LESSER ESTATES.
Land at HEADINGHILL
('Hevedlingell') with a pasture (vaccaria) there was
held in 1166-7 by Leon de Lohareng'. (fn. 30) Ten years
later Leon owed the same rent from the holding
but had been disseised of it by Alan de Neville. (fn. 31)
The estate passed to the Pavelys and may have
been one of the two pastures stocked for Reynold
Pavely when he acquired the manor of Westbury in
1173. (fn. 32) On the death of Walter Pavely in 1256
Headinghill was named as one of the estates making
up the manor of Westbury, (fn. 33) and in 1323 it was
said to be one of the manors making up the demesne
of Walter's son, another Walter Pavely. (fn. 34) On the
second partition of Sir John Pavely's lands in 1368
Headinghill, as part of the manor of Westbury, was
allotted to John St. Lo for his daughters Joan,
wife of Sir John Chidiock, and Eleanor, wife of
Thomas de Bradeston. (fn. 35) After the death of St. Lo
in 1375 Headinghill and the manor of Westbury
were divided between these two daughters and
Headinghill presumably descended with the capital
manor. (fn. 36) In 1740 land-tax for Headinghill in the
tithing of Bratton was payable by Mr. Houlton
and Jonathan Ballard. (fn. 37)
In 1323 there was said to be a capital messuage
with garden and a little grove at Headinghill
besides the arable, pasture, and meadow lands. (fn. 38)
At the time of the division of the estate between Joan
Chidiock and Eleanor of Bradeston the west part
of the court of Headinghill, with a chamber over
the gate, the 'dayhouse', and sheephouse were
allotted to Joan and her husband, while the east
part of the same court with the gate at the entrance
went to Eleanor and Thomas de Bradeston. (fn. 39) A
rent of £6 from the manor of Westbury and the
hamlets of Headinghill, Stoke, Melborne, and
Leigh, i.e. Joan and Eleanor's share of Sir John
Pavely's lands, was to be paid to Sir John's daughter,
Joan, wife of Ralph Cheyney. Headinghill is mentioned in connexion with this rent in 1420. (fn. 40)
An estate called REDLANDS is probably the same
as the vaccaria de Redelanda held in 1166-7 by
Alfric the cowherd. (fn. 41) Alfric continued to pay rent
for this until 1173-4 after when his name disappears from the Pipe Rolls. (fn. 42) It thus presumably
formed part of the capital manor, which was
granted away then, and has not been traced as a
separate estate until the 17th century. In 1682
Jeffery Whitaker paid rent to the lord of the manor
of Bratton for Redlands, (fn. 43) and in 1685 Henry
Whitaker devised the lease of Redlands to his son
Thomas. (fn. 44) In 1740 both Mrs. Susannah Whitaker
and John Whitaker Hinton were assessed for landtax for Redlands, (fn. 45) and in 1758 William Whitaker
devised his freehold estate of Redlands to his son
William. (fn. 46) In 1840 the property was owned by
Philip Whitaker (fn. 47) who was leasing a large part of
the Bratton Grange estate. (fn. 48) Redlands Farm, which
probably represents this estate, lies in the north of
the parish of Bratton. (fn. 49)
An estate, lying partly in BRATTON and partly
in DILTON, was in the 13th century held by the
Dauntseys. (fn. 50) In c. 1250 parts of this were alienated by
Richard Dauntsey to Richard of Dene, the chaplain of Dilton, Roceline of Bratton, Richard and
John of Bratton, Geoffrey Scudamore, Alan FitzWarin, Walter Pavely, Richard Burnel, Philip
Marmium, the Prior of Monkton Farleigh, the
church of Westbury, and others. (fn. 51)
The descent of some of these small estates can
be partially traced over a short period. Richard of
Bratton held land in Bratton by 1241 (fn. 52) and pasture
in Stoke by 1249. (fn. 53) Part of his property appears to
have passed to coheirs, for in 1281 John le Lung,
Maud his wife, William Sparkeling, Sarah his wife,
and Margery, sister of Sarah, conveyed, a messuage
and three virgates of land in Bratton to Geoffrey
