MANORS.
The early English kings had parted
with their manor of Kingsbury long before the
Conquest. (fn. 78) An estate called Tunworth, (fn. 79) in the
northern part of Kingsbury parish, was granted by
Edwy to his thegn Lyfing in 957. (fn. 80) By 1066 it
probably formed part of the manor of Kingsbury
(7½ hides), which was then held by Wlward White,
a thegn of the Confessor, and passed from him to
Ernulf of Hesdin. (fn. 81) Ernulf died in 1097 and his lands
passed to the ancestors of the earls of Salisbury,
probably through the marriage of his granddaughter Sibyl with Walter of Salisbury. Thereafter
the overlordship of Kingsbury descended with
Edgware manor. (fn. 82)
By 1086 Ernulf's manor in Kingsbury had been
subinfeudated to Albold. (fn. 83) It was not mentioned
again until 1317, when, under the name of the manor
of KINGSBURY, it belonged to Baldwin Poleyn
of Tebworth (Beds.) (fn. 84) into whose hands it seems to
have come from John Poleyn (c 1300) (fn. 85) and to him
from Gilbert of Tebworth (fl. c. 1202-27). (fn. 86)
Between 1329 and 1331 Baldwin Poleyn sold the
manor (fn. 87) to Walter Saling who died not later than
1340, when the manor was divided between three
daughters, Alice, Maud, and Isabel, (fn. 88) one of
whom may have married Thomas Page of Little
Stanmore or sold the manor to him. (fn. 89) Thomas's son
William married Christine Raven, his guardian's
daughter, and from 1358, when he came of age,
William held the manor jointly with his wife. (fn. 90)
The Pages had two daughters, Elizabeth, who died
unmarried, and Margaret, who married William
Bury but died before her husband and father. (fn. 91) A
trust was formed for the benefit of William and
Margaret Bury with remainder, in default of heirs
to Margaret, to William Page's heirs general. In
1410 the trustees granted the manor to William
Bury and his second wife Joan. (fn. 92)
In 1425 John Penne, a London grocer, William
Page's heir, recovered the manor from William
Bury. (fn. 93) Penne mortgaged it in 1434 to Richard
Clopton, a London draper (fn. 94) who foreclosed the
mortgage in 1436. Clopton at once conveyed the
property to Richard Barnett alias Somry and
Robert Wight, clerks, possibly as trustees or
mortgagees. (fn. 95) After various changes, presumably in
trusteeship, (fn. 96) Thomas Chichele, archdeacon of
Canterbury, and another granted the manor in 1441
to Henry VI, (fn. 97) who granted it in 1442 to All Souls
College, Oxford, (fn. 98) still the owners of some property
in Kingsbury in 1970. (fn. 99) In 1597 All Souls College
owned 418 a. scattered through Kingsbury. (fn. 1) The
two ploughs in demesne held by Albold in 1086 (fn. 2) and
the demesne land attached to Kingsbury manor,
first mentioned in 1325, (fn. 3) were probably located in
south-western Kingsbury near the later Hill Farm.
Other lands acquired by the owners of the manor
became merged in the demesne lands. Of these the
Page lands and Hamonds and Collins were the
largest.
