PRESCOTE
The lordship of Prescote (555 a.) lies on a spur of
land, rising in the north to over 450 ft., between the
River Cherwell and its tributary the Highfurlong
Brook. (fn. 1) It was independent for civil purposes, but
dependent on the mother church of Cropredy. The
lordship contained two hamlets, Prescote and Upper
Prescote, the former represented in the 20th century
only by one manor-house and its outbuildings, the
latter by a farm-house; there is also an isolated house
at Highfield, just on the county boundary. The
site of Prescote hamlet is an area of flat ground at the
southernmost tip of the lordship, divided from
Cropredy village by the Highfurlong Brook. Upper
Prescote stands on a bridle road from Wardington
which crosses the Cherwell just south of the hamlet
by a well-constructed bridge (called Prescote New
Bridge in 1762) (fn. 2) and traditionally represents the
line of a former main route; (fn. 3) the bridle road ends
at Broadmoor Bridge, but may once have continued
through Clattercote. (fn. 4)
There was probably a settlement at Prescote by the
late 12th century. (fn. 5) The two hamlets were small but
together comparable in size with other hamlets in
the parish: there were 12 villein yardlands in 1279,
and 34 persons over fourteen were assessed for polltax in 1377, three more than at Williamscot. (fn. 6) By
1665, however, only the manor-house was assessed
for hearth tax, (fn. 7) although there may have been a few
cottages at Lower Prescote which escaped taxation,
as there certainly were at Upper Prescote. Local
tradition asserts that Upper Prescote was burnt
down some time before the Civil War, and that the
parliamentary cavalry stabled its horses in the ruins
before the battle of Cropredy Bridge. There is, however, evidence (fn. 8) that Prescote was turned over to
sheep-farming in or before the 16th century, and the
likelihood is that there was a gradual depopulation
in the period 1377–1665. Upper Prescote was still
shown as a small hamlet on a map of 1797. (fn. 9) At that
date it contained a farm-house, a butcher's shop,
two or three cottages, and the remains of Prescote
mill. (fn. 10) In a map of 1823 Prescote Farm is shown due
north of Upper Prescote at White Barn, by the bend
in the Appletree lane; (fn. 11) the farm buildings there are
modern. The total population of the lordship in 1801
was 22; subsequent totals have varied between 9 in
1851 and 31 in 1881. In 1961 the population was
19. (fn. 12)
The layout of the medieval hamlets is not visible.
In 1876 it was reported that in wet weather the
foundations of old buildings could be seen in a field
to the north of Prescote manor-house, (fn. 13) but they
may have been merely the vestiges of a quarry from
which stone was taken to build the house. There may
also have been a chapel: in 1655 Walter Gostelow, who
was born and brought up in Prescote Manor, wrote
of his birthplace: 'some religious house I conceive
it to have been, an altar and chapel I have known in
it'. (fn. 14)
Prescote is associated with the legend of St.
Fremund; (fn. 15) its name, which means priests' cottage
(or possibly cottage owned by priests), (fn. 16) may have
given rise to the story of the vill on the Cherwell inhabited by five priests, (fn. 17) near which the saint's body
was rediscovered. South of the manor-house, between two arms of the Cherwell, is a field which
occurs in 1613 as Fremans Ham; this may be connected with the story.
Prescote was the home of Walter Gostelow
(baptized 1604), (fn. 18) who lived at the manor-house and
is remembered for the prolixity of the titles and the
extravagance of the contents of his works, especially
the apocalyptic The coming of God in Mercy, in vengeance; Beginning with fire, to convert, or consume, at
this so sinful city London: Oh! London, London (1658), (fn. 19)
and an earlier work (fn. 20) in which he suggested possible
brides for Charles II and foresaw the assumption
to heaven of himself and his family in the company
of the Stuarts and Oliver Cromwell. (fn. 21)
Manor.
Prescote probably formed part of the
Bishop of Lincoln's Cropredy manor in 1086 as it
did in 1279. (fn. 22) Among the donations to Clattercote
Priory confirmed by Bishop Chesney in or before
1166 was one, perhaps at Prescote, by William de
Bussei, (fn. 23) presumably the William de Bussei whose
immediate successors were his sons Bartholomew
and Walter in turn. (fn. 24) William's elder daughter
Cecily married John de Busli (Builli), who held 3
fees of the see of Lincoln in 1201–2, (fn. 25) and in 1208–9
had 1½ fee in Prescote. (fn. 26) John was dead by 1213;
Idony, daughter of Cecily and John, married Robert
de Vipont, a prominent supporter of King John, (fn. 27) who
c. 1225 held of his wife's inheritance 1½ fee in Prescote and Bourton. (fn. 28) Robert was dead by 1228 and
Idony by 1241; (fn. 29) John their son seems to have predeceased Idony (fn. 30) and her heir was John's son Robert.
