BURNHAM with LOWER BOVENEY

Burneham (xi cent.).

The old parish of Burnham consisted of several districts or liberties which were enumerated at the ordination of the vicarage in 1266 as Boveney, Brittilthrup, Britwell, Burnham, East Burnham, Cippenham, Lient (Lent), Weston and Woodland. (fn. 1) By the 18th century the liberties assessed for the poor rate were Burnham Town, East Burnham, Boveney, Britwell, Cippenham and Wood, (fn. 2) and these, with the exception of Boveney, are the same at the present day.

The parish of Burnham is long and narrow in shape, running up from the Thames in the south to the higher wooded land of the Beeches. It covers an area of 6,810 acres, 2,942 acres of which are arable land, 1,730 acres laid down in permanent grass, while the woods stretch over 1,205 acres. (fn. 3) The soil is gravel with a subsoil of loam and produces wheat, oats and barley. The low-lying meadows of Boveney on the banks of the Thames do not reach more than 67 ft. above ordnance datum and are often under water in the rainy season, the overflowing of the Thames in the winter of 1339–40 ruining the corn crops of the ensuing year. (fn. 4) The slope to the north is a gradual one and barely exceeds 312 ft. at Boveney Wood, near the northern border.

Burnham village lies on a road running due north from the Bath Road, the High Street forming a part of this road. It is about three-quarters of a mile north of Burnham Beeches station on the main line of the Great Western railway. The diminished importance of Burnham at the commencement of the 19th century is ascribed by Lysons to the divergence of the Bath Road from Burnham to its present course on the building of Maidenhead Bridge. (fn. 5) Within recent years, however, one or two streets of small artisans' dwellings have been built in the outlying portions of the village and on the road to the station.

At the southern entrance to the village is the Priory, a house built in the early years of the last century, standing in its own grounds. It is the residence of Captain W. Farwell, J.P., while Priory Cottage on the left is occupied by Lord Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, J.P. The road continues past the Garibaldi Inn, a 17th-century brick and timber house on the west side, a farm, and the school and some 17th-century cottages. Opposite is Baldwin's Brass Foundry, in front of which is a 17th-century house with a large gateway at the side. A little further north on the east side is Church Street with, on the north side, some 17th-century cottages and the Market Hall, a 16th-century building, bearing over the entrance the modern inscription '1271–1539,' probably referring to the date of the grant of market and the dissolution of Burnham Abbey. The hall has an overhanging upper story with gable, below which is a large gateway of oak with a four-centred arch. On the south side of Church Street are some 16th or early 17th-century cottages, beyond which is the church with a cemetery adjoining dating from 1885. At a visitation which took place in 1635 complaint was made of the doors of dwelling-houses opening into the churchyard, of the desecration of a building annexed to the chancel of Burnham and of the refusal of the churchwardens to pay for the repair of the church wall. It was said also that the neighbouring gentlemen and others sat like unconverted infidels in church. (fn. 6) The vicarage to the west of the church was practically rebuilt in 1833; it had suffered a good deal during the incumbency of William Cole, the Cambridge antiquary, who was instituted to the church in 1774 and who continued to reside at Milton. (fn. 7) Six years later the house was described as 'certainly very old'; a pair of new gates was wanted and the fence from Touching Lane to the garden gate was quite decayed. (fn. 8)

At the junction of the High Street with Church Street is the market-place, in which the most interesting house is a butcher's shop on the west side, nearly opposite the post office. It is an early 16th-century gabled building with a covered gateway at the side and formerly an overhanging upper story; on its south side is a 17th-century addition. On the opposite side of the road is a baker's shop of rather a later date. Further north are the Swan Inn and a house opposite, both of the early 17th century, while northward on the east side is a timber and brick house now divided into three cottages, the middle part of which is of the 16th century with projecting upper story and the side additions of the 17th century.

There are references to an inn in Burnham called the 'Bull' adjoining a house called Busketts belonging in 1542 to Robert Aldrich (fn. 9) and passing to John Aldrich. (fn. 10) His daughter and heir Elizabeth claimed the inn in 1623, when Sir Simon Norwich of Brampton, Northants, sought to establish his claim by descent from his grandfather Simon Norwich, who had purchased the freehold rights. (fn. 11) By 1694 it was in the possession of the Eyre family and was then known as the 'Bell,' lately the 'Bull.' (fn. 12)

Further north on the west side is Burnham House, occupied by Mrs. Wilmot, and beyond it is the Congregational chapel, built in 1790 and enlarged in 1859. It gives its name to Chapel Street, which runs at right angles to the High Street and leads westward down to Lent, a small hamlet and ancient liberty of the parish. On the eastern side it becomes later Britwell Road, connecting Burnham with the hamlet of Britwell, which consists principally of Upper and Lower Britwell Farms and Britwell Court, the seat of Mr. S. R. Christie-Miller, which stands in its own grounds. East Burnham lies about 1½ miles still further north-east and contains several important residences. Here used formerly to stand the old manor-house of East Burnham or Allards, whose name has survived in Allard's Farm, where there is a 17th-century barn. The Eyre family lived in the manor-house at the beginning of the 18th century before they acquired Huntercombes, but it was said to be sadly out of repair at the end of that century; it was pulled down by Lady Grenville about 1837 and the site was converted into a market garden. (fn. 13) Close to Allard's Farm is East Burnham Park, the seat of Sir Harry J. Veitch; it has succeeded a former house of the same name built by Charles Eyre about 1786 and occupied by Captain Popple in the first quarter of the 19th century. He enlarged the grounds by stopping up Hagget's Lane, and the place became known as Popples Park. The house was pulled down by Mr. Gordon about 1837, but a new house of brick with gables was put up by George Grote, the historian of Greece, and his wife, as it is said from the profits of his history, and called by him History Hut. He afterwards resided in it, and it has since then been called East Burnham Park. (fn. 14) Before the erection of East Burnham Park the Grotes had lived in East Burnham Cottage, where in 1773 Sheridan had brought his beautiful bride, Elizabeth Linley of Bath. (fn. 15) East Burnham Grove, occupied by Mrs. Margetts, lies a little north of East Burnham Park, and beyond it again is East Burnham House, the seat of Mr. Douglas Arden. The scattered hamlet lies along the southern edge of Burnham Beeches and skirts the common on its eastern border, extending partly into the neighbouring parish of Farnham. A drive leads from the common to East Burnham Lodge, the residence of Mrs. Harvey.

East Burnham Park: Entrance Front

Burnham parish has always been remarkably well wooded, and at the Domesday Survey there was woodland enough to feed 600 swine and to supply shares for the ploughs. (fn. 16) Part of this was probably comprised in the park which was bestowed with Burnham Manor on the abbey by Richard Earl of Cornwall in 1266 (fn. 17) ; another part he retained and it was included in the appurtenances of Cippenham Manor in 1299. (fn. 18) The excessive wooded nature of the country was given in 1340 as a reason for its pauperization, over 300 acres called woodland lying uncultivated in the upper part of the parish. (fn. 19) The abbess's portion of the woods was known by the reign of Henry VIII as Abbess Park, estimated at 60 acres (fn. 20) ; 'it was well sett with greatt Okes and with dyvers Beches.' (fn. 21) Other woods in the parish called Hawkshill, (fn. 22) Lydden, (fn. 23) Libsies, (fn. 24) and Droppingwell with Brook End, which covered 20 acres, (fn. 25) passed with Abbess Park to William Tildesley, who had the site of the manor (q.v.). Land called Droppingwell had been mentioned as far back as 1368. (fn. 26) A quarrel arose in 1596 between Helen Wentworth, the farmer of the demesnes of Burnham Abbey, and the Woodfords of Britwell over right of common in Abbess Park, which was said to extend between Hartley Wood and Court and Pennlands. (fn. 27) A park called 'Herleteye' was among the appurtenances of Cippenham Manor in 1299, (fn. 28) and lands called Hartley Court Mote belonged in the 17th century to the Eyres of East Burnham. (fn. 29) The name may perhaps have been corrupted into Harlequin's or Hardicanute's Moat, names by which a square moated inclosure of about 2 acres in the Beeches is now known. (fn. 30) Another earthwork in the Beeches is Seven Ways Plain, a prehistoric inclosure of simple plan; it is of an irregular oval shape, consisting of a single dry ditch, and is possibly a small and poor example of a plateau camp. The situation of Pennlands can be traced in the present wood and the early 17th-century timber and brick farm-house of that name in the extreme north of the parish beyond Harehatch Lane. The 16th-century suit speaks of Abbess Park as having been inclosed c. 1575. Various opinions were given as to the use of a house in the park, one version stating that it was built for a keeper of deer and another that it was used by a keeper to look after the cattle sent by the abbess. He drove the park once a year, impounded the hogs and demanded 4d. each as a fine. (fn. 31) The present appearance of the trees is probably due to the tenants' right to 'top and lop' for firewood, exercised for many years before the inclosure of the common lands, though tradition ascribes their condition to pollarding by Cromwell's soldiers during the Civil War. They were certainly quartered at Burnham in December 1645, when Lieutenant Ryder and 'divers others of his troopers . . . found typpling in a very deboyce manner' refused to pursue a party of horse from Oxford who had carried off two men and weapons from Cippenham. (fn. 32) Gray the poet, who used often to come here from Stoke Poges, describes the trees in a letter to Horace Walpole in 1737 as 'most venerable beeches, and other very reverend vegetables . . . always dreaming out their old stories to the winds.' (fn. 33) Rights over the Beeches were claimed by Lady Grenville in the middle of last century as lady of East Burnham Manor, (fn. 34) but under the provisos of the Open Spaces Act of 1878 Burnham Beeches was purchased by the Waste Lands Committee of the Corporation of London. Drives have been opened up and fresh paths made through the woods. Few of the old names survive, though Dorney and Boveney Woods on the western borders are mentioned in the 16th century. (fn. 35) Cage's Wood in the east probably derives its name from the family who lived at Britwell in the 17th century. In the north-east corner of the Beeches is Egypt, where there are a few cottages dating from the 17th century, as also at Brook End hamlet, about 2 miles north of Burnham.

Several roads run up from Burnham to the Beeches and northern part of the parish; one from Britwell called Grove Road passes Burnham Grove, the residence of Mr. E. Clifton-Brown, and climbs up Cants Hill to Burnham Beeches. A short distance to the west is Green Lane, along which stand several villas and which branches further up, one road leading to the Beeches and another to Littleworth Common. Roads also lead north from Burnham along the west boundary to Dropmore, a district which was formed into an ecclesiastical parish of 1,735 acres on 5 February 1867 from the civil parishes of Burnham, Dorney, Hitcham and Taplow. This part of Burnham was a wild common when Lord Grenville purchased part of it in 1792 and commenced a park and gardens; the house was begun about the same time, for the Marquess of Buckingham on 23 September 1792 writes to Lord Grenville, 'I conclude you will be at Dropmore as soon as you can put up your bed.' (fn. 36) The grounds, which cover 600 acres, lie to a great extent in Hitcham parish, the boundary line passing through the building of Dropmore itself. The park is beautifully wooded and there is a fine avenue of cedars. It is the seat of Mr. J. B. Fortescue, lord of Burnham Manor. On the common known as Littleworth Common stands the church of St. Anne with its adjacent vicarage.

