MANORS AND OTHER ESTATES.
In 1066
Witric and Elric held HADLEY as two manors.
In 1086 Reynold of Bailleul, the sheriff, held it of
Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury. (fn. 57) By
c. 1136 William FitzAlan was tenant in chief, (fn. 58)
the mesne lordship, merged with the tenancy in
chief after 1102, (fn. 59) having presumably passed with
the shrieval estates (fn. 60) to his father Alan son of
Flaald. (fn. 61) In 1404, (fn. 62) 1444, (fn. 63) and 1548 (fn. 64) the manor
was held, with High Hatton (called a member of
Hadley in 1404 but termed a manor in 1548), of
the earl of Arundel's manor of Wroxeter by the
annual render of a sparrowhawk. Hadley was still
held of Wroxeter in 1614. (fn. 65)
In 1086 the demesne lord was Gosfrid. (fn. 66) William of Hadley, lord in Henry I's time, died c.
1136 and his widow Seburga held Hadley until
after 1154. She was succeeded by their son Alan
of Hadley (d. c. 1194), whose daughter and heir
Cecily married Roger Corbet of Tasley (fn. 67) (d. c.
1204). The manor descended from father to son
in the Corbets until the mid 14th century, the
following being lords: Thomas (d. 1247), Roger
(d. c. 1259), Thomas (d. c. 1300), (fn. 68) and Roger (d.
c. 1349). The last named was succeeded by his
son Robert, whose widow died in possession in
1353. In 1354 Robert's kinsman (probably his
nephew) Sir Robert Corbet (d. 1404) (fn. 69) was lord.
His son, another Sir Robert, succeeded, (fn. 70) and
died in 1417, the manor passing to his daughter
Sibyl, the wife of John Grevel of Sezincote
(Glos.). (fn. 71) They were childless and by 1422 had
settled the reversion on Guy Corbet, presumably
a kinsman. (fn. 72) Grevel, surviving his wife and Guy,
died in possession in 1444, when Guy's son
Robert (d. 1495) succeeded. (fn. 73) The manor descended successively to Robert's son Richard (d.
1524) and grandson Richard Corbet. (fn. 74) The latter
sold it in 1548 to Sir Rowland Hill. (fn. 75) At Sir
Rowland's death in 1561 it passed for life to his
nephew William Gratewood (d. c. 1583), (fn. 76) then to
William's sister Alice, widow of Reynold Corbet
of Stoke. (fn. 77) In 1583 she settled it on her son
Richard (d. 1601) (fn. 78) and his wife Anne for their
lives. Anne was in possession in 1617, and then or
in 1618 the estate passed to their son John (fn. 79) (cr.
bt. 1627, d. 1662). (fn. 80) In 1669 his son Sir John sold
it to William Roe (d. 1679) (fn. 81) of Arleston. William's son, the Revd. Robert Roe, was in posses
sion by 1700 (fn. 82) and in 1710 he sold the manor to his
son, the Revd. William Roe (d. 1741), who left it
to his son William. The younger William died
unmarried in 1761, when it passed to his brother,
the Revd. Samuel Roe (d. 1780) of Stotfold
(Beds.), whose sons Charles (d. 1816), John (d.
1838), and Henry Octavius (d. c. 1848) (fn. 83) were
successive lords. H. O. Roe had no surviving
relatives (fn. 84) and the manor was bought in 1848 by
G. B. Thorneycroft, (fn. 85) a Wolverhampton ironmaster (d. 1851). (fn. 86) His son, Lt.-Col. Thomas
Thorneycroft, seems to have held it until his
death in 1903. (fn. 87) In 1905 the manor was said to
belong to Sir Thomas Meyrick (fn. 88) and may have
descended thereafter with Apley.