Robert, a Montfortian, was dead by 1264; his heirs,
his daughters Isabel and Idony, held 1 fee in Prescote in 1279. (fn. 31) Isabel had married Robert de Clifford
and died in 1291; (fn. 32) in 1300 1½ knight's fee in Prescote
and Bourton was held in two moieties by her son
Robert de Clifford and her sister Idony, then relict of Roger deLeyburn, (fn. 33) whose only son by her had
not long survived his father. Idony's moieties of Prescote and Bourton were among the fees which in
1315 Idony and her second husband John Cromwell,
by whom she left no issue, obtained licence to settle on
themselves for the life of Idony, with remainder to
the Despensers. (fn. 34) The Clifford moiety was among
the fees forfeited to the king on the rebellion and
execution of Roger Clifford, Idony's great nephew,
in 1322, and was thereupon granted in fee to Robert
Baldock, a feoffee of the settlement in favour of
the Despensers. (fn. 35) Baldock and the Despensers fell
in 1326, (fn. 36) Idony died in 1333, and the Cliffords
obtained seisin of both moieties of Prescote. Roger
Clifford, nephew of the rebel Roger, died seised of
the mesne lordship of Prescote in 1389, (fn. 37) as did his
son Thomas in 1391. (fn. 38) No later mention of the
mesne lordship has been found.
The mesne tenants took their name from the
manor; the first bearer of the name so far noticed
was William of Prescote, who witnessed a Clattercote
deed dated between c. 1150 and c. 1170, (fn. 39) and was
probably the man who before 1196 witnessed a deed
concerning Bletchingdon, (fn. 40) where the family also
held land. (fn. 41) Gilbert of Prescote, who dealt with land
in Warwickshire in 1208 and 1210, (fn. 42) may have held
Prescote, though it was Walter of Prescote who
granted land at Bletchingdon by a deed of c. 1210. (fn. 43)
Richard of Prescote was a defendant in a lawsuit by
the Bishop of Lincoln in 1223, and the same name
was borne by a witness to several Oxfordshire deeds
of a rather later date, and by the tenant of Bletchingdon in 1235–6, 1240–1, and 1242–3. (fn. 44) There were
evidently two Richards, father and son, for after
1241 Richard of Prescote paid relief for Prescote on
his father's death. (fn. 45) The younger Richard was succeeded in 1250 or 1251 by his brother Walter, (fn. 46) who
was dead by 1258. (fn. 47) His daughters, rather than the
daughters of Robert de Vipont, were presumably the
two sisters whose manor of Prescote was held before
1265 by Sir Thomas Musgrave and Sir Richard of
Hemington as guardians; (fn. 48) the sisters or their representatives, described as the heirs of Prescote, held
the manor in 1279. (fn. 49)
The lordship descended in two moieties, held
by the Musgrave and Trimenel families. The two
daughters of Walter of Prescote may well have been
the Maud and Mabel who were married respectively
to Hugh Musgrave and Nicholas Trimenel, and who
were concerned in a dispute over the advowson of
Bletchingdon in 1298. (fn. 50) Thomas Musgrave was alive
in 1318, and it may be inferred that Prescote was
the manor of which he was returned as lord in 1316. (fn. 51)
In 1349 Isabel, daughter of Thomas Musgrave, sold
her moiety of Prescote to Sir Roger of Cottisford. (fn. 52)
The first Trimenel known to have been connected
with Prescote was Nicholas, who with his wife Mabel
held a moiety of the manor in 1296. (fn. 53) It was presumably the same Nicholas who was taxed at Prescote in 1306 and 1327 and was returned in 1316 as
lord of a manor which was presumably Prescote. (fn. 54)
He occurred again in 1321 and 1331. (fn. 55) John Trimenel
dealt with land at Prescote in 1336, and in 1346
Nicholas Trimenel was returned as lord of one fee
there. (fn. 56) Nicholas, John, and Nicholas appear to have
been father, son, and grandson. (fn. 57) Sir John Trimenel,
possibly the John of 1336, sold his moiety of Prescote
in 1350, in return for a rent in cash and kind for his
life, to Sir Roger of Cottisford, (fn. 58) who thus reunited
the two halves of Prescote.
