SANDLEFORD
The little parish of Sandleford lies south of the
borough of Newbury, on the north slope of the
valley of the Enborne stream, which forms its southern
boundary. It contains 520 acres, of which more than
half are pasture, woodland and arable being nearly
equally divided. (fn. 1)
The mansion known as Sandleford Priory stands in
a well-wooded park about 2 miles to the south of
Newbury. The only portion of the building which
is certainly a relic of the priory buildings is a large
room, almost wholly detached, standing at the east
end of the house; it is about 41 ft. by 20 ft., lies
east and west, and is said to have been the chapel.
There is no external evidence of its age except
perhaps the flint walling on the north side. The
plaster ceiling is flat, but above it is a gabled roof in
which are the moulded ribs of a pointed cradle
ceiling dating from about 1400–20, and in the west
wall above the present ceiling are the jambs of a
contemporary window, probably of three lights. Its
present pointed arch is obviously a modern substitute.
The east wall is modern and with the south wall is
cemented outside. The north side of the roof is
tiled and the south slated.
The chapel is connected with the main building by
the drawing-room, a fine oval room of the Adam
type, between two small square ante-rooms. The late
18th-century main building was designed by Wyatt, in
a Gothic style, and is wholly cemented externally. It is
difficult to trace any remains of the priory buildings
in the present plan, but a thick wall here and there
and the presence of a certain amount of flint work
in the cellar and in the north return wall of the west
front suggest an early origin.
The grounds are well timbered and contain some
fine rhododendron beds. A cedar by the chapel
measures 16 ft. 3 in. in girth.
Manor
The greater part of the parish was
included in the manor of 'Ulvritone' at
the time of the Domesday Survey, but
was granted to the Prior and canons of Sandleford by
Geoffrey fourth Count of Perch and Maud his wife when
they founded the priory between 1193 and 1202. (fn. 2)
The remainder consists of contiguous lands, originally
in the manor of Greenham, granted to the prior and
canons in 1349 by John de Estbury and others. (fn. 3)
Before the foundation of the priory an anchoress
had settled on the site, for in 1179–80 Godfrey and
Richard of Newbury, who rendered account of £49
for the farm of Newbury, paid 4s. 4d. to the
anchoress (inclusa) of 'Sandraford.' (fn. 4) The house was
dedicated in honour of St. John Baptist. (fn. 5) The
information that can be gathered concerning it is
meagre and has already been summarized. (fn. 6)
It appears, however, that Maud de Clare, Countess
of Gloucester and Hertford, learning that the house
was occupied by three Augustinian canons without
abbot or prior, conceived the project of founding a
convent for forty inclosed nuns under the rule of
St. Augustine and, in a place apart, for ten priests
of the order of Fontevraud, at Sandleford in the
diocese of Salisbury. She was prepared to increase
the endowment from £100 to £200, directing that
one of the priests should act as prior with the assent
of the abbots (sic) and nuns. A papal mandate of
1274 directed the fulfilment of her intentions. (fn. 7)
Plan Of Sandleford Priory
In the 15th century Sandleford Priory declined.
Simon Dam, a prior of evil life, by reckless waste and
improvident leases, brought it near ruin, and his
successors were unable to retrieve the fortunes of the
house. In 1478 it was deserted by the monks and
all the Berkshire estate lately belonging to the Prior
and convent of Sandleford came into the hands of
the Bishop of Salisbury as an escheat on the death of
the last prior. (fn. 8) The bishop handed them over to his
nephew Richard Beauchamp, son and heir of Richard
Beauchamp, kt., Lord St. Amand, and he surrendered
them the same year to the Dean and Canons of
Windsor. (fn. 9)
The dean and canons seem to have let the house
and land as a farm, and the chapel fell out of repair.
Little is known of the estate or the lessees for two
hundred years except that in the reign of James I a
dispute as to the tithes came before the King's Bench
in 1615, when it was decided that Sandleford was
not within the parish of Newbury, but was a parish
by itself. (fn. 10)
The priory seems to have been leased during the
latter part of the 17th century to John Kingsmill,
who is described as of Sandleford when he took the
oath of supremacy in 1685, and in 1706 Mr. Kingsmill of Sandleford was summoned with other justices
to quell the riot in Newbury. In 1710 the estate
was leased to Henry Kingsmill, who died between
9 July 1715 and 4 June 1717, when his executors
assigned the lease to William Cradock of Gainsford,
Durham. (fn. 11)
Sandleford Priory From The South
Mr. Cradock married in 1715 Mary daughter of
Gilbert Sheldon of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and died
in 1736, having in 1729 disposed of the lease to
Thomas Blake, late of Croydon, who in 1730 assigned
it to Edward Montagu, a grandson of the first Earl of
Sandwich. He married in 1742 Elizabeth daughter
of Matthew Robinson of West Layton, Yorkshire,
who as the famous 'blue stocking' is better known
than her husband.
Edward Montagu died in May 1775, aged eightythree, and after his death his
widow made considerable
alterations to the house, adding a new drawing room and
converting the ruined chapel
into an 'eating room.' She
died 25 August 1800 at the
age of eighty, when the lease
passed to her nephew Matthew
Robinson, who had taken the
name of Montagu.
Montagu. Argent a fesse indented of three points and a border sable quartered with Or an eagle vert.
This Matthew Montagu,
who was born 23 November
1762, and entered Parliament
as member for Bossiney in
1786, was elected for Tregony in 1790 and for St.
Germans in 1806 and 1807. He married in July
1785 Elizabeth daughter of Francis Charlton, who
died in 1817, and in 1829 he succeeded his brother
in the barony and became fourth Lord Rokeby. He
died 1 September 1831, aged sixty-eight.
His eldest son Edward fifth Lord Rokeby succeeded to Sandleford and died unmarried in 1847,
having disposed of the lease of the priory in 1835 to
William Pollet Brown Chatteris.
Mr. Chatteris had married two years earlier Anne
eldest daughter of Alexander Arbuthnot, Bishop of
Killaloe. She died in 1847, and a few years later
he took as his second wife Emily Georgina daughter
of Sir Thomas Hardy. In 1871 he enfranchised the
estate by paying a considerable sum to the Dean and
Canons of Windsor and died in January 1889, when
under his will the estate passed to his nephew Alpin
Macgregor, youngest son of Sir John Atholl Macgregor,
bart., and Mary Charlotte his wife, sister of the second
Mrs. Chatteris.
Mr. Alpin Macgregor never lived at Sandleford,
but let the place to various tenants. He died in
November 1899, bequeathing most of the estate to
his brothers and sister, and Sandleford Lodge to his
niece Miss Agatha Thynne, now Lady Hindlip. (fn. 12)
The present tenant is Mrs. Myers, who has held it
since 1898.