Cippenham Liberty (Sipeham, Chippenham, Cyppham, Scipinham, xiii cent.) lies beyond the Bath Road about 1½ miles south of Burnham. Some cottages and other buildings, of which two brick and timber cottages once forming the 'Jolly Gardener's Inn' bear the date 1699, cluster round the green, and there are several large farms and houses on the outskirts. There is a schoolroom with chancel annexed dedicated to St. John Baptist used for services by the Church of England and also a church institute, an iron building opened in 1897; the Baptists also have a mission room here. Western House, at the east end of the hamlet, is occupied by Mr. Josiah Gregory, and at the other end is Cippenham House, with Cippenham Farm. A road leads south-east to Cippenham Place, a mid-16th-century house of brick and timber which was enlarged in the 19th century. It has an overhanging upper story and some of the original wooden mullion windows and doors with strap hinges survive. Cippenham Court is a large farm and the residence of Mrs. Whitworth. The stable and barns belonging to the farm are of the 17th century. Cippenham Lodge, a little further east, is locally situated in Farnham parish. The moat to the south of Cippenham Court (fn. 37) probably marks the site of what has been called the palace of Richard Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans. There was certainly a capital messuage with the manor of Cippenham acquired by the Earl of Cornwall in 1252, (fn. 38) in which he must occasionally have resided, as his foundation charter to Burnham Abbey in 1266 is dated at Cippenham, (fn. 39) but it is hardly likely to have been of more importance than an ordinary manor-house.

A short distance to the west of Cippenham stand a group of buildings which include Burnham Abbey, founded by Richard, King of the Romans, in 1266 for Augustinian canonesses in honour of our Lady. (fn. 40) The abbey buildings followed a due sequence of construction directly after the foundation, the infirmary being built last, and seem to have undergone no alteration until after the Suppression, which occurred in 1539, when they appear to have been partially destroyed and the remainder was converted into a dwelling-house. For over two centuries the buildings have been used for farm purposes, and are now in a ruinous condition. Browne Willis (fn. 41) in 1719 says: 'The mansion-house of the convent seems to be entirely standing; 'tis built in shape of an L, and made use of to hold husbandry implements, viz. corn, hay, &c.'; he also says that he could not discover when the church was pulled down. A print of 1730 shows the east and west cloister ranges to be complete at that period, and there are two interesting watercolour drawings showing the state of the buildings in 1834. (fn. 42)

The existing parts of the abbey include the east and north ranges of the cloister buildings and the north part of the infirmary, which stands beyond the east range. They are built of flint and chalk, with hard chalk dressings, and lie to the north of the precinct, the boundary of which, inclosing an area of about 7½ acres, is distinctly defined on all sides except the south. There is still a deep ditch directly inside the boundary on the east and west sides; and a thick wall with tiled coping, delineating the precinct on the east and north-east, may be original, but the western part of the north wall, which has a number of small recesses on the inner face, was rebuilt in brick in the 16th century. The arrangement of buildings around the cloister followed the ordinary disposition; in the east range were the sacristy or vestry adjoining the church, chapter-house, parlour, and common room or warming-house, above which was the dorter, running the full length of the range, with the rere-dorter in a northern wing; on the north was the frater built parallel to the church, with the screens and buttery at its west end; on the west was probably the guest-house with a cellarium, while on the south was the church, which extended eastward beyond the eastern range. The infirmary stands to the east of the cloister buildings, and was reached from the cloister through a passage between the parlour and the warming-house; while a building to the north-west of the frater, shown in the print of 1730 mentioned above, was probably the kitchen, but this, together with the whole of the west range of the cloister buildings except the north-east corner, has been destroyed.

It has been ascertained by excavation that the church was an aisleless rectangular building measuring about 108 ft. by 26 ft. 6 in.; but all that now remains is that part of the north wall adjoining the vestry, at the east of which is the fragment of a tall moulded window with a continuous string-course at its sill. Further west is an arched recess, over which the string-course is carried as a steep pediment forming a traceried tympanum, in which there is a sexfoil with a contemporary painting of an allegorical figure. Beyond this is a blocked barrow hole, and still further west are the remains of a trefoiled piscina; while high in the wall, a little to the east of the piscina, is a blocked hole into which the top beam of the quire screen was inserted, and a 15th-century doorway which led from the dorter stairs probably on to the pulpitum.

The covered alleys which surrounded the cloister garth have long since disappeared, but the blocked holes for the pentice roofs can still be seen on the wall of the east range. The apartment adjoining the church on the south-east of the cloister, which may have been the vestry, is entered from the cloister through a small vestibule under the dorter stairs by a doorway with a modern wood frame but original rear arch and inner jambs; it is lighted on the east by an original lancet and a 16th-century two-light window, which has replaced a second lancet, and has in the same wall a fireplace and a blocked doorway, both post-Suppression insertions. An original pointed doorway at the north-west led on to the dorter stairs, which ascended towards the south between the outer and the partition walls, and, probably being of wood, no longer exist. The chapter-house is entered from the cloister through a richly moulded archway with a two-centred arch of two orders, the outer order having been originally supported on detached shafts, the moulded capitals of which still remain. No vestige of the seats along the side walls remains inside the apartment, which projects 11 ft. beyond the eastern face of the range, and is lighted by three original lancet windows on the east and one on the south; these have moulded rear arches and labels, the latter being continued as a string-course along the wall. The lower parts of all these lights have been blocked, while the sills of the lateral ones on the east have been destroyed for the insertion of later windows, now blocked.

The divisions between the parlour, passage and warming-house north of the chapter-house have been destroyed, and these now form one ruinous apartment. A modernized doorway, shown complete in the print of 1730, opened to the passage to the infirmary from the cloister; further south is a blocked original lancet, and at the north-west is a blocked 16th-century doorway. In the north wall is an original doorway to an apartment which was probably the fuel store, a 16th-century window and an original locker; the doorway retains an old door with strap hinges. The east wall has been destroyed with the exception of the north end, which retains fragments of the original fireplace of the warming-house and a 16th-century window, while at the south and adjoining the chapter-house are fragments of a 16th-century fireplace. ' The dorter measured internally 95 ft. by 22 ft. and was approached by the stairs already mentioned on the south-east of the cloister; it was lighted by small lancet windows on the east and west, the lower parts of seven of which can be traced over the cloister on the west side, while one remains complete, though blocked, at the south end of the east side. In the north wall is the lower part of a doorway to the reredorter, which was in the upper story of the L-shaped building in the north. The high-pitched roof over the southern portion of the dorter probably dates from the 15th century and has queen-post trusses and curved wind-braces. The fuel-store has two lancets in the west wall, one original and the other, slightly later in date, is inserted in a round-headed doorway; while a blocked gap in the east wall may indicate the position of a doorway opened out after the other had been built up. The division between this apartment and the pit under the rere-dorter, the east and west walls of which were carried over the drain upon tile arches, cannot now be traced. The side walls of the rere-dorter over are not of sufficient height to indicate the position of the original windows in that apartment, the southern part of which was probably the vestibule, while the garderobes were in the northern wing over the drain.

The frater occupied the full length of the north side of the cloister and was a single-story building without cellarium, entered from the cloister through the screens at the west and lighted by tall windows in the north wall. After the Suppression the building was divided into two stories and the western part of the lower story was converted into a hall, the entrance doorway being destroyed and the site occupied by a large chimney, since fallen down, which projected into the cloister alley. Most of the north and west walls are now destroyed, though one of Bromet's drawings of 1834 shows the north wall to its full height with many of the original moulded windows, of which only one jamb of the easternmost now remains. In the south wall are three blocked openings of the lower story and a moulded fireplace of the upper story, all of the 16th century; while on the east wall and east end of the south wall are remains of colour decoration of the same period. At the north-west of the cloister near the frater doorway are the remains of the lavatory, which was in a wide recess under a moulded segmental arch, part of which and a portion of the sill remain on the east side. Most of the lavatory was destroyed in the 16th century, when a doorway was inserted at the back and apparently a porch, shown in the 1730 print, erected before it. The infirmary hall, lighted by lancet windows, of which two still remain in the west wall, and probably entered by a door at the south-west, was considerably altered after the Suppression, and the south, part of the west and most of the east walls have been since destroyed. It measured internally 43 ft. 6 in. by 23 ft., had a small chamber on the south-east and probably buildings on the east, the foundations of which are now confused with those of 16th-century additions. The two lancets are slightly later in date than those in the chapter-house and are without labels; west of them is a blocked 16th-century window, near which the infirmary is connected with the warming-house by a post-Suppression brick wall. At the north end of the east wall are the remains of a 16th-century fireplace and a blocked window of the same period; while in the north wall are two three-light windows of the 16th century, (fn. 43) one above the other, to light the two floors into which the building was divided after the Suppression, an original locker and an original moulded doorway. The latter gave access to the infirmary garderobe, the west and north walls of which are now destroyed, but the east wall is still standing and has a blocked opening and a recess for a lamp. There is a 16th-century brick wall, with a moulded doorway in the middle, connecting the infirmary buildings with the precinct boundary on the north, and to the south-east of the precinct is a brick dovecote of the same period.

The barn adjoining the south end of the east range is probably of 17th-century date. A detailed description of the buildings was recorded in a survey of 1649. The grounds covered 5 acres and 2 roods and contained two principal buildings: the grange or farm-house, which comprised all the domestic offices with the barns, stables and a large pigeon-house of brick and tile 'reasonable well stored,' and also the principal dwelling, called the Abbey House, which, in addition to a large hall and parlour, a porch, cellars, brew and malt-houses, &c., comprised two ranges of housing of six bays, formerly used as a chapel. The first range was used as a garner, 'well floored with oaken border'; in the other range were four rooms above and four below, some with chimneys. There was a fire-stove of brick and good timber. The walls were 3 ft. thick and were 'well garnished with faire windowes and with stronge iron Barrs in them.' Before the house stretched two green courts. There was a spacious yard, two orchards planted with old trees, and two gardens, one inclosed by a brick wall on the north and by a very thick mud wall, coped with tiles, on the east. The whole place was moated on the east, west and north, and this large moat is to be clearly seen at the present day. (fn. 44) The south side was 'mounded with a hedge, a pale and a gate-house with 2 lofts over it.' The house was much too good to be demolished, the materials alone being valued at £525. (fn. 45)

Huntercombe Manor House, the seat of the Eyre family in the 18th century, stands to the north of the abbey. It was built originally in the 14th century, being probably then of timber construction, but now faced with brick and plaster. It consisted of the present hall of two bays, with the screens and a wing at the west and another at the east. The west wing has been much altered, and the east wing was rebuilt and added to probably in 1705, when Thomas Eyre took up his residence here. The staircase, north-east of the hall, dates from about 1650, when Thomas Alderby succeeded, and the house was again enlarged in the 19th century. A good deal of the original work remains internally, and of the 17th-century work remaining the staircase and several panelled rooms are worthy of note.

In August 1679 a visit was paid to George Evelyn, then the owner, by his cousin John Evelyn the diarist. He describes Huntercombe as 'a very pretty seat in the forest . . . . on a flat, with gardens exquisitely kept, though large, and the house a staunch good old building.' He was struck with the flooring of some of the rooms, 'dove-tail-wise, without a nail, exactly close.' (fn. 46) In the time of Charles Eyre and later the house was continually let on lease. (fn. 47) It is at present the property and residence of the Hon. Mrs. Richard Boyle.

