, were
held of William de Valence by John of Haddon
for rent and tallage totalling 29s. 11d., perhaps
following a recent grant since the holding was
not mentioned in Henry Ill's bestowal of Bampton manor on William in 1248. (fn. 81) Before 1324
Aymer de Valence regranted the estate, later 10
yardlands, (fn. 82) to the same or another John in fee
simple, to be held of Bampton manor for quitrent of 29s. 11d.; (fn. 83) the sum was still owed in the
18th century, though in 1496 and later the manor
was said to be held for knight service as ½ or
1/10; knight's fee. (fn. 84)
John granted the estate to John Laurence de
la More, who before 1331 gave it to his son
Thomas (later Sir Thomas) de la More or at
More, knight of the shire in 1340, 1343, and
1351. (fn. 85) It passed probably to Thomas's son
Thomas (d. c. 1393), a royal justice, to that
Thomas's son Thomas (d. by 1424), to the
youngest Thomas's brother Robert More (fl.
1445), and to Robert's son John More (d.
1493); (fn. 86) thereafter it passed to John's relict Ellen
(d. 1495) and grandson John (d. 1542), to that
John's son Thomas (d. 1561), to Thomas's son
William (d. 1608), and to William's cousin John
More, to whom William's relict Hester gave up
a life interest. (fn. 87) In 1608 John conveyed a moiety
to his relative Bartholomew Peisley, who had
already acquired an interest and was then living
at Haddon, but the following year the moiety
was sold back. (fn. 88) John More later mortgaged the
estate, and in 1625 sold it to Sir Edward Yate
(d. 1645), Bt., of Buckland (formerly Berks.),
apparently to clear his debts; (fn. 89) it descended with
Buckland until the late 18th century, passing
through marriage in 1690 to the Throckmortons
of Coughton (Warws.). (fn. 90)
In 1793 trustees appointed by Sir Robert
Throckmorton (d. 1791) sold it to a firm of
Chipping Norton bankers, who in 1803 sold it
to Edward Whitaker of Bampton. Whitaker
heavily mortgaged the estate and died in 1825,
leaving it in trust, but by a Chancery order of
1834 full ownership was vested in the surviving
mortgagee, Rear Admiral Robert Jackson, who
had sued the trustees and beneficiaries under
Whitaker's will for non-payment of the interest
and capital. (fn. 91) In 1842 Jackson sold the estate to
George Churchill (d. 1857), duke of Marlborough,
who vested it in trustees; (fn. 92) though it was still called
a manor in 1845 manorial rights were not mentioned later and had probably lapsed, and
thereafter the estate was usually described as a
farm. Following an abortive sale in 1894 it was
sold by the Blenheim estate to the tenant, R. C.
Nisbet, between 1920 and 1924. (fn. 93)
There was a manor house presumably in 1279,
when John of Haddon held 6 yardlands in
demesne, and certainly by 1331, when Thomas
de la More was licensed to have an oratory in
his house there, (fn. 94) though until the 16th century
not all lords may have resided. (fn. 95) Probably the
house stood on the site of Lower Haddon Farm,
whose west wing contains on the ground floor a
richly moulded and beamed ceiling of the late
16th century or early 17th, and which was
presumably the house or 'capital messuage' with
a grange mentioned frequently between 1581
and 1625. (fn. 96) After the Mores sold the manor the
house was let to farmers, and was taxed on
probably 7 hearths in 1662 and 1665; (fn. 97) in the
18th century a central chimney was inserted, and
the large room with the beamed ceiling was
divided into two rooms and a passage, presumably following the demolition of an earlier
parlour wing on the west. A much-altered eastern cross wing, now containing an entrance hall,
staircase, and kitchen, was later enlarged by the
piecemeal addition of a parallel range along its
east side, and in the early 19th century the old
and new wings were both given a new south
front. The older parts of the house seem to have
been entirely refaced and refenestrated later in
the century.