FAWLEY
Falelie (xi cent.); Fallay (xii cent.); Fallegh
(xv cent.); Fauley (xviii cent.).
The parish of Fawley, which is bordered on the
south and west by Oxfordshire, covers an area of
2,212½ acres. (fn. 1) There are 907 acres of arable land,
839 acres of permanent grass and 585¾ acres of
woods and plantations. (fn. 2) The general slope of the
land is from north-west to south-east, and falls
from 552 ft. to 113 ft. above ordnance datum
towards the River Thames, which forms the eastern
boundary of the parish. The soil is chalk and loam.
Wheat and barley form the chief crops. The houses
are scattered and the so-called village is on a ridge
nearly in the centre of the parish. The church,
school and rectory are grouped together to the southwest of the village, which includes several groups
of cottages of 17th-century origin, but more or less
altered.
At the north-west of the churchyard is a fine
yew tree, in the hollow trunk of which twelve persons
can take shelter at the same time. The rectory-house
was built by the Rev. John Stevens, (fn. 3) rector of Fawley,
in the 18th century. (fn. 4) It is beautifully situated with a
fine view of the Thames and from it parts of six counties
can be seen. Round House Farm, a cottage opposite,
and Crockmore Farm date from the 17th century,
and retain a good many original features, but have been
considerably altered and added to.
Fawley Court, the seat of Mr. W. Dalziel Mackenzie,
the lord of the manor, stands in the extreme south of
the parish, with a view over the Deer Park, about 200
acres of which are in Oxfordshire. The old manorhouse, which had been the residence of Sir James
Whitelocke, one of the judges of the King's Bench and
author of the Liber Famelicus, and of his son Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, author of the Memorials of English
Affairs, (fn. 5) was practically sacked by the Royalists who
were quartered there under Sir John Byron in 1642. (fn. 6)
It was pulled down when the present mansion was
built, as it is said, from designs by Sir Christopher
Wren, (fn. 7) in 1684 for William Freeman. (fn. 8) It is a large
square brick and stone house, two stories in height,
with a basement and an attic. The plan is symmetrically arranged, the entrance hall on the west and the
saloon on the east being placed back to back and occupying the whole of the ground floor of the centre of the
house, while the principal apartments and staircases are
placed in equal-sized blocks on either side, projecting
slightly on the west and east fronts. The offices are
contained in the basement, which is vaulted with brick
throughout, and the bedrooms on the first and attic
floors. The house was apparently ready for habitation by 1688, as William III rested here in that year
on his progress from Torbay to London, and here
received the declaration from the peers who assembled
on the withdrawal of James II and an address from
the Corporation of London. The internal decoration, however, does not appear to have been completed
for a considerable period. The ceiling of the saloon
bears the date 1690, but the doorcases and chimneypiece, both here and elsewhere, are mainly of the
Adam type. Beyond the addition of a modern wing
at the north-west in 1884 the building has undergone
little structural alteration during the 19th century.
The elevations, which are designed in a plain and
dignified manner, are faced with modern brick, the
old facing having been hacked to receive the stucco
with which the walls were coated about 1800. The
quoins and dressings are of stone, and on the ground
stage of the recessed central portion of the entrance
front on the west is an Ionic portico with a balustraded parapet; the centres of the north and south
elevations are slightly broken forward and crowned
by pediments. A string-course marks the level of
the first floor, and the windows have plain flat architraves, while the walls are crowned by a wood
modillion cornice surmounted by a low blocking
course. The roofs are hipped, with a central lead
flat, and are covered with slates. A cemented terrace
with cellars beneath runs round the house on the
south and east sides. The entrance hall has been
considerably modernized, and the doorcases are all
late 18th-century work. The principal feature of
this apartment is a modern copy in white marble of
Bernini's group of 'David and Goliath.' A doorway
in the centre of the east wall leads into the saloon, a
finely proportioned room of the same size as the
entrance hall. The ceiling, a very fine example of
late 17th-century work, modelled with fruit, flowers
and birds in high relief, bears upon a scroll at its
southern end the date, inscribed thus: 'Anno Domini
MDCLXXXX.' The white marble fireplace in the south
wall is a fine piece of Adam design, with delicately
modelled consoles supporting the mantelshelf, and
a frieze sculptured with animals in the Pompeian
manner. The staircase hall opens out of the entrance
hall by a doorway at the south-west and occupies the
whole of this angle of the house. The stairs themselves are of oak, with twisted balusters, and of the
original date of the house. In a small drawing room
or boudoir, occupying the north-east angle of the
house, is a fine carved wood chimney-piece of the
late 18th century, painted in black and gold. A room
at the south-east angle has a good coved and flat
ceiling of the Adam type and a marble fireplace in
the same manner. Between this room and the principal staircase, in the centre of the south front, is the
library, a charming example of the Adam style at its best.