A footpath leads west from the abbey to the homestead of West Town Farm, a group of buildings of considerable size standing near the boundary of the parish, where the stream is crossed by a ford. It may mark the site of the Westown Manor of the 16th century. Another path leads south from the abbey to Lake End Farm, an outlying part of the hamlet of that name, which is a detached portion of Boveney and contains a few cottages probably of late 16th-century date but much altered in modern times. Boveney, which covers an area of 483 acres, was one of the ancient liberties of Burnham, but by an Order in Council, dated 25 May 1911, it was ecclesiastically annexed to Eton, to which it is contiguous. New Town, a part of Eton Wick, is partly in Boveney and consists of streets of small artisans' houses. In the north part of Boveney lies a large common, which extends into Dorney parish. It is crossed by the stream called Boveney Ditch or Cress Brook, and by its smaller tributaries, over one of which Tilson Bridge carries Tilson Road, which leads from Dorney to Boveney Wick. Farms and cottages skirt the west edge of the common, and in the south, in the meadows by the Thames, stands the small collection of farms and houses called Boveney, with the church of St. Mary Magdalene. Boveney Court is principally modern, but has a north-west wing of early 17th-century date, which retains the original stone porch, a chimney stack and other old features. The original timbers remain internally as well as some heraldic glass and one of the modern rooms has some old panelling. A house of that name is mentioned as far back as 1639 in a deed between Alan Boteler and James Lydsey. (fn. 48)

Huntercombe Manor House, Burnham

North of the church, about 200 yards, there is a house and a cottage, both dating from the 17th century, but which have been much altered in later times.

There are many early place-names in the parish of Burnham: Odencroft, (fn. 49) Conerescroft (fn. 50) (xiii cent.); a fee called Crempehide, (fn. 51) Knapewell Stream, Clerkescroft, Riggebekeslane, (fn. 52) Stawardesuns, Hylpemere, Balyberne Grange, Boltesfere, Yeldyngmede (fn. 53) (xiv cent.); Coklybuttes, Lyncollgrene, Ropers, Hoppers (fn. 54) (xiv–xv cent.); Hoddysland, (fn. 55) Bromycroft, Rykenhamscroft (fn. 56) (xv cent.).

Palaeolithic implements have been found at Burnham. (fn. 57)

MANORS

Eighteen hides in Burnham, which had been held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Elmar, one of his thegns, had come by 1086 to Walter Fitz Otho, who held them as a manor of the king in chief, (fn. 58) this overlordship subsisting until the abolition of feudal tenures in the 17th century. (fn. 59) Fitz Otho was also lord of Eton (q.v.), with which Burnham descended, (fn. 60) and with which it was divided on the death of Walter de Windsor about 1204. (fn. 61) The portion obtained by Ralph de Hodeng may be regarded here as in Eton as the main manor, and, passing with it to the Huntercombes, (fn. 62) derived from them the designation of BURNHAM alias HUNTERCOMBE MANOR, first so called at the end of the 14th century. (fn. 63) At the division of the Huntercombe property which took place at that period Eton was assigned in the final settlement to Richard Lovell and Huntercombe to George Skydmore, (fn. 64) and their history henceforward diverges. George Skydmore died in 1441, leaving a son and heir Philip, (fn. 65) who in 1443 settled Burnham Manor on himself and wife Wenllyan in tail. (fn. 66) They had a daughter Anne, who succeeded to the manor on her father's death in 1488. (fn. 67) She was then the wife of John Skydmore, probably a relative, with whom she made a settlement of the manor in 1496 on themselves and their issue. (fn. 68) At his death in 1500 his son and heir was said to be John, (fn. 69) but he was evidently the child of a former wife, as Huntercombe passed on the death of Anne, in 1528, to Philip, her son and heir by John Skydmore, sen. (fn. 70) He proved his title to the manor in 1536, (fn. 71) and two years later settled it to the use of his children by his wife Sibyl, (fn. 72) another deed of 19 July 1544 leaving it to Sibyl for life with reversion to Ralf and Philip, his sons by her. (fn. 73) He died two days later, (fn. 74) and Sibyl married John Burley, with whom she was called upon to do homage for Huntercombe in 1545. (fn. 75) Ralf Skydmore, her elder son, appears to have been in possession in 1571, (fn. 76) but it was probably his brother Philip who, with Elizabeth his wife, leased Huntercombe in the following year to William Burley and his wife Sibyl for the term of fifty years. (fn. 77) Philip was still alive in 1583, (fn. 78) but it was evidently a son Sir Philip who with Ruth his wife conveyed the reversion to Sir Marmaduke Darrell in 1606. (fn. 79) Sir Philip died in 1611, (fn. 80) when his cousin and heir Skydmore Luke claimed and obtained one-third of the manor, notwithstanding the alienation to Darrell. (fn. 81) The latter evidently exercised rights in Huntercombe in 1614, (fn. 82) but did not obtain a quitclaim from Ruth, then the wife of Henry Leigh, until 1616. (fn. 83) Sir Sampson Darrell obtained the manor at his father's death in 1632 (fn. 84) and died in 1635, when it was held in accordance with the terms of a settlement of 1614 by his widow Elizabeth. (fn. 85) She died about 1638, leaving a large family of young children to the care of Thomas Ashfield. (fn. 86) Her son Marmaduke Darrell, who sold Fulmer, another family estate, (fn. 87) seems also to have alienated Huntercombe some time after 1649, (fn. 88) for George Evelyn, who was buried at Burnham in 1657, is described as of Huntercombe. (fn. 89) His son George Evelyn, (fn. 90) who was in possession in 1673, (fn. 91) died in 1699, leaving a son William, (fn. 92) who in 1705 sold Huntercombe to Thomas Eyre, jun. (fn. 93) The Eyres had long been settled in this parish at East Burnham (q.v.), where they were lords of the manor and resided at the manor-house, but after acquiring Huntercombe they took up their residence there and were afterwards called as of Huntercombe. By his will, dated 10 November 1739, Thomas Eyre left his property to his eldest son Thomas. (fn. 94) The will was proved 17 January 1740 by Thomas, the son, (fn. 95) who died without issue in 1777, when his brother Charles inherited the estates. (fn. 96) He leased Huntercombe, and continued to reside at East Burnham House, which he had bought some time previously, and which he left at his death in 1786 to his natural daughter Elizabeth, whose younger sister Arabella had married John Popple. (fn. 97) The manor passed to Captain Sayer, the son of Charles Eyre's sister Elizabeth, who at his death in 1810 left it to John and Arabella Popple for life, with reversion to Elizabeth wife of Robert Gordon and granddaughter of Charles Coxe, son of Theodora, another sister of Charles Eyre. (fn. 98) John Popple died about 1831, (fn. 99) and Huntercombe became the property of Lady Grenville, whose husband Lord Grenville had purchased the reversion from the Gordons in 1812. (fn. 100) She died in 1864, (fn. 101) and by her will the manor passed to her husband's nephew the Hon. George Matthew Fortescue, who was succeeded in 1877 by his fourth son Mr. John Bevill Fortescue, the present lord of Burnham Manor.

Skydmore. Gules three stirrups with their leathers or.

Darrell. Azure a lion or with a crown argent.

Fortescue. Azure a bend engrailed argent plain cotised or.

The other moiety of Fitz Otho's manor, afterwards called BURNHAM MANOR, passed, as did the secondary Eton Manor (q.v.), to Cristiana and Duncan de Lascelles in the early 13th century. (fn. 102) Their son Thomas de Lascelles, (fn. 103) who was in the custody of the Crown in 1223 (fn. 104) and of Ralph Bishop of Chichester in 1230, (fn. 105) but who was holding in person in 1236, (fn. 106) transferred his right in the manor to Richard Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans, against whom an action was brought in 1260 by Cristiana widow of Thomas de Lascelles, and then wife of Adam de Gesenna, to recover a third as her dower. (fn. 107) She appears to have been compensated with lands in Eton, (fn. 108) and Richard bestowed the manor on Burnham Abbey in his foundation charter of 1266, (fn. 109) a gift which was confirmed by his brother Henry III in 1268 (fn. 110) and by Edward III in 1328. (fn. 111) The manor, which was held in free alms by the abbey (fn. 112) and annexed to the honour of Windsor in 1540, (fn. 113) was, however, not exempted by Richard's charter from the ward due to Windsor Castle. (fn. 114) Some doubt arose in 1324 as to whether the abbess was liable to contribution towards the aid for marrying the king's daughter, and in 1326 an inquiry was made as to whether she held other lands in Burnham not in free alms. (fn. 115) Both were settled in the abbey's favour, and another inquisition in 1347 firmly established the abbey's claim to exemption from knight service. (fn. 116) The castleguard rent due from the manor was said in 1699 to be £15 0s. 1½d., with £7 from the fishery, £15 11s. from the tithes and £11 18s. 1d. from the site of the abbey. (fn. 117)

Richard of Cornwall. Argent a lion gules crowned or in a border sable with bezants.

Burnham Abley. Sable a chief or charged with three lozenges gules.

The possessions of the abbey in this parish were assessed at £17 6s. 11d. in 1291. (fn. 118) Additional lands were acquired from John de Molyns in 1346, (fn. 119) and in 1535 the property was valued at £18 4s. 6d. (fn. 120) Licence was obtained by the abbey in 1537 to retain their ancient possessions in spite of any Act of Parliament to the contrary, (fn. 121) but two years later Burnham Abbey surrendered to the Crown. (fn. 122) The demesne lands were at once asked for by Thomas Fermor, who thought they might help him in a suit he had 'unto' a gentlewoman of the neighbourhood, (fn. 123) but the manor was retained by the Crown, (fn. 124) by whom various grants of stewardship were made (fn. 125) until 1630, when Sir Charles Harbord obtained a grant to himself and heirs in soccage. (fn. 126) He received licence in 1631 to alienate it to Sir Marmaduke Darrell, (fn. 127) lord of Huntercombe Manor (q.v.), with which it evidently amalgamated, as no distinct reference to the abbey manor occurs after 1687. (fn. 128)

The charter of Richard Earl of Cornwall to Burnham Abbey included view of frankpledge in Burnham Manor, (fn. 129) and this was taken by the abbess in 1286 to comprise waif. (fn. 130) She claimed at the same time gallows, the amends of the assize of bread and ale and pleas de namio vetito. (fn. 131) Return of writs was also among her privileges. (fn. 132) In 1271 the abbey obtained a Thursday market and a yearly fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of St. Matthew, (fn. 133) and a confirmation of the same in 1414, when Edward III was said to have granted the licence. (fn. 134) The market was described in the early 19th century as long since disused, and Lysons attributes this to the diversion of the main road to Bath and Oxford from the village of Burnham to its present course. (fn. 135) Three fairs were held at that period: on 25 February, 1 May and 2 October, the last for hiring servants. (fn. 136) The two former lapsed after the middle 19th century, (fn. 137) and the October fair has ceased to be held in recent years.