The Page family began to build up an estate in
Kingsbury before acquiring the manor in the mid
14th century. In 1295 William Page, then described
as of Little Stanmore, exchanged property with
William Pypard, also of Little Stanmore, son of one
of the heiresses of William Paris. (fn. 4) In exchange for
land in Stanmore, Page received land in Edgware
and Kingsbury, which was held by charter from the
earl of Lincoln. (fn. 5) The portion in Kingsbury
consisted of strips in Tunworth and Colmans Dean
and Mays Field, an 11-acre field to the west of
Bacon Lane. (fn. 6)
Faytisland was acquired in 1300. Among property
held by free tenants of Edgware manor in 1276-7
was one carucate held by Hamon Constantine and
two virgates held by John of Westmelne. (fn. 7) These can
probably be identified with the lands and tenements
in Kingsbury which Michael Constantine and John
of Westmelne granted to Roger de Fleg, who
conveyed them to Henry de Affeyte (La Feyte) and
Alice, daughter of Millicent of Pelyndon and their
daughters, Joan and Cecily. (fn. 8) Cecily sold the estate to
William Page, then described as of Edgware, in
1300. (fn. 9) In 1316 Page settled on himself and his wife,
Margaret Roos (La Rous), property in Stanmore,
Edgware, and Kingsbury, of which the Kingsbury
portion was described as a messuage, 140 a. of
arable, 2 a. of meadow, and 5s. 1d. rent which he had
acquired from William Aunsel and Cecily, daughter
of Henry La Feyte. (fn. 10) Faytes, a 7-acre meadow lying
west of Slough Lane, was presumably part of this
estate. (fn. 11)
At the beginning of the 14th century Richard, son
of Simon the elder of Kingsbury, who had held 3
quartrons of customary land in 1276-7, (fn. 12) sold 6½ a. of
land and meadow in strips in Apsfurlong, Sneteleshale, and Old Haw, all in the region of Hay Lane, to
William Page. (fn. 13) In 1306 Page exchanged 3 a. in
Sneteleshale for 3¾ a. in Street Furlong, Old Haw,
and Arneyshaw with the daughters of Michael atte
Hyde, Alice, who was unmarried, Isabel, Mariot, and
Helen, and their husbands, Simon Taylor of
Hendon, William Shepherd, and Richard, son of
Reynold Smith. (fn. 14) These transactions were presumably the origin of the two demesne fields (32 a.) of
Stratford Long. (fn. 15)
In 1316 Alice, Helen, and Isabel granted Page 6 a.
in the Hay Dean (Thaydene). (fn. 16) Like other land in
northern Kingsbury - Hay Lane, Haydon Mead,
Haydon Shots, and Hay Hills - it was probably
originally part of Hayland, the estate owned by the
de la Haye family. Possibly identifiable with the
Lincolnshire family which was connected by
marriage with William Longespee and which also
had property in Bedfordshire, (fn. 17) the de la Hayes
held land in Kingsbury during the 13th century. (fn. 18)
Agnes, widow of Roger de la Haye (atte Haye)
leased her dower-land to William Page in 1305-6 (fn. 19)
and Roger's daughter and heir, Christine, and her
husband, William Aunsel of Kenton, sold 17 a. of
Hayland to Page in 1310. (fn. 20)
William Page died between 1325 and 1329 (fn. 21)
and his property passed to his son, Thomas, of
Edgware, (fn. 22) and, between 1346 and 1350, to his
grandson, William. (fn. 23) Other land which became
merged in the demesne lands of Kingsbury manor
included the rest of Haydon Mead, formerly
part of a 180-acre estate in north Kingsbury,
Hendon, and Edgware, which had been conveyed
by Walter and Isabel of Watford to William
Bereford in 1285-6. (fn. 24) John Bereford of Hendon
conveyed the Haydon Mead portion in 1381 to
William de Stanton, chaplain of Little Stanmore, (fn. 25)
who in 1387 conveyed it to John Raven and others. (fn. 26)
Although all William Page's lands were included
in a survey made of the manorial demesne in
1438-9, (fn. 27) a distinction between the original demesne
and other lands was still sufficiently recognized
in 1485 for it to be necessary for All Souls College
to make a grant of £1 13s. 4d. for 36 years to
Richard Bury to relinquish all title to William
Bury's lands, identifiable as all the Page lands
in northern Kingsbury. (fn. 28)
The lands of Kingsbury manor acquired two