Below the cornice a deep frieze runs round the walls
with panels painted in monochrome in imitation of
bas-relief, and below this again is a moulded architrave, carried, with the frieze and cornice, across a
recess at the west end of the room by four Ionic
columns with marble shafts. The doors and bookcases are delicately ornamented with inlaid work by
the Hon. Mrs. Dawson Damer, the sculptress of the
heads of Thames and Isis on Henley Bridge, and
the fireplace is of white and yellow marble. The
bedrooms on the first floor open off a central corridor,
where some original panelled partition work remains.
The large room at the south-east is hung with a wallpaper of 'Persian' design, said to have been made
for the Pavilion at Brighton, while the room adjoining it on the north, over the saloon, has a very good
'Chinese' paper, probably of about 1760.
Reset in the porch of the dairy to the north of the
house is a fine late 12th-century doorway with a
round head of two richly moulded orders and small
angle shafts to the jambs. The porch is vaulted,
and the bosses from which the ribs spring are probably of the same date. These remains have evidently
been brought from the ruins of some ecclesiastical
building. In the west wall of the same dairy is a
doorway with a four-centred head, brought here
from the Great Chamber of Crosby Hall in London
in the early 19th century. In the grounds to the
south-east of the house is an elaborate 'ruin' with
a window of three trefoiled lights under a traceried
four-centred head, which appears to be reset 15thcentury work.
Just below Fawley Court is the Island Temple,
the starting-place for the boats in Henley Regatta.
In the north of the parish is Bosmore, now occupied
by Mr. Mackenzie's farm bailiff. Some half a mile
to the south-west of it is Eversdown, by which the
road leads down to Fawley Bottom, where there is a
chalk-pit. Benham's Lane leads south-east from the
village past another chalk-pit to Benham's and Benham's Wood. A third chalk-pit is worked in the
north-east of the parish and there is a disused one in
the north-west. There are two gravel-pits at Oaken
Grove, in the east of the parish, and another near
the lodge at Fawley Court.
The following place-names have been found in
Fawley: Walensisplace (fn. 9) (xiv cent.); Capude, Hulude, (fn. 10)
Benstonlondes, Bokoys, Bottons, Buddyngs, Cher.
ways, Consett, Copwell, Evynwodes, Lyllyngley,
Wolden, Smaldia (fn. 11) (xv cent.).
MANORS
Under Edward the Confessor FAWLEY MANOR was held by Earl Tosti, (fn. 12)
and in 1086, when it was assessed at 10
hides, by Walter Giffard. (fn. 13) It passed as a knight's fee
of the barony of Giffard (fn. 14) to the Marshals, Earls of
Pembroke, (fn. 15) and to William de Valence, (fn. 16) created
Earl of Pembroke about 1265, (fn. 17) by his marriage in
1247 with Joan de Munchesney, (fn. 18) daughter of Joan
sister of Walter Marshal. (fn. 19) The overlordship of
Fawley then follows the same descent as Dinton
Manor until the death of Mary Countess of Pembroke in 1377, (fn. 20) when it passed to Gilbert Lord
Talbot, (fn. 21) son of one of her husband's co-heirs, Elizabeth Comyn. (fn. 22) It continued with the Talbots, (fn. 23) the
last reference to it occurring in 1507. (fn. 24)
Marshal. Party or and vert a lion gules.
Valence. Burelly argent and azure an orle of martlets gules.
Walter Giffard, during his absence in England at
the time of the Norman Conquest, left his steward
Herbrand de Sackville to guard his lands in Normandy.