The site of Burnham Abbey was leased in 1539 to William Tildesley, groom of the wardrobe, for twenty-one years, (fn. 138) but this was cancelled five years later for a forty years' lease at a rent of £32 15s. 9d. (fn. 139) A renewal of the lease for thirty-one years at its expiration in 1584 was obtained by William Tildesley in 1562. (fn. 140) He died in June of the following year, (fn. 141) and his widow Helen within six months became the wife of Paul Wentworth, (fn. 142) who in 1589 petitioned for a renewal of the lease. (fn. 143) This was granted in the following year, the lease, of thirty-one years' duration, to take effect at the expiration of the former lease in 1615. (fn. 144) Paul Wentworth died at the beginning of 1594, leaving his interest in the site to his widow Helen with reversion to their eldest son Paul and his heirs male, in default to Peter and William, the younger sons. (fn. 145) The widow (fn. 146) and children combined in 1610 to sell the remainder of the lease to Sir Richard Lovelace of Hurley. (fn. 147) Grants in the same year were made by the Crown to 'the fishing grantees' John Edred and Edward Ferrer in fee, (fn. 148) and Edred at the same time received a sixty years' lease of the woods there, the interest in which he assigned to Thomas Emerson, by whom it was sold in 1611 to Lovelace, (fn. 149) any right to the site being probably quitclaimed at the same time. A thirty-one years' lease was granted in 1623 to Sir Henry Fane, to come into effect at the expiration of Lovelace's lease in 1646. (fn. 150) In 1627 Fane sold his interest for £750 to Sir Marmaduke and Sir Sampson Darrell, who conveyed to trustees to hold to the use of Ann, the eldest daughter of Sir Sampson, until she should reach twenty-two. (fn. 151) This took place in 1645, and the Parliamentary surveyors of 1649 found that there were twenty-seven and a half years still to run of a lease which brought in only £11 18s. 1d. (as granted to Sir Henry Fane), instead of a possible £202 6s. 11d. (fn. 152) In 1662 Sir John Wintoun petitioned for the reversion of the site, (fn. 153) which was granted him from the expiration of Ann Darrell's lease for twenty-six years. (fn. 154) Wintoun's interest came to William Samuel, who gave it up to the king and received instead in 1675 a grant for thirty-one years. (fn. 155) In 1692 a ninety-nine years' lease in reversion was obtained by Edward Lord Villiers, (fn. 156) created Earl of Jersey in 1697, (fn. 157) and this interest descended with the title in the Villiers family until the expiration of the lease at the beginning of the 19th century. (fn. 158) It was renewed in 1807 to George Villiers, the then Earl of Jersey, for a term of years expiring in 1835, but the interest was purchased by Lord Grenville in 1812. (fn. 159) At the termination of the lease in 1835 the estate was put up for sale by auction, and the freehold rights were purchased of the Crown for £18,000 by Mr. John Pocock. (fn. 160)

In the time of Edward the Confessor three thegns held in East Burnham 8 hides, with power of sale, for which they paid 5 ores yearly by custom to the church of 'Stanes.' (fn. 161) By 1086 this land had come to Westminster Abbey, which held it as a manor. (fn. 162) Although not specified by name in the Domesday Survey, later deeds prove that it is identical with the CIPPENHAM MANOR retained in fee by Westminster until about the middle 12th century. The manorial rights were then transferred by Gervase the abbot to William de Buckland (Bokeland) in return for a rent of 50s. yearly, (fn. 163) which was paid to the abbey, though not always regularly, until the 16th century. (fn. 164) Arrears due from 1313, when the manor became royal property, were ordered in 1329 to be paid by Queen Isabella's bailiffs, (fn. 165) and in 1344 the abbey petitioned the king for the rent unjustly detained by John de Molyns during his tenure. (fn. 166) The abbot appears to have been responsible for the hidage of Cippenham, and was said in 1276 to have evaded the payment of the mark due. (fn. 167) As late as 1645 overlordship rights in Cippenham were claimed by the chapter of Westminster. (fn. 168)

Villiers, Earl of Jeisey. Argent a cross gules with free scallops or thereon.

William de Buckland or a son of the same name was succeeded before 1216 (fn. 169) by three daughters and co-heirs, Maud wife of William de Avranches, Hawise wife of John de Boville and Joan wife of Robert de Ferrers. (fn. 170) Some trouble arose in that year as to the division of the inheritance, (fn. 171) and Cippenham was finally allotted to Joan de Ferrers. (fn. 172) She was left a widow about 1226, (fn. 173) and in 1250 came to an arrangement with the Abbot of Westminster by which in return for 10s. yearly she acquired the right to hold a view of frankpledge for Cippenham on Tuesday in Whitsun week, by view of the abbot's steward. Failing him, however, she could hold it on her own account. At the same time the abbot expressly reserved to himself all Crown pleas. (fn. 174) Two years later Joan de Ferrers transferred her rights in Cippenham to Richard Earl of Cornwall for £200. (fn. 175) She was to hold the manor for life at a rent of £6 0s. 8d., and after her death he was to render to her heirs a pair of gilt spurs at Easter. (fn. 176) This secondary lordship in the manor is referred to as late as 1429, when Cippenham was said to be held of the heirs of Margaret Ferrers. (fn. 177) Joan de Ferrers died in the year that she alienated the manor, (fn. 178) and it reverted to the earl, to whom John de Avranches, Joan's son and heir by her second husband, confirmed the settlement. (fn. 179) The Earl of Cornwall died in 1272, (fn. 180) and his son Edmund held the manor until his death without issue in 1300. (fn. 181) His widow Margaret received in dower the next year Cippenham with its member the hamlet of Eton, (fn. 182) the reversion thereof belonging to Edward I as cousin and heir of the earl. (fn. 183) The reversion of the manor was later granted to Piers Gaveston and his wife Margaret for life, but on their surrender of this grant in 1309 (fn. 184) a fresh grant in reversion to them and their heirs was made to them that same day. (fn. 185) At Piers Gaveston's death in 1313 (fn. 186) Cippenham reverted to Edward II, (fn. 187) Margaret Countess of Cornwall apparently having died previous to that date, and descended with Langley Marish (fn. 188) until 1330, when John de Eltham Earl of Cornwall obtained the manor for himself and heirs with reversion to the king. (fn. 189) On his death, unmarried, in 1336 (fn. 190) Edward III entered into possession (fn. 191) and ordered a survey to be made in 1337, the houses, mills and all buildings being reported as greatly in need of repair. (fn. 192) In the same year Reginald de Cobham was given the manor for life in order to support the estate of a banneret. (fn. 193) In 1338 he obtained licence to fell oaks to the value of £100 in the foreign woods of Hertle there, (fn. 194) and a few months later the life grant was made into a grant in fee. (fn. 195) Early in 1339 Cobham settled Cippenham on himself for life, with remainder to Sir John de Molyns for life and to his sons John and William in tail-male successively, (fn. 196) Sir John de Molyns afterwards purchasing Cobham's life interest for an annuity of £80. (fn. 197) Cippenham henceforward descends with the manor of Stoke Poges (fn. 198) (q.v.), and was held by Henry Earl of Huntingdon in 1579, in which year he mortgaged it to Wolstan Dixe for £1,500. (fn. 199) This was evidently redeemed, as the manor was alienated with Stoke Poges in 1591 to Richard Branthwaite, (fn. 200) by whose widow Margaret Jones and his trustees it was conveyed in 1602 to Thomas Cecil Lord Burghley. (fn. 201) The latter in 1604 alienated to Edward Coke, (fn. 202) attorney-general, who had married his daughter and who had acquired Stoke Poges a few years before. (fn. 203) The descent of Cippenham again diverges from that of Stoke in 1644, when it passed with the manor of Baylis (q.v.) in Stoke parish to Robert Villiers alias Danvers, who compounded for it in 1646. (fn. 204) It descended with Baylis until some time after 1670. (fn. 205) It must then have been alienated by Sir Robert Gayer, and was in 1699 in the possession of Nicholas Goodwin, sen., and Nicholas Goodwin, jun. (fn. 206) The Goodwin family was still holding in 1718, (fn. 207) but the manor is said to have been purchased about 1742 by the Duchess of Marlborough, who left it to her grandson John Spencer. (fn. 208) He died in 1746, and his son John, raised to the peerage as Earl Spencer in 1765, (fn. 209) was included among the list of freeholders in Cippenham in 1773 (fn. 210) and made a settlement of the manor in 1779. (fn. 211) His son George succeeded him in 1783 (fn. 212) and alienated the manor in 1790 to Rebecca widow of Josias Du Pré of Wilton Park, Beaconsfield (fn. 213) (q.v.), with which Cippenham henceforward descends. (fn. 214) The manorial rights, however, appear to have lapsed after the middle 19th century.

The 4 hides of East Burnham Manor held in demesne by the Abbot of Westminster in 1086 (fn. 215) may have developed into what was afterwards called CIPPENHAM PARK, mentioned in 1272 in the inquisition on Richard Earl of Cornwall. (fn. 216) Sometimes described as an inclosure called 'Le Parke,' (fn. 217) it descended with the manor of Cippenham, (fn. 218) but apparently lost its importance after the middle 15th century, (fn. 219) when it is no longer specified by name, and seems to have been included among the ordinary appurtenances of the manor. During the royal tenure of the manor frequent grants were made of the custody of the park with the foreign woods and warren. (fn. 220) Richard le Parker was appointed keeper for life in 1337 (fn. 221) and Thomas Holford in 1345. (fn. 222) Edward III used the park as a stud farm, in addition to the one in Risborough Park, (fn. 223) to whose keeper, William de Framesworth, the horses were handed over in 1341, as they were not so well kept as was fitting by the custodians of John de Molyns's property. (fn. 224) The grant to William de Framesworth of the stud at Cippenham in 1344 included the colts yet unbroken. (fn. 225) A herd of deer was kept in the park in addition to the horses, and some of these were ordered to be sent to Westminster in 1337 for the funeral expenses of John de Eltham, Earl of Cornwall. (fn. 226)

The view of frankpledge granted to Joan de Ferrers in 1250 (fn. 227) remained attached to the manor, with which it descended to the Du Prés. (fn. 228) Free warren was also attached to the manor when it came to the Du Prés, and appears to date from c. 1276, when the Earl of Cornwall was said to have appropriated the right to himself without authority. (fn. 229) The title in law of the lords of the manor was, however, made good in 1339, when free warren was included in the charter of liberties to John de Molyns. (fn. 230) Regalian rights were also claimed by the Earl of Cornwall in 1276, (fn. 231) and these, as specified in the grant of 1339, included return of royal writs and summonses of the Exchequer with the execution thereof, chattels of felons and fugitives, waif and stray, infangentheof and outfangentheof, with the right to gallows. Amendment of the assize of bread and ale was granted and quittance of toll, &c. (fn. 232) These extensive privileges were still attached to the manor in the 17th and 18th centuries, when a free fishery and a water-mill were also included among the appurtenances. (fn. 233)