In 1361 Sir Roger settled Prescote on himself,
Catherine his wife, and his son Philip for their
lives. (fn. 59) Sir Roger was still alive in 1370 but in 1386
Master John, his son and heir, delivered seisin of
Prescote to his own brother Sir Thomas of Cottisford. (fn. 60) In 1395 the latter settled the manor on himself and his wife Alice for their lives, with remainder
to John, son of Thomas Raleigh of Mollington, and
his wife Idony and their heirs. (fn. 61) In 1417 the same
John Raleigh sold Prescote to John Danvers of Calthorpe, and Thomas and Alice of Cottisford granted
to Danvers all their right in Prescote. (fn. 62) Nicholas
Trimenel of Brackley (Northants.), descendant of
the former Trimenel holders, in 1419 quitclaimed
all his right in Prescote to John Danvers, who was
returned as lord in 1428. (fn. 63)
The Calthorpe and Prescote branch of the
Danvers family continued to hold Prescote for 300
years, the manor usually descending from father to
son. (fn. 64) The original purchaser's grandson Richard
received a free pardon, as executor of Sir Robert
Danvers, in 1468, and a grant of free warren in
Prescote in 1474; he bequeathed to an executor £50
for the defence of the Danvers title to Prescote. (fn. 65) At
the Restoration the regicide Sir John Danvers (d.
1655) was attainted; Clarendon received most of the
lands thus forfeited, but in 1662 Prescote was granted
to Sir John's relict Grace and their only surviving
son (Sir) John, the last direct descendant of the
Prescote branch of the family. (fn. 66) Sir John died in
1721 leaving Prescote to Joseph Danvers, son of his
wife Elizabeth (née Morewood) by her first marriage
to Samuel Danvers of Swithland (Leics.). (fn. 67) Joseph,
who was M.P. for Totnes and never lived at Prescote, (fn. 68) was succeeded by his only son Sir John
Danvers, Bt., (fn. 69) who died in 1796, leaving Prescote to
Augustus Richard Butler, (fn. 70) husband of his only child
Mary, with the provision that he assume the additional surname and arms of Danvers. A. R. ButlerDanvers sold Prescote in 1798 to Thomas Pares of
Leicester and Hopwell End (Derb.), (fn. 71) a banker, who
handed Prescote over to his son and heir Thomas in
1801. The latter died in 1824 and by will left Prescote
first to his brother John (d. 1833) and then successively to 'the second and every other younger
son' of John's first son Thomas. This Thomas had
eleven children, and doubt arose whether his uncle's
will designated Thomas Henry Pares of Claverdon
Lodge (Warws.), the second (but first surviving) son,
or John Pares, the fourth (but second surviving) son.
By mutual consent Prescote was in 1855 vested in
the latter, (fn. 72) who in 1867 sold Prescote to Samuel
Jones Loyd, Baron Overstone. Loyd died in 1883
and his extensive estates passed to his only surviving
child, Harriet Loyd-Lindsay, Lady Wantage. (fn. 73) On
her death in 1920 the Overstone estates were broken
up and Prescote was bought by A. P. McDougall, (fn. 74)
founder of Midland Marts Ltd. In 1964 it was held
by the latter's daughter Anne Patricia, wife of Mr.
R. H. S. Crossman, M.P., (fn. 75) himself a descendant of
the Danvers family.
The Danvers manor appears to have comprised
the whole of Prescote, but its northern third (which
was leased separately from the remainder in 1797,
1819, and 1843) (fn. 76) was sold separately to its tenant
in 1921 and in 1964 was attached to an estate in
Appletree (Northants.). (fn. 77)
The manor-house stands near the southern tip of
the lordship and is reached from Cropredy by a
private approach road which crosses the canal and
Highfurlong Brook. The previous house on the site
was assessed at 4 hearths in 1665 when it was lived
in by Katherine Gostelow, perhaps widow of Richard
Gostelow (d. 1660), (fn. 78) but in 1621 on the death of
Richard Gostelow it was a residence of some size,
with extensive outbuildings. Five rooms were
furnished more elaborately than the others, the
parlour, garden chamber, lodging chamber, knights'
chamber, and chamber over the parlour; (fn. 79) there
were 'groves and good walks' about the house. (fn. 80)
Traces of a former moat could still be seen in 1964.
The existing house was built by Sir John Danvers
(d. 1721). (fn. 81) It is a plain rectangular structure of
brown ironstone ashlar, with a chamfered plinth, a
horizontal string-course, and a moulded eavescornice. Over what was originally the principal doorway are the date and initials I.D. 1691. In its original
form the house consisted of only three northern
bays, with the doorway in the centre of the symmetrical west front. Early in the 19th century the
house was extended to the south by the addition of
two further bays adhering closely in design to the
original structure. The original south-west quoin
can, however, still be seen in the west wall between
the third and fourth bays, and a corresponding
change can be discerned in the masonry of the east
wall. Only in the south elevation, which is pierced by
seven large round-headed windows and a doorway,
does the 19th-century addition fail to conform to the
older structure. In 1797 the house was improbably
described as a venerable Gothic mansion, (fn. 82) in 1852
as a handsome modern building, and in 1895 as
modernized and refaced. (fn. 83)
In the drawing-room there is a fireplace of Sussex
marble with a shield quartering the arms of Danvers
(a chevron between molets) and Neville (a saltire with
a ring in the centre), the initials J.D., and the date
1718. Below is the motto nec misere nec laute. The
17th-century panelling in the room is said to have
come from Warkworth Castle (Northants.), (fn. 84) the
materials of which were sold on its demolition in
1806. In the kitchen is a carving in oak of a sow and
two pigs, believed to have been part of the older
building on the site. In the Fremund legend a white
sow and thirteen pigs occur as a portent of the saint's
reinvention; the motif itself occurs in ecclesiastical
decoration elsewhere. (fn. 85)
Economic History.