In reward for his good services Herbrand was offered
the choice between Crendon and Fawley. He chose
Fawley 'on account of its beauty' (fn. 25) and was holding it
in 1086. (fn. 26) He was succeeded by his son William, (fn. 27)
probably the father of the William de Sackville who was
holding in 1166. (fn. 28) Jordan de Sackville died seised in
the early 13th century. (fn. 29) In 1234 Bartholomew de
Sackville had a gift from the king of timber for a room
(camera) at his manor of Fawley. (fn. 30) He paid a mark
for scutage in 1236, (fn. 31) and his name appears in the
Roll of Arms under Henry III. (fn. 32) Jordan de Sackville,
probably his son, was holding in 1284 (fn. 33) and had
been succeeded before 1302
by another Bartholomew. (fn. 34)
Thomas de Sackville, lord of
Fawley in 1316, (fn. 35) made a
settlement of the manor in
the following year on his wife
Maud for life, (fn. 36) who, after
his death between 1325 and
1332, (fn. 37) married John de Whitfield, (fn. 38) probably the M.P. for
Oxfordshire in 1327. (fn. 39) In
1343 Fawley was held by
Thomas de Sackville, a minor,
who was son and heir of
Robert, (fn. 40) presumably brother of the previous Thomas
de Sackville. He appears to have attained his majority
and to have been knighted before 1358. (fn. 41) He was
holding in 1367, (fn. 42) but appears to have been succeeded before 1371 (fn. 43) by his son Thomas, (fn. 44) afterwards
Sir Thomas de Sackville, kt., who represented the
county in Parliament several times between the years
1379 and 1394, (fn. 45) and was one of the commissioners
of array in Buckinghamshire in 1399 (fn. 46) and 1403. (fn. 47)
His son (fn. 48) Sir Thomas Sackville, kt., M.P. for the
county in 1434, (fn. 49) was holding in 1419, (fn. 50) and was living
in 1449. (fn. 51) His son Thomas Sackville (fn. 52) succeeded
about 1455. (fn. 53) Fawley passed before 1477, by the
marriage of his daughter and heir Margery, to Thomas
Rokes or Rooks, (fn. 54) to his grandson Thomas Rokes, (fn. 55)
who was elected (fn. 56) Sheriff of Bedfordshire and
Buckinghamshire in 1477 and 1486. (fn. 57) He died
seised of the manor of Fawley in 1527 (fn. 58) and was
succeeded by his grandson Edmund, son of Thomas
Rokes, who had predeceased his father. (fn. 59) Robert
Rokes, another son of Thomas Rokes, father of
Edmund, (fn. 60) settled Fawley on his second wife
Elizabeth (fn. 61) in 1560 and again in 1577. (fn. 62) After his
death in 1580 (fn. 63) she married John Alford (fn. 64) and they
were both seised of Fawley Manor in 1585. (fn. 65)
William Rokes surrendered his reversionary interests
in Fawley (fn. 66) to John Alford in 1589, (fn. 67) and before
1602 the manor had passed to William, afterwards
Sir William Alford, (fn. 68) and his wife Elizabeth, (fn. 69)
daughter and heir of Robert Rokes. (fn. 70) She died in
1608, leaving two daughters minors. (fn. 71) In 1614 Sir
William Alford purchased from Edward Alford his
rights in a lease of the manor which had been held by
Sir Launcelot Alford, father of Sir William. (fn. 72) The
latter sold it in 1617 to James, (fn. 73) afterwards Sir James
Whitelocke, (fn. 74) who settled it in 1630 on the marriage
of his son Bulstrode, later Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke,
with Rebecca Bennett, (fn. 75) and died in 1632. (fn. 76) Sir
Bulstrode Whitelocke was member for Great Marlow
in the Long Parliament and Lord Commissioner of
the Great Seal and Ambassador to Sweden under the
Commonwealth. (fn. 77) He died in 1675, (fn. 78) and four years
later his son and heir Sir James Whitelocke (fn. 79) sold
Fawley Manor to Richard Stevens, (fn. 80) presumably on
behalf of William Freeman, (fn. 81) who rebuilt Fawley
Court in 1684. He died in 1707, bequeathing
Fawley Manor in tail-male to his nephew John Cook,
who was to take the name of Freeman. (fn. 82) Fawley
continued in John Freeman's family, (fn. 83) passing in
1821 to a grandson of his sister Mary, Admiral
William Peere Williams, who in the following year
assumed the surname and arms of Freeman. (fn. 84) He
died in 1832 (fn. 85) and was succeeded by his grandson
William Peere Williams-Freeman, (fn. 86) High Sheriff of
Oxfordshire in 1838, (fn. 87) who sold the Fawley estate
in 1853 to Mr. Edward Mackenzie. (fn. 88) He owned
Fawley at his death in 1880, (fn. 89) and his son and successor Mr. William Dalziel Mackenzie (fn. 90) is the present
proprietor.
