MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.
The manor of GREAT DAWLEY, sometimes styled Dawley Pantulf, (fn. 90) was considered a member of Wellington manor and was held by Grim at some time
before 1086. In 1086 Roger of Montgomery, earl
of Shrewsbury by 1074, held it in chief and
William Pantulf held it under him. (fn. 91) The tenancy
in chief was evidently forfeited after 1102 and,
with the other estates held by William in 1086,
Great Dawley became a member of the Pantulfs'
barony of Wem; the township's constable continued to attend the court at Hinstock until 1851
or later. (fn. 92)
Great Dawley was held of the barons of Wem
by a younger branch of the Pantulfs descended
from Ralph Pantulf, who was recorded c. 1170-c.
1192. His son William, who had succeeded by
1199, was dead by 1203 and Dawley passed to
William's son or brother, Alan. Alan's heir, Adam
Pantulf, was a minor in 1218 and was dead by
1240, when Great Dawley was held by his heirs. (fn. 93)
In 1255 there were four coparceners: William of
Caverswall, Richard Irish, Michael of Morton,
and Christine of Dawley, wife of John of
Charnes. (fn. 94) In 1304 they were said to be descendants of the four sisters and coheiresses of Hugh,
son of John 'de Pauncefot' (recte Pantulf?). (fn. 95)
William of Caverswall conveyed his share to his
coparcener Michael of Morton c. 1258 but reserved an annual rent of £3 13s. 4d. as mesne lord.
Richard Irish's portion descended to Richard
Irish of Dawley, who settled his estates on his son
William and his heirs in 1292; (fn. 96) Richard Irish
owned it in 1304 (fn. 97) but it has not been traced
beyond that date. Michael of Morton's moiety had
passed to his son Michael by c. 1285 (fn. 98) and descended to William of Morton, clerk, by 1316. (fn. 99)
The Charnes' quarter had descended by c. 1285 to
Reynold of Charnes, (fn. 1) still the owner in 1310. (fn. 2)
The descent of the manor in the earlier 14th
century is obscure, but by 1346 (fn. 3) the Morton
moiety had passed to Richard, earl of Arundel,
and the Charnes portion to Roger of Oakley,
husband of Isabel, daughter and coheir of William
of Charnes. (fn. 4) Arundel's interest in the manor was
recorded from 1345 (fn. 5) and he consolidated his
tenure in 1354 when Roger and Isabel sold him
their quarter of the manor. (fn. 6) Thereafter until 1560
the manor descended with the earldom of Arundel, except for the period of its annexation to
Richard II's principality of Chester (1397-1400) (fn. 7)
and a life grant to Sir Roland Lenthall's wife
Margaret (d. 1423). (fn. 8) In 1560 Earl Henry sold
Great Dawley to Rowland Hayward (kt. 1570),
lord mayor of London 1570 (fn. 9) and the purchaser of
Little Dawley in 1590. (fn. 10) On Hayward's death in
1593 both manors passed successively to his sons
George (kt. 1604, d. 1615) and John (kt. 1619). (fn. 11)
In 1623 Sir John sold Great Dawley, except for a
72-a. estate, to Fulke Crompton. (fn. 12) By his will
dated 1642 Crompton settled the manor on his
wife Mary for her life, with reversion to their
children Fulke and Frances. (fn. 13) Mary Crompton, a
royalist, was in possession by 1645 and continued
to take the profits until 1652, when Eyton Crompton, a Parliamentarian, claimed the manor, and the
estate was sequestrated for Mary's delinquency. (fn. 14)
In 1655, however, the manor was settled under
the terms of Fulke Crompton's will on Frances
Crompton on her marriage with Clement Throckmorton of Haseley (Warws.). In 1672 she sold
Great Dawley to Robert Slaney (d. 1706) of
Hatton Grange, (fn. 15) with whose descendants it remained until 1900.
