MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
Until the
19th century much of Lew belonged to the royal
manor of Bampton and to its successor Bampton
Earls. (fn. 79) A separate estate in Lew and Weald,
built up by Osney abbey during the 12th and
13th centuries, was called LEW manor in 1542
and 1546, but in fact formed a member of the
abbey's manor or bailiwick of Black Bourton. (fn. 80)
Geoffrey Gibewyn gave six yardlands to the
abbey c. 1225, perhaps the 1½ hides held by
Hugh de Bolbec of Walter Giffard in 1086, (fn. 81) but
by 1279 two yardlands had become detached,
perhaps in connexion with a fine of 1198 or
following a dispute with the Belet family in
1227. (fn. 82) A rent charge of 24s. from Bampton
manor, part of a prebend of 60s. formerly held
by Peverel the priest and granted to the abbey
by the Empress Maud in 1141, was exchanged
c. 1170 by Matthew, count of Boulogne, for ½
yardland in Weald and a fishery at Rushey on
the river Thames, and during the 13th century
there were further small grants of meadows,
common rights, and fisheries. (fn. 83)
In 1542 most of the estate passed with the
abbey's other lands to the new cathedral of
Christ and St. Mary at Osney, and in 1546 to its
successor, Christ Church. (fn. 84) Two of the yardlands in Lew, then held in socage, became
detached and were acquired before 1633 by the
Wenmans of Caswell manor in Witney, (fn. 85) who
rented the other 2 yardlands, which were closely intermingled, from Christ Church. (fn. 86) The
combined leasehold and freehold estate, 156 a.
after inclosure, passed from Sir Francis Wenman
(d. 1640) to his relict Ann and son Sir Francis
(d. 1680), Bt., to Francis's son Sir Richard (d.
1690), Viscount Wenman from 1686, and to
Richard's relict Catherine (d. 1742), who married
James Bertie (d. 1699), earl of Abingdon,
and, later, Francis Wroughton (d. 1733) of
Eastcott (Wilts.). It then passed to Catherine's
grandson Philip (d. 1760), Viscount Wenman, and
his trustees, later descending with Thame Park
to Sophia Wykeham (fn. 87) who sold it in 1824. The
freehold part (c. 74½ a.) was bought by Thomas
Denton, purchaser of the Coventrys' share of
Bampton Earls manor, with which it was sold
after 1859 to John Jones of Worcester; Jones sold
his entire Lew estate (302 a.) in 1863 to Christ
Church, which in 1871 added the earl of Shrewsbury's land (c. 73 a.) and made further small
purchases later. (fn. 88) Christ Church sold most of its
Lew estate in 1985; (fn. 89) its remaining Weald tenement, on the site of Weald Manor Farm, was
sold with 5 a. in 1877. (fn. 90)
Osney abbey maintained no demesne farm or
manor house at Lew, and by the 17th century
the joint leasehold and freehold estate was centred on the later Manor Farm, formerly Lew
House or the Manor House, (fn. 91) which then as
earlier was let to tenant farmers. (fn. 92) There may
formerly have been two houses on the site, one
each for the leasehold and freehold farms, (fn. 93) but
until inclosure the curtilages remained confused and in 1818 the southern (then leasehold)
part contained only dilapidated farm buildings,
used from c. 1824 as a homestead for nearby
Morgan's Farm. (fn. 94) The existing house on the
northern (then freehold) part, a 'substantial
farmhouse' in 1824, was presumably that called
a mansion house in 1633, and said to be 'well
slated' in 1738; (fn. 95) a small 17th-century range
survives at its south-west corner, and was extended on the north-east in the 18th century.
The existing service wing, which runs northwest from the 17th-century range, seems to
have been added in the 19th century (fn. 96) but has
been partly rebuilt, and before 1848 additions
were made south-east of the main range perhaps
for Denton, who occupied the house in the
1840s. (fn. 97) In the later 19th century the house was
let with Lower (then Manor) farm; (fn. 98) in the later
20th it fell derelict, and was extensively remodelled c. 1985 (fn. 99) when former farm buildings
round a courtyard to the south-west were converted for domestic use.
An estate held in 1086 by Aretius the king's
minister, and lands owned in the later Middle
Ages by the Laundels family, are treated above. (fn. 1)
A freehold of 5½ yardlands, held in 1651 by
Francis Wenman (d. 1680), Bt., descended with
his other Lew estate to Philip, Viscount Wenman, who in 1747 sold it to Oxford university,
the owner until 1959. (fn. 2) Until 1769 it was let as
two farms and included two houses and homesteads, of which one, near Church and Lew
House Cottages, was given in exchange to
Jonathan Arnatt at inclosure in 1821, when it
was occupied by labourers. The other, later
University Farm, is of 17th-century origin and
was remodelled shortly before 1746, when the
kitchen cross-wing was probably added. By 1767
it was in disrepair and was used as a poorhouse,
and in 1809 it was labourers' accommodation; (fn. 3)
in the earlier 19th century it again became the
farmhouse for the university estate, then c. 200
a., and was repaired and extended southwestwards. (fn. 4) The university bought adjacent
tenements and closes to the east and south in
1895 from S. A. Saunder and Frances Stubbs,
whose grandfather Samuel Saunder had bought
them from the Jeeves family of Lew in 1824 and
1831. (fn. 5)