HARTWELL
Herdwelle (xi cent.); Hertwell (xiii cent.).
The parish of Hartwell lies in the Vale of Aylesbury, bordering on Aylesbury parish on the west.
The height of the land varies from 200 ft. to 300 ft.
above the Ordnance datum. Various streams run
through the parish and join the River Thame, and
there are several springs of water. The subsoil is
London Clay, Kimmeridge Clay, and Portland Beds; (fn. 1)
the surface soil is rich loam. The population is
chiefly occupied in agriculture, on grazing farms or
in market gardens. A large brick-kiln, however, provides work for a considerable number of men. The
main road from Thame to Aylesbury passes through
the parish, and the nearest station is also at Aylesbury. The common fields of Hartwell were inclosed
under an Act of 16 George III, the award being
given in 1779. The
parish contains 918
acres; (fn. 2) 853 are laid
down in permanent
grass, and 234 are
arable land. (fn. 3) Various
Anglo-Saxon remains
have been dug up,
chiefly consisting of
iron weapons. The
park in which Hartwell House stands
takes up a great part
of the parish, and the
church is within its
boundaries and close
to the house. The
old rectory is a pretty
piece of early 18thcentury brickwork
with a well designed
cornice. There is no
village of Hartwell,
but the chief collection of houses is known
as Lower Hartwell, on
the north-west boundary of the park, and is composed for the most part of small half-timbered and
thatched cottages.
Hartwell House is an interesting example of a mid18th-century remodelling of an early 17th-century
plan. The latter was evidently of the H form, with
a main block standing east and west, about 105 ft.
long, and east and west wings of about the same
length, the main block joining the wings near their
north ends; the wings extended southwards and
formed two sides of a courtyard open to the south,
with projecting buildings in the north-east and northwest angles, the former containing the principal staircase, while the site of the latter is now occupied by
the chapel, an arrangement which may have existed
in the older building. In the middle of the 18th
century the east front was rebuilt and the court
between the wings on the south almost completely
filled in with new rooms. The north front, however, with the exception of the parapet and cornice,
retains its old character. The house is faced with
wrought stone in two stories, and is entered from the
north through a two-story porch in the middle of the
front. The doorway has a panelled semicircular
arch flanked by pilasters carrying an enriched frieze
and cornice, and above it is an extremely handsome
projecting semicircular oriel window, with stone
mullions and transoms springing from a large conical
corbel richly carved with lines of architectural ornament. The porch is flanked on either hand, but
not with exact symmetry, with tall mullioned and
transomed bay windows, that on the east side lighting
the hall, and the other a room now the butler's
pantry. Both bays have similar windows on the first
floor. The hall has a large fireplace in the south
wall, and is a handsome room somewhat overdecorated with plaster panels and ceiling during the
18th-century operations; it preserves none of its
original fittings, all traces of the screens at the west
having disappeared. At the south-east are doorways
to the main staircase and to the breakfast-room. The
north ends of the two wings of the house project
some 15 ft. from the north front of the main block,
and have, at what was the old first-floor level, large
projecting bay windows resting on moulded corbel
courses. The present first floor is at a higher level
and cuts across the lower lights of the windows.
Hartwell House: The Entrance Front
At the south-west of the hall a doorway, originally
opening from the south end of the screens, now leads
into a large semicircular lobby two stories in height,
lit by a skylight and with a gallery running round at
the first-floor level. The decoration of this is somewhat later in character than the other 18th-century
work, being in the style of the brothers Adam. The
great staircase south-east of the hall is part of the 17thcentury house, and an unusually fine example of its
style. The stairway is 8 ft. wide, all of oak and
decorated at intervals by large panelled newels surmounted by statues of gods and heroes, &c., amongst
them Samson with the Jawbone of the Ass and Hercules in his Lion Skin. A curious feature is that the
swords and spears carried by these figures are loose
and may be removed, possibly in order that, upon
state occasions, they might be replaced by flambeaux.
The breakfast-room, east of the hall, is panelled with
17th-century oak panelling in small squares. The
east wing was presumably gutted in the 18th century
and completely rearranged. The great chamber was
probably at its north end lighted by the large bay
window which still shows on the north front; the
wing now contains the dining-room, drawing-room
and library, all of which are decorated in a manner
somewhat similar to the hall. The library in particular is an excellent piece of work, with ranges of
white-painted book shelves with gilded wire screens,
containing an interesting collection of books. From
the east side of the library an observatory was
built out early in the 19th century, but has now
been pulled down. A chimney-piece in this wing
bears the date 1658, but its original position isuncertain.
