Manors And Other Estates.
Begbroke formed part of the post-Conquest estates of William FitzOsbern, earl of Hereford (d.
1071), and after the rebellion in 1075 of William's son Roger it was granted by the Crown to
Walter de Lacy and was held in 1086 by Walter's son Roger. (fn. 42) He joined the rebellion against
William Rufus in 1095 and Begbroke again
escheated to the Crown but was recovered by
Roger's brother Hugh. (fn. 43) Following Hugh's
death in 1121 the Lacy inheritance was disputed
between Gilbert de Lacy, the possibly illegitimate son of Hugh's sister Emma, and Pain
FitzJohn, whose wife may have been Hugh's
niece. Pain, a prominent supporter of Stephen
in the civil war, seems to have acquired some at
least of the de Lacy lands, which were confirmed
after his death in 1137 to his daughter Cecily,
wife of Roger, later earl of Hereford. (fn. 44) Gilbert
de Lacy, a supporter of the Empress Maud,
apparently regained the estates on the accession
of Henry II in 1154, despite a treaty between
earl Roger and William, earl of Gloucester,
intended to disinherit him. (fn. 45) Gilbert became a
Templar, dying abroad in 1163. He was succeeded by his son Hugh, killed in Ireland in
1186, and Hugh's son Walter (d. 1241), who in
1210 joined with his father-in-law William de
Braose in rebellion against King John. The Lacy
lands escheated once more to the Crown, but
were recovered by Walter in 1214. (fn. 46) His heirs
were his granddaughters Margery and Maud,
and Begbroke passed to the latter. The overlordship descended with the Lacy honor of Ludlow
until the death in 1356 of Maud's granddaughter
Joan, wife of Roger Mortimer, earl of March (d.
1330). (fn. 47) Begbroke then descended with the estates of the earls of March, whose overlordship
was last mentioned in 1428. (fn. 48)
The tenant in 1086 was Ralph, probably the
same man who held of Roger de Lacy at Kiddington. In the 12th century Kiddington was
held by a family taking its name from the town
of Saussay in Normandy; William de Saussay
was involved in a land dispute at Begbroke in
1188, and in 1242 Ralph de Saussay was said to
be mesne tenant of the whole fee there. (fn. 49) The
mesne tenancy seems to have passed to the
Saussay heiress Sibyl, widow of Richard of
Williamscot, and their grandson Richard was
mesne tenant in 1279. (fn. 50) Thereafter the mesne
tenancy descended with the manor of Williamscot, in Cropredy, (fn. 51) but no reference has been
found later than 1319, when it was held by
Richard, son of Henry of Williamscot. (fn. 52)
By the late 12th century the demesne tenancy
of the manor had been divided and there were
effectively two manors. One was held by Stephen of the park, whose son Denis demised it in
1204 to Roger of Lyons. (fn. 53) He or another Roger
held it in 1235-6 and by 1242 it had passed to
Maud of Lyons. (fn. 54) Richard of Lyons held ½
knight's fee at Begbroke in 1279, and was succeeded by his son John (d. 1311-12) and grandson John (fl. 1346). (fn. 55) The manor passed thereafter with the family's Duns Tew manor to the
Chetwode and Woodhill families. (fn. 56) Begbroke
was sold in 1599 by Richard Chetwode to Sir
William Spencer of Yarnton, (fn. 57) in whose family
it remained until 1695, when three quarters of
the Yarnton and Begbroke estates were bought
by Sir Robert Dashwood. (fn. 58) The redistribution
of the properties in 1714 by Dashwood and
Cholmley Turner, owner of the other quarter,
seems to have given Turner only a quarter of
the Begbroke manor and no land there. (fn. 59) The
quarter-manor was bought in 1718 by Benjamin
Swete (d. 1744), former army paymaster under
John Churchill, duke of Marlborough. (fn. 60) Swete
devised it to Anne, daughter of his cousin Francis Fulford; (fn. 61) it presumably formed part of the
former Swete estate bought in 1771 by Thomas
Walker, town clerk of Oxford and agent to
George Spencer, duke of Marlborough, to
whom he sold the estate in 1788. (fn. 62) The Dashwood share followed the descent of Yarnton
until 1895, when Yarnton was sold. (fn. 63) In 1908
Sir George Dashwood sold the Begbroke estate
to Merton College, Oxford, which remained the
owner in 1983. (fn. 64)
The manor house of the Spencer and Dashwood estate seems to have been that later known
as Hall Farm, at the west end of the village. It is
a large, two-storeyed building with stone slate
roof, extensively remodelled in the early 19th
century and enlarged at various times in that
century. It retains, however, the chimney stacks
and parts of the walls and floor-carpentry of an
earlier, probably 17th-century, house.