Another manor in Burnham which appears towards the end of the 16th century was called EAST BURNHAM or ALLARDS MANOR. It was held in the middle 17th century of Elizabeth Lady Hatton as of her manor of Cippenham (fn. 234) and was described in 1690 as parcel of that manor. (fn. 235) Its origin is obscure, but it may be identical with a 13th-century estate of 1½ virgates in East Burnham, 1 virgate of which was held in 1207 by Henry de East Burnham under the Prioress of Kilburn, (fn. 236) the remaining half virgate being the property in 1234 of William Alard and his mother Eleanor, from whom the manor may have taken its distinctive name. (fn. 237) In 1249 the overlordship rights of Joan de Ferrers, lady of Cippenham Manor, in this 1½ virgates were acknowledged by Alexander de Langel and his wife Eleanor. (fn. 238) This estate appears to have come by the 15th century to the Eyre family; sepulchral brasses of c. 1500 are placed in the church to Giles Eyre and his wife Elizabeth. (fn. 239) The next member of the family of whom there is record, Edmund Eyre, was living in 1493, (fn. 240) but had been succeeded probably before 1518 (fn. 241) by his son and heir Thomas. Administration of the goods of his wife Alice Eyre of Burnham was granted in 1523 to Thomas, (fn. 242) who is described as a husbandman in 1532 (fn. 243) and was still alive in 1548. (fn. 244) His son Edmund (fn. 245) died in 1563, (fn. 246) leaving a son and heir Thomas, (fn. 247) who made a settlement in Burnham on his sons Thomas and Abraham in the same year. (fn. 248) Thomas the father died in 1581, (fn. 249) leaving a farm in East Burnham to Abraham and making Thomas sole executor. (fn. 250) By his first wife, Anne Newdigate, the latter had a son and heir, another Thomas, (fn. 251) upon whom he settled land in East Burnham in 1587. (fn. 252) He also left to the said son Thomas Allards mansion-house, allowing his second wife Mary half a year's use of it rent free. (fn. 253) His will, made 24 June 1606, was proved 5 May 1607 by Thomas the son, sole executor, (fn. 254) who died in 1645 without children. (fn. 255) By his will he left two-thirds of his lands, except the Lord's Wood, where she had right to cut wood, to his widow Mary and the remaining third to his brother and heir Edmund. (fn. 256) Mary died the following year, (fn. 257) and Edmund Eyre entered into possession of the whole manor. His sons having all died before him, he left all his estates at his death, which took place in December 1650, to Thomas son of his daughter Margaret Alderby on condition of his taking the name of Eyre. (fn. 258) Thomas Alderby alias Eyre succeeded to East Burnham, and in 1689 articled William Eyre, one of his sons, to Francis Neale of Ivinghoe 'to learn the practice of Common Pleas.' (fn. 259) Thomas Eyre appears to have settled the manor on his son and heir Thomas in 1694 on the occasion of the latter's marriage, (fn. 260) and was succeeded by him at his death in 1714. (fn. 261) Thomas the son was already lord of Huntercombe Manor (q.v.), with which Allards henceforward descends, (fn. 262) and with which it apparently amalgamated under the title of Burnham Manor, as it is not mentioned by name after the middle 19th century.

Eyre of Burnham. Azure a cheveron argent between three ears of corn or.

Waifs and strays, goods of felons and fugitives were attached to Allards Manor in the 17th century. (fn. 263)

A small portion of Walter Fitz Otho's holding in Burnham appears to have been retained by the elder of his two great-grandsons, William de Windsor, at the partition of 1198 made by him with his brother Walter, when the latter received most of Burnham and Eton. (fn. 264) William had reserved to himself Windsor and apparently the manor of Stanwell, Middlesex, of which this portion of Burnham, later called BURNHAMS MANOR, was held from the 14th to the 17th century, at first of the Windsors (fn. 265) but afterwards of the Crown. (fn. 266) The service was computed at a quarter of a fee in the 14th century (fn. 267) and half a fee in the 15th century, (fn. 268) together with a money rent called wardsilver, assessed at 3s. 4d. in 1428, (fn. 269) but at 3s. 8½d. every twenty-four weeks in 1486. (fn. 270)

William son of Richard de Windsor is mentioned in connexion with Burnham in 1195 (fn. 271) and with Boveney in 1201. (fn. 272) This land was, however, afterwards subinfeudated by the Windsors, the tenant in 1302–3 being Ralph de Burnham, (fn. 273) who had been succeeded by John de Burnham by 1346. (fn. 274) The next tenant of whom there is record is John Mitton, holding in 1428, when the estate was called 'Burnehameslande.' (fn. 275) A later tenant, Thomas Carter, was living in 1452, (fn. 276) and it was probably the same Thomas who in 1473, as son and heir of John Carter, deceased, conveyed his interest in lands in Burnham to trustees. (fn. 277) Robert Manfield, one of the trustees named in 1478, (fn. 278) acquired all the rights. He held land here in 1484, (fn. 279) and is mentioned in connexion with 'Burnham Landes' in 1486. (fn. 280) The Manfields were also lords of Amerden Manor in Taplow (q.v.), with which Burnhams descended (fn. 281) until some time after livery of it was granted in 1585 to Henry Manfield as son and heir of his father Henry. (fn. 282) It is next found in the possession of Richard Bavin, who, by his will made 12 April 1605 and proved 2 May of that year, left Burnhams to his widow Elizabeth, with reversion to Nicholas, a younger son, who was to take the quit-rents. (fn. 283) Nicholas Bavin sold the manor to Sir Sampson Darrell, kt., who died seised of it in 1635. (fn. 284) It evidently amalgamated with his manor of Huntercombe (q.v.), as no separate reference is afterwards made to it.

Manfield. Sable three right hands argent.

Three hides in Boveney which had been held as a manor in the reign of King Edward by Siward were assessed among the lands of Gilo brother of Ansculf in 1086. (fn. 285) Henry III, who was afterwards the overlord, (fn. 286) probably yielded his rights to his brother Richard Earl of Cornwall, by whom they were bestowed on Burnham Abbey, for in 1284–6 the abbess was intermediary between his son Edmund Earl of Cornwall and the holder in fee. (fn. 287) The manor was held of the abbey by knight service, and, according to an inquisition of 1362, by the payment of a pair of gloves worth 1d. (fn. 288) After the Dissolution the king replaced the abbess as overlord, (fn. 289) but the tenure was said to be unknown by the early 17th century. (fn. 290)

Nothing is known of the successors of Girard, the Domesday tenant, until the early 13th century, when the lands escheated to the Crown as those of Robert Porket, a Norman. (fn. 291) They were granted to William Brewer, and after his death to Philip de Pyrie, who obtained them in 1226. (fn. 292) In the following year another grant was made to the chancellor, the Bishop of Chichester. (fn. 293) A tenant of Robert Porket, Master Henry Lovell, the king's cook, obtained in 1246 from his royal master one messuage and 10 acres in Boveney, part of the escheat; the lands already held by him as a tenant were charged with a service of 20s. a year. (fn. 294) Henry Lovell was still in possession in 1288, (fn. 295) and a descendant, William Lovell, made a settlement of a messuage, 1 carucate of land, meadow, wood and rent on himself and his wife Alice in 1343, with remainder to Thomas, Richard, John and Walter their sons. (fn. 296) Thomas, the eldest son, died without issue in 1348 seised of BOVENEY MANOR, then so called for the first time. (fn. 297) His heir was William son of his brother Richard, then aged six, (fn. 298) who was afterwards married to the daughter of Nicholas de Amberden, to whom Burnham Abbey had sold the wardship. (fn. 299) William appears to have entered into possession of his inheritance in 1362, (fn. 300) and Boveney descended in his family to that Richard Lovell of the early 15th century whose mother Margaret had inherited Eton Manor as a co-heir of the Huntercombes. Boveney descended with Eton (q.v.) to his grandson Richard Lovell, (fn. 301) after whose death in 1479 Eton was assigned to his younger daughter and co-heir Joan, afterwards wife of George Rotherham, Agatha, the elder daughter, bringing Boveney in marriage to John Wayte. (fn. 302) During the minority of Joan and Agatha Thomas Bishop of Lincoln was made custodian of the lands, but proof of age was made in 1493, (fn. 303) and in 1500 the Waytes made a settlement of Boveney, (fn. 304) which they alienated two years later to Sir Reynold Bray. (fn. 305) He was already lord of a moiety of the manor of Weston Butlers in Weston Turville, (fn. 306) with which Boveney was assigned to his nephew Sir Edmund Bray in the partition of 1510. (fn. 307) It was acquired of him in 1529 by James and Anthony Hill, (fn. 308) evidently acting for their father Richard Hill, (fn. 309) who died in 1540 seised of Boveney and Dorney Manors. (fn. 310) The descent of these two manors in the Hill, Garrard and Palmer families to Major C. H. D. Palmer, the present owner, has been worked out under Dorney. (fn. 311)

There was a second so-called BOVENEY MANOR held of the Crown as of Burnham Manor in the 17th century, (fn. 312) the early history of which is obscure. It was held in the early 16th century by the lord of the chief Boveney Manor and this led to some confusion between the two. It may have originated in the hide here belonging to Cookham Church held in 1086 of the king by Reinbald the priest, (fn. 313) the former chancellor of Edward the Confessor. (fn. 314) His lands were given by Henry I towards the endowment of Cirencester Abbey, (fn. 315) which in 1291 took rents here to the value of £7. (fn. 316) In the first years of the 16th century Sir Edmund Bray appears to have held two manors here, the chief Boveney (q.v.) and this less important which he gave to William Cowper at 1d. yearly rent. (fn. 317) In 1543 William Cowper, as owner or occupier of the capital messuage of Boveney Manor, came to an agreement with the lords of the chief manor respecting common rights in Somerfold. (fn. 318) He died in the following year, (fn. 319) leaving his mansion to his widow Dorothy together with the farm belonging to the manor and such lands as should constitute two parts of Boveney Manor. (fn. 320) These two parts were held by her as the wife of George Frevyle in 1549, (fn. 321) Silvester her son and heir by William Cowper succeeding to the remaining third. (fn. 322) He is said to have sold the manor to Sir William Garrard, (fn. 323) lord of the chief Boveney estate. It afterwards came to Paul Wells, who died in 1604, (fn. 324) leaving a widow Anne, who died four months later after the birth of a daughter also called Anne. (fn. 325) By his will Paul Wells had empowered his brother Timothy Wells and brother-in-law Thomas Eymnell to sell his lands to discharge his debts, (fn. 326) and this was accordingly done in 1606, the purchaser being John Parsons. (fn. 327) He had contracted a debt of £600 to John Leigh and of £300 to Richard Powney, his sons-in-law, (fn. 328) and in 1610 handed over Boveney to the former for a sum of £300 and the cancelling of the debt. (fn. 329) John Parsons died in 1612, leaving a son John, (fn. 330) who after the attainment of his majority bought back the manor from John Leigh for £1,100 in 1618. (fn. 331) As there is no further reference to this manor as a separate entity it may have become absorbed in the manor of Burnham alias Rokesby alias Westown, John Parsons's other holding in this parish.