On the first floor above the hall and beyond it tothe west is the long gallery now used as a museum,
and west again of this is a small bedroom completely
panelled in 17th-century oak and furnished with
some very fine carved oak, part of which came from
the hall, and part was brought here in recent years.
It also contains some good tapestry of about the same
date.
The west wing is mainly occupied by the servants'
quarters, and the space corresponding to the staircase
on the east is taken up by a room formerly used as a
chapel.
The entrance to the park, quite close to the house
on the west, is by means of a monumental arch, in a
range of 18th-century stabling. The house contains
a number of good paintings by Vandyke, Reynolds,
Kneller, &c., and collections of Egyptian antiquities,
fossils, and illuminated manuscripts. Historically it
is interesting as the abode of the exiled French court
from 1810 to 1814, when its accommodation seems
to have been severely tested, as some 140 persons
were crowded into it and the outbuildings.
Louis XVIII used the library as his reception-room,
and the study and an adjoining room as his private
apartments. The Prince and Princess de Condé
inhabited and slept in the drawing-room, and the
Duke and Duchess d'Angoulême in the upper floor
of the east wing. During the residence of the court
the queen died, and the room over the library was
fitted up for her lying in state. An interesting relic
of this part of the history of the house is the confessional of the royal family in the room used by them
as a chapel, and there are also pictures of the king
and the Prince de Condé, the missal and lectern of
the Archbishop of Toulouse, &c., and the names then
given to the rooms are still to be seen painted over the
bells, 'The King's Room,' 'The Queen's Room,'
'The Archbishop's Room,' and so forth.
Manor
Alwin, a thegn of King Edward, held
the most important part of the township of
HARTWELL. (fn. 4) After the Norman Conquest this manor was granted to William Peverel, and
in the Domesday Survey it was assessed at 6 hides and
3 virgates of land. (fn. 5) It belonged to the honour of
Peverel of Nottingham, which came into the hands of
the Crown shortly after the accession of Henry II. (fn. 6)
In 1086 William Peverel had sub-infeudated Tekel
with this manor. (fn. 7) At the close of the 12th century
Walter de Hertwell held one knight's fee of the
honour of Peverel. (fn. 8) He died before 1205, in which
year Barnabas son of Walter gave the king 40 marks to
have seisin of the knight's fee (fn. 9) in Hartwell, which had
belonged to his father Walter de Hertwell. (fn. 10) Barnabas probably died before 1229, when Walter de
Hertwell paid a fine to be quit of military service
across the seas, due from his lands. (fn. 11) He also paid
scutage in 1234. (fn. 12) Soon after this he was succeeded
by William de Hertwell, who, however, died before
1247. (fn. 13) In 1254 his heir was still a minor (fn. 14) in the
wardship of Ralph son of Nicholas, and was presumably
the William son of William de Hertwell who held
the manor in 1271. (fn. 15) This William granted the
manor to a sub-tenant in that year, (fn. 16) and his descendants probably became the mesne lords of the
manor. The de Lutons, the new demesne lords,
held it of successive Hertwells, (fn. 17) the last mention of
them being in 1645. (fn. 18) In 1271 (fn. 19) William de Luton
and Alice his mother, who may have been a daughter
of William de Hertwell the elder, (fn. 20) were joint grantees
of the manor; William is mentioned as holding it in
1273 (fn. 21) and Alice in 1280. (fn. 22) The two are mentioned
as joint tenants in the same reign. (fn. 23) William de
Luton appears in 1286 in a conveyance of land in
Hertwell, (fn. 24) but Alice de Luton was seised of one
knight's fee at her death in or before 1294. (fn. 25) Her son
only lived till the next year, his heir Thomas being a
minor. (fn. 26) Beatrix his widow held land in Hartwell as
part of her dower, (fn. 27) and also had custody of Thomas's
lands until he came of age in 1300. (fn. 28) A settlement
was made in 1325, by which Thomas de Luton and
Margery his wife were to hold the manor for their lives,
with remainder to their son Nicholas and Joan his wife
and the heirs of his body, and then with remainder
to the right heirs of Nicholas. (fn. 29) Nicholas had already
been granted 6 messuages and 3 virgates of land belonging to the manor. (fn. 30) Thomas and Margery both had
died before 1346, (fn. 31) and Nicholas held the manor of
Hartwell until 1359–60. (fn. 32) He was succeeded by his
son Robert who died circa 1391 leaving a boy of twelve
as his heir. (fn. 33) This boy was the last of the Lutons.
