MANORS.
The manor of WHETSTONE or
FRIERN BARNET was held in 1336 by the
knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. (fn. 47)
It was probably among the lands between Barnet
and London taken from the abbey of St. Albans
by William I, (fn. 48) who may have given it to the bishop
of London. Lands in Barnet were held in fee of
the bishop in 1196, when John Picot released
those to which he had a hereditary claim. (fn. 49) John
or his ancestor was the Picot the Lombard whose
lands had been granted by 1199 to the Hospitallers
by Bishops Gilbert Foliot (d. 1187) and Richard
Fitzneal (d. 1198) and the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 50)
In 1338 the manor was a member of the bailiwick
of Gings. (fn. 51) On the dissolution of the Hospitallers
in England in 1540 (fn. 52) it passed to the Crown and in
1544 it was granted in exchange to the chapter of
St. Paul's. (fn. 53) The chapter sold the demesne lands
in 1800 (fn. 54) and the lordship later passed to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. (fn. 55) Perquisites of
court, royalties, and rents of assize and copyhold
lands were excluded from leases of the demesne after
1519 and collected by the farmer as bailiff. (fn. 56) The
rights were sequestrated during the Interregnum
and in 1649 were sold to Richard Utber, draper of
London, (fn. 57) whose arbitrary fines were resisted by
copyholders in 1659. (fn. 58)
There was no manor-house in 1551, when
Richard Clark was required to build a mansion
within three years on a site chosen by the chapter.
It was to contain a hall, parlour, and chambers, (fn. 59)
and was eventually built by his son William (d.
1586). (fn. 60) Described as the Friary or Friern House
in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (fn. 61) but never
as the manor-house, it has been confused with
Manor or Manor House Farm (later called the
Manor House). It stood west of Friern Barnet
Lane and south of St. James's church, with which
it was connected by an avenue in 1783, when the
extensive grounds were bounded to the west by
ponds and Blackett's brook. (fn. 62) The house contained
seventeen hearths in 1664, when it was unoccupied. (fn. 63)
In 1797 the main east front of five bays with two
wings was in an early-18th-century style but the
core of an older house survived with piecemeal
additions, (fn. 64) probably including a hall of c. 1660. (fn. 65)
When occupied in 1797 by John Bacon, the house
contained family portraits and a bust of Handel by
Roubiliac. (fn. 66) It was always leased out with the
demesne but sometimes was sub-let: in 1593 it was
inhabited by Sir John Popham (d. 1607), Chief
Justice of the King's Bench, (fn. 67) and in 1671-3
by Sir John Cropley. (fn. 68) Dr. King, said to have received Queen Anne there, (fn. 69) was still resident in
1728. (fn. 70) Bacon's seat had probably been demolished
by 1828 (fn. 71) but 23 a. south of Friary Road were
renamed Friary park, where a house was built by
Edmund William Richardson by 1871. (fn. 72) In 1909
the land was bought from his executors by Sydney
Simmons and Middlesex C.C. as a public park. (fn. 73)
The manor of HALLIWICK was first mentioned
between 1278 and 1285 (fn. 74) and from 1810 to 1815
was incorrectly described as the manor of Colney
Hatch. (fn. 75) Jurors were ignorant of the title in 1402. (fn. 76)
Halliwick in 1537 was thought to be held of the
honor of Boulogne by knight service and a pair
of gilt spurs on coronation day. (fn. 77) The copyholds
that existed between 1409 and 1600 (fn. 78) had disappeared by 1810, when the tenure was revived
for wastelands bordering the roads. (fn. 79) Often called
a reputed manor in the 17th and 18th centuries, (fn. 80)
its status was challenged c. 1835 because it had no
demesne, copyhold tenure, services, or tenants. (fn. 81)
In 1837 the lord took legal advice about his right
to exploit the waste himself. (fn. 82) The manor extended
along the south side of Friern Barnet Road from the
Finchley boundary to Betstile and into Edmonton
c. 1810, when it consisted of c. 350 a. (fn. 83) The lord
still held c. 240 a. in 1801, (fn. 84) when the remainder
was parcelled in freehold estates. (fn. 85)
The manor probably gave its name to the family
of John de Halliwick, who sued Henry de Audley
for a virgate in Little Barnet in 1234. (fn. 86) Audley
appointed Henry de Halewyc as his attorney and
called to warranty Walter de Morton, (fn. 87) from whom
he had acquired his right by 1226. (fn. 88) Morton called
to warranty John de Neville and Margery de
Rivers, to whom John de Halewyc quitclaimed the
lands in 1237. (fn. 89) The king had confirmed Audley's
title in 1226 and on the same day (fn. 90) granted the lands
to the earl of Chester, (fn. 91) apparently without effect.
