MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
In 1086
Roger de Lacy held 1½ hide at Edgeworth which was
later known as the manor of EDGEWORTH; (fn. 33)
he also claimed unsuccessfully as part of Edgeworth
a further ½ hide held by Hugh, earl of Chester, lord
of Bisley. (fn. 34) Roger's lands were forfeited at his
banishment in 1096 and granted to his brother Hugh
de Lacy (d. by 1115) who was succeeded by Pain
son of John, who had married Hugh's daughter. (fn. 35)
Pain granted Edgeworth to his daughter Cecily on
her marriage to Roger of Gloucester, earl of
Hereford. (fn. 36) The overlordship of the manor remained with the lords of Painswick, (fn. 37) although in
1347 part was said to have been held of the archbishopric of York by knight service. (fn. 38)
In 1236 Peter of Edgeworth held ½ fee at
Edgeworth (fn. 39) but he had died by 1248. (fn. 40) In 1253 part
of the manor was claimed by Walter Helion, a
kinsman of Peter, (fn. 41) and Walter shared the ½ fee at
Edgeworth with Stephen of Edgeworth in 1285. (fn. 42) In
1303 the ½ fee was held by Thomas of Edgeworth and
Alice Helion, (fn. 43) presumably the widow of Walter, who
had died in 1300. Walter's son Peter Helion (fn. 44) held
the advowson of Edgeworth in 1303 (fn. 45) and was recorded there in 1327; (fn. 46) he was evidently succeeded
before 1338 by Walter Helion who died seized of two
thirds of the manor of Edgeworth c. 1342. Helion's
estate was divided between three coheirs, his daughters
Eva, later the wife of Thomas Fabian, and Rose, the
wife of John Raleigh, and John Cofe, the son of a
third daughter Maud Helion. (fn. 47) In 1346 the ½ fee
of Edgeworth was held by John Raleigh, Thomas
Fabian, Robert of Edgeworth, and Richard Talbot, (fn. 48)
lord of Painswick, who probably had custody of
John Cofe's share of the estate, Cofe being an
idiot. (fn. 49) Cofe died in 1362 when his portion of the
estate passed to his cousin Thomas Raleigh, (fn. 50)
probably the son of John Raleigh. Robert of
Edgeworth's share presumably passed to Stephen
of Edgeworth and then to the latter's niece,
Christine Stevens, who quitclaimed lands in Edgeworth to Thomas Raleigh in 1379. (fn. 51) Thomas Fabian
levied a fine of his estate in 1359 in favour of Robert
Parsloe and John of Bruton (fn. 52) but that part of the
estate is not recorded later so that from 1379
Thomas Raleigh was sole owner of the manor.
Thomas died seized of the manor in 1396 and was
succeeded by his son Thomas (d. 1404), (fn. 53) whose son
William died in 1419 still a minor. The manor
passed to William's sister Joan, the wife of Gerard
Braybrook (fn. 54) and later of Edward Bromflete. Joan
died without male issue and in 1450 her husband
Edward settled the manor on her cousin William
Raleigh, reserving a life-interest for himself. (fn. 55)
Edward Raleigh, probably the grandson of William, (fn. 56)
died seised in 1513 when the manor passed to his
son, George (fn. 57) (d. 1546), who was succeeded by
his son Simon (fn. 58) who presented to the living in 1581. (fn. 59)
Before 1595 Simon had been succeeded by his son
George who sold the manor in 1602 to Sir Henry
Poole, (fn. 60) and it descended with Sapperton (fn. 61) until
c. 1650 when it was sold to Nathaniel Ridler to help
alleviate Sir William Poole's debts. (fn. 62) Nathaniel
(d. 1707) (fn. 63) was succeeded by his son, Thomas
Ridler (d. by 1748), whose wife Anne (d. 1780)
surrendered her right in the manor in return for an
annuity from her three daughters. (fn. 64)
At a division of the estate among the daughters of
Thomas Ridler in 1751 the manor-house and
manorial rights were included in the share of Anne
(d.1774) who devised her share to her mother for
life and then to her sister Barbara, wife of the Revd.
Richard Brereton, who had received another
portion of the estate in 1751. Both shares passed, on
Barbara's death in 1787, to her son Thomas
Brereton (fn. 65) who changed his name to Westfaling
when he married into that family. (fn. 66) Thomas died in
1814 leaving his estate to his wife Mary (d. July
1830), with remainder to the Revd. Edward Colston
Greville (d. Oct. 1830) who left it to be sold for the
benefit of his seven children. (fn. 67) In 1832 the estate was
bought by Edmund Hopkinson (fn. 68) (d. 1869), who
devised it to his three great-nephews who sold it in
1871 to Henry Grace Wilson Sperling. (fn. 69) Sperling
died in 1879 when the estate was in the process of
being sold to Francis James. James (d. 1895) was
succeeded by his son Arthur John (fn. 70) (d. 1935), (fn. 71) after
whose death the estate was fragmented; the manorial
rights and 450 a. were bought by Richard Cadbury
whose widow, Mary, lived at North Farm in 1971.
