FLEET MARSTON
Merstone (xi cent.); Flettemerstone (xiii cent.).
Fleet Marston is a small parish of three farms and
several cottages with an area of 934 acres, (fn. 1) which,
with the exception of about 24 acres of arable land,
is low-lying pasture land of an average height of
250 ft. above the ordnance datum. Both soil and
subsoil consist of heavy clay. The church stands in
the east of the parish between Akeman Street and
the Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway.
The parsonage accommodation being inadequate, the
rector has been non-resident for a long time. A
mansion, possibly the site of the manor mentioned
in 1517, (fn. 2) formerly stood near the church on Chapel
Ground, and was taken down in 1772. (fn. 3) In Akeman
Street, near the church, is a 17th-century house, partly
refaced with brick, with original chimney, ceiling
beams, and oak newel staircase. Fleet Marston Farm,
which has plastered walls and a tiled roof, stands to
the north of the church; part of the building is of
the 17th century and retains some moulded ceiling
beams and a portion of the original oak staircase.
Manors
Under Edward the Confessor Turgot,
Earl Lewin's man, held and could sell
FLEET MARSTON MANOR. (fn. 4) In
1086 it was assessed at 3 hides and held by Walter
Vernon. (fn. 5) Early in the 13th century the overlordship
appertained to the honour of Wallingford. (fn. 6) It continued in this honour (fn. 7) and afterwards in that of
Ewelme, (fn. 8) being last mentioned in 1639. (fn. 9)
Fleet Marston Manor was held by the Bellewes in
the 12th century, and was divided into moieties at
the death of Geoffrey Bellewe, about 1200. (fn. 10) One
moiety, afterwards the principal manor, called Fleet
Marston Manor and including the doubtful 16thcentury manors of Neyrnuts Grove and Hartshorn,
passed through the marriage of his daughter Maud to
the Neyrnuts and descended with Pitstone Neyrnut
(q.v.) to the sisters of the last John Neyrnut, Margaret
wife of John Harvey, and Elizabeth wife of John
Hartshorn. (fn. 11) Margaret's share in the estate descended
to her grandson George, (fn. 12) afterwards Sir George
Harvey, and was conveyed by him in 1513 to Robert
Lee of Quarrendon, (fn. 13) to whom he had leased it ten
years previously. (fn. 14) Elizabeth's share descended in
the Hartshorns, as did Pitstone Neyrnut. (fn. 15) Mary,
widow of John Colt and then the wife of Richard
Higham, sold it in 1540 to Sir Anthony Lee. (fn. 16) The
whole Neyrnut manor in Fleet Marston thus descended
with Quarrendon (fn. 17) (q.v.) to Charles Lee-Dillon,
twelfth Viscount Dillon, who sold it to John TirelMorin early in the 19th century. (fn. 18) Morin died in
1807, (fn. 19) and his only child, Jane Elizabeth, died in the
following year. In 1809 the manor was sold by the
trustees under an Act of Parliament (fn. 20) to William
Williams of Wandsworth. (fn. 21) In 1862 Miss Williams
and Sir Astley Cooper, bart., owned Fleet Marston, (fn. 22)
but all manorial rights have apparently lapsed.
The second moiety of the original manor in Fleet
Marston, afterwards also called FLEET MARSTON
MANOR, passed in 1200 to Geoffrey Bellewe's
daughter and co-heir Alice, wife of Thomas son of
Richard. (fn. 23) She sold it to Ralph Verney (fn. 24) in 1223. (fn. 25)
On his death about 1226 his widow Mabel held it
for two years by special grant, (fn. 26) and his son John did
homage for it in 1229, (fn. 27) and was still living in 1234. (fn. 28)
Ralph Verney had succeeded his father John (fn. 29) before
1246, (fn. 30) and his son Robert was holding in 1283, (fn. 31)
and was succeeded in 1322 by his son John. (fn. 32) His
immediate successors appear to have been two other
John Verneys in the direct line, (fn. 33) Fleet Marston
Manor then passing to the last John Verney's brother
Edward, (fn. 34) or his son Ralph, father of the first Sir
Ralph Verney. (fn. 35) The latter, who was Lord Mayor
of London in 1465 and member of Parliament
for that city in 1472, (fn. 36) died seised of Fleet Marston Manor in 1478, when his heir was his son
John. (fn. 37) From this date the manor follows the descent
of Middle Claydon (q.v.) till 1559, (fn. 38) when Edmund
and Francis Verney conveyed it to William, afterwards
Sir William Hawtrey and his wife Agnes. (fn. 39) By 1612
it had been divided between two of his daughters and
co-heirs, Anne wife of John Saunders, and Bridget
wife of Henry, afterwards Sir Henry Croke, (fn. 40) who
made settlements in this year. (fn. 41) Anne Saunders died
in widowhood in 1624, and her daughter and heir
Elizabeth, (fn. 42) with her husband Sir Walter Pye, obtained
her mother's moiety in 1631. (fn. 43) In 1640 (fn. 44) she died
seised of this moiety, and probably Sir Henry Croke
held the other. Their lands were split up and sold
during the Civil War. (fn. 45) Some of them came to
Richard Hampden, and in 1730 were sold by his
trustees to Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. (fn. 46) The
duchess had purchased other lands in Fleet Marston,
including Putlowe's Farm, from the representatives of
Sir Richard Anderson, bart., (fn. 47) in 1729, and the whole
estate thereupon descended with Upper Winchendon
Manor (q.v.) until after the death of George Duke of
Marlborough in 1817, (fn. 48) when it was sold to William
Williams, (fn. 49) owner of Fleet Marston Manor (q.v.).