They descended in 1246 to Audley's son James, who
gave them to Alice, wife of Robert de Beauchamp,
before his death in 1272, when seisin was granted
to his son James, from whom Alice recovered
them in 1273. (fn. 92) By 1285 she had granted the lands
to her son James and his heirs. (fn. 93)
Halliwick was held by Richard of Hackney
(d. 1342-3), (fn. 94) draper of London, whose daughter
Isabel and her husband William Olney settled it
on their heirs. (fn. 95) William died before 1375 (fn. 96) and
in 1377 it was settled on Isabel (d. 1400) and her
second husband John Wade for life, with remainder
to her children by Olney. Isabel's heir was her son
John Olney but Wade's trustees conveyed the manor
to the judge John Cockayn (d. 1438), (fn. 97) who held
it in 1409 (fn. 98) and to whom John Durham quitclaimed
his right as kinsman of John Olney's daughter
Isabel in 1415. (fn. 99) In 1439 the manor was granted in
remainder to Joan, granddaughter of John Cockayn, (fn. 1)
and in 1455 Joan and her husband Robert Burley
alienated it to John Wetwang. (fn. 2) In the years 1535-8
it was claimed by William Markham and Frances his
wife, daughter of Humphrey Cockayn, apparently
without success. (fn. 3)
Thomas Slade in 1530 settled Halliwick on his
son Francis (d. 1537), (fn. 4) whose five daughters partitioned the manor. (fn. 5) Elizabeth and her husband
Humphrey Cholmley sold their moiety in 1548
to Thomas Perse, (fn. 6) who in 1565 sold a moiety of the
manor c. 250 a. to Rose Trott of London, widow
(d. 1573). (fn. 7) In 1570 another daughter Wiburga,
wife of Richard Wymark, conveyed her share to
Rose Trott, (fn. 8) who presumably bought out the other
coheirs. Rose left the manor to her son John (d.
1602), (fn. 9) from whom it descended to her greatgrandson the childless William Trott (d. c. 1657).
On William's marriage in 1645 to Sarah, widow of
the second Lawrence Campe, the manor was conveyed to Sir John Reade, Bt. (d. 1694), and others
to her use. In 1650 the reversion was settled on the
heirs of Trott's body, with remainders to his wife's
daughters and her son the third Lawrence Campe.
A mortgage of Trott's life interest in 1647 was
redeemed by Reade, who in 1652 was to retain the
manor on Trott's death. (fn. 10) Alienations (fn. 11) had reduced
the lands to 202 a. by the period 1657-62, when
Reade bought out all the other claims. (fn. 12) In 1673
he was assessed for poor-rate more highly than
anyone else in the parish. (fn. 13) The manor descended
to his son and then to his grandson Sir John
(d. 1712), who left four sisters as coheirs. (fn. 14) It was
assigned to Anne and her husband Robert Middleton of Chirk (Denb.), (fn. 15) who in 1721 sold it and
c. 180 a. to John Nicholl the elder (d. 1731). (fn. 16) In
1731 Nicholl settled the manor on his son John
Nicholl (d. 1747) and the heirs of his body. (fn. 17) In 1747
it passed to Margaret Nicholl, later marchioness
of Carnarvon, and on her death in 1768 to her
husband James Brydges, later duke of Chandos
(d. 1789), and then to her stepdaughter Anna
Elizabeth, who married Earl Temple, later duke of
Buckingham and Chandos. Earl Temple sold 115 a.
of the demesne to George Curtis in 1801 (fn. 18) and
retained 83 a., which were sold in 1848 to George
Knights Smith. (fn. 19)
Leases of the manor were held before 1567 by
Robert Hayne (fn. 20) and in 1600 by Robert Sanny of
Colney Hatch, yeoman, (fn. 21) of a family prominent in
the parish from the 15th century (fn. 22) and the third
largest copyholder of Whetstone manor in 1588, (fn. 23)
who left it to his son. The manor was normally
leased out from the late 17th century. (fn. 24)
Rose Trott's house in 1573 had formerly been
three tenements. (fn. 25) The manor-house was new in
1602, when John Trott left it to his son and namesake. (fn. 26) It was sold with c. 88 a. by John Trott the
younger in 1628 (fn. 27) and thereafter descended as a
separate estate. (fn. 28)
The reputed manor of SARNERS BARNET,
said in 1316 to be held by the bishop of London with
Finchley and Harringay for ¼ knight's fee, (fn. 29) was
probably the subinfeudated manor of Whetstone.
In 1297 × 1302, however, a jury of Ossulstone hundred declared that Finchley alone was held for ¼
knight's fee. (fn. 30) The name Sarners Barnet was applied
to the church in 1341 (fn. 31) and probably also to the
parish.