HORSENDEN
Horsendene (xi cent.)
The parish of Horsenden lies in the south-west
of the Vale of Aylesbury. The land is well watered
by a small stream flowing north, that breaks into
many branches near the village. It forms a small lake
in the grounds of Horsenden House, and supplies
the water in the moat. From the village the stream
flows north to Longwick hamlet. The houses are
few and scattered, and there is a good deal of wellgrown timber in the parish. The subsoil (fn. 1) is Upper
Greensand, and the surface loamy. The occupation
of the people is agricultural; there are 220½ acres of
arable land, 252½ permanent pasture, and 9 acres of
wood. (fn. 2)
A cross road from the High Wycombe and Aylesbury road runs north through Horsenden parish and
meets the Lower Icknield Way in the north of the
parish.
The nearest station is at Princes Risborough, on
the Great Western and Great Central lines.
Horsenden House is said to have been garrisoned
in the Civil War for King Charles by Sir John Denham. (fn. 3) It was rebuilt in 1810, and shows nothing of
antiquity beyond the lines of the moat.
Robert Braybrook was rector of the parish in the
14th century. He afterwards became Bishop of
London, and played an important part in the struggle
between Richard II and his barons. He supported
severe measures against the Lollards, but also attempted
to purify the precincts of St. Paul's Cathedral, denouncing those who bought and sold or played games
there. He died in 1404. (fn. 4)
Manor
In the time of King Edward the Confessor, the manor of HORSENDEN was
held by three socmen. (fn. 5) Two of these, holding 2 hides of land, were men of Earl Harold, and
the third, with 4 hides and 3 virgates, was a man of
Ingold. All of them could sell their land. After
the Norman Conquest, however, this land was granted
to the Count of Mortain, (fn. 6) and formed part of the
honour of Mortain, but it does not seem to have
followed the descent of the honour. (fn. 7) Horsenden
appears to have been granted to John de Montagu,
who held many of the Mortain lands. (fn. 8) He held the
manor as mesne-lord in 1210, (fn. 9) but joined the barons'
party against King John, and forfeited his lands in
1216. (fn. 10) A few years later this land was held of
Robert de Cogfeud, (fn. 11) but the overlordship seems subsequently to have lapsed.
In 1086 the manor was held of the Count of
Mortain by a tenant named Ralph. (fn. 12) He may
have been the ancestor of the family who took
their name from the place and held it in the 12th
century. In 1210 John de Horsenden (fn. 13) granted all
his land in the parish to Robert de Braybrook, the
head of the Braybrook family and sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire during part of the reign of
John. (fn. 14) Both he and his son and heir Henry are
mentioned among the evil counsellors of John at the
time of the Interdict; (fn. 15) but Henry, after his father's
death, joined the barons' party, and was one of those
whom the pope excommunicated by name after his
reconciliation with the king. (fn. 16) Henry's lands were
confiscated, and Horsenden was granted to Philip de
Pery, and later to Philip Giser; (fn. 17) however, in 1217,
after the battle of Lincoln, Henry made his peace
with the young king, (fn. 18) and his possessions were
regranted him. He held the manor in 1225, and
had a long law-suit with Alice, the widow of John de
Horsenden, over her dower, (fn. 19) the question not being
settled till 1231. (fn. 20)
Henry was succeeded by his eldest son Wischard. (fn. 21)
Walter the son of Wischard left two daughters as
his heirs, and Alice the elder married Sir William
Latimer. (fn. 22) He held the manor as mesne lord in
1284, (fn. 23) and his descendant, William Latimer, is
mentioned in the same position in 1360. (fn. 24)
The manor was held in demesne by a younger
branch of the Braybrook family. John de Braybrook, (fn. 25)
the younger brother of Henry, held it after the death
of his father. Gerard his son held it in 1284–6, (fn. 26)
and their descendants (fn. 27) held it uninterruptedly
until the male line came to an end with Sir Gerard
Braybrook, who died before 1432. (fn. 28) He demised the
manor to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London,
and others in 1426, (fn. 29) and in 1432 Sir William
Beauchamp and Elizabeth his wife, the eldest coheiress of Sir Gerard Braybrook, (fn. 30) released all their
right in the manor (fn. 31) to the Dean and Chapter. For
nearly one hundred years the history of the manor is
obscure: it appears to have been granted by the Dean
and Chapter to John Ferity, Nicholas Wotton, Thomas
Knolles, John Hampden of Kimble, and two others
in 1437. (fn. 32) In 1458–9 John Brekenok of Horsenden
and others (John Hampden of Kimble being again
named) granted it to Sir John Leynham or Plomer. (fn. 33)
Various settlements were made by him on his marriage, (fn. 34) and he was jointly seised of the manor with
his wife Margaret. (fn. 35) They had no children, (fn. 36) and
granted the manor to Thomas Gaune and others to
hold to the use of John Morton, Bishop of Ely, Lord
Hastings, Ralph Hastings, and others, (fn. 37) presumably
after the death of Sir John. (fn. 38)
Latimer. Gules a cross paty or.