copyhold estates in the 1450s. These were the lands
held from Kingsbury manor by Lucy Dorman
(Derman) and John Head, identifiable with Dormans
Mead and other land mingled with the demesne
lands west of Salmon Street. (fn. 29)
Hyde Farm, or Hamonds and Collins, which
in the earliest extant terrier (1574) (fn. 30) consisted of
87 a. in eastern Kingsbury and Hendon, originated
in an estate built up by Edmund Stevens and
conveyed by him to All Souls College in 1503. (fn. 31) The
farm-house itself, situated north of Kingsbury Road
in the centre of land stretching from Edgware Road
almost to Kingsbury Green (27 a. in 1597), (fn. 32) can be
identified with Lorchons, described in 1426 as a
tenement and ½ virgate. (fn. 33) It had been held by
Richard Page alias Lorchon (fl, 1359), whose
widow died seised of it in 1393. (fn. 34) The property
passed to Page's daughter and heir, Sarah, wife of
John Smith, and to their daughters and coheirs,
Joan, wife of Edward Collins, and Margaret,
married successively to John Cox, John Gardiner,
and John Hamond, (fn. 35) although only Hamond
appears as the holder on the rental of 1426. (fn. 36) In 1471
Hamond's son, Richard, conveyed the property
to John Canon, who surrendered it in 1486 to John
Pinner, tallow-chandler of London, from whom it
passed in 1488 to Sir Thomas Brian, chief justice of
the King's Bench. Brian must have surrendered the
property to Edmund Stevens before 1495, when
John Canon quitclaimed his interest, and in 1499
Stevens bought out the interest of George Collins,
son of Joan, the other coheir. Stevens's purchase
from Brian included Mill Hill, 12 a. south of
Kingsbury Road, which John Pinner had acquired
from Henry Mosshatch in 1488. (fn. 37) Part of the
property held by the Grove family in the early
15th century, (fn. 38) it had passed to John Lyon by 1441, (fn. 39)
and to Robert Mosshatch in 1466. (fn. 40) Other near-by
property acquired by Edmund Stevens included
Wadlifs, Spencers, and Longcrofts (19 a. in 1597),
land held in 1426 by Alice Clerk, whence it passed
to the Mosshatch family and to Hugh Morland,
who conveyed it to Stevens in 1492. (fn. 41) Simonds (9 a.
in 1597), in 1426 a tenement and three quartrons,
was sold by Richard Simond's executors to Stevens
in 1493. (fn. 42) The name 'Hamonds' was extended
from its original description of Lorchons to the
whole of Edmund Stevens's estate in eastern
Kingsbury.
The 'Collins' portion of the estate consisted of
freehold lands in western Hendon which were
conveyed in 1312 by Simon King and his wife
Mariot to their daughter, Mabel, and her husband,
John Collins. Their daughter, the wife of William
atte Hegge, inherited the property, which was
divided between her daughters and coheirs, the
wives of Thomas Freville of Laleham and Roger
Smith of Hendon. Freville's portion had passed to
Thomas Forster of Laleham before 1395 when
Forster conveyed it to John Fremley, also of
Laleham. (fn. 43) In 1495 Henry Fremley, husbandman of
Laleham, conveyed it to Edmund Stevens. (fn. 44)
Roger Smith's portion remained in the hands of the
Smiths of Hendon until 1496, when John Smith and
others conveyed it to Edmund Stevens and others. (fn. 45)
Stevens received £80 from All Souls College in
1498 for all his copyhold lands in Kingsbury and for
Collins in Hendon, (fn. 46) although the conveyance was
not entered in the court rolls until 1503, (fn. 47) and with
others he granted Collins in 1504 to Thomas Judde
and others who in 1515 granted it to William Broke
and others. (fn. 48) The college was certainly in possession
of both Hamonds and Collins by 1533-6. (fn. 49)
Wheat Croft, 4 a. lying east of Salmon Street, which
was acquired from Thomas Wilkins by Edmund
Stevens in 1489 and conveyed by him to All Souls
with his other property, became absorbed into
Kingsbury manor farm. (fn. 50)
William Mowbray (fl. 1521) (fn. 51) surrendered a
customary close held from the manor of Kingsbury,
then 6 a. and later 9 a., lying to the west of Stag Lane
in north Kingsbury to All Souls College to be held
for life by William Cogdale (Cockdale) and after
his death to be sold for charitable purposes.