The manor-house changed hands several times
before 1956 when it was bought by Col. A. T. Smail,
the owner in 1971. (fn. 72)
In 1751 the third portion of the estate was
granted to the eldest daughter of Thomas Ridler,
Elizabeth, wife of William Prinn of Charlton Kings.
Elizabeth died in 1771 and her husband in 1784 (fn. 73)
when the estate passed to their son-in-law Dodington
Hunt (fn. 74) (d. 1803). Hunt was succeeded by his son
William Hunt Prinn (d. 1821), from whom the
estate passed to George Bragge Prowse, a cousin,
who assumed the name Prinn on entering the
family estates. (fn. 75) At Prowse's death the estate passed
to a relation Jane Eliza, the widow of Sir William
Russell, Bt., who changed her name to Prinn in
1841. (fn. 76) Lady Prinn, as she was known, conveyed
the estate to her son Sir William Russell, Bt., in
1851, and his mortgagees sold it to Arthur James in
1889. (fn. 77) The estate was reunited with the manorial
estate when Arthur succeeded his father in 1895. (fn. 78)
There was a manor-house recorded in 1358 (fn. 79) but
the present house dates from a rebuilding by
Nathaniel Ridler in the late 17th century, (fn. 80) the east
front being dated 1685. That front is the oldest part
of the present house and is of five bays with two
storeys, attic dormers, and a basement. The house
is built of coursed rubble and has a stone-slated roof
and sash windows with keystones. The west front
of the house was identical to the east, save for a
porch at its southern end. Of the interior the
original staircase and one room, which has early18th-century panelling with shell-headed cupboards, remain at the east front. The garden
terrace has stone pillars with ball finials, wroughtiron gates, and sundials, and north-west of the
house is an 18th-century stable block which
incorporates a dovecot. In the mid 19th century a
wing in the Tudor style was added to the south of
the house (fn. 81) but it was replaced, and a north wing
added, in 1882 when the house was remodelled to
designs of Capel N. Tripp. (fn. 82) The wrought-iron
gates, which stand at the entrance to the 19thcentury park, have stone pillars with pineapple
finials and probably date from the same remodelling,
which attempted to retain the original character of
the buildings. In 1899 the house was considerably
enlarged under Sir Ernest George who altered the
country-house style of architecture of the earlier
building to that of a baronial hall by replacing the
west front and the north and south wings. The west
front is in Cotswold Tudor style having windows
with stone mullions and transoms and a gabled
porch. The north wing, which projected beyond the
level of the west front, was demolished in the 1930s (fn. 83)
but its extent can be assessed from traces on the
lawn and wall which occupy its former site. The
ground floor is mostly occupied by the large
panelled hall and a drawing room in the south wing.
A grant of £10 in lands and rents at Edgeworth
and the advowson of the church made by Robert
Walrond to his brother William in 1259 (fn. 84) possibly
corresponded to part of the manorial estate; Robert
exercised the advowson in 1271. (fn. 85) The heirs of
Robert and William were Robert Walrond and
John (fn. 86) (d. 1309) but no record of their holding
property at Edgeworth is known to exist. Since both
Robert and John were idiots their estate may have
passed to the Helion family, owners of the manor,
who almost certainly would have received it in 1309
when Cecily, wife of Peter Helion, was one of the
heirs of John Walrond. (fn. 87)
Two yardlands at WESTWOOD were granted to
Cirencester Abbey by Peter of Edgeworth c. 1240. (fn. 88)
Those lands were administered with the abbey's
manor of Througham until the Dissolution, (fn. 89) and
descended with Througham (fn. 90) until 1550 when
Walter Compton granted the Westwood estate to
Thomas Smart. (fn. 91) Smart granted it in 1555 to
Richard Aley (fn. 92) who died seised c. 1575, and it
passed successively to his sons Thomas (d. 1580)
and Michael. Michael sold the estate in 1586 to
Jeremy Jefferies, (fn. 93) whose family were formerly
customary tenants at Westwood. (fn. 94) Jefferies had
already received land at Edgeworth from his mother,
Maud Jefferies, (fn. 95) and died seised of both estates in
1606. He was succeeded by his son Jeremy, a
minor, (fn. 96) who sold part of his estate to William
Jones in 1638. (fn. 97) Jeremy Jefferies was still resident
at Westwood in 1672 (fn. 98) but by 1719 Westwood Farm
had become part of the manorial estate. (fn. 99) Westwood
Farm includes a 17th-century, three-storey south
wing of rubble which has the appearance of belonging
to a more substantial residence, probably the house
with four hearths that was one of two houses occupied
by members of the Jefferies family in 1672. (fn. 1) A lower,
two-storey, gabled wing was added on the north
during the 18th century, presumably after the estate
had been incorporated into the manor. The house
was uninhabited in 1971.