OTHER ESTATES.
At least from the 13th century
there have always been many freehold estates in
Stanwell, only some of which are known to have
been held of the Windsors. (fn. 64) In 1166 Richard de
Raines held a knight's fee in Stanwell which may
have become one of the later manors though it is
not possible to identify it with any one of them. (fn. 65)
Master Richard of Staines, who was probably Rector
of Stanwell, (fn. 66) held half a knight's fee there in 1242-3
and acquired more land in 1276. (fn. 67) William de
Keynes (d. c. 1336) held a house and 120 acres in
Stanwell of Richard of Windsor as a third of a
knight's fee, and his father William also had property
there. (fn. 68) Andrew of Walden also held half a fee of
Richard in 1315. (fn. 69)
Eton College acquired an estate in Stanwell in
1449, which became known as Rudsworth farm. (fn. 70)
It originated in a grant made by Pain de Cleremont
to Richard the Harper, Henry III's harpist, in 1245. (fn. 71)
This comprised a house and 20 acres of arable, with
meadows and other appurtenances, in Rudsworth. It
passed to Henry Lovel and, in 1260, to Henry's son
Thomas. (fn. 72) With some additions, mostly in Rudsworth, it descended to the atte Mill family, and in
1435 Thomas atte Mill conveyed it to Edward
Norfolk. He conveyed it in 1449 to Eton College,
whose estate in Stanwell was estimated at 60 acres in
1457. (fn. 73) From the 16th century, Eton seems to have
leased it on 20- to 30-year terms. Except for Henry
Bulstrode in the early 17th century, the lessees do
not seem to have been landowners or residents in
Stanwell. (fn. 74) After the death of the lessee, Francis
Haynes, in 1800, Eton sold the farm to Thomas
Williams, who had taken on the remainder of
Haynes's lease. (fn. 75) Williams acquired two other small
pieces of property, (fn. 76) and in 1844 he held 200 acres,
comprising nearly all the part of Stanwell parish
north of Staines moor, west of the Wyrardisbury
River, and south of Horton Road. There was no
farm-house at that time but the estate included a
moated site on the west of Moor Lane, about 800
yards south of Horton Road. (fn. 77) This moat gradually
disappeared in the late 19th century and in 1956
pools left by gravel-working covered the site. (fn. 78)
A number of religious houses held land in Stanwell in the Middle Ages. Among these were Newark
Priory, Ankerwyke Priory, and Chertsey Abbey,
whose main estates are discussed elsewhere. (fn. 79) In
addition to the rectory, Chertsey also owned a small
estate in the parish, comprising land north of London
Road granted to the Abbey by Elias, vicar of Fulham,
and rents granted by tenants of Stanwell manor, all
probably in the 13th century. (fn. 80) Land in Bedfont was
granted to Southwark Priory in the 12th century, but
as there is no record that the priory held land in the
parish later this may have been in East Bedfont. (fn. 81)
Richard of Herriard granted to Wintney Priory
(Hants) a rent of 5 marks from West Bedfont manor. (fn. 82)
This grant was disputed by Richard's undertenant
James of Haverhill in 1222 but was substantially
confirmed. (fn. 83) James himself seems to have granted
5 acres of meadow in Stanwell to Kilburn Priory,
which still held them, with other property, at the
Dissolution. (fn. 84) William of Windsor made several
grants of land in Horton to Missenden Abbey
(Bucks.) in the early 13th century, (fn. 85) and he may also
have granted to the abbey the rent in Stanwell which
it held in 1291 and 1401. (fn. 86) In 1251 Roger le Gras
granted to Hurley Priory (Berks.) 20s. rent due to
him from William Poyle for land in Stanwell. (fn. 87)
Hurley still held this in 1314. (fn. 88) Pain de Cleremont
gave 40 acres of land in Stanwell to Hounslow
Friary before 1275 (fn. 89) and they acquired more land
there in 1338, 1358, and 1367. (fn. 90) By the Dissolution
they held a house in Stanwell village and another in
the moor and about 90 acres of land. (fn. 91) These were
being leased from the Crown with other of the
friary's lands in 1558. (fn. 92) Barking Abbey held rents
in Stanwell in 1291. (fn. 93)
The accumulation of land by the lords of the
manors from the 16th to the 19th century reduced
the amount of land held by other freeholders. By
1844 just over two-thirds of the parish belonged to
three men, and the remaining thousand acres were
divided among some 120 freeholds and copyholds of
which only three were over 100 acres. These three
were Bedfont Court farm (227 a.), another farm
centring on West Bedfont (105 a.), and the former
Eton College holding (about 200 a.). There were
seven estates of over 50 acres, and the remainder were
nearly all very small, many comprising only cottages
and gardens. (fn. 94) By 1956 the bigger estates of 1844 had
been broken up, (fn. 95) and the largest holdings were
those of the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation
and the Metropolitan Water Board. The county
council also held land in the north of the parish. (fn. 96)
Several manors outside Stanwell had appurtenant
property within the parish. Among these were the
neighbouring manors of Pates, in East Bedfont,
which extended into the extreme west of Stanwell; (fn. 97)
Grovebarns and Staines manors, in Staines; (fn. 98) and
Perry Place, in Harmondsworth. (fn. 99) The owners of
slightly more distant estates also had Stanwell property at one time or another. These estates included
Charlton, in Sunbury, (fn. 1) and Upton (Bucks.), (fn. 2) both
belonging to Merton Priory; (fn. 3) Colham Garden, in
Hillingdon, (fn. 4) and West Drayton; (fn. 5) and Southcote
manor, in Ruislip, whose property here may have
originated in the acquisition of 7 acres of land by
Roger of Southcote in 1283; (fn. 6) this was enlarged in
1341 by lands apparently lying in the north and west
of Stanwell. (fn. 7) Hanworth and Uxendon manors, or
one of them, also apparently once had Stanwell
appurtenances. (fn. 8) None of these outside manors, however, accounted for any appreciable area of the
parish.