Cogdale, who was the holder by 1528-9, (fn. 52) held the
close, which took his name, for 30 years, after which
it was seized by the college and absorbed into its
estate. In spite of a protest made in 1610, profits
from the close were never used for charity. (fn. 53) In
1591 Thomas Shepherd conveyed a cottage,
Vassetts, which lay east of Salmon Street, almost
opposite Hill Farm, and other copyhold land of the
manor of Kingsbury to All Souls College. (fn. 54)
Purchases and exchanges during the 19th
century extended and consolidated the All Souls
College estate. Threshbeings Acre (4 a.) in north
Kingsbury was bought in 1842 from Nicholl's
estate. (fn. 55) In 1843 the college acquired Little Bush
farm (44 a.), which joined and intermingled with
the farm-land of Kingsbury manor, and in 1845
it bought Old Haws (5½ a.) adjoining Old Field, all
from Francis Stubbs's estate. (fn. 56) In an exchange with
William Field in 1858 it relinquished 7 a. to the
west of Townsend Lane for 14 a. on the east, giving
it the whole of the area between Kingsbury Road and
Wood Lane. (fn. 57) Between 1868 and 1879, 20 a. on the
border with Wembley south of Kingsbury manor
farm-lands were bought from John W. Prout. (fn. 58) By
an exchange with the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
in 1890, All Souls acquired 34 a., of which 18½ a.
joined the lands recently bought from Prout, and
the rest lay near Hyde farm-house and in the north.
In return, the college surrendered 35 a., mostly the
original Collins land in Hendon. (fn. 59)
Before the First World War All Souls College (fn. 60)
sold some land, including the site of the maternity
hospital at Honeypot Lane and part of Stratford
Long or Shoelands adjoining Edgware Road, which
was developed for industry. The rest of Shoelands
and Hungry Down in north-west Kingsbury was
sold for building in 1931. The site for Wembley
town hall in Forty Lane was sold to Wembley
U.D.C. and the southern part of Hyde farm at
Kinloch Avenue for building in 1933. The land
north of it, Jubilee park (36 a.), was bought by
Wembley U.D.C. in 1936. Most of Kingsbury
manor or Hill farm-lands and Little Bush farm
(160 a.) was sold in 1938 to Middlesex C.C. and
Wembley B.C. for use as open space. In 1967, as
Fryent regional open space, it was grassland
leased by the Greater London Council to the
London Borough of Brent. (fn. 61) In 1948 19 a. of Hill
farm-land east of Salmon Street was sold to
Wembley. The rest of the estate, comprising
Crokers, land on the border with Wembley, some
land east of Salmon Street, and Hyde farm-lands
north of Kingsbury Road, was retained by the
college, let on building leases for houses and shops.
The home farm of the Kingsbury manor estate was
situated to the west of Salmon Street. Buildings
(domibus) were attached to the estate in 1325 and a
'messuage' was first specified in 1331. (fn. 62) It was called
a manor c. 1438-9 (fn. 63) and from 1445-6 repairs to
Kingsbury Manor appear as a regular item in the
accounts of the bursar of All Souls College. (fn. 64) In
1951 15th-century hammers were found when a
barn collapsed at Hill Farm. (fn. 65) From 1574 the house
and its lands were called the Hill farm. (fn. 66) The
farm-house was depicted in 1597 as a house facing
Salmon Street with a complex of buildings around a
courtyard behind it, a kitchen-garden, orchard, and
two ponds. (fn. 67) The house was assessed for 6 hearths
in 1664. (fn. 68) From 1700 the house became the centre of
one of the four farms into which the estate was
divided by leasing. (fn. 69)
The southern part of Kingsbury was freehold
land which may have originated in the woodland
held in common by freeholders, which was
mentioned in early documents. (fn. 70) In 1276-7 Hamon
Constantine held a carucate and John of Westmelne
held two virgates of freehold land. (fn. 71) Most of this
property seems to have passed by the 1290s to
Thomas of Brancaster, who was building up an
estate in Kingsbury and Hendon at the end of the
13th century. (fn. 72) It was held in 1325 by Geoffrey le
Scrope, possibly as a lessee from the Brancasters or
as a reward for his support of Edward II. (fn. 73) The
estate reverted to the Brancasters, probably after
Edward II's fall. In 1333 it was held by Gilbert,
son of Alan Brancaster, a former citizen of London,
who, in association with Gillian le Joigneur,
jeweller of London, leased an estate in southeast Kingsbury to Henry and Christine Page. (fn. 74)
The Brancaster estate, which may confusingly
have been called Kingsbury manor, consisted of a
moated manor-house and an estate in Kingsbury