He apparently died before coming of age, and the
manor passed to the descendants of his sister Eleanor. (fn. 34)
Her daughter Agnes was the heiress of the Lutons
and married Sir Thomas Shingleton. Agnes also had
an only daughter Elizabeth, who married Richard
Hampden of Great Kimble. (fn. 35) After the death of
Sir Thomas Shingleton his widow married again— Petite, and on her death in 1480 was succeeded by
her grandson William Hampden. (fn. 36) Hartwell Manor
was held by Thomas, (fn. 37) Jerome, (fn. 38) Michael, (fn. 39) and
Alexander Hampden in turn. (fn. 40) On the death of
Alexander in 1618–19 the manor passed to Thomas
Lee, sen., of East Claydon, his kinsman. (fn. 41) The Lees
of Hartwell held the manor without interruption (fn. 42)
until the death of the Rev. Sir George Lee, bart., in
1827. (fn. 43) Under his will the manor passed to the
descendants of William Lee, Lord Chief Justice of
England, the second son of Sir Thomas Lee, bart.,
who died in 1690. The grandson of the Lord Chief
Justice died without direct heirs, having taken the
name of Antonie instead of Lee. (fn. 44) John Fiott the
son of his second sister Harriet, under the wills of his
uncle William Lee Antonie and of Sir George Lee,
succeeded to the estates of the Lee family, taking the
name of Lee.
Hartwell House: Ground Plan
John Lee left no children, and his estates passed to
his brother, the Rev. Nicholas Fiott, who then took
the name of Lee. He died in 1858 (fn. 45) and was
succeeded by his son Lee Percyvale, who, however,
died in the same year, the next heir being his brother,
Colonel Edward Lee, the present lord of the manor.
Lee. Azure two bars or with a bend checky or and gules over all.
Fiott. Azure a cheveron between three lozenges or with an anchor sable on the cheveron.
The service by which the manor of Hartwell was
held was complicated by the grant from the Hertwells to the Lutons.
The former held by military service of the honour
of Peverel, performing, for Hartwell and Little
Hampden, the service due from one knight's fee. (fn. 46)
This service was afterwards performed directly to
the lord of the honour of Peverel by the Lutons, (fn. 47)
who held the manor of the Hertwells by a nominal
yearly rent of one clove gillyflower. (fn. 48) This rent was
mentioned so late as 1645. (fn. 49)
The double service seems to have given rise to
some confusion with regard to the overlordships, the
Lutons and their successors being sometimes described
as holding of the king in chief as of the honour of
Peverel, and at other times as holding of the Hertwells. (fn. 50)
The manor of Hartwell did suit to the court of
the honour of Peverel. (fn. 51) The bailiffs of the honour
held the pleas of replevin, the view of frankpledge,
and also had the return of writs within the manor.
These liberties existed in the time of Henry II, and
practically resulted in the exclusion of the sheriff and
his officers from the manor. (fn. 52)
In 1280, however, Alice de Luton obtained the
privilege of freedom from suit to the honour court
for her life for her men whether free or bondsmen. (fn. 53)
She also was quit both of attendance from the view of
frankpledge at the same court and of the payment of
8s. a year for her own view (fn. 54) ; she obtained leave to
hold the assize of ale in her own court and to receive
the fines for trespasses against it. (fn. 55)
In Domesday Book several pieces of land are
mentioned as belonging to Hartwell, (fn. 56) which were
apparently at some later date severed from the parish.
