MANOR AND OTHER ESTATES.
Offa, king of
Mercia, was said to have included 10 mansiones in
Stanmore among the lands granted to St. Albans
abbey on its foundation c. 793. (fn. 44) Although Offa's
charter, recorded by Matthew Paris, was probably
spurious, (fn. 45) the abbey's lands in 957 stretched southward across Stanmore as far as the later boundary
with Kingsbury. (fn. 46) At least some of them were lost
before the Conquest, in spite of Thomas Walsingham's
story that William I deprived the monks of nearly all
their property between Barnet and London. (fn. 47) Nine
and a half hides at Stanmore were held by Edmer
Atule, a thegn of Edward the Confessor, and in 1086
by William I's half-brother Robert, count of Mortain, (fn. 48) whose son William had restored them to St.
Albans by 1106. (fn. 49)
The division of Stanmore, first recorded in
Domesday Book, persisted, although it was not until
1274 that the abbey's property was said to lie in
Great Stanmore (fn. 50) and not until 1354 that it was
called the manor of GREAT STANMORE. (fn. 51) Abbot
Richard (d. 1119) granted the 'town' of Stanmore to
Serle and his heirs, in fee farm for 60s. a year. (fn. 52)
Serle's son Robert of Stanmore exchanged part of
the estate in the north with the abbot, by whom it
was incorporated into Aldenham (Herts.), and the
rest passed to Robert's daughter Marsilia, whose
husband, also called Robert, pledged it to a Jewish
moneylender. In 1221, when the inheritance was
disputed between William, Marsilia's grandson, and
Richard de la Grave, descended from a younger son
of Serle, St. Albans resumed possession. (fn. 53) The
rights of William's sisters Maud and Felice were
secured by a fine of 1244-5 and those of William's
widow Alice and her second husband, John de Ros,
in the following year. (fn. 54) Aloys of Stanmore, perhaps
the son of the younger Robert of Stanmore by a
different marriage, quitclaimed his interest at about
the same time but regained possession by a writ of
mort d'ancestor against Abbot Roger (1260-90), who
had mislaid the title deeds. (fn. 55) In 1274, however,
Aloys's son Robert surrendered all his rights in
Great Stanmore to Edward the goldsmith and in
1279 it was agreed between Robert and the abbot
that Edward and his heirs should hold the lands,
paying 15 marks a year during the lifetime of John
Clarel, to whom the abbot had leased the property,
and 10 marks thereafter. (fn. 56) John de Shorne and his
wife Isabel held the estate in 1307 (fn. 57) and in 1349
Walter de Shorne conveyed his interest in Broadcroft, Hall mead, and other lands in Great Stanmore
to Roger Wendout, who was probably acting for the
Francis family of London. In 1354 Walter's son
John de Shorne released to Ellis Francis and Thomas
de Loughtborough all his claims in the manor,
which they had acquired from Simon Francis. (fn. 58)
Simon died in 1358, seised jointly with his wife
Maud of the manor of Great Stanmore. (fn. 59) In 1362
the prior of St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, was
licensed to acquire the manor in mortmain from
David of Wooler, Keeper of the Rolls of Chancery,
who was to have had the reversion on Maud's
death. (fn. 60)
St. Bartholomew's priory, which already held the
manor of Little Stanmore, in 1359 had been licensed
to acquire other lands in Great Stanmore: (fn. 61) a house
and 168 a. from Hugh de la More of Carleton,
chaplain, and 20 a. from John de Affebrigge. (fn. 62) In
1392 the abbot of St. Albans was permitted to receive
5 marks for the manor of Great Stanmore whenever
the priory of St. Bartholomew's was vacant, since he
had been paid a relief of twice the rent on the death
of each tenant before the priory's acquisition in
mortmain. (fn. 63) In 1535 St. Bartholomew's, which drew
profits of £20 a year from all its property in Great
Stanmore, was still paying the old rent of 10 marks
(£6 13s. 4d.) to St. Albans. (fn. 64)
Geoffrey Chamber, formerly chief steward for St.