Braybrook. Argent seven voided lozenges gules.
He died in 1480, (fn. 39) and the next year the manor
was conveyed to the grantees to the uses named in
the previous charter. (fn. 40) Which of these grantees had
actual seisin of the manor does not appear, but early
in the 16th century it came into the possession
of the Donnes, probably by grant of Sir George
Hastings. (fn. 41) In 1529 it was held by Sir Edward
Donne, (fn. 42) but he left no son. (fn. 43) His daughter, who
seems to have predeceased him, was the wife of Sir
Thomas Jones, and had two daughters; Anne, who
married John Cotton of Whittington, Gloucestershire, and Frances, who married Robert Lee. (fn. 44)
Horsenden formed part of Anne's share of their
inheritance, (fn. 45) and continued in the Cotton family.
It was held successively by Richard, (fn. 46) William, (fn. 47) and
Ralph, (fn. 48) the sons of John and Anne.
Ralph, who matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, in
1572, and entered at the Inner Temple in 1580, (fn. 49)
married Apolina Childe. (fn. 50) His only son, Don, died
in his lifetime, (fn. 51) leaving two daughters Anne and
Apolina, who thus became their grandfather's heiresses. (fn. 52)
Anne, to whose share Horsenden fell, married Sir
John Denham, (fn. 53) the author of Cooper's Hill, who had
by her '£500 per annum, one son, and two daughters.' (fn. 54)
Denham was active in the royal cause during the Civil
War, and, consequently, lost his property and estates, (fn. 55)
Horsenden being bought by John Fielder in 1654. (fn. 56)
At the Restoration Denham seems to have recovered it, (fn. 57) for in 1662 he sold it to John Grubbe, (fn. 58)
whose descendants (fn. 59) held the manor until 1841, (fn. 60)
when another John Grubbe sold it to the Duke of
Buckingham and Chandos. The latter mortgaged it
almost immediately, (fn. 61) and the holders of the mortgage, the Norwich Union Office, foreclosed and sold
it in 1842 or 1843 to the
Rev. William Edwards Partridge, who held it till his
death in 1886. (fn. 62) The manor
then passed into the possession
of his daughter and heiress,
Mrs. Leonard Jaques, the present owner of the manor.
Grubbe. Ermine a chief battled gules and three roses or therein.
On the division of the inheritance of Sir Edward Donne
between his two granddaughters, (fn. 63) although the manor of
Horsenden passed to the eldest,
£2,000 charged on the manor
appears to have been part of the share of Frances, (fn. 64)
the younger heiress, the wife of Robert Lee. The
debt had come by assignment to William Page of
Westminster in 1654, (fn. 65) when the manor was among
the lands forfeited to the Commonwealth. In order
to remove this obstruction in the sale of the manor,
it was said to have been sold to William Page to
hold during the life of Sir John Denham, but this
seems incompatible with the sale to John Fielder in
the same year.
Three pieces of land in Horsenden, not granted to
the Count of Mortain, are mentioned in Domesday
Book. (fn. 66) The Bishop of Bayeux held 1½ hides of land
there, of which the hide was held by a sub-tenant
named Roger and the half hide by Robert. (fn. 67) Before
the Conquest this land was all held by a man of Earl
Leofwine, Godwin by name. (fn. 68)
A small tenant in chief named Harding also held
1½ hides here; he had succeeded Ulvured in the
land. (fn. 69) This land must have been afterwards united
to the main manor of Horsenden, since Gerard de
Braybrook claimed that the whole of the township (fn. 70)
belonged to his fee in 1285.