LITTLE alias WRETCHED MARSTON MANOR
corresponds to the land in Little Marston (a district
lying apparently chiefly in Fleet Marston parish and
extending into Quarrendon) held by John Fitz
Geoffrey in the middle 13th century, (fn. 50) and to the
Marston Manor held by his son John in 1264. (fn. 51) It
reappears among the estates of Sir Henry Lee in
1577, (fn. 52) when it consisted of a great pasture called
Little Marston and some meadows. (fn. 53) It is distinguished from Fleet Marston in the enumeration of
the Lee estates (fn. 54) until 1660, (fn. 55) probably on account
of its association by tenure with Quarrendon. (fn. 56)
Medmenham Abbey owned some lands in Fleet
Marston granted to it in 1349 by Hugh de Berewic. (fn. 57)
After the Dissolution these lands, then in lease to
Robert Lee, were granted in 1545 to John Lord
Russell, (fn. 58) who sold them to Sir Anthony Lee, (fn. 59) and
they became incorporated with his other lands.
Church
The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN consists of a chancel measuring
internally 19 ft. by 13 ft. 6 in., nave
39 ft. by 14 ft., north porch and west bellcote; it
is built of stone and roofed with tiles.
The church seems to have been considerably altered
during the 14th century, and the earliest existing details
are of that period, but traces of two small windows in
the chancel, now blocked, indicate that the fabric was
built at an earlier date. The church was restored in
1868–9, and the porch and bellcote are modern.
The chancel has in each side wall a 14th-century
trefoiled light, and at the south-east is a two-light
square-headed window of the same period, which
retains some fragments of contemporary glass and has
a sexfoil piscina bowl in its sill. The southern
windows have been restored. The east wall, which
seems to have been rebuilt, is pierced by a trefoiled
light, mostly modern. In the south wall is also a
14th-century pointed doorway, and in the north wall
is a square locker. The roof is modern. The chancel
arch, the jambs of which retain traces of a former
stone screen, and have ball-flower capitals, dates from
the early 14th century; the pointed arch is now
somewhat distorted.
In the south wall of the nave is a square-headed
window of four cinquefoiled lights of about 1380,
and in the north wall are two much-restored windows
and a 14th-century doorway. The eastern window,
which is of the late 14th century, is of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery, and the other is a wide
single light with a 14th-century rear-arch. At the
north-east is a corbel, probably for the rood-loft; on
the jambs of the north-east window and the doorway
are traces of old colour. Externally there is a sundial
on the south wall of the nave, and at the north-west
is a projection which supported a former bell-turret.
The nave has a 15th-century open-timber roof, with
queen-post trusses and curved wind-braces. The
porch has been rebuilt, but a 14th-century trefoiled
light has been reset in each of the lateral walls;
above the nave doorway is a moulded trefoiled niche
of the same period.
The font, which probably dates from the 13th
century, though since retooled, has a rough tapering
bowl with an edge-roll at the bottom, and a plain
round stem. On the south wall of the chancel is a
monument to Agnes wife of John Hoffman, rector
of the parish, who died in 1639, and her two
daughters. There are also mural monuments to
members of the Markham family.
There is one bell, inscribed 'John Woodman. C.W.
E.H. 1746,' by Edward Hall of Drayton Parslow.
The plate is modern.
The registers begin in 1630.
Advowson
The church of Fleet Marston,
which is a rectory, was appurtenant
to the manor. A presentation was
made by the bishop in 1223. (fn. 60) In 1246 Geoffrey
Neyrnut made good his claim to the right of presentation for that turn against Ralph Verney, (fn. 61) who
afterwards sold his moiety to John Neyrnut. (fn. 62) The
right of John Neyrnut was established in law against
Robert Verney in 1283. (fn. 63) The church was valued
at £4 6s. 8d. in 1291 (fn. 64) and at £10 in 1535. (fn. 65) The
advowson descended with the principal manor of
Fleet Marston (q.v.) (presentations being made by
agreement between the owners of the moieties during
the period of subdivision) (fn. 66) until its sale in 1805 by
John Tirel-Morin (fn. 67) to Mr. Dobree, whose son the
Rev. John Gale-Dobree, rector of Fleet Marston,
owned it in the middle of the 19th century. (fn. 68) The
advowson has since been frequently purchased by
successive rectors. (fn. 69) Mr. W. Brimblecombe has,
however, owned it since 1903. (fn. 70)
There do not appear to be any endowed charities
subsisting in this parish.