The manor held by the Hertwell and Luton families
apparently included the whole of the later parish of
Hartwell. In 1254 the fee contained 6½ hides, so
that it had varied but little from the assessment in
1086, at 6 hides 3 virgates. (fn. 57)
Besides this land belonging to the honour of
Peverel, the Bishop of Bayeux held 4 hides in Hartwell, three of which Helto held of him, while the
fourth was in the hands of Robert. (fn. 58)
In the time of King Edward the 3 hides were held
by three sokmen. (fn. 59) One, a man of Archbishop
Stigand, held half a hide; the second, a man of Earl
Leofwine, had 2 hides; and the third, a man of
Avelin, held half a hide. Avelin, a thegn of King
Edward, himself held the hide given to Robert after
the Conquest. (fn. 60) This land presumably passed with
the rest of the Bishop of Bayeux's land to the
Munchesney family and belonged to their barony of
Swanscombe. In 1302–3 Hugh de Vere, who had
married Dionysia, the heiress of the Munchesneys,
held half a knight's fee in Hartwell. (fn. 61) Aymer de
Valence inherited the honour of Swanscombe, and in
1346 his widow held this half fee. (fn. 62) This land may
perhaps be identified with the manor of West Orchard
in the township of Hartwell in the parish of Stone. (fn. 63)
Walter de Vernon also held half a hide of land in
Hartwell of the king in chief in 1086. He had succeeded Turgot, a thegn of King Edward. (fn. 64) Another
2 hides were held in chief by William the chamberlain, and Robert held them as his sub-tenant. Previously Wlmar, a priest of King Edward, had held
this land. (fn. 65)
Church
The church of THE ASSUMPTION
OF OUR LADY is a curious structure,
begun in 1753 and finished in 1755,
the chapter-house of York Minster having been taken
as the source of its design, though the details are
founded on 15th-century work. It consists of an
octagonal nave with a small eastern sanctuary with a
tower above it, balanced by a similar tower set against
the west side of the octagon.
The east window is a very poor thing of five lights,
and there are three-light windows with 15th-century
tracery in the north-west, south-east, north-east, and
south-west faces, with shafted jambs and crocketed
and finialled labels, all executed in plaster. There
are north and south doors, and the building is further
lighted by quatrefoiled openings over both doors
and windows. The principal entrance is from
the west, the lowest stage of the tower forming a
porch. Over the inner door, and opening into
the body of the church, is a small gallery serving as
a private pew to the Lee family, who built the
church.
The ceiling is of plaster in the form of elaborate
fan vaulting springing from the internal angles. There
are no fittings in the church of any interest.
Beneath the church is a vault, and over the north
and south doors are two boards bearing painted
inscriptions commemorating those whose remains
were placed there at the building of the church,
having been removed from the old structure, and
many whose bodies have been placed there since.
The earliest names recorded are those of Sir Alexander
Hampden, buried in 1617, and Dame Elizabeth
Hampden his widow, buried in 1675. Amongst
others also recorded are Sir Richard Ingoldsby of
Waldridge, Buckinghamshire, buried 1685, and his
wife Dame Elizabeth Ingoldsby, who was also the
widow of Thomas Lee of Hartwell. Sir Thomas
Lee, bart., son of Sir Thomas Lee of Dinton, 1690, and
many more of the same family, notably Sir William
Lee, kt., Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, died
1754, who contributed £1,000 towards the cost of the
church.
The tower contains three bells, the treble by
Richard Chandler, 1691, the second by Warner,
1906, and the tenor is inscribed R. S., Esq., 1715. (fn. 66)
The first book of the registers contains baptisms and
burials from 1550 to 1741 and marriages from 1553
to 1743. This book also contains the burials in
woollen from 1678 and also an interesting list of the
inhabitants of the parish in 1730. The second book
contains baptisms and burials from 1742 to 1812, and
there is a MS. marriage book containing entries from
1754 to 1812.
Advowoson
The church of the Assumption of
the Virgin Mary, (fn. 67) in the parish of
Hartwell, is a rectory, the chapel of
Little Hampden being appendant to it until 1892.
The separation took place by Order in Council,
dated 28 June 1892, and by a second Order, dated
18 August in the same year, the rectory of Hartwell
and the vicarage of Stone were united. (fn. 68) The advowson has apparently always been held by the lords of
the manor. The Lutons in the 14th century made
a settlement of the manor and advowson, (fn. 69) and from
them it passed successively o the Hampdens (fn. 70) and
the Lees. (fn. 71) Some time before the Reformation an
acre of land was given in Hartwell to provide a light;
it was worth 8d. a year in the 16th century. (fn. 72)
Charities
Louis XVIII, King of France,
who resided at Hartwell House for
several years during the French Wars,
forwarded to Sir George Lee, bart., £100 to be applied
for the benefit of the poor of the parishes of Hartwell
and Stone. The gift is represented by £117 consols,
with the official trustees. The dividends amounting
to £2 18s. 4d. are distributed at Christmas in sums
of 2s. 6d. to 6s. to widows and labourers.
'Dr. Lee's Charity' consists of £112 13s. 4d.
consols, with the official trustees, bequeathed, 1868,
by will of Cecilia, wife of the late John Lee, LL.D.,
of Hartwell House. The dividends amounting to
£2 16s. 4d. are, under a declaration of trust, 1889,
applied by the rector and churchwardens for the
benefit of the poor not in receipt of parochial relief,
usually in the distribution of coals.