In 1696 Slaney settled the estate on his second
son Robert in tail male. On the younger Robert's
death without male issue in 1728 the manor
passed to his elder brother's son Robert Aglionby
Slaney (d. 1757). (fn. 16) Thereafter the estate passed
from father to son, the following being lords:
Plowden (d. 1788), Robert (d. 1834), and Robert
Aglionby. On R. A. Slaney's death in 1862 (fn. 17) his
estates were divided between his daughters, Great
Dawley passing to Frances Catherine (d. 1896),
wife of William Kenyon, who assumed the additional name and arms of Slaney in 1862. Their son
Col. W. S. Kenyon-Slaney, M.P. for Newport,
succeeded to the property, and sold the remaining
manorial estate at Dawley (c. 300 a.) in 1900. (fn. 18)
Dawley Castle, the medieval manor house of
Great Dawley, lay c. 250 metres south of the
church. (fn. 19) William of Morton was licensed to fortify the house in 1316. (fn. 20) In the First Civil War the
house was held by royalist forces until captured
for Parliament in 1645. After an abortive attempt
to plant a royalist garrison there in 1648 an order
was made for the house's demolition. (fn. 21) By 1762
the site had become a farmstead, (fn. 22) and buildings,
surrounded by remains of the water-filled moat,
survived in 1817. (fn. 23) All trace of the former house
was obliterated in the early 19th century by slag
heaps from the adjacent Castle furnaces. (fn. 24)
The manor of LITTLE DAWLEY was held of
Reynold the sheriff by Benet in 1086. T.R.E. it
had been held by Sistain. (fn. 25) From the 13th to the
16th century it was considered to be merely a
member of Leegomery manor but from 1590 it
was again styled an independent manor. Little
Dawley was recorded as a member of Leegomery
by 1285 (fn. 26) but the connexion between the two
places probably originated in the 12th century:
Alfred de Cumbray, lord of Leegomery, was fined
for a forest offence in Dawley c. 1180. (fn. 27) No
medieval undertenants of Little Dawley are
known; demesne lordship was presumably retained by the lords of Leegomery. (fn. 28)
In 1590 Sir Walter Leveson sold Little Dawley,
thenceforth described as a manor, to Sir Rowland
Hayward, (fn. 29) the owner of Great Dawley. Both
manors passed to Sir John Hayward, (fn. 30) who sold
Little Dawley to William Craven (cr. Baron
Craven 1627, earl of Craven 1665) in 1624-5. (fn. 31) On
Craven's death in 1697 the lordship passed to his
kinsman William, 2nd Baron Craven, and descended with the barony (from 1801 the recreated earldom) until 1941 or later, (fn. 32) although a
large part of the estate was divided and sold in
1854. (fn. 33)
A medieval stone building in Little Dawley,
demolished in 1911, (fn. 34) was then known as the 'old
manor house'. (fn. 35) No other evidence for the existence of a manor house has been found.
Like Little Dawley, MALINSLEE was a member of Leegomery manor during the Middle Ages.
It was not mentioned by name in Domesday Book
and was described as a separate manor only from
the 16th century. Its position as a member of
Leegomery was stated explicitly in 1284 or 1285 (fn. 36)
and was recorded until 1613. (fn. 37) From 1334 or
earlier Malinslee was held of the lords of Leegomery by the Eytons of Eyton upon the Weald
Moors. (fn. 38) It descended with the manor of Eyton
until 1701 (fn. 39) when Soudley Eyton (d. 1701) sold
Malinslee to Isaac Hawkins of Burton-uponTrent. (fn. 40) From 1655 to the end of the 17th century
Malinslee was held in trust, its profits being used
to create a stock for the younger children of Sir
Thomas Eyton (d. 1659). (fn. 41)
Under Isaac Hawkins's will, proved 1713, (fn. 42) the
manor passed to his daughter Rebecca Walthall
(d. 1756) for her life and then to his grandson
Isaac Hawkins Browne, the poet. (fn. 43) On his death in
1760 it descended to his son Isaac Hawkins
Browne (d. 1818), the M.P. and essayist, who
acquired the neighbouring manor of Stirchley in
1777. (fn. 44) He left the estate to his wife Elizabeth (d.
1839) for her life with reversion to his kinsman
Robert Cheney (d. 1820). (fn. 45) By Cheney's will
interest in the manor was divided between his
children but all shares descended, after his son
Edward's death in 1884, to his grandson Alfred
Capel Cure of Badger Hall. (fn. 46) Cure sold the
Malinslee and Stirchley estates in 1886 to the
Haybridge Iron Co. (fn. 47) Most of the Malinslee estate
was divided and sold in 1904. (fn. 48)
No evidence has been found for the existence of
a manor house. Malinslee Hall was built, probably in the 1790s, by Thomas Botfield (d. 1801),
the lessee of much of the manorial estate. (fn. 49) It was
a brick house with a principal front of three
storeys and three bays, capped by a stone cornice.