No evidence has been found relating to the
other manor or moiety until the earlier 13th
century, when the demesne tenant was John of
the Exchequer de Scaccario). He borrowed
heavily from Jacob son of Moses of Oxford on
the security of his estates at Begbroke and Toot
Baldon; the debt was made over to John Giffard
of Twyford (Bucks.), who by 1265 had obtained
possession by distraint. (fn. 65) Giffard's son John
held the manor in 1279, (fn. 66) and it passed thereafter with Twyford manor until the death in
1558 of Ursula, daughter and heir of Thomas
Giffard and wife of Thomas Wenman. (fn. 67) Begbroke seems to have been settled on Ursula's
daughter Anne when she married John FitzHerbert. It passed to their son Humphrey (d. 1617)
and grandson Robert FitzHerbert (d. 1636),
who was succeeded by his nephew John FitzHerbert (d. 1658). (fn. 68) John was succeeded by his
sons Francis (d. 1672) and Thomas (d. 1700),
and Thomas by his sons Robert (b. 1675) and
John (d. 1727). The early death of eldest sons
and their succession by younger brothers, a
feature of the FitzHerbert inheritance, continued when John's son John died in 1733 and
was succeeded by his brother Robert (d. 1735).
Robert's son, also Robert, died childless in
1754, and of the former's six brothers and sisters
only one, Jane (d. 1752), wife of William
Cockin, produced an heir, Elizabeth. (fn. 69) Elizabeth
married William Taylor but had no children,
and devised the estate on her death in 1804 to
four relatives. (fn. 70) A house and land later known as
Orchard farm, west of the church, were devised
to Anne Bayliss (d. 1823), whose son Edward
held it in 1844; it seems to have been acquired in
the later 19th century by Sir George Dashwood. (fn. 71) A house, garden, and orchard south of
the village street passed to Anne Morris, whose
husband James held them in 1844. (fn. 72) That was
the house known as the Elms in the later 19th
century. (fn. 73) Two cottages along the footpath to
Bladon, and four closes west of the path and
Dalton Lane were devised to Elizabeth Parry; (fn. 74)
they were bought in 1812 by Thomas Robinson
(d. 1848), partner in the Old Bank, Oxford. (fn. 75)
The bulk of Elizabeth Taylor's estate, comprising the manor, manor house, and adjoining land
passed to William Young. He was succeeded by
1841 by his son William, (fn. 76) who in 1843 sold the
estate to Thomas Robinson, from whose executors it and the Parry estate were bought in 1849
by George Spencer-Churchill, duke of Marlborough. (fn. 77) The estate was sold in 1926 to George
Partridge, who since 1891 had been the tenant. It
remained in his family until 1960, when it was
bought by the Agricultural Research Council for
the Weed Research Organization. (fn. 78)
The Giffard and FitzHerbert manor house
possibly stood on the site later occupied by
Orchard House, west of the church. (fn. 79) A new
manor house, later called Begbroke Hill, was
built in the south-east corner of the parish ½ mile
east of the Oxford-Woodstock road, probably
by Humphrey FitzHerbert, who was accused in
1604 of ruining Begbroke's roads by his 'late
carriages for his buildings'. (fn. 80) In 1662 the house
was assessed at the high number of 13 hearths. (fn. 81)
It has a symmetrical south front of five bays with
a three-storeyed central porch. (fn. 82) The principal
rooms were to either side of an entrance passage,
and there was a kitchen wing on the north-west
and a staircase in the angle between that wing
and the front range. A cellar behind the main
east room is not built over and may have been
constructed soon after the house was built. (fn. 83) A
stone barn and other farm buildings of various
dates west of the house were incorporated into
the office and laboratory buildings of the Weed
Research Organization.
Richard son of Mayne sued William de Saussay about land in Begbroke in or before 1188,
and was said to have enfeoffed his brother
Walter with ½ ploughland and 4 yardlands there.
On Walter's death his sister Gillian allegedly
occupied the land; her grandson Andrew son of
William succeeded in claiming the land against
Richard's grandson Richard c. 1230 and in
resisting a claim in 1231-3 by Robert of Rycote,
grandson of Walter's sister Maud. (fn. 84) In 1279 it
belonged to Richard of Lyons (fn. 85) and passed
thereafter with the family's Begbroke manor.