In 1279 Prescote contained 8 yardlands of demesne and 12 yardlands held
in villeinage, each yardland rented at 4s. and owing
services worth 4s. 2d. (fn. 86) Of the eight people assessed
to pay a total of 15s. 9d. tax in 1327, three paid 3s. or
more, four paid 1s. or more. (fn. 87) The total assessment of
£13s. 5d. for the late medieval taxes was more than
that of Little Bourton, and approached that of Great
Bourton. (fn. 88)
The first hint of conversion to pasture in Prescote
occurs in 1547 when a Danvers lease was granted to
Richard Lyllys of Prescote, shepherd. (fn. 89) In 1621
Richard Gostelow died possessed of 236 sheep, with
23 cattle; (fn. 90) in 1797 the farm of 385 a. corresponding
to that later attached to Prescote Manor was described as 'uncommon rich old inclosed principally
feeding land' of which 75 a. were in tillage. Of 518 a.
in the whole lordship, 104 were then arable, 123
meadow, and 291 pasture. (fn. 91) Some 40 years later of
the 526 tithable acres in Prescote 168 were arable,
116 meadow, and 242 pasture. (fn. 92) Prescote was in
1964 a mixed farm containing relatively little
permanent pasture.
The early inclosure of Prescote brought wealth to
the Gostelow family, lessees of Prescote for about
70 years in the 17th century. Richard Gostelow,
third son of a Mollington yeoman of some substance
also named Richard, (fn. 93) probably obtained his first
lease of Prescote from the Danvers family in 1592, (fn. 94)
and in 1613 he obtained a lease for 21 years. (fn. 95) The
Gostelows also held from 1583 to 1652 the freehold
of Lady Moor, a small close near Cropredy village, (fn. 96)
and after 1607 the lease from Brasenose College for
21 years of a house and 2 yardlands in Cropredy. (fn. 97)
In 1613 Prescote and the Cropredy leasehold were
valued at £50 over and above the rents, (fn. 98) and in that
year Richard married as his second wife Katharine
Hawes, widow of a London haberdasher, (fn. 99) a man
with whom, as a sheep-farmer, he is likely to have
had business dealings. When Richard Gostelow died
in 1621 (fn. 100) his son Richard (d. 1660) was his successor, (fn. 101) and a Katherine Gostelow was living at the
manor-house in 1665. (fn. 102)
Prescote mill was probably one of the three mills
held by Cropredy tenants in 1086. (fn. 103) The mill of
Prescote called Boltysmylle was mentioned in 1482,
when, as afterwards, it was held with the manor:
John Mitchell of Cropredy leased it from Richard
Danvers for 20 years, and entered into a bond for its
repair, Danvers supplying the great timber, stone,
and straw. (fn. 104) Boltes Mill, included with the manor in
deeds of 1613, (fn. 105) was apparently near the Wardington boundary and may be identified with the Prescote
mill at which Timothy Parsons was miller in 1654. (fn. 106)
About 1700 Prescote mill was occupied by the same
or another Timothy Parsons. (fn. 107) In or soon after 1703
Prescote mills, then leased to John Lord of Williamscot, were much out of repair. (fn. 108) The remains of the
mill are mentioned in auction catalogues of Prescote
in 1797–8; it was presumably then unoccupied; it
is, however, shown on Bryant's map of 1823.
Prescote mill lay near Upper Prescote, where are the
mill-cut and the islet Mill Holme.
Local Government.
Prescote was a separate
unit for poor relief purposes in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, and probably before. In 1776
just over £13 was spent on relief. (fn. 109) By 1802–3 the
figure was almost £44, nearly £2 a head. That was
the cost of out-relief for 4 able-bodied adults and 9
children. (fn. 110) Prescote suffered very badly in the years
after 1815 and in 1817, the worst year, expenditure
was £109, a very large sum for so small a place. (fn. 111) In
the 1820s the total fell steadily and in 1829 was under
£20. (fn. 112) By the time of the new Poor Law it was no
higher than in the latter years of the 18th century. (fn. 113)
Prescote was incorporated in the Banbury Poor Law
Union.