The central entrance, beneath a wide, segmentalheaded arch, was decorated with Ionic pilasters.
It was occupied by William Botfield in the early
19th century, (fn. 50) and after his death in 1840 it was
lived in by the ironworks managers and housed
the offices of the Old Park Iron Co. (fn. 51) The house
was demolished c. 1971 when Telford town centre
was laid out. (fn. 52)
The rectory, consisting of parsonage, tithe
barn, c. 25 a. of glebe, and tithes, (fn. 53) was appropriated to Battlefield college in 1410. (fn. 54) After the
college's dissolution in 1548 the estate was leased
out by the Crown; William Charlton of Wombridge held it in the mid 16th century (fn. 56) and other
lessees in Elizabeth I's reign. (fn. 56) The freehold seems
to have been acquired by John Watson (d. 1606)
of Church Aston. (fn. 57) The estate descended to his
granddaughter Muriel and thereafter, with the
advowson of Stirchley, to the Phillips family of
Shifnal, the owners in the mid 19th century. (fn. 58)
Revell Phillips owned Dawley rectory in 1854 (fn. 59)
but the property had been sold and divided by c.
1910. (fn. 60)
Little Lee, an estate that Reynold of Charnes
held of Peter of Eyton and Hugh de Say under
Thomas Tuchet, lord of Leegomery, in 1310, (fn. 61)
probably lay in Malinslee, perhaps near its boundary with Stirchley. (fn. 62) About 1320 Peter of Eyton,
whose descendants held Malinslee, and Walter
grandson of Leonard of Lee, owner of Leonard's
Lee, an estate in Shifnal, (fn. 63) were described as
coparceners in 'Lee'. (fn. 64) Their ancestors' interest in
Little Lee was recorded in 1240 and 1256, when
William of Eyton's wife Maud and her sister
Nichole released land there to Leonard's son
Henry. (fn. 65) The estate has not been traced after the
early 14th century.
Until the 19th century the three manorial
estates accounted for most land in the parish.
Only in Great Dawley were there other freeholds
of long standing. There the manorial estate covered 720 a. of the township's 997 a. in 1812. (fn. 66)
Among the other freeholds was one held by the
Burtons of Longner in the 18th and early 19th
century. The property, covering 106 a. in 1853, (fn. 67)
is probably to be identified with land in Dawley
held in the 16th century by the Corbets of
Moreton Corbet, lords of Lawley manor. (fn. 68) The
estate appears to have descended with Lawley (fn. 69)
until 1853 when most of it was sold by Robert
Burton to the Coalbrookdale Co. (fn. 70) Other
freeholds included that belonging to Thomas
Dodd of Great Dawley in 1679, which was
absorbed into the manorial estate in 1749; (fn. 71) that at
Langleyfield held by the Clowes family of
Stirchley Hall and their descendants in the mid
18th century; (fn. 72) and those of the industrialists
John Gibbons, John Onions, and Adam Wright,
recorded in 1817. (fn. 73)
During the earlier 19th century the Coalbrookdale Co. and the Botfield family, the major coal
and iron masters in Dawley, acquired extensive
estates in the parish. The Horsehay estate (121
a.), bought from Robert Slaney c. 1815, (fn. 74) and 96
a. bought from Robert Burton in 1853, (fn. 75) formed
the core of the Coalbrookdale Co.'s property in
Great Dawley, which contained 284 a. when it
was divided and sold in 1910. (fn. 76) In 1824 Thomas
and William Botfield bought Moor farm (42 a.) in
Great Dawley, formerly part of the Clowes'
freehold, (fn. 77) and Hinkshay farm (51 a.), which had
been separated from Slaney's manorial estate in
1814. (fn. 78) The following year they acquired Dark
Lane (74 a.) in Malinslee, which had been separated from the manorial estate in 1701. (fn. 79) Their
nephew and heir, Beriah Botfield, bought Langleyfield (31 a.), formerly another part of the
Clowes' freehold, in 1857. (fn. 80) All Beriah Botfield's
property in Dawley was sold by his trustees in
1873 to the Haybridge Iron Co. (fn. 81)