Bartholomew's in Great Stanmore (fn. 65) and from 1536
surveyor and receiver-general in the Court of Augmentations, (fn. 66) leased the manor for 15 years in 1538,
acquitting the prior of payments to St. Albans. (fn. 67)
Great Stanmore was among the manors granted for
life to Robert Fuller, the last prior, in 1540, (fn. 68) the
year after his surrender of the house, but it was
granted to Chamber and his heirs in 1542. (fn. 69) Chamber
sold some of his property there to Sir Pedro de
Gamboa, a Spanish mercenary in the royal service,
in the same year (fn. 70) and died in 1544, heavily in debt
to the Crown. (fn. 71) The manor and its lands were
forfeited and in 1547, when they covered 276½ a.,
they were granted to Gamboa in tail male, together
with the land bought from Chamber in 1542. (fn. 72)
Great Stanmore escheated on Gamboa's murder in
1550, (fn. 73) when it was leased to Sir George Blage at a
rent which was slightly reduced after some lands had
been granted to Hugh Losse, lord of Little Stanmore, in 1552. (fn. 74) Chamber's last surviving son
Edward, an exiled Roman Catholic priest, vainly
claimed the manor as late as 1593 and ascribed the
Crown's refusal to sell it to the existence of a rightful
heir. (fn. 75) Leases were made to Blage's widow Dorothy
in 1563 (fn. 76) and, in reversion, to Thomas Marshe in
1576. (fn. 77) Marshe had conveyed his interest by 1587-8
to John Kaye, clerk of the Green Cloth, (fn. 78) whose son
John obtained a lease in reversion in 1594 (fn. 79) but
assigned it to John Burnell, a clothworker of
London, (fn. 80)
c. 1599. (fn. 81)
In 1604 the lordship of Great Stanmore was sold
in reversion for £600 to Sir Thomas Lake, a secretary of state, who already held Little Stanmore. A
fee farm rent was reserved to the Crown but granted
in 1623 to the chapter of Westminster. (fn. 82) Lake's son,
another Sir Thomas, secured possession in 1638 by
buying in the Burnells' lease from Anne Rewse,
widow of John Burnell's son and namesake. After
the younger Sir Thomas's death in 1653 (fn. 83) the
children of his first marriage, Thomas, Dorothy, and
Elizabeth, claimed that Great Stanmore had been
among the estates settled by their grandfather for
60 years and therefore that the profits could not be
withheld because of any conveyance to their uncle,
the earl of Rutland, who was in league with their
step-mother. (fn. 84) More prolonged discord arose when
the two sisters, supported by their uncle Sir
Lancelot Lake of Canons, alleged that Thomas, who
married while still a minor, was under the influence
of his brother-in-law William Bockenham, formerly
their father's steward. (fn. 85) Thomas mortgaged the
manor to Thomas Mann, an associate of Bockenham,
in 1661 (fn. 86) and died in 1662, leaving Great Stanmore
to his widow Mary and Bockenham. After further
litigation (fn. 87) Bockenham in 1663 agreed to sell most
of the demesne lands to Sir Lancelot and to pay
£9,000 to Dorothy and Elizabeth Lake. (fn. 88) The
remaining lands, with the manor-house, were left to
Bockenham and his co-feoffees, in whose names
courts were held in 1664 and 1666. (fn. 89) Attempts by
Thomas Lake and Bockenham to raise money
encumbered the estate with many conflicting claims
throughout the 1660s and 1670s, although as a result
of one of Bockenham's mortgages possession passed
to Mary Lake shortly before her second marriage, to
Richard (later Sir Richard) May, a baron of the
Exchequer. (fn. 90) May held the manor by 1668 (fn. 91) and
mortgaged it in 1679 to Dame Barbara Wyndham.
Both Bockenham and May evidently conveyed their
interests to a London embroiderer, Matthew Smith,
and other trustees, in whose names courts were held
in 1679-80. (fn. 92)
Matthew Smith, hoping to entail the manor on his
eldest grandson Thomas, empowered the trustees to
sell some property to redeem the mortgage. Part was
accordingly sold, with the consent of Smith's widow
Margaret, to John and William Powell in 1681. The
manor itself changed hands but unspecified lands
were retained, to be disputed among Smith's heirs
at least until 1713. John Powell, a London vintner,
was the sole lord from 1685 to 1700, when he was
followed by John Rogers. (fn. 93) Differences arose between Rogers and Warwick Lake of Canons over the
payment of the fee farm rent to Westminster abbey:
Rogers, maintaining that most of the charge should
be borne by the Lakes, alleged that Sir Lancelot had
bought as much as two-thirds of the demesne
lands, leaving only 150 a. to the lords of Great
Stanmore. (fn. 94)
In 1714 the manor was acquired from John Rogers
by Humphrey Walcot, (fn. 95) presumably on behalf of his
patron James Brydges, earl of Carnarvon and from
1719 duke of Chandos. (fn. 96) In 1715 Great and Little
Stanmore were united under the Brydges family, as
they had been under the Lakes. After the third duke's
death in 1789 (fn. 97) courts were held for his widow Anne
Eliza, a lunatic whose estates were leased out under
an Act of 1793, (fn. 98) and in 1795 for his daughter Lady
Anna Elizabeth Brydges, de jure Baroness Kinloss.