Horsenden Manor was held by military service, as
one knight's fee of the honour of Mortain. (fn. 71) It is
also described, however, as two-thirds of a fee or half
a fee, (fn. 72) but this was only in feudal assessments, when
the fees of the honour were privileged to pay less
than the full amount due.
When the manor passed from John de Horsenden
to Robert de Braybrook, the latter was to pay John
2s. a year for all service, except forinsec service. (fn. 73)
This rent does not seem to have been continued, and
the elder branch of the Braybrooks held in chief of
the king. (fn. 74) The younger branch also held by military service. (fn. 75) The Cottons, however, held of the
king in chief as of his honour of Wallingford by fealty
and suit of court at the honour. (fn. 76) In the 14th century the free tenants of the lord of the manor of
Horsenden had pannage rights for their pigs in a wood
belonging to the manor of Princes Risborough. (fn. 77) In
1574 John Cotton, who then held Horsenden, took
estovers in the wood of Hellworke in Princes Risborough; (fn. 78) he also paid 1 lb. of pepper as rent to the
lord of Princes Risborough Manor, (fn. 79) but whether this
was for his manor or for the right to take the estovers
is not certain.
Gerard de Braybrook, in 1333, obtained a grant of
free warren (fn. 80) to himself and his heirs in their demesne lands of Horsenden. (fn. 81) In 1285 or 1286
Gerard de Braybrook claimed the view of frankpledge in Horsenden (fn. 82) as part of his inheritance. It
had, however, then been demised for a term of years,
together with the manor, to Henry de Shenholt. (fn. 83)
Gerard answered, however, to the Quo Warrants inquiries himself and also claimed the right to have
tumbrels. He paid nothing to the king for these
rights. At the time of the Domesday Survey one
mill belonged to the Count of Mortain's manor in
Horsenden, but it was of no value in 1086. (fn. 84) It is
not mentioned again for many centuries, but when
the Cottons were lords of the manor there was a
water-mill appurtenant to it; (fn. 85) in 1813 two watermills are mentioned in connexion with the manors of
Horsenden and Princes Risborough, one of which
was probably in Horsenden. (fn. 86)
Church
The church of ST. MICHAEL having fallen into disrepair in 1765 the old
nave was pulled down, with the western
tower, leaving only the chancel standing. The present church consists of the mutilated remains of the
chancel 45 ft. by 20 ft., with a western tower built
from the old material of the nave. It is lighted by
five windows, all of the same design and of 15thcentury date, though somewhat restored. They are
of three cinquefoiled lights with smaller trefoiled
lights over and two-centred heads. At the west end
of the south wall is the blocked opening of a squint,
at one time opening into the south aisle of the old
church. A description of this church is preserved in
a letter addressed by Dr. Browne Willis to Mr. John
Grubbe, (fn. 87) as having consisted, in 1728, of a chancel, a
nave with a blocked south arcade, and an embattled
tower; it extended to about as far west as the present
stables of Horsenden House.
The tower is of two stages with an embattled
parapet. The belfry openings are square-headed, and
there is a west window of two trefoiled lights, with a
plain chamfered west doorway beneath. The font is
modern, octagonal, and of 15th-century detail.
The roof is modern, and also all the fittings, with
the exception of the upper part of a 15th-century
screen, which is planted against the west wall. It is
divided into rather narrow trefoiled openings by stout
chamfered mullions, and the spandrels are filled with
alternating rosettes and leopards' faces.
On the walls are a number of memoria's of the
Grubbe family, the earliest to Bathewell Grubbe,
1666, the wife of John Grubbe, who died in 1700,
and to whom there is another tablet.
There is one bell in the tower dated 1582.
The church plate consists of a cup of 1661 and
a small 18th-century standing paten, of which the
hall-marks are illegible.
There is only one old book of the registers, which
contains baptisms from 1663 to 1809, burials from
1637, and marriages from 1707 to 1754, the latter
entries being continued in a printed book from 1754
to 1841.
Advowson
The advowson of the church has
been held by the lords of the manor
since 1210, when it passed from
John de Horsenden to Robert de Braybrcok. (fn. 88) In
1660, however, the Bishop of Salisbury collated to
the rectory, presumably during the forfeiture of Sir
John Denham's lands. (fn. 89)
The living is a rectory, and the present patron is
Mrs. Leonard Jaques, the lady of the manor.
There are no endowed charities in this parish.