The manor of BURNHAM alias ROKESBY may have taken its distinctive name from the Rokeby family, a member of which, Richard Rokeby, is mentioned in connexion with Burnham in 1422. (fn. 332) It was said in 1540 to be held of the Earl of Huntingdon as of his manor of Cippenham, (fn. 333) but owing to confusion with the manor of Burnham alias Westown (q.v.), which had been in the same ownership since 1502, the overlordship of the latter, which was vested in Philip Skydmore as of Huntercombe Manor, (fn. 334) was ascribed to Rokesby in 1543. (fn. 335) The two manors had probably then merged, as no later reference to a separate Westown Manor occurs, and by 1624 they were known as the manor of Burnham alias Rokesby alias Westown, (fn. 336) held in 1631 as the former Westown Manor had been. (fn. 337)

Lands here afterwards called Burnham Manor were held in 1435 by Edmund Brudenell of Ranes in Amersham and of Brudenell Manor in Chalfont St. Peter (fn. 338) (q.v.). By his will dated 7 October 1457 Edmund left certain lands in East Burnham to his wife Philippa for life, and others in Burnham to his son Drew when he should be twenty years of age. (fn. 339) These lands appear to be identical with the manors of 'Stasies and Knyztys' in Burnham and Cippenham, of which Drew died seised in 1490, the overlordship of the latter, which was vested in Oliver Manningham, lord of Cippenham, as of his manor of Stoke, (fn. 340) corresponding to the later overlordship of Rokesby Manor. Stasies, which was held of John Scott as of his manor of Dorney, may have been absorbed into the more important manor of Knyztys. (fn. 341) Drew's son Edmund (fn. 342) and the latter's wife Joan quitclaimed their interest in Burnham Manor to Sir Reynold Bray in 1502, (fn. 343) renunciation of rights being made at the same time by Edmund's cousin Robert Brudenell, jun., and Joan the wife of Robert Nores. (fn. 344) Sir Reynold Bray acquired about the same time the manorial rights of Boveney (q.v.), with which Rokesby descended in the Hill and Garrard families. (fn. 345) In 1605, however, a fine of the manor was levied by Sir William Garrard, probably on the marriage of his daughter Mary with John afterwards Sir John Kidderminster, as the said John and Edmund Kidderminster were parties to the settlement. (fn. 346) Though the manor was alienated with Boveney to the Palmers in 1624, (fn. 347) yet it may have been only the reversion which was so conveyed, as in 1631 Sir John Kidderminster died seised of Burnham, which he left to his widow Mary for life and then to his daughter and heir Elizabeth wife of Sir John Parsons. (fn. 348) Sir John and Elizabeth Parsons were dealing with a third of the manor in the same year, (fn. 349) but in 1636 the Palmers were in possession, (fn. 350) and, as there is no later mention, it may have merged into their manor of Boveney.

BURNHAM alias WESTOWN MANOR

BURNHAM alias WESTOWN MANOR, sometimes called Burnham Bishopstown and Westown, formed part of the Lovell estates and was alienated by John and Agatha Wayte to Sir Reynold Bray in 1502. (fn. 351) It descended henceforward with his manor of Rokesby (q.v.), where its later history has been worked out.

The so-called BRITWELL MANOR, afterwards BRITWELL COURT, held in the 17th century of Cippenham Manor, (fn. 352) is first mentioned in 1338 in the possession of Edmund de Bereford. (fn. 353) It later came to a family which took its name from the place, and is probably identical with the 1 virgate of land which John Britwell had alienated to Elizabeth Britwell in 1395 without licence of the lord of Cippenham. (fn. 354) The Britwells ended in a female heir who carried the estate in marriage to the Attegate family, (fn. 355) of whom Thomas is mentioned in connexion with Britwell in 1484. (fn. 356) His daughter and heir Alice married Robert Woodford (fn. 357) ; in 1523 they settled their messuage called Britwell and 200 acres of land there on themselves for life with reversion to their son Thomas Woodford and Elizabeth his wife. (fn. 358) Thomas Woodford was on very bad terms with Richard Hill, the lord of Boveney and of Dorney, whose anger he incurred in 1531 by inclosing 7½ acres on Hedgerley Hill, ploughing up the 'meres, merks and boundyng' and writing to him in the following wise, 'Master Hyll, I ame enfourmed that you have been oons or twyse at my grounds att Heggeley Hyll rydyng abought the same with your tennants and varelets. If I fynde yowe after that maner ther ageyn I wyll make yow to goo a fote to Dorney or yt shall coste me my lyffe.' (fn. 359) Woodford's property in Burnham included in 1538 two closes of wood called 'le Mores' and woodland called Great Baylys. (fn. 360) He is spoken of as 'my neighbour' by Andrew Lord Windsor in 1540, (fn. 361) and was succeeded in 1545 by his son and heir James. (fn. 362) He died some time after 1588, in which year Britwell was settled on his wife Katherine for life with reversion to their son Robert, (fn. 363) who with his mother Katherine was defendant in an action brought in 1596 by Helen Wentworth about common rights. (fn. 364) Katherine Woodford died two years later and the lands and manor-house, then called Britwell Place, reverted to Robert, who died in 1599, leaving a young son John (fn. 365) and a widow Ursula, (fn. 366) afterwards wife of Hugh Holland, with whom she lived in the mansion-house. (fn. 367) By his will Robert had given his friends power to sell his lands in Britwell, (fn. 368) and they were apparently conveyed by John Woodford and others to Anne widow of Sir John Hart. In 1618 she charged the vendors with having delivered up the estate mortgaged, (fn. 369) and dying in 1625 left Britwell to Tony and John Cage, the sons of her dead son Nicholas by her first husband Anthony Cage. (fn. 370) Tony seems to have renounced his claims to John, who at his death in 1638 left Elizabeth his daughter and heir by his first wife Elizabeth to his brother's trust. (fn. 371) Anne his second wife was to have the use of the manor-house for life. (fn. 372) Elizabeth Cage married John son and heir of Sir George Hastings, who died in 1656, their only child Henry dying two years later. (fn. 373) Britwell Place or Court then passed through several hands, (fn. 374) and was purchased of John MacCulloch in 1713 by Charles Boyle Earl of Orrery. (fn. 375) His son John Earl of Orrery succeeded in 1731, (fn. 376) and sold Britwell three years later to Richard Owen, (fn. 377) from whom it was purchased in 1744 by Mr. Crayle Crayle under the title of Britwell House or Place. (fn. 378) He resided there (fn. 379) and died in 1780, leaving the residue of his estate to Elizabeth Anne Wilson, after enough had been sold to pay his debts. (fn. 380) Britwell was later owned by Lady Ravensworth, John Symonds and Lord Grenville. (fn. 381) By the beginning of the 19th century it had come to Mr. Irby, (fn. 382) afterwards Lord Boston, and was later acquired by Mr. William Henry Miller, who formed a fine library at Britwell Court. (fn. 383) At his death in 1848 Britwell passed to his cousin Miss Marsh in possession about 1862, (fn. 384) who was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Christie-Miller, M.P. He died in 1889 and the next owner, Mr. Wakefield Christie-Miller, was succeeded in 1898 by his son Mr. Sydney Richardson Christie-Miller, the present owner.

Miller. Argent a miller's cross azure.

A mill in Cippenham called Aymill was given with the chapel there to Burnham Abbey by Richard, King of the Romans. (fn. 385) In the grant were included the dam and fish-pond and also the water-course of the said dam made by the grantor leading from the mill to Burnham Abbey through Cippenham Manor. (fn. 386) Henry III confirmed the grant in 1268, (fn. 387) but ten years later the right of the grantor to divert the water-course was called into question. (fn. 388) His son Edmund Earl of Cornwall, however, confirmed to the abbey the mill and water-course so fully that no diversion could be made to Cippenham Manor or elsewhere, with power at any time to stop the course of the water which used to flow to the manor and to close all the breaks at will. (fn. 389) This concession, though ratified by Edward III in 1328, (fn. 390) did not protect the abbess from citation before Cippenham Court in 1395 for obstructing the water in Aymill Brook at le Park Burne and for allowing it to overflow the lands of tenants; at the same time Edward the miller was fined for taking excessive toll. (fn. 391) The rent of the mill was returned in 1535 as 13s. 4d., (fn. 392) but it was doubled in the grant made to William Tildesley of the site of the abbey (q.v.) when the mill was said to be used for brewing. (fn. 393) Paul Wentworth, the succeeding lessee, granted a twenty-eight years' lease to John Lidgold in 1565, reserving to himself the mill-pond and fish and the use of the pool for breeding cygnets and keeping swans. Part of the miller's duty was the scouring of the brook leading to the Thames from the mill-pond to the sluice in the Cowleys and from the Weedrake at Lake End Green down to the river. The miller neglected his task, and Wentworth's house was not kept sweet and clean from annoyance of foul water; a presentment for neglect was made at Cippenham Court and after a final warning on 11 November 1583 Wentworth turned the miller, his wife and five children out of doors. (fn. 394) In the transfer of the leasehold interest to Sir Richard Lovelace in 1610 a £10 annuity granted by Wentworth to Jane Dowley, widow, was safe-guarded. (fn. 395) There is mention of a place called Aymell in 1638, (fn. 396) but no later trace of the mill.

There was another mill, afterwards called West Mill, and situated in Boveney, which stood on that portion of Burnham Manor which came to the Lascelles. The fishery attached to it formed a valuable adjunct and is probably identical with the pond and fishery in Boveney on account of which William son of Richard de Windsor was fined 2 marks in 1201 for letting them lapse from the state they were in in the time of Henry II. (fn. 397) Reference to the mill occurs first in 1260, when it was included in the claim for dower made by Cristiana de Gesenna against Richard, King of the Romans. (fn. 398) It was bestowed by him on Burnham Abbey in his foundation charter of 1266 and was then described as the mill, fishery and land which were John de Boveney's. (fn. 399) Seven years later it was claimed in dower by Alice the widow of John de Boveney and then wife of Robert de Coleville, (fn. 400) but judgement was pronounced against her in 1278. (fn. 401) In 1535 a rent of 14s. 8d. was paid for Westmill to the Earl of Huntingdon, lord of Cippenham Manor; the fishery was valued at 40s. (fn. 402) A twenty-one years' lease was obtained in the same year by William Tredway, (fn. 403) who is returned as lessee in a survey of 1548, (fn. 404) but another twenty-one years' lease of Boveney fishery obtained in 1578 by Joan Bell speaks of Westmill as the 'former mill,' (fn. 405) and another grant in the following year of a fishery in the chapel water is silent as regards Boveney Mill. (fn. 406) The Bell family obtained in 1582 a fresh grant for life, and Boveney fishery was in the possession of one of the original grantees, Richard Bell, in 1605. (fn. 407) The fishery of Catteshagh at Cippenham belonged in 1298 to Eustace de Esthall, whose piles and engines with the fish contained therein were taken away by malefactors. (fn. 408)

A windmill stood on Cippenham Manor in 1272, (fn. 409) and Windmill Furlong occurs as a place-name in 1368. (fn. 410) A presentment was made at Cippenham Court in 1395 that the common way called 'Wayndmelleway' had been ploughed up, (fn. 411) and Windmill Hill was part of the site of the abbey in 1605. (fn. 412)

CHURCHES

The church of ST. PETER consists of a chancel 45 ft. by 17 ft., north-east vestry, south-east tower, nave 66 ft. by 23 ft., north transept 23 ft. by 19 ft. 6 in., north aisle 9 ft. wide, south aisle 11 ft. 6 in. wide, and north and south porches. These measurements are all internal. It is built of flint with stone dressings, some stone being used in the walling, and the roofs are covered with tiles and lead.

