Cholesbury Manor House
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Cholesbury Manor House which is close to the centre of Cholesbury,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
, is where the
Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...
held his Court periodically between 1599 and 1607. The building dates back to the end of the 16th century. It is a Grade II Listed Building.


Description

The
Manor House A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
at Cholesbury was most probably built towards the end of the 16th century. It is a two-storey,
Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
. Originally constructed of wood, it has retained its timber framework but acquired a brick casing in the 18th century. It is suggested by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
that the original building was much larger than it is today, consisting probably only the cross-wing of a once much larger house. The house was built on an area previously occupied by a section or rampart which formed part of the
ringwork A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles without the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site ...
of Cholesbury Camp, an
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
. Also, close by the house and within the boundary of the hillfort is St Lawrences Church. Today the house still retains much of the original roof structures and timber interior structure, an older thin brick chimney stack at the west end of the building and a much more modern chimney at the east end. Major refurbishment work in 2011 has retained the extant original features and removed or renovated the more modern additions.


Occupants

The building has not been used as a Manor House on a continuous basis since the 17th century. The
manor court The manorial courts were the lowest courts of law in England during the feudal period. They had a civil jurisdiction limited both in subject matter and geography. They dealt with matters over which the lord of the manor had jurisdiction, primari ...
or
court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etymo ...
met infrequently and by 1836 its residual powers had in effect been sequestrated by the Cholesbury Parish
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
. Census records during the 19th century indicate it was occupied by the David Newton a
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...
royal marine The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
who fought at the
Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...
. In the early part of the 20th century it was lived in by Thomas Robinson, the retired
miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...
of Cholesbury Windmill.


Lords of the Manor

The manor of Cholesbury is not recorded in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
and was first recorded in the 13th century as Chelwardisbyry. In 1086 it was, most likely, included within the manor of Draitone (
Drayton Beauchamp Drayton Beauchamp (pronounced 'Beecham') is a village and civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the east of the county bordering Hertfordshire, about six miles from Aylesbury and two miles from Tring ...
), which according to the
Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...
for Buckinghamshire was under the control of Magno le Breton and was assessed at 6
hide Hide or hides may refer to: Common uses * Hide (skin), the cured skin of an animal * Bird hide, a structure for observing birds and other wildlife without causing disturbance * Gamekeeper's hide or hunting hide or hunting blind, a structure to hi ...
s, and 3
virgate The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as   hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acr ...
s. Prior to the Conquest the manor which contained the lands known then as Chelwardisbyry had been overseen by Aluric a
thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...
or servant of
King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
. The le Breton family stewarded the lands for
King William I William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
and those that succeeded him to the Crown of England for almost two hundred years. The manor of Cholesbury was first recorded in a conveyances of 1248 and another in 1251 to Hughle le Breton who was living in
Wolverton Wolverton ( ) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban ar ...
. Thomas Perot was keeper of the manor in 1330. His name lives on to this day as Parrott's Farm. The next mention was in 1362 certifying it was in the hands of Mary the Dowager Countess of Norfolk. Thomas was the first of several in the Cheyne family who resided nearby at
Chenies Chenies is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the border with Hertfordshire, east of Amersham and north of Chorleywood. History Until the 13th century, the village name was Isenhampstead. There were t ...
and
Chesham Bois Chesham Bois (traditionally , but now more commonly ) is a village in the Chiltern Hills, in Buckinghamshire, England, adjacent to both Amersham and Chesham. History Initially a hamlet in the parish of Chesham, the manor was assessed at 1½ ...
and become Lord of the Manor in 1384. In 1541 the manor at Cholesbury was sold to Chief Justice Baldwin by Robert Cheyne. and was subsequently sold in 1571 by John Baldwin to Robert Maldred Thomas Stile, who was an attorney of the
Court of King's Bench The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the '' curia regis'', the King's Bench initi ...
. The ownership of Cholesbury passed via several families including the Hobys and Sayers through marriage between 1666 and 1689 when Mary Sayer married her second husband Loftus Brightwell. John Seare was Lord of the Manor in 1650 and was the first to be at the same time, Lords of both the manor of Cholesbury and the neighbouring manor of
Hawridge Hawridge ( ; recorded as Hoquerug in the 12th century) is a small village in the Chilterns in the county of Buckinghamshire, England and bordering the county boundary with Hertfordshire. It is from Chesham, from both Tring and Berkhamsted. Ha ...
. It was passed to Richard Seare in 1712 and until his death in 1