Sackville. Quarterly or and gules a bend vair.
About 1234 Bartholomew de Sackville claimed the
right of view of frankpledge in Fawley on the ground
that it was included with all liberties in Earl Giffard's
grant to his ancestor Herbrand and exercised by him
and his successor, William de Sackville. (fn. 91) The right
had been in abeyance from the time that Earl
Giffard's lands had been taken into the king's hands,
and, although after the war the elder William Marshal
had enforced the liberties of his fees, (fn. 92) the younger
William and Richard Marshal had not been able to
secure those for Fawley owing to a claim by Fawkes
de Breauté. (fn. 93) In 1254 William de Valence (then
overlord) was said to have the right of holding the
view of frankpledge in Fawley, (fn. 94) but before 1362 (fn. 95)
this was exercised by the lords of the manor. (fn. 96)
Reference to both courts leet and baron occur in
1833. (fn. 97) A series of Court Rolls commencing with
1362 and extending with some gaps to 1479 are
preserved in the British Museum. (fn. 98) In 1379 the
customary tenants paid a fine of £1 to the lord
on the marriage of their daughters. (fn. 99) In 1397
Bartholomew Shepherd, on his acceptance as a customary tenant of a messuage and half a virgate of
land for seven years, paid a fine of six capons. (fn. 100) In
1409 five places are named in the manor where the
water was for the common use of the tenants,
according to ancient custom, in addition to half the
water at Bosmore. (fn. 101) The right of the lord to a
private way to the Thames for the watering of his
horses is enforced. (fn. 102) Frequent references to fishing
rights in the Thames occur from 1560. (fn. 103)
Freeman. Azure three lozenges or.
Williams. Gules a wolf argent running out of a cave and looking backwards.
Mackenzie of Fawley. Or a cross parted and fretty azure with a stag's head caboshed azure in the first and fourth quarters and a mountain in flames proper in the second and third.
A hide of land in Fawley called BOSMERE
MANOR, BOSMERE or BOSMORE was held in
the 15th century as a knight's fee, of Fawley Manor,
for 31s. 3½d. with suit of court and all services. (fn. 104)
Towards the end of the 13th century Henry Mimeau
granted Bosmere Manor to Ellis de Whitfield, (fn. 105) father
of John de Whitfield, who, or his son (living in
1347), married the widow of Thomas de Sackville
of Fawley Manor (q.v.). The elder John de Whitfield
conveyed the manor, possibly in settlement, to his
nephew Vaal (fn. 106) about 1312. Sir Baldwin Berford,
kt., and Edmund Stretley held Bosmere in 1397, (fn. 107)
and had been succeeded by Dame Elizabeth Berford
and Edward Stretley in 1410 (fn. 108) and by John Barght
and John Stretley in 1455. (fn. 109) About 1532 the
representative of the Stretley family mortgaged his half
of Bosmere to John Williams, (fn. 110) who five years later
sold it to John Doyley. (fn. 111)
About thirty years afterwards
the younger John Doyley acquired the other half of Bosmere from Edward Barrow, (fn. 112)
to whom lands belonging to
Sir Maurice Barrow (Barough)
had descended. (fn. 113) Bosmere
follows the same descent as
Hambleden (fn. 114) (q.v.), but before 1659 it had passed to
Robert Weedon, who died in
that year. (fn. 115) His only son and
heir Robert (fn. 116) was elected sheriff for the county in 1700. (fn. 117)
Thomas Weedon, probably his son, owned Bosmere
Manor in 1704 (fn. 118) and 1712 (fn. 119) and his widow sold it
in 1721 to John Freeman, (fn. 120)
lord of Fawley. Bosmore, as
it is now called, has since remained part of the Fawley
estate. (fn. 121)
Doyley. Or two bends azure.
Stonor, Lord Camoys. Azure two bars dancetty or and a chief argent.
Two hides of land in Fawley called MOUSEHOLES
(Moulsoys or Molsholes, xv
cent.) were held in free
tenancy of Fawley Manor in
1455 by Thomas Stonor for
a yearly rent of £2 16s. 8d.,
with suit of court and all
services. (fn. 122) In 1482 this estate
was returned as held of Eleanor
Lady Scrope of Hambleden Manor. (fn. 123) It remained
in the Stonor family, (fn. 124) and is probably still owned
by their present representative Ralph fifth Lord
Camoys. (fn. 125)
CHURCH
The parish church of ST. MARY
THE VIRGIN consists of a chancel
measuring internally 20 ft. 6 in. by
15 ft., north vestry, nave 40 ft. by 20 ft., north and
south transepts and a west tower 20 ft. by 11 ft.