The church dates from the 12th century, and appears to have consisted originally of a chancel, nave, and south transeptal chapel. The present tower, which stands at the re-entering angle of the chancel and south chapel, to both of which it communicates by pointed arches, was added in 1190. Early in the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt on a larger scale, and the north transept and north aisle were added, while about 1250 a south aisle was built which incorporated the original south chapel and directly lined with its south wall. Windows with graceful tracery were inserted in the walls generally about the middle of the 14th century, and about 1390 the nave and aisles were lengthened to the extent of one bay, the west responds of the arcades being reset in their present positions. The north porch was added in the 15th century. The north transept was repaired in the 17th century and again in the 19th century, when it was decorated with plaster panelling and ornament, and part of its east wall was rebuilt. The whole fabric was considerably restored during the 19th century and the north vestries and south porch built; while the bell-chamber of the tower, which had been destroyed by fire in the 18th century and rebuilt in timber, was again rebuilt in flint and stone, and a timber spire added in 1892.

The chancel was originally lighted on the north and south by lancet windows, one of which remains on the south; another on the north-east is blocked by a 17th-century monument, but can be seen from the vestry, while three others can be traced in the north wall. The large east window has been renewed, but retains a 14th-century rear arch, and there are three 14th-century windows on the north and two on the south, all of two lights, with restored tracery under pointed heads. On the south is a blocked priest's doorway, and near the west a late 12th-century pointed arch to the tower of two plain orders; all this work has been much restored, and the external stonework of all the windows on the south has been entirely renewed. On the south-east are a restored trefoiled piscina with original credence shelf, but no bowl and a wide sedile under a depressed arch. The pointed chancel arch, dating from the 13th century, is of two moulded orders, the outer dying into the walls and the inner springing from modern corbels.

The nave is of four bays with arcades of pointed arches on both sides, that on the north supported on round pillars and responds, and that on the south on octagonal pillars and responds. The easternmost arch of the north arcade, opening into the transept, is moulded, while the other arches are plainly chamfered. Both responds and the middle pillar are of the early 13th century, but the first pillar from the east, with the whole of the spandrel above it, is modern, and probably replaced a pier which received the respond of an arch between the north aisle and transept. The third pillar, inserted late in the 14th century, has a plainly moulded capital, and its shaft is formed of two stones only, while the original pillar and responds are built in ordinary courses. The south arcade has finely moulded capitals and bases and dates from about 1250, with the exception of the western pillar and adjacent arches, which were inserted in the 14th century and formed to correspond to the existing work. On the pillars are several roughly-incised inscriptions with abusive references to the pope, cut probably in the 17th century. Both arcades have been repaired. At the west end of the nave is a large traceried window of three lights with doorway below, both renewed externally, and on the south-east is the upper doorway to the rood-loft, which is placed very high in the wall and has a wood lintel.

The north transept must have been originally a very graceful and rich addition to the church, embellished by wall arcades on the east and west and lighted by lancet windows. The arcade on the east appears to have been of three pointed arches, enriched by edge rolls, springing from triple shafts at their junctions and single shafts at the responds. The southern arch, both responds, and the capital and upper part of the southern triple shaft remain, but the northern portion of this wall has been rebuilt in brickwork, and the other two arches are replaced by a wide modern arch coated with plaster. An early 17th-century window of two lights under a square head has been inserted in the south bay. The western wall arcade was of two distinct arches springing from angle shafts. The arch on the north is well preserved, and in the upper part of the wall beneath it is an original tall lancet. The wall on the south has been removed; it was probably altered when the aisle was built, and finally obliterated during subsequent restorations. In the north wall is a large 14th-century window of four lights with restored flowing tracery. The gable above this window was rebuilt in brickwork in the 17th century.

The north aisle is lighted on the north by two windows of about 1350 of two trefoiled lights with foliated tracery in pointed heads, and on the west by a two-light window of plainer character of about 1390. The moulded north doorway is of the earlier of these dates, though extensively repaired. In the window tracery are fragments of old glass. The north porch has a pointed entrance arch, the mouldings of which die into chamfered jambs, and there is a small single light in each of the lateral walls. The east wall of the south aisle is pierced by a late 12th-century pointed arch to the tower, which, though the moulded abaci are considerably defaced, is otherwise well preserved. The eastern part of the aisle was probably built as a chapel, and when remodelled in the 14th century this use was preserved. On the sill of a restored single-light window at the south-east there is a quatrefoil piscina, the carved projecting portion of which has been cut away, and there are traces of a wall painting on the tower arch. Further west there are three traceried windows of about 1350, similar to those in the north aisle except that the second is enriched by small shafts on the mullions, and the westernmost has been renewed externally. The west window is similar to that of the north aisle, and is of the same period. The line of junction showing the extent of the addition to each aisle is plainly marked on the north and south walls. The south doorway, dating from the mid-13th century, has an original richly moulded arch of two orders and restored jambs. The trussed rafter roof of the nave is probably of the 14th century, and the aisles have moulded lean-to roofs of the end of that period.

The tower is of three stages surmounted by an embattled parapet and timber spire. The first two stages, which have been restored, are lighted by round-headed windows, those of the second stage having moulded abaci, and the bell-chamber has on each side a modern square-headed window of two lights.

In a slab on the north side of the chancel there are three brass Latin inscriptions in black letter, one to William Tyldsley (d. 1563), and the other two to Jacomyne his wife (d. 1556), daughter of Robert Littell, with two shields, one of Knatchbull impaling Wentworth, the other charged with a cheveron whereon is a crescent. On the south side of the chancel is an undated brass inscription to Anne daughter of (Paul) Wentworth and wife of (Norton) Knatchbull, and the verse 'Fessus eram curis quas vita molesta ferebat | Optima [cur]arum mors medicina fuit.' In one slab in the north aisle are the brasses of Giles Eyre and Elizabeth his wife with inscription, and an inscription to William Aldriche and Agnes his wife, with figures of fifteen daughters and matrices for the man and his wife and nine sons; both of these groups are of the early 16th century. At the west of this aisle are two slabs with brass matrices. On the west wall of the nave in a Purbeck marble slab are brass figures supposed to be of Edmund Eyre (d. 1563), and his wife, with three sons and two daughters, and part of the black letter inscription, and on the same slab are figures of Thomas Eyre (d. 1581), lord of the manor of Allards in East Burnham, his three wives, four sons and three daughters with inscription, and a plate with an acrostic on the name of Thomas Eyre. There is a shield with the arms of Eyre in each corner of the slab. On the south wall of the chancel is a monument with bust to John Wright, vicar of the parish from 1561 to 1594, and a shield of arms. On the north wall there is a tablet to Paul son of Sir Nicholas Wentworth (d. 1593), his mother Dame Jane, his daughter Anne, wife of Norton Knatchbull, and his son Francis, with two shields of arms, and a marble monument to George Evelyn of Huntercombe, 1657, and Dudly his wife, 1661, daughter of William Balls of Catlidge, Suffolk, with their half figures, a shield of arms above and the kneeling figures of their two sons below. In the north aisle there is a tablet with arms to Edmund Eyre, 1650. In the north aisle is a floor slab to John Lidgold, 1697, Elizabeth, 1689, and Elizabeth, 1700, his wives, and another to Mary wife of Thomas Eyre, 1646. In the north aisle are mural monuments to Audry (Lidgold) wife of Thomas Bever of London (d. 1704); Edward Willes, second son of the Hon. Mr. Justice Willes (d. 1704), and Martha his wife; Elizabeth Dewell (d. 1733); and Bridget wife of William Freind and daughter of William Glover, 'minister' of the parish (d. 1721); and in the south aisle are monuments to John Rogers (d. 1742) and John Lidgold (d. 1737), his son-in-law John Lane, his daughter Ann, and granddaughter Ann Lane.

Boveney Church from the South-west

Two wide panels from the lower part of the rood screen, and dating from the late 15th century, are incorporated in the seating of the north transept; they are painted and pierced with groups of small holes near the upper rail. The walls of the transept are covered with oak panelling carved with scenes from the life of our Lord and other subjects, mostly of foreign workmanship. The elaborately carved altar rails are probably of the early 18th century, and there is an iron-bound chest in the chancel of about 1600.

There is a ring of six bells: the treble is by John Taylor & Co., 1892; the second by C. & G. Mears, 1855; the third by Richard Eldridge, 1624; the fourth by T. Lester, 1749; the fifth by Henry Knight, 1671; and the tenor by Thomas Swain, 1755. The clock bell is inscribed 'Bornham 1701.'

The communion plate includes a cover paten which has no date marks.

The registers begin in 1561.

The church of ST. MARY MAGDALENE at Boveney is a rectangular building about 51 ft. by 19 ft. with no structural division between chancel and nave. Over the roof at the west end is a wooden bell-turret. The fabric of the church dates from the 12th century, but the details are later. The walls are of rubble with flint garreted joints and limestone dressings, and the roof is tiled. In the gable of the east wall there is a 16th-century window of two lights beneath a square head, and in the wall above can be seen indications of an earlier pointed window. The north doorway has a pointed head and jambs of two continuously chamfered orders and probably dates from the 15th century. The north wall has in addition two windows, the easternmost, a small square-headed light, of 13th-century date, and the other is a restored 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoils under a square head, to the east of which is a contemporary stone corbel carved with vine leaf ornament. In the south wall are two windows similar to the two-light window opposite, a 15th-century pointed doorway, and, near the west, a small rectangular light resembling that in the north wall. In the gable at the west end is a small single-light window, which probably dates from the 12th century. The bellturret is supported from the floor by a framework of timber, part of which is hidden by plaster. Four old tie-beams of the roof are exposed, but the remainder is concealed by a plaster ceiling.

The font has a bowl shaped like a truncated cone, with an edge roll, and stands upon a base of two steps. It may date from the 13th century, but is thickly covered with whitewash. A low screen consisting of pieces of old carved oak divides the chancel from the nave; it has a post on either side of the central opening which is crowned with a 15th-century poppy head, and the cresting, which was added during the 19th century, is made up from the frieze of some 17th-century panelling. In the chancel and on the north and south walls of the nave is some 17th-century panelling, that on the north wall of the nave with a frieze being of the 17th century, and the pulpit is made up of panelling of the same period. The oak communion table may be of late 17th-century date. Some oak benches, probably of early 16th-century date, remain in the nave, a few of the standards of which have been renewed. Placed in the reveal of the easternmost window on the north side is a small glazed case containing some very interesting fragments of carved alabaster figures which retain traces of colouring and gilding. They are possibly of 15th-century date and represent various subjects, including the Assumption, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

There are three bells: the treble, 1631, and the second, 1636, are by Ellis Knight; the tenor is inscribed with the first seven letters of the alphabet in Gothic capitals, and probably dates from the middle of the 16th century.

The parish of ST. ANNE, Dropmore, was formed in 1867. The church, consecrated in 1866, is built in the 14th-century style and consists of chancel, nave, north transept, south porch and western bell-turret. The living is a vicarage in the gift of Mr. J. B. Fortescue.