of Bratton. (fn. 54) In 1304 Geoffrey conveyed his holding
in Bratton to Walter Pavely, retaining only a life
interest in the property for himself. (fn. 55) This part of
Bratton, together with the land there granted by
Richard Dauntsey to Walter's grandfather(see above)
presumably became merged in the capital manor
of Westbury. (fn. 56)
The land conveyed to Alan FitzWarin by Richard
Dauntsey passed to Nicholas FitzWarin, who forfeited it as a rebel in 1322. (fn. 57) It appears to have been
restored to his heirs and in 1349 was granted by
Margery, widow of Reynold FitzWarin, to her son
Robert. (fn. 58) The estate conveyed to Geoffrey Scudamore remained in his family until 1342, when it
was sold by Margery, wife of Sir Peter Scudamore,
to William son of Nicholas FitzWarin. (fn. 59) Land in
Bratton, which probably included these two holdings, was held by Sir William FitzWarin in 1361
when the reversion was granted to the Bonhommes
of Edington. (fn. 60)
The conveyances of Richard Dauntsey to Philip
Marmium and the church of Westbury probably
went to enlarge the manors already held by them in
Westbury. (fn. 61) His grant of land to the priory of
Monkton Farleigh was presumably added to two
virgates in Bratton which Ernulf de Mandeville
had given to the priory. (fn. 62) The monks had also
acquired an assart of 40 a. at Headinghill by grant
of Henry II c. 1185-9. (fn. 63) It was possibly early in
the 13th century that they granted their land in
Bratton, amounting to ½ hide, to Roger Cook in fee,
reserving a rent. (fn. 64) Nothing more is known of the
descent of this property except that it must eventually have passed to the house of Bonhommes at
Edington, and so was re-united with the manor of
Bratton.
The Lungs apparently did not alienate all their
property in Bratton in 1281 (see above). In 1325-6
Ralph le Lung of Coulston held land there, (fn. 65) and
in 1343-4 he and his wife Eleanor conveyed land
in Bratton and elsewhere to Nicholas Chamberlain. (fn. 66) In the same year Nicholas conveyed the
property to John of Edington, Ralph le Lung and
his wife retaining a life interest in each transaction. (fn. 67)
From John of Edington it passed in 1362 to the
religious house founded at Edington by his uncle,
William of Edington, Bishop of Winchester. (fn. 68) At
about the same date other parcels of land in Bratton
were given to the Bonhommes of Edington, possibly
by the descendants of those persons to whom
Richard Dauntsey alienated his holding. John
Videlu and Joan his wife gave some land there in
1373. (fn. 69) John Bonham and John Mareys gave a
messuage and land in 1392. (fn. 70) Other properties were
acquired by the rector in 1427 from John Frank,
Thomas Touke and others. (fn. 71)
The carucate in Bratton which Richard Dauntsey
retained for himself in 1250 (see above) passed with
the manor of Dilton until 1364 when Walter
Dauntsey conveyed it to Robert Gundevyne and
Thomas Jurdan, (fn. 72) who the same year obtained
licence to convey it to the Rector of Edington. (fn. 73)
In 1249 the Prior of Monkton Farleigh conveyed a
virgate of land at BROOKWAY ('Brocweye') to
Walter of Brookway. (fn. 74) Walter's father had previously acquired a wood called Holt from Robert de
Manners and both pieces of property were henceforth to be held of the prior for a rent of 7s. a year. (fn. 75)
The estate was probably in the south-west corner
of the modern parish of Dilton Marsh, and a farm
called Brookway Farm is marked there on the Tithe
Map of 1848. (fn. 76) In 1290 it was found that a conveyance of the estate, then said to comprise a messuage,
30 a. of arable, and 19 a. of meadow in Brookway
and Westbury, would be of no damage to the king,
but would deprive Walter Pavely of a suit every
three weeks at the hundred court. (fn. 77) The overlordship of the estate apparently remained with the
priory of Monkton Farleigh until the Dissolution.