Anna Elizabeth in 1796 married Richard NugentTemple-Grenville, Earl Temple, who in 1813 succeeded as marquess of Buckingham and in 1822
was created duke of Buckingham and Chandos. His
son, Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-BrydgesChandos-Grenville, succeeded in 1839 and sold the
manor in 1840 to James Hamilton, marquess (later
duke) of Abercorn (fn. 99) and owner of Bentley Priory. (fn. 1)
In 1863 the manor was bought by John Kelk (later
Sir John Kelk, Bt.), (fn. 2) the railway engineer, who in
1882 sold it to Thomas Clutterbuck of Micklefield
Hall, Rickmansworth (Herts.). (fn. 3)
The Clutterbucks had held property in the parish
at least since 1749, when a messuage was granted to
Thomas Clutterbuck, a brewer. (fn. 4) In 1762 he had
acquired the Vine at the top of Stanmore Hill and in
1763, on behalf of his son Thomas, a brewery which
stood a few yards farther north on the opposite,
western, side of the road. (fn. 5) Although not large landowners in Great Stanmore, the family had acquired
many buildings, including the Crown in 1769, the
Black Horse on a lease in 1851, and the Load of Hay
in 1868, as well as many wastehold parcels. (fn. 6) The
purchaser of the manor was described as of Great
Stanmore in 1844, of Red Hall (Herts.) in 1847, and
of Micklefield Hall in 1851. (fn. 7) The manor passed in
1895 to his son Thomas Meadows Clutterbuck (d.
1919) and to his grandson Captain Rupert Clutterbuck (d. 1933), both of Micklefield Hall. (fn. 8) Many
manorial rights were sold in the 1920s, including
those in the common and Stanmore marsh, for which
Hendon R.D.C. paid £1,000 in 1929. (fn. 9) The last rights
were extinguished by Captain Clutterbuck's widow
and her co-executor, in whom the manor was vested,
in 1935-6. (fn. 10)
According to Thomas Walsingham a manor-house
was built by John, abbot of St. Albans 1235-60. (fn. 11)
Presumably it occupied the moated site in the medieval village, south of the vanished St. Mary's church,
between Old Church Lane on the east and the Stanburn on the west. (fn. 12) Four sides of the moat enclosed
a rick-yard in 1838 (fn. 13) but only two survived in 1865. (fn. 14)
Traces were visible in private gardens on the northern corner of Old Church Lane and Wolverton Road
in the 1930s. (fn. 15) The 'capital mansion-house' recorded
in 1587-8 (fn. 16) may have been a new building, ancestor
of the later Manor House which stood at the northern end of Old Church Lane, opposite the Rectory.
John Burnell (d. 1605) was said by his son to have
spent over £800 in reconstructing and repairing his
residence there. (fn. 17) It was assessed at 16 hearths in
1664, (fn. 18) again restored in 1682 and much altered in
the 18th or early 19th century, (fn. 19) but was leased out
after its acquisition by the owners of Canons:
Humphrey Walcot held the lease for two lives in
1734 (fn. 20) and there was a yearly tenant in 1837, when
the house and 14 a. were put up for sale. (fn. 21) Later
occupants of the Manor House, which was demolished in 1930, (fn. 22) included Mrs. Sperling, Eugene
Noel, and Charles Hartridge. (fn. 23) The so-called New
Manor House, farther south in the same road and
opposite the junction with Gordon Avenue, was
merely a lavish Tudor-style remodelling, dating
from 1930-3, of a late Victorian residence, the Croft.
At the expense of Samuel Wallrock many ancient
materials were incorporated in the new house (fn. 24) and
in Church House, a range of former outbuildings to
the north which included a banqueting room afterwards used as a church hall. (fn. 25) The New Manor
House was bought with 5½ a. by the Ministry of
Defence in 1940 (fn. 26) and was used as a residence for
senior officers in 1971. (fn. 27)
In 1838 the Drummond family held 408 a. in
Great Stanmore, twice as much as the next largest
landowner, the duke of Buckingham and Chandos, (fn. 28)
and part of a 1,406-acre estate which stretched westward into Harrow Weald. The Drummonds' connexion with the parish was foreshadowed in 1725,
when the duke of Chandos opened an account at the
Charing Cross bank of Andrew Drummond, founder
of the family's fortune. (fn. 29) In 1729 Andrew was admitted to a copyhold tenement called Hodgkins, which
he had bought from John Shepherd, a London
merchant. (fn. 30) Many subsequent purchases were made
by Andrew, who died in 1769 seised of at least 56 a.