ADVOWSON

Burnham Church was attached to the manor held by Walter Fitz Otho at Domesday and is first mentioned in the early 13th century as held in purparty by the co-heirs of Walter de Windsor. (fn. 413) The Lascelles bestowed their moiety upon the priory of St. Mary Wix, Essex, and the charter was attested by Ralf de Hodeng, (fn. 414) but he combined with William Brewer, the custodian of the lands and heir of Duncan de Lascelles, to wrest back this moiety from the priory some time before 1218. (fn. 415) Both moieties were in the Crown about 1223 by reason of the minority of the Lascelles's heir and the death of Ralf de Hodeng, (fn. 416) but the two families appear later to have come to an arrangement by which the Hodengs took Beaconsfield advowson (q.v.) and the Lascelles retained Burnham Church, for the right to the whole advowson passed with the Lascelles's portion of the manor to Richard Earl of Cornwall (fn. 417) and was included in the grant to Burnham Abbey in 1266. (fn. 418) A vicarage was ordained in the same year (fn. 419) and was valued at £10 13s. 4d. in 1291, the church being then assessed at £30 (fn. 420) ; in 1535 the vicarage was worth £16 13s. 4d. (fn. 421) At the Dissolution the advowson escheated to the Crown, a lease being afterwards obtained by Paul Wentworth, who had an interest in the site of the abbey (fn. 422) (q.v.). A grant in fee was subsequently made to the Hawtrey family, and the presentation was in 1644 vested in Edward Hawtrey, the vicar of Burnham, (fn. 423) who was ejected during the Civil War, but in 1660 petitioned for the tithes of some sequestered livings. (fn. 424) He died in 1669 (fn. 425) and his son John Hawtrey (fn. 426) bestowed the advowson, some time after 1681, (fn. 427) on Eton College, (fn. 428) of which he was a fellow, and in which it has since remained vested. (fn. 429)

Burnham rectory, which was assessed at £7 in 1535, (fn. 430) was granted with the site of the abbey to William Tildesley in 1544 for £8 (fn. 431) a year, and was afterwards held with it by Paul Wentworth. (fn. 432) A grant in socage was obtained in 1610–11 by Francis Morrice, (fn. 433) and a similar grant was made in 1627 to Francis Lovelace. (fn. 434) His representative John Lovelace Lord Hurley owned the rectory in the early 18th century, (fn. 435) but towards the end of that century it was in the possession of Thomas Goldin. (fn. 436) Mr. Grape, a freeholder in Burnham in 1773, (fn. 437) evidently obtained the rectory in after years, for members of the Grape family were holding it in 1818 (fn. 438) ; a portion of the great tithes were said, however, about that date to be part of the endowment of the vicarage. (fn. 439)

The chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, Boveney, is first mentioned in 1266, when the offerings there were assigned to the vicarage of Burnham. (fn. 440) No further reference to it has been found until 1508, when Robert Aldridge of that parish left 3s. 4d. to it by his will. (fn. 441) It was dependent on the mother church of Burnham, and a bull of Pope Leo, dated 1513, ordered the vicar of Burnham to find a chaplain to celebrate there as heretofore. (fn. 442) In 1519 it was presented that the glass windows of the chancel were defective and the divine offices were not said at the accustomed hours. (fn. 443) Queen Elizabeth, in 1575, when patron of Burnham Church, granted a chapel in Burnham, evidently identical with the Boveney chapel, to John Herbert and Andrew Palmer, (fn. 444) but the grant was rescinded twelve years later. (fn. 445) The chapel was annexed to Burnham as a chapel of ease when Hawtrey gave the latter church to Eton College, and an Act passed in 1737 for making Boveney a separate living failed for want of sufficient endowment. (fn. 446) The vicar of Burnham and his curate held a service there on the first Sunday in every month, but in 1767 the chapelry demanded a service every Sunday and protested its independence except as regards burials. (fn. 447) It appointed its own churchwardens, looked after its own poor, and repaired the highways. (fn. 448) By an Order in Council dated 25 May 1911 Boveney Liberty was ecclesiastically annexed to Eton, to which church St. Mary Magdalene is now a chapel of ease.

There was a chapel at Cippenham appurtenant to the manor there, to which a presentation was made in 1223–4 by Sir Robert de Ferrers. (fn. 449) His widow Joan de Ferrers had her claim to the advowson called in question by the parson of Burnham Church, but she proved her right to it (fn. 450) and alienated it with the manor to Richard Earl of Cornwall. (fn. 451) By him it was given to Burnham Abbey, (fn. 452) the grant being confirmed by Henry III in 1268, (fn. 453) by his son Edmund, (fn. 454) and also in 1328 by Edward III. (fn. 455) The chapel was assessed at £8 about 1291, (fn. 456) and in 1340 the lands belonging to the glebe with the tithes of hay and of one mill (Aymill, q.v.) were worth 4 marks. (fn. 457) These tithes may be identical with the rectory of Burnham Abbey in the hand of the incumbent assessed at £6 in the Valor of 1535 (fn. 458) and called the rectory of Cippenham; they were obtained on lease in 1544 by William Tildesley for £6 a year. (fn. 459) It descended with Burnham Rectory (q.v.), with which it was held by the Grape family in 1818, (fn. 460) but all trace of the chapel had disappeared by the middle of that century. (fn. 461)

Calbroke Chapel, which was described indifferently as in Burnham or Hitcham, appears to have been situated near the boundary between the two parishes, the collection of buildings in Burnham called Cabrook perhaps marking the site. North of this on the Taplow border is Cabrook Wood, probably part of the chapel lands. The chapel is not mentioned before the Dissolution, when it belonged to Little Marlow Priory, whose lands here and in Taplow were worth 58s. 4d. yearly; it took the offerings from the chapel, which amounted to about 10s. in average years. (fn. 462) The chapel was granted to Elizabeth Restwold and John Tytley with Little Marlow Manor (q.v.) and descended with it to the Borlase family, (fn. 463) in whose descendant Borlase Warren the ownership rights were vested at the beginning of the 18th century. (fn. 464) No later mention of the chapel has been found, but, as it was already described in 1629 as the farm of Calbroke called the chapel (fn. 465) and afterwards as the chapel and land of Calbroke, it is likely that its original use had long been lost sight of.

A chantry at St. Catherine's altar in Burnham Abbey Church was founded in 1338 by Sir John de Molyns to pray for him and his wife Egidia and the souls of his father Vincent and his mother Isabel and endowed with 'Sylveston' Manor, Northamptonshire (fn. 466) ; it is mentioned in 1505 in a deed concerning the Hungerfords' manor of Cippenham. (fn. 467) At the dissolution of the chantries a gild or brotherhood in Burnham held a messuage with a garden and 1 acre of land and owned a chalice of silver weighing 13 'unce' and two old vestments of worsted. (fn. 468)

Another messuage, &c., in Burnham was given to the church for an obit by William Roberts; and in 1575 this was obtained by Herbert and Palmer, (fn. 469) who surrendered it to the queen in 1587. (fn. 470) Four acres of arable land held by the wardens of Boveney chapel for an obit or light were also given in 1575 to Herbert and Palmer (fn. 471) and surrendered by them in 1587, (fn. 472) another grant having been made in 1579 to Edward Thomlynson and Anthony Page. (fn. 473)

CHARITIES

The consolidated charities are regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, 10 September 1907. They comprise the charities of Mrs. Aylesworth, for the poor, founded by will 1636, consisting of a rentcharge of £1, issuing out of a tenement at Burnham, Town's End. (For Mrs. Aylesworth's ecclesiastical charity see below.)

John Ive, by will 1644, being a rent-charge of £1 issuing out of land at Burnham.

For Cotton's eleemosynary charity, by deed 1735, consisting of a share of the rent of a tenement known as Hardings at Cookham Dean, amounting to 30s. a year or thereabouts, see below under charities of Alice Cotton and Elizabeth Robinson.

Margaret Hawtrey's eleemosynary charity, by deed 1645, being a yearly sum of £2 12s., payable out of the ecclesiastical charity of Margaret Hawtrey (see below).

Mary Lane, by will 1773, trust fund, £150 consols.

Thomas Lewin, by will 1554, consisting of an annual sum of 16s. 8d., part of a rent-charge issuing out of land at Cippenham Green.

Elizabeth Mason, by will proved in the P.C.C., 22 February 1820, trust fund, £100 consols.

Mrs. Millington, origin not stated, trust fund, £160 0s. 10d. consols.

John Popple, by will proved in the P.C.C. 30 September 1831, trust fund, £120 consols.

Richard Randall for the poor, by will 1728, consisting of a moiety of the rent of 2 acres in Lent Field, let at £2 a year.

Henry Sayer, by will 1810, trust fund, £666 13s. 4d. consols, and

Edmund Rowles, by will 1812, trust fund, £714 3s. 9d. consols.

The income of the consolidated charities, amounting to £56 a year or thereabouts, is under the provisions of the scheme made applicable in subscriptions to a dispensary or hospital, provident club or friendly society, in contributions towards the provision of nurses, the purchase of annuities, cost of outfits or in general relief of the poor.

In 1794 Ann Lady Ravensworth by a codicil to her will, proved in the P.C.C. 25 June, bequeathed £500 consols for instruction of twelve girls in reading and working, (fn. 474) also £5 5s. yearly towards the support of the Sunday school. The sums of £500 consols and £210 2½ per cent. annuities are held by the official trustees in respect of these legacies.

In 1735 Alice Cotton by deed gave £100 to be laid out in land and directed that out of the rent thereof £3 should be applied in teaching poor children, 10s. to the minister for a sermon, and 10s. to ten poor women, and

Elizabeth Robinson, by will 1722, gave £20 for teaching six children to read and learn to sing psalms. These gifts appear to have been laid out in the purchase of a tenement and land known as Hardings at Cookham Dean containing 5 acres, which is now let at £15 a year.

By an order of the Charity Commissioners 15 November 1904 the net income is directed to be applied in the following proportions: one-sixth to form the endowment of Robinson's educational foundation, five-eighths for Cotton's educational foundation, five forty-eighths for Cotton's gift to the vicar and five forty-eighths for Cotton's eleemosynary charity.

The ecclesiastical charity of Mrs. Aylesworth, founded by will 1636, consists of a yearly charge of 6s. 8d. issuing out of a tenement at Burnham, Town's End, which is paid to the vicar for a sermon.

For the charity by the same donor for the poor see under the consolidated charities above.

The ecclesiastical charity of Margaret Hawtrey, founded by deed 10 April 1645, is now represented by £258 6s. 8d. consols arising from the sale of the land originally given. The dividends, amounting to £6 9s. after setting aside annually £2 12s. for the eleemosynary branch (included in the consolidated charities), are applied for ecclesiastical purposes.

Randall's ecclesiastical charity, by will 1728. consists of a moiety of the rent of 2 acres in Lent Field now let at £2 a year, of which £1 is paid to the vicar and £1 for the poor, included in the consolidated charities.

The church estate consists of several pieces of land situate in Burnham and £851 2s. 11d. consols arising from sales of land from time to time. The income of £65 a year, or thereabouts, is carried to the churchwardens' general account. The several sums of stock are held by the official trustees.

Liberty of East Burnham.

Elizabeth Coxe's charity for clothing, founded by will, proved at London 18 February 1836, is regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners 19 December 1884. The trust fund consists of £2,666 13s. 4d. consols, the income of which, amounting to £66 13s. 4d. a year, is applied under the provisions of the scheme in donations of £2 10s. to the coal club and to the nursing fund and the residue in the distribution of clothing.

The same testatrix by her will bequeathed a legacy for the school at East Burnham, which is represented by a sum of £588 1s. 5d. consols, producing £12 14s. a year.

John Popple by will, proved at London 30 September 1831, bequeathed £300 consols, producing £7 10s. yearly, one half towards teaching poor children at Burnham Gore and one half for East Burnham.

The several sums of stock are held by the official trustees.

Chapelry of Boveney.

There are apparently no endowed charities in this district.

Footnotes