The earliest part of the building is the nave, which
dates from the 12th century; the west tower, the
upper stage of which was added c. 1500, belongs to
the latter part of the 13th century. Nothing of the
mediaeval chancel remains, the walls having been
entirely rebuilt in 1748. (fn. 126) The tower was restored in
1867, and in 1883 the fabric was generally repaired,
the vestry and transepts being added and the nave
walls raised. The materials are flint rubble with
stone dressings and the roofs are tiled.
In the south wall of the chancel is a blocked
16th-century doorway with re-used moulded brick
jambs and a round head of the same material. The
lower stones of the square jambs of the chancel
arch are contemporary with the original building
of the nave, but their upper portions, with the
arch itself, are modern. The nave, which has two
modern windows in each side wall, besides the openings to the transept, has been completely modernized,
but some of the timbers of the roof are old.
The tower, in its original state, was crowned by
the corbel table, above which now rise the walls of
the later bell-chamber. Only the bases of the angle
buttresses are old, these, with the crowning parapet,
having been renewed. The tower arch is of two
chamfered orders and springs from semi-octagonal
jambs with moulded capitals and restored bases.
Upon the responds are texts inscribed in black
letter; these were probably painted in the late 16th
century, but the references to chapter and verse
appear to have been added subsequently. In the
west wall of the ground stage is a modern doorway
with an original, but much restored, two-light window above it. On the north and south are contemporary lancets, also much restored. Below the
corbel table, on the west and south, and also probably
in the ivy-covered north wall, are single lights with
four-centred heads, inserted probably when the bellchamber, which is lighted on all four sides by similar
windows, was added.
On the sanctuary step is a brass, with inscription
in French, to Richard de Aldwine (or Aldeborn), a
former rector, who died in 1347. On the west wall
of the south transept is an elaborate marble monument with alabaster figures, commemorating Sir James
Whitelocke, judge of the Court of Common Pleas,
who died in 1632, and Elizabeth his wife, who died
in 1631. In the tower is a floor slab with arms to
Robert Weedon, who died in 1659.
Three 17th-century chairs are preserved in the
chancel, which has fine oak wainscot work of the
early 18th century with fruit and flowers carved in
high relief upon the panels, and an enriched cornice.
A cornice of the same period is preserved in the nave
worked up with modern panelling. The hexagonal
pulpit has been ascribed to Grinling Gibbons, and,
with the reading desk, forms an excellent example of
his period. Many of the seats throughout the church
have elaborate carving of the late 17th century; all
this oak came from Canons in Little Stanmore when
it was pulled down in 1747.
There are three bells: the treble is by John Warner
& Sons, 1866; the second, probably by John Saunders,
c. 1550, is inscribed in black letter, 'sanc ta mar
gri ta ora pro no bis' (sic); while the tenor, probably
by Roger Landen, c. 1450, is inscribed 'Sancte
Johannes Ora Pro Nobis.'
The plate consists of a large silver flagon and a
silver chalice with cover and silver paten, all inscribed,
'Ex dono Thomae Weedon arm: Apr. 5th 1705.'
The registers begin in 1573.
ADVOWSON
Fawley Church is a rectory with
22 acres of glebe, and the earliest
mention of it that has been found
occurs in 1291, when it was valued at £11 6s. 8d.
yearly. (fn. 127) The Bishop of Lincoln issued a licence for
the dedication of the altars of St. John Baptist
and St. Nicholas in it in 1297. (fn. 128) The descent of
the advowson is the same as that of Fawley Manor (fn. 129)
(q.v.) until 1853, when the advowson was retained
by Mr. William Peere Williams-Freeman. (fn. 130) It was
sold by him about five years later to Mr. Edward
Mackenzie, (fn. 131) and his son, Mr. William Dalziel Mackenzie, (fn. 132) is the present owner.
The benefice was sequestered for debt between
4 April and 1 December 1845, (fn. 133) and the tithes had
been commuted before 1862. (fn. 134) In 1519 it was
reported that there had been no resident rector for
thirty years. (fn. 135)
There do not appear to be any endowed charities
in this parish.