MORE'S ESTATE
Sir Thomas More, lawyer and king's secretary, built up
an important estate in Chelsea as his career at court
developed. (fn. 17) In 1524 he acquired a house, garden, 7 a.
arable and ½ a. meadow in Chelsea and Kensington
from Andrew and Joan Hickes and John and Margaret
Fletcher, and 24 a. arable and 3 a. meadow in Chelsea
from John and Lettice Greenfield. (fn. 18) At about the same
time he purchased a house with a wharf and little close
adjoining, and Butts close of c.2½ from Thomas Keyle,
citizen and mercer of London, (fn. 19) and evidently made
other acquisitions, as his estate in 1538 consisted of the
mansion and grounds where he lived, a messuage called
the Farm with 77 a. arable and 12½ a. meadow, a
substantial messuage in Brompton, another 28 a. 3 r. of
arable in Chelsea, and 7 other messuages in Chelsea; (fn. 1) this
excluded a house and Butts close given to William and
Margaret Roper in 1534. (fn. 2) More was evidently living in
Chelsea by the beginning of 1525 when he was
appointed to search for suspected persons in the area,
presumably as a justice of the peace. (fn. 3) There has always
been considerable doubt about the exact location of
More's house, and of the new building which he built
containing his chapel, library and gallery, (fn. 4) as extensive
building by his successor in the property, William
Paulet, marquess of Winchester, has obscured the location of the house and the layout of More's property. It
seems most likely that More's mansion was a medieval
house close to the riverside, and that it was More's new
building in the grounds behind which formed the site of
the mansion known later as Beaufort House. (fn. 5) He also
built a tomb for himself and his wives in the parish
church. (fn. 6) He farmed directly at least some of his land, as a
fire destroyed his corn-filled barns c.1529; (fn. 7) the previous
year he had reported under the commission on corn that
he had wheat, barley, and oats of his own to supply his
daily household of 100. (fn. 8)
More became lord chancellor in 1529, and conducted
some state business at his Chelsea house, including
hearing petitions and examining heretics. In 1532 he
resigned the chancellorship as he could not support the
king's policy regarding the Church, and retired to
Chelsea. (fn. 9) According to William Roper, More made a
settlement of his estates on himself for life with remainders of part to his wife, part as a jointure for his daughter-in-law, and part to his daughter Margaret and her
husband William Roper, but shortly afterwards More
reinforced this settlement by an outright grant in possession to the Ropers. (fn. 10) Before being committed to the
Tower in 1534, More granted all his estates in Chelsea to
feoffees for uses he had previously indicated, but on his
attainder all his estates were taken into the king's hands
except for the portion given to the Ropers. (fn. 11) More's deed
of feoffment was annulled by an Act in 1536, (fn. 12) following
More's execution in 1535. However, although the king
granted More's chief house to Sir William Paulet to hold
at the king's will, (fn. 13) contrary to tradition More's family
retained life interests in some of the Chelsea estate much
in accordance with More's settlement, and were assessed
for taxation under Chelsea from 1535-6 until 1547. (fn. 14) In
1540-1, for example, Sir Thomas's widow Alice was
assessed in Chelsea at £50 for lands and fees held for life,
his son John at £60 for lands held in his wife's right for
life, presumably her jointure, and William Roper at £10
for lands, office, and fees for life. (fn. 15) Roper was listed as a
free tenant of the manor in 1543, (fn. 16) and in 1547 he was
said to hold for life a house and close called Butts close,
with houses built there, a barn, and garden rent-free by
gift of Sir Thomas More. The property was supposed to
revert to the main estate after Roper's death, (fn. 17) but did
not apparently do so, and it remained a separate estate.