Hadley manor house lay off the south side of
the village street opposite the junction with Station Road. (fn. 89) It was timber-framed, of three
storeys, and aligned east-west, and seems to have
been built in the earlier 17th century. There was a
central chimney stack. A timber-framed range
was later built out from the centre of the south
front. The house was demolished c. 1965. (fn. 90)
By 1842 H. O. Roe had no land in Hadley,
which was split between 88 freeholders. The
largest estate was Hadley Park (273 a.), then
owned by John Evans but later (fn. 91) by the Thorneycrofts; the brick-built house, of three bays and
three storeys, was of the late 18th century. The
next largest (122 a.) belonged to James Foster, the
ironmaster. (fn. 92) Small estates belonged to Lord Forester (34 a.) and the duke of Sutherland (4 a.). (fn. 93)
In 1066 Erniet held HORTON. In 1086 it was
held of Earl Roger by William Pantulf, with
Warin as undertenant. (fn. 94) Pantulf's mesne lordship
became a tenancy in chief, presumably in 1102. (fn. 95)
The chief lordship presumably passed to Pantulf's
successors, the barons of Wem, for Horton remained in the leet jurisdiction of Hinstock manor
until 1851 or later. (fn. 96) The Hodnets and their
successors had or claimed a chief lordship over
Horton, or a part of it, (fn. 97) at least between c. 1285 (fn. 98)
and 1390; (fn. 99) their claims may have originated in
the late 12th century if (as seems likely) Pain of
Preston, an undertenant of the Hodnets in Preston, (fn. 1) then held Horton also. In the early 13th
century Roger of Preston, probably the husband
of one of Pain's coheirs in Preston, held land in
Horton of his nephew Otes of Hodnet. (fn. 2)
It seems likely that Pain of Preston was demesne lord of Horton in the late 12th century, for
the scanty evidence suggests that Horton afterwards descended in quarters among the coheirs
who inherited Pain's manor of Preston. (fn. 3) In 1353
Gillian, daughter of Hugh of the Heath, sold the
reversions of a quarter of Horton and a quarter of
Preston manors to Sir Alan of Charlton. (fn. 4) The
Eytons owned woodland in Horton by 1271, (fn. 5) and
by 1359 part at least of Horton was subject to the
court baron of Eyton upon the Weald Moors, (fn. 6)
whose lords (the Eytons) acquired an interest in a
quarter of Preston manor at some time between
1350 and 1616. In 1616 the quarters of Horton
manor were held by Andrew Charlton of Apley,
Philip Eyton of Eyton, William Steventon of
Dothill, and Sir Vincent Corbet, the coparceners
of Preston. Some of those lords did not exercise
manorial rights in Horton; Eyton said he had
never heard of Steventon's lordship and Charlton
admitted that he had never held a court for
Horton and had no demesne there. (fn. 7) In 1620
Andrew Charlton's son Francis relinquished his
property in Horton and in Horton's wood (alias
the Trench) to Sir Philip Eyton in exchange for
property in Preston upon the Weald Moors. (fn. 8) By
1631 Sir Philip claimed to be in sole possession of
Horton manor and Horton's wood, (fn. 9) having presumably acquired the Corbet and Steventon quarters since 1616. Horton manor seems thereafter to
have descended with Eyton; Thomas Eyton was
lord of Horton in 1768, (fn. 10) and in the 19th century
the family continued to appoint a gamekeeper (fn. 11)
and to receive chief rents from two farms. (fn. 12)
By the mid 18th century, however, the Eytons
had no land in the lordship, (fn. 13) and others sometimes claimed the manorial rights, perhaps in the
belief that the Eytons' claim was extinct. (fn. 14) In 1766
the Revd. Samuel Roe regarded himself as lord of
the manor of 'Hadley cum Horton'. (fn. 15) In 1813 Sir
Corbet Corbet called himself lord of the manor of
'Horton and Trench Lane', apparently by virtue
of his overlordship as lord of Hinstock. (fn. 16) His
father had advanced similar claims in Great Dawley on the same grounds in 1781. (fn. 17) Sir Corbet's
claim to Horton was still asserted in the 1820s. (fn. 18)
In 1885 Lt.-Col. Thomas Thorneycroft, lord of
Hadley, was named as lord of Horton. (fn. 19) By the
1980s, however, there were no known claims to
the lordship. (fn. 20)
In the early 13th century Roger of Preston gave
½ virgate to Lilleshall abbey, and Sabin of Horton,
perhaps his widow, gave a messuage, croft, and
meadow. (fn. 21) The abbey may have lost the estate
after c. 1280, when the abbot granted it for life to
Sibyl, widow of Ralph, son of Eustace of
Horton. (fn. 22)
In 1842 Horton township comprised fifteen
freeholds (seven under 1 a.), none of which
belonged to the families who had been lords. (fn. 23) In
1725 Walter Marigold had settled a freehold estate
at Horton on his son William (d. c. 1731). It
descended to his four daughters, one of whom
married William Spearman. (fn. 24) In 1842 the estate
(125 a.) was the biggest in Horton (fn. 25) and in 1856
belonged to William Spearman and others, (fn. 26) presumably descendants of William Marigold. By
1913 it belonged to C. E. Morris-Eyton, who then
sold it. (fn. 27)
By 1726 William Icke the elder, of Leegomery,
had settled an estate at Horton on his son
William. (fn. 28) In 1842 Elizabeth Icke owned 37 a. in
the township and William Icke 73 a. (fn. 29)
In 1731 the Preston hospital trustees acquired
the Hoo Hall estate, (fn. 30) part of which lay in Horton
township, (fn. 31) as did some of the land they bought
from Humphrey Pitt in 1750. (fn. 32) The trustees, who
owned 50 a. in the township in 1842, sold some of
the land to the War Department in 1942, (fn. 33) and
more land was sold c. 1953. (fn. 34)