of copyhold land, (fn. 31) including three of the manor's
head tenements. (fn. 32) Small parcels of waste were added
by Andrew's son John (d. 1774) and John's son
George (d. 1789). (fn. 33)
By 1788 the estate included Belmont, a mound
constructed by the first duke of Chandos and surmounted by a summer-house which terminated the
vista along the western avenue from Canons. Andrew
Drummond is said to have lived at Belmont but it is
more likely that his early home was south-west of the
church, on the site of a Palladian mansion begun in
1763 by John Vardy and completed by Sir William
Chambers. (fn. 34) The mansion later was mistakenly known
as Belmont (fn. 35) and was called Stanmore House in 1816,
when it was occupied by the Countess of Aylesford.
Lord Castlereagh is said to have lived there for a
short time, (fn. 36) presumably, like Lady Aylesford, as the
tenant of George Drummond's spendthrift son,
George Harley Drummond (d. 1855). The mansion
stood in extensive grounds, which form the setting
for Zoffany's painting of Andrew Drummond's
family; (fn. 37) in 1838 they included South park, 87 a.
extending from Temple pond to Belmont, and
North park, 66 a. including Boot pond, north of
Uxbridge Road. Park or Home farm, west of the
mansion, and Old Church farm also formed part of
the Drummonds' property, (fn. 38) which was bought by
the marquess of Abercorn, as the Stanmore Park
estate, in 1839. (fn. 39) Abercorn, having his own seat at
Bentley Priory, sold the Stanmore mansion in 1848
to George Carr Glyn, later Lord Wolverton (d.
1873), a partner in Glyn, Mills & Co. The house,
after some 50 years as a boys' preparatory school,
was sold with 56 a. and pulled down in 1938 (fn. 40) to
make way for no. 3 Balloon Centre of the Royal
Auxiliary Air Force. The site was occupied in turn
by Balloon Command H.Q., and by groups of
Transport Command and Fighter Command. In
1971 Stanmore Park was a station in no. 11 (Fighter)
Group of Strike Command, whose headquarters
were at Bentley Priory, (fn. 41) although part of the old
park survived as Stanmore golf course.
When the earl of Abercorn bought Bentley
Priory in 1788, (fn. 42) its grounds already encroached
from Harrow into Stanmore. In 1795 the marquess
of Abercorn was licensed to inclose part of the
turnpike road which led north-west across Stanmore
Common, with some adjoining waste-land, on condition that he made a new road and did not build
anything other than 'lodges, temples and other ornamental buildings' of an approved design. (fn. 43) His grandson and heir thus already held 97 a. in the north-west
of the parish, (fn. 44) before he bought the Drummonds'
property and other lands, with the lordship, from
the duke of Buckingham and Chandos's estates.
Aylwards, (fn. 45) east of the Bentley Priory grounds, was
acquired in 1842. (fn. 46) All the lands were mortgaged, (fn. 47)
however, and the sale of Stanmore Park was followed
by that of extensive farm-land in the south, whose
purchase by St. Bartholomew's hospital was completed after three years in 1856. (fn. 48) The parkland
attached to Bentley Priory was conveyed in 1857 to
John Kelk, whose purchase of Aylwards at the same
time as that of the manor ended Great Stanmore's
connexion with a family which, twenty years earlier,
had owned nearly half the parish. (fn. 49)
The Stanmore lands bought by St. Bartholomew's
hospital comprised Kenton Lane, Old Church, and
Marsh farms. Apart from a farm-house at the corner
of Marsh Lane they formed a compact block which
amounted to 808 a. in 1857, when it was by far the
largest of the hospital's estates in Middlesex. No
more than 440 a., however, were in Great Stanmore,
for part of Marsh farm lay in Little Stanmore and
most of Kenton Lane farm in Harrow. (fn. 50) The homestead of Marsh farm was sold with 7 a. to Dr. Begg
of Canons in 1863 and a small additional purchase
was made in 1864 (fn. 51) but much of the property, because
of its value as building land, was retained after a
general decision to dispose of the hospital's country
estates in 1919. (fn. 52) The first sales took place in 1926
and the last, to John Laing & Co., the biggest purchasers, in 1934. (fn. 53)