Its later history is traced below under the Earl of
Lincoln's other estate and Sloane Stanley. (fn. 18)
In 1547 Edward VI granted More's estate with other
lands in fee to Sir William Paulet, Lord St John and later
marquess of Winchester, Lord Treasurer from 1550; the
estate was as described in 1538 (above) plus Roper's
property. (fn. 19) In 1566 Winchester enlarged the estate when
he acquired the parsonage and 14 a. adjoining it, which
lay on the west side of his lands and farm, and 3 a. in
Eastfield, by an exchange in which he gave the rector a
newly-built house and 18 a. on the east side of Church
Lane; (fn. 20) there is an indication that this land may have
been granted to Winchester from the manorial
demesne. (fn. 21) In 1567 he leased most of the estate to Nicholas Holborne and his wife Catherine for 50 years at £13
6s. 8d. a year, including the farmhouse in Chelsea, which
lay on the south-west side of Winchester's grounds, a
quill of water to the farmhouse, 130 a. of land in Chelsea
and Kensington, and the mansion formerly called the
parsonage with its land. (fn. 22) Winchester evidently put up
new buildings at his Chelsea estate before he died in
1572, as that year the property was described as his 'new
buildings, chief mansion, capital messuage and manor
house' in Chelsea, (fn. 23) and that, the case brought by his
grandson indicating heavy expenditure, (fn. 24) and the design
of the house itself are a good indications that the house
shown in the Cecil survey plan of c.1595, and later
known as Beaufort House, was built by Winchester and
not by Sir Thomas More. (fn. 25)
The estate passed to Winchester's son John (d. 1576),
2nd marquess, who sold the whole estate, described in
the fine as 20 messuages, 20 cottages, 10 gardens, 10
orchards, 40 a. land, 40 a. meadow, 200 a. pasture, 40 a.
wood, and 200 a. waste and briar in Chelsea and
Kensington, to his wife's daughter, Anne Sackville, and
her husband Gregory Fiennes, Lord Dacre, in 1575, (fn. 1)
leading his son William, 3rd marquess, to accuse his
father's widow of selling the house at Chelsea, costing
£14,000, with its lands worth another £1,400, to the
Dacres for barely a fifth of its value. (fn. 2)
Dacre was listed among the free tenants of Chelsea in
1587 for a capital messuage, various cottages and 119
acres, for which he paid the lord of the manor 4s. a year. (fn. 3)
He died in 1594 and his wife, who died a few months
later, by will proved 1595 bequeathed the estate to
William Cecil (d. 1598), Lord Burghley, for life, with
remainder to his son Sir Robert and the latter's wife Elizabeth, 'my dear friend'. (fn. 4) Sir Robert Cecil had plans
drawn up to enlarge the main house, (fn. 5) and was having
building done there by 1597, (fn. 6) though apparently the
extant plans, of a significantly different character to that
shown in the survey plan, were not carried out. The
house was remodelled into a broadened version of an
H-type with short wings, of which the plan drawn by
John Thorpe c. 1620 seems to be an accurate record. (fn. 7) The
description of the house in 1652 gives some indication
of its character. (fn. 8) However, the cost and the burden of
Cecil's other houses, as well as the death of his wife in
1597, may have led to his decision to sell the estate, and
in 1599 for £6,000 he conveyed it to Henry Clinton alias
Fiennes, 2nd earl of Lincoln (d. 1616), and Sir Arthur
Gorges with a settlement on Lincoln for life, then successive remainders to Gorges and his wife Elizabeth,
Lincoln's daughter, for their lives, their children, and in
default of issue to Elizabeth Gorges's heirs, or to Edward
Fiennes, Lincoln's 2nd son. (fn. 9) The purchase may have
been part of a dowry for Elizabeth: when Lincoln tried to
change the settlement Gorges accused him of meanness
towards his only daughter. The same settlement was
expressed in the licence to alienate granted to Cecil when
he sold to them the Kensington land included in the
estate. (fn. 10)
Lincoln was notorious for his miserliness and bad
behaviour towards his second wife, his son, his brother,
his tenants, and his neighbours, as well as towards his
sovereign. (fn. 11) Despite having paid £500 down for the
estate, he threatened not to go ahead with the purchase,
claiming it would cost him £100 more a year than he
would make out of it, and insisting on the inclusion of
various furnishings: the table, carpet, curtains, and
hangings in the great chamber, and the chair canopy and
cushions in the withdrawing chamber. (fn. 12) He had severe
financial problems and his attitude may have stemmed
from a discovery too late that all the property except the
house and grounds and a couple of dwellings was let to
Holborne until 1617 and could not be exploited
financially: he apparently carried out a campaign of
harassment against Holborne and his subtenants, (fn. 13)
perhaps hoping they would surrender the lease. In addition, he was prevented from selling any of the property
by the settlement on Arthur and Elizabeth Gorges, who
refused to release their interests, and Lincoln later
brought an unsuccessful case in Chancery c. 1609 against
Gorges to try to get the estate resettled. (fn. 14)
On Lincoln's death in 1616 the estate duly passed to
Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth Gorges, and in 1617 they
presumably also took possession of the farmhouse,
former parsonage, and land leased to Holborne; it was
most likely at this time that Sir Arthur built Gorges
House just south of the stables of the main house. (fn. 15) In
1618 they began negotiations to sell some of the estate,
to provide dowries for their daughters, (fn. 16) and in the
course of the next 50 years the whole estate was divided
up or sold by Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth or their
heirs. (fn. 17) In 1619 the marriage settlement between the
Gorges's eldest daughter, Dudley, and Sir Robert Lane
involved the 'great and fair house' at Chelsea which Lady
Elizabeth intended to sell towards her daughters'
portions, (fn. 18) presumably referring to the principal
mansion, which with its grounds, Dovehouse Close (5
a.), and Brickbarn Close (10 a.), was sold in 1620 to
Lionel Cranfield. Its later history is covered below under
Beaufort House. In 1622 Sir Arthur and Lady Elizabeth
Gorges settled four houses and other property to give
two of their daughters life interests: one was the Farmhouse, with a wharf and common of pasture, held for life
by Edward Cecil and his wife, which was settled after
their deaths on Gorges's daughter Frances, or Gorges's
heirs; the other houses were settled on their daughter
Elizabeth. (fn. 19) Frances seems to have died before her father,
as she is not mentioned in his will, (fn. 20) and the Farmhouse,
later the site of Lindsey House, was apparently conveyed
in fee in 1638 to Sir Theodore de Mayerne; its later
history is covered below under Lindsey House. The
other property seems to have remained with Gorges
House.