of about 300 a. stretching from Salmon Street to
Townsend Lane and southward to the Brent. (fn. 75) It
probably extended southward over the Brent into
Willesden and eastward into Hendon as far as
Edgware Road. (fn. 76) It was held by knight service
from Edgware manor, a tenure commuted to a
pair of gold spurs or 6d. a year. (fn. 77)
The largest portion of Gilbert Brancaster's
estate passed to his daughter Katharine, wife of
John Farnborough (fl. c. 1362-c. 1384), (fn. 78) a basketmaker or cofferer, from whom the manor of
COFFERS, COFFERERS or COFFERHOUSE
took its name. (fn. 79) In 1400 Joan, widow of John
Farnborough the elder, and her second husband
John Mosshatch lost an action for dower against
her stepson, John Farnborough the younger,
stockfishmonger of London, for one third of a
messuage, 132 a. of arable, 3 a. of meadow, 18 a. of
wood and appurtenances in Kingsbury, Hendon,
and Willesden. (fn. 80) The younger John Farnborough
and his wife Gillian conveyed the estate, presumably as a settlement or mortgage, to Thomas
Haseley, Clerk of the Crown of Chancery, and to
John Frank, Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery, in
1424-5, (fn. 81) and Thomas Haseley was listed as the
owner in 1426. (fn. 82)
Haseley (d. c. 1450) conveyed the premises,
described as the manor of Kingsbury in Kingsbury,
Hendon, and Willesden, to the use of himself and
his wife for life, and in 1451 his widow, Agnes,
leased them to Henry Waver and his wife, Christine,
probably Agnes's daughter. (fn. 83) Henry and Christine
enjoyed full possession of the manor after Agnes's
death, and in 1476 Christine, whose second
husband was Thomas Cook, won her action against
her son, Henry Waver, for possession of the manor. (fn. 84)
Henry predeceased Christine, who died in 1479,
whereupon the estate, described as a messuage and
240 a. called Coffers, worth £7 3s. 4d. a year,
passed to her granddaughter, Christine Waver. All
Souls College, as the lord of Kingsbury (recte
Edgware) manor, was granted the wardship of the
younger Christine, then a minor. The college was
neglectful, however, and in August 1479 William
Edward, yeoman of Kingsbury, forcibly entered the
premises. When he died the following February,
his wife, Margaret, continued to take the profits
from the estate. In 1481 the escheator declared that
the manor was held in chief and Margaret Edward
gave her husband's goods and chattels to the king
in compensation, although she apparently remained
in possession. (fn. 85)
Christine Waver seems to have recovered the
manor at her majority and she and her two husbands,
William Brown and Sir Humphrey Dymock, held it
during the early 16th century. A dispute between
John Brown, Christine's son by her first husband,
and Humphrey and Christine Dymock was decided
in 1540 in favour of the latter. (fn. 86) Christine was dead
by 1550 when Dymock sold Coffers to Humphrey
White, (fn. 87) who sold it to Henry Page of Wembley in
1555. (fn. 88) In 1556 the estate was described as a
messuage, the site of a water-mill, 390 a., free
fishing in the Brent at Brent bridge, and 10s. rent
in Kingsbury, Hendon, and Willesden. (fn. 89) Much of
the land in Hendon and Willesden had been
acquired during the 15th century, but all the land
in Kingsbury seems to have belonged to the
original Brancaster holding.
In 1597 John Page had about 167 a. in Kingsbury,
mostly in the south-east. (fn. 90) His family, while
retaining possession of the bulk of Coffers until the
18th century, began to break up the estate in the
17th century. Richard Page of Uxendon sold
Wakemans Hill (20 a.) and 20 a. in Hendon to
Thomas Marsh of the Hyde in 1632, and another
14 a. in Hendon to Edward Franklin of Willesden
in 1633. (fn. 91) North Dean was already being treated
separately in 1636, (fn. 92) and it was not included in the
conveyance of Coffers by Richard Page of St. Gilesin-the-Fields (Holborn) to Henry Cope of Dublin
in 1716. (fn. 93) Cope and his wife, Mary, sold Coffers to
James Brydges in 1720. (fn. 94) Henry Brydges, duke of
Chandos, sold the manor in 1757 to Benjamin
Hays of Wimbledon (fn. 95) and in 1836 it was apparently
held by Trebe Hele Hays of Delamere (Devon),
who sold 9 a. next to the Brent to the Grand
Junction Canal Co. (fn. 96) William Praed, who was the
owner in 1839 of an estate there totalling 107 a., (fn. 97)
was still in possession in 1870. (fn. 98) By 1927 the estate
was in the hands of Kingsbury Estates Ltd. (fn. 99)
Building had begun at Langford Long as early as
1924, (fn. 1) but a large area in the south-east was still
open space, as a cemetery and recreation ground, in
1970.