In 1279 Studley priory held 3 yardlands of
Richard of Lyons. (fn. 86) It formed part of the Studley priory estates bought in 1540 by John Croke
of Chilton (Bucks.) (d. 1554). (fn. 87) He was succeeded by his son John, whose younger son
William succeeded to Begbroke on his father's
death in 1608. William was succeeded by his
younger son Francis of Steeple Aston, who sold
the estate in 1652 to John Butler of Woodstock.
In 1597 the estate was said to comprise 2 houses
and 2 yardlands, but in 1652 there were 3 houses
and 90 a. It was bought in 1662 by Charles Nott,
who sold it in 1667 to Anthony Eyans. The
latter's son John sold it in 1718 to Benjamin
Swete, who devised it to Anne Fulford. The
estate still comprised c. 90 a. in 1771, when it
was bought by Thomas Walker, who sold it in
1788 to George Spencer, duke of Marlborough.
The main house and the land were frequently let
separately thereafter, the land being rented by
local farmers, notably by John Bellenger of
Kidlington. The house was used as a country
residence, notably by Thomas Walker before he
bought it, by his relatives the Treachers of
Oxford in the earlier 1780s. (fn. 88) and in the 1850s
by Alan, third son of George Spencer-Churchill, duke of Marlborough. (fn. 89) From c. 1860
it was held by Michael Steel (d. 1865), a Kingham man who had emigrated in 1823 to Van
Diemen's Land, Australia, and amassed a large
fortune from land. (fn. 90) From 1786 to 1819 and in
the mid 1870s the house was used for a school. (fn. 91)
Thomas Robinson was the tenant for nearly
twenty years until his eviction in 1838 for political opposition to the duke. (fn. 92) In 1881 the house
and 14 a. adjoining were bought by Gerald
Smith of Swerford, (fn. 93) and in 1896 they were
bought by Charles Robertson, who gave them to
the Roman Catholic Servite Order, which in
1897 opened the house as St. Philip's Priory. (fn. 94)
St. Philip's Priory, formerly Begbroke House,
is commonly regarded as Begbroke's chief
ancient manor house, and its position, in its own
grounds 100 yd. east of the church, to which it is
connected by a private path, is conventional for
the leading house in a village. It seems, however,
to have belonged to the non-manorial estate of
Studley priory, which perhaps obtained the site
as part of a grant of former demesne land. There
was an 'ancient dwelling house' there in 1662,
presumably removed soon after since a 'new
built' house stood next to it. (fn. 95) It is not known
which of those houses was assessed at 9 hearths
in 1662. (fn. 96) The outlines of foundations under the
lawn east of the present house are said still to be
visible in exceptionally dry weather. (fn. 97) The new
house was built of stone taken during the Civil
War from the royal palace at Woodstock, and
Charles Nott, the purchaser in 1662, obtained a
bond 'to secure me from being questioned about
the building with the king's stone by Mr. John
Butler'. (fn. 98) Within the older, central part of the
priory there remains a 17th-century building of
uncertain plan whose status is suggested by a
fully panelled room of the later 17th century on
the ground floor and a mid 17th-century overmantel on the first floor. By the mid 18th
century the house had been enlarged to a
double-depth rectangular plan with three rooms
on each front. Most windows were renewed at
that time and a two-storeyed canted bay was
added to the east front. There was some internal
refitting in the early and mid 19th century, and a
conservatory was added to the north and outbuildings to the south. Following its conversion
to use as a priory those additions were replaced by
more extensive accommodation blocks. Most of
the former farm buildings to the south were also
removed, and a chapel, opened in 1899, was
added on the south-west. (fn. 99)
In 1221 Maud Hareng granted to Ralph Hareng a tenement in Begbroke held by Roger of
Lyons. (fn. 1) Ralph granted it shortly after to Godstow abbey; (fn. 2) the abbey held it in 1291. (fn. 3) but
seems to have disposed of it before the Dissolution.
John Adderbury (d. 1346) was reported to
have held a messuage and 1 yardland in Begbroke of John of Lyons. (fn. 4) The estate presumably
followed the descent of other Adderbury lands,
passing to John's uncle Thomas Adderbury (d.
by 1362), and to the latter's son Sir Richard (d.
by 1401). Sir Richard was probably succeeded
by his brother Thomas, whose son, also Sir
Richard, sold several estates in 1415 to Thomas
Chaucer (d. 1434), son of Geoffrey and Speaker
of the House of Commons. (fn. 5) Begbroke was apparently included in the sale, for Thomas and
his wife Maud (d. 1436) held land there (fn. 6) which
passed to their daughter Alice (d. 1475), wife of
William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk (d. 1450),
and seems to have descended to Alice's and
William's son John, duke of Suffolk (d. 1491); (fn. 7)
no later descent has been traced.