Sir Arthur died in 1625 and the Chelsea estate passed
to his widow, Lady Elizabeth, who also received Gorges
House for life under Sir Arthur's will. (fn. 1) By 1630 Dudley
Lane, now a widow, had bought from her mother a little
house called the Brickills with 6 a., and held other land in
Westfield; the house was later the property of another
daughter, Elizabeth, widow of Sir Robert Stanley. (fn. 2) In
1630 Sir Arthur Gorges of Surrey, son and heir of Sir
Arthur and Lady Elizabeth, and his wife Elizabeth settled
lands in Chelsea and Kensington on themselves for life
and then to each of their sons in tail. (fn. 3) In her will, which
was proved in July 1643 but not registered, (fn. 4) his mother
Lady Elizabeth gave several houses in Chelsea to Sir
Arthur's four children for their lives, with remainder to
Sir Arthur, on condition he did not try to claim Brickills
from Elizabeth Stanley. (fn. 5) On the death of his mother Sir
Arthur's property at Chelsea was sequestered and he
compounded for it. It then comprised a life interest in
133 acres in Chelsea and Kensington, in the house where
he lived and in 6 tenements in Chelsea, and the freehold
of the 13 houses in Chelsea given to his children for life
by his mother. Apparently built along Duke Street near
the river, the last produced an annual rent of £43 8s. (fn. 6)
In 1646 Sir Arthur leased a house and lands in Chelsea
and Kensington for 21 years as security for debts, which
seem to have caused increasing difficulties. (fn. 7) The same
year he, his wife, and their son Arthur, to whom the
estate would eventually pass, joined in leasing a brick
barn and ground, possibly the site of the former
parsonage, to William Cox to rebuild as dwelling
houses. (fn. 8) In 1647, probably to settle some of their more
pressing debts, they joined in a sale of 4 a. in Eastfield, by
the river, to Edward Cheyne, merchant taylor of
London. (fn. 9) In 1649 they mortgaged and then in 1650 sold
11½ a. by Fulham Road called the Flatts to Henry White
of Putney. (fn. 10) In 1650 they also disposed of a house in
Little Chelsea together with barns and stables, 9 a. arable
in Westfield and ½ a. meadow near Hobgate, (fn. 11) and
another house, together with barn and stable, 14 a. in
Kensington, and c.31 a. of meadow in Chelsea, (fn. 12) 9 a. of
Parsonage Close and 3 a. of meadow in Westfield. (fn. 13) In
1651 the Gorges family, Henry White, and the mortgagees conveyed the 2 messuages, the 11½ a., and all the
mortgaged land, except the 12 a. in Parsonage Close and
Westfield, to Sir Michael Warton of Beverley (Yorks.). (fn. 14)
From 1657 to 1662 several creditors brought suits to
get their debts settled out of the estate: at least two of the
houses left by Lady Elizabeth were resettled and sold,
then another five, the rest being settled on Elizabeth
Gorges, Lady Elizabeth's granddaughter. (fn. 15) Sir Arthur
Gorges died in 1661, shortly after his wife, and the
remainder of the Chelsea estate, consisting of Gorges
House and grounds, Parsonage Close, and 3 a. meadow
in Westfield passed to his eldest son Arthur. The latter
sold all the remaining property to Thomas Pritchard and
Richard Spoure in 1664. (fn. 16)