Thomas Marsh of Roe Green devised Wakemans
Hill, by will proved 1695, (fn. 2) to Thomas Nicholl, who
sold two of the three fields there to John Cranmer
of Eccleshall (Staffs.) in 1710. (fn. 3) Cranmer's son
John conveyed them to Francis Newman in 1735, (fn. 4)
and Newman mortgaged and in 1749 sold them to
William Harrison of Hendon. (fn. 5) In 1782, after
Harrison's death, the two fields were sold by
devisees under his will to George Marsh of Blackheath (Kent). (fn. 6) In 1819 one field at Wakemans
Hill was held by John Nicholl and the other two
by Arthur Cuthbert Marsh. (fn. 7) Elizabeth Vidler and
George Wheeler were the holders in 1839 (fn. 8) and
1870. (fn. 9) The area was developed for building in
1927. (fn. 10)
North Dean (45 a.) was in the hands of Samuel
Nicholl c. 1729-38. (fn. 11) John Nicholl of York sold it
in 1769 to Frederick Reynolds of Pall Mall (Westminster), upon whose death in 1799 it passed to Anne
Marie Reynolds, his sister, who devised it by will
dated 1801 to James Royer of Eastbourne. It was
sold in 1810, under the terms of Royer's will, to
Charles Pieschall of Sise Lane (London). (fn. 12) Between
1822 and 1839 North Dean passed from Pieschall
to Henry Hoffman, (fn. 13) who was still in possession
in 1870. (fn. 14)
A manor-house was attached to Geoffrey le
Scrope's estate in 1325, although its site is not
known. Accounts mention the lord's chamber, a
kitchen, larder and malt-kiln, and a surrounding
moat with its bridges. (fn. 15) A tenement with curtilage
was included in the lease of 1333. (fn. 16) The 'Cofferhouse' was mentioned in the 1550s. (fn. 17) If that house
still existed in 1597 it must have been situated in one
of the areas not marked on the map. The centre of
the Coffers estate in Kingsbury was, probably
from the 17th or 18th century, Blackbird farm-house,
which was built south of the junction of Blackbird
Hill with Old Church Lane. (fn. 18) At the beginning of
the 20th century it was a two-storeyed brick building
with a tiled roof, possibly dating from the 18th
century. (fn. 19) The farm-house was demolished in
1936 to make way for shops. (fn. 20)
Part of Gilbert of Brancaster's estate was conveyed
by him to Gillian le Joigneur, who may have been
his daughter, and who can be identified with
Gillian, wife of Guy of Hoddesdon, fishmonger of
London. Before 1351 Guy and Gillian conveyed
to the knights of St. John of Jerusalem 40 a. of land
and 4 a. of meadow in Kingsbury worth 10s. 4d.,
which was held from Edgware manor for 1½ d. rent,
6 a. of wood in Hendon worth 3s., which was held
from Westminster abbey for a clove of garlic, and
6s. 8d. rent from free tenants in Kingsbury and
Hendon. The estate is identifiable with Church
field, 32 a., lying west of Church Lane, and
Kingsbury Hill, 6 a. in the corner between Townsend
Lane and Wood Lane. (fn. 21)
The Hoddesdon grant was not the only source of
FREREN or FRYENT manor, as the estate
belonging to the Knights Hospitallers was called.