In 1545 the estate was held by John Brookway and
a rent of 12s. from it was granted to John Adlam,
who at that date acquired the manor of Leigh
Priors which had also formerly belonged to Monkton Farleigh. (fn. 78)
This estate called SEWELLS or SHEWELLS
probably originated in the holding of the family of
Sewale. In 1280-1 Reynold de Sewale held 4 a.
in the hundred of Westbury. (fn. 79) In 1341 lands and
rent in Westbury, Heywood, Bratton, and Leigh
were settled upon Walter Sewale and Emma his
wife with remainder in tail to Walter son of Walter,
and remainder in default to Hugh FitzWarin and
Joan his wife. (fn. 80) Later the holding passed to the
Westbury family probably through the marriage of
Katharine, daughter of William FitzWarin, with
William of Westbury. (fn. 81) William of Westbury held it
at the time of his death in 1449 when it is described
as the manor of Sewales and was held of John
Seymour, (fn. 82) lord of the manor of Westbury Seymour. (fn. 83) Sewales passed, possibly in the same way
as Westbury Leversage, (fn. 84) to Sir James Ley who
was seised of it, then apparently called Shewells or
Sewells, at the time of his death in 1629. (fn. 85) The
exact location of this estate is unknown but in
1629 it was described as lying in Heywood, Bratton,
and Westbury; (fn. 86) it was then worth 40s. a year.
HAWKERIDGE was never described as a manor
but its existence as a separate estate can be traced
back to the 14th century. When the second partition of Sir John Pavely's lands was made in 1368,
Hawkeridge, then described as a hamlet, went to
Ralph Cheyney and his wife Joan, a daughter of
Sir John. (fn. 87) Ralph and Joan also received the manor
of Brook by this partition and Hawkeridge seems
to have descended with that manor to Charles,
Lord Mountjoy (d. 1606), who in 1599 sold tenements in Hawkeridge to Sir James Ley. (fn. 88) From
then on the estate followed the descent of the capital
manor of Westbury.
The family of Phipps of Heywood also had an
estate in Hawkeridge. This was sold in 1810 by
Thomas Peckham Phipps to George Dyer, who
also acquired from Thomas in the same year an
estate known as the Stert estate. (fn. 89)
An estate called LAYFIELDS was described as
a manor in the 16th century and was apparently a
part of the manor of Brook. (fn. 90) This, comprising 50 a.,
was sold in 1599 by Lord Mountjoy (d. 1606) to
Jasper More of Heytesbury. (fn. 91) The estate passed to
Jasper's two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Sir
William Guise, and the wife of Shilston Calmady.
Both shares were later united in John, son of Sir
William Guise, and in 1691 were conveyed by this
John's son, also called John, to Thomas Phipps.
At this time the property was farmed by Cuthbert
Elkins. The same year Thomas Phipps let the
estate to Rachel Gawen, widow, of Westbury for
lives, reserving suit to the manors of Dilton and
Chalford. In 1719 the estate was conveyed to Paul
Phipps (d. 1722) and from Paul it passed in the
Phipps family to Thomas Henry Hele Phipps
of Leighton House (d. 1841). In 1756 the estate
comprised two pieces of land called Great and
Lower Layfield, which lay in Brook. (fn. 92)
In 1682 land on the manor of BRATTON was being
leased by Sir Thomas Thynne (d. 1714) to Henry
Ballard. (fn. 93) Sir Thomas Thynne leased lands to
William Ballard, yeoman, in 1690, (fn. 94) and a Timothy
Ballard was one of the chief rent-payers on the
manor in the later 17th century. (fn. 95) In 1732 John
Aldridge Ballard had a freehold estate in Bratton
and other members of the Ballard family leased
lands there from the Marquess of Bath. (fn. 96) Some
time before 1830 the property of the Ballards in
Bratton appears to have passed by marriage to
Edward Seagram M.D. (fn. 97) In 1842 Edward Frowd
Seagram, of Bratton House, was leasing Grange
Farm and approximately 200 a. from Lord Bath
and had a freehold estate in Bratton of about the
same size. (fn. 98) Bratton House continued to be
occupied by members of the Ballard and Seagram
families until the beginning of the 20th century
when it passed, also by marriage, to the Diggle
family. (fn. 99) In c. 1934 it was bought by Sir Horace
Seymour. (fn. 1)
Bratton House was built in 1715 by William
Ballard and his initials with the date appear on the
rainwater heads. The original building is of three
stories and basement. It is rectangular in plan with
tall symmetrical fronts of 7 and 5 bays. The walls
are of brick, later cement rendered, and have stone
dressings. Above the central door on the south front
is a broken pediment and crest, while the doors on
the east and west fronts have stone shell hoods.
Internally there is a contemporary staircase. The
house has been enlarged at two different periods.