Kingsbury church was appropriated to the Hospitallers by c. 1244-8 (fn. 22) and land in Tokyngton was
owned by them in the late 13th century. (fn. 23) In the
1330s the prior of St. John of Jerusalem seems to
have owned land in south-western Kingsbury. (fn. 24)
Property in Kingsbury was included in an extent
made of the knights' possessions in 1338. (fn. 25) When
the Hospitallers' property in Tokyngton was
surveyed in 1511-12, it consisted of 23 a. in strips
and parcels of land interspersed with the estates of
Tokyngton and Wembley manors. (fn. 26) It had disappeared by the middle of the 16th century, probably
through exchange. (fn. 27) The Freren lands in Tokyngton
were absorbed into Tokyngton and Wembley
manors while their property in Kingsbury, as two
blocks of land - High field or Nomansland
(18½ a.) on the border with Harrow - became part
of the Freren estate. (fn. 28)
By 1597 two fields in north Kingsbury belonged to
Freren manor. (fn. 29) Bowes (Boys or Bouse), otherwise
Hyde Hill field or Mayden croft, near Hyde Farm,
was held from Kingsbury manor for 1s. rent (fn. 30) and
may be identifiable with Nelesfield, originally
part of the Brancaster estate, for which Geoffrey
le Scrope paid 1s. rent to William Page in 1326. (fn. 31)
Freren field, to the west of Stag Lane, was mentioned
in 1426, although it was then apparently a common
field. (fn. 32) By 1597 it belonged exclusively to the
demesne of Freren manor. (fn. 33) Although only the outline of the Freren estate was marked on the map of
1597, (fn. 34) there is sufficient information to suggest
that its area was essentially that of c. 1729-38 (fn. 35) and
1839, (fn. 36) consisting of 120 a., concentrated mostly
in southern Kingsbury.
The estate remained in the hands of the Knights
Hospitallers until the Order was suppressed in
1540. (fn. 37) The king received the rents (fn. 38) until 1544
when he granted the estate to the dean and chapter
of St. Paul's cathedral. (fn. 39) With the exception of a
brief period during the Interregnum when Freren
manor, then described as 186 a. in Kingsbury and
Hendon, was sold by Parliamentary trustees to
Richard Gibbs, goldsmith of London, (fn. 40) St. Paul's
retained the estate until it was vested in the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1872. (fn. 41)
Tithes, great and small, formed part of the
Freren or rectory estate. By c. 1668, except for those
paid by three or four parishioners, all tithes had
been compounded for £60, although the parishioners
estimated their worth as £110. (fn. 42) Composition for
tithes was £420 in 1822 (fn. 43) and in 1839 they were
commuted for an annual rent-charge of £500, when
the joint owners were said to be the chapter of
St. Paul's and their lessee, the duke of Buckingham. (fn. 44)
All tithe rent-charges were redeemed between 1878
and 1936. (fn. 45)
Modifications were made to consolidate the
estate in the 19th century. Between 1858 and 1866
Kingsbury Hill (9 a.) was exchanged with William
Field of Townsends for Rolf crofts, 10 a. in the
angle of Salmon Street. (fn. 46) In 1890 34 a., consisting
of Freren field, Nomansland, and Hyde Hill field,
were surrendered to All Souls College in exchange
for 35 a. in western Hendon. (fn. 47)
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners sold most of the
estate, 80 a. around Fryent Farm, between 1928
and 1931. The property was divided into building
lots, of which the largest purchasers were Campbell
& Heath and Salmon Estate (Kingsbury) Ltd., each
of which purchased 26 a., and F. G. Parsons, who
bought 21 a. (fn. 48)
Freren or Fryent farm-house was situated to the
west of Church Lane near its junction with Wood
Lane. In 1597 it was a modest house facing Church
Lane, flanked on the north and south by barns. (fn. 49) In
1837 the farm-house had two storeys and attics. (fn. 50)
By 1889 it was called the Old House and described
as 'slightly built in the first place'. The walls
were cracked and held together with iron ties and
the house was damp and 'scarcely fit for habitation'.
After a fire in 1914, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
granted £1,000 for building, mostly in connexion
with a dairy business. The farm buildings, which
were sold to Frederick Lavender in 1929, (fn. 51) were
still used as a dairy farm in 1937 (fn. 52) but were
demolished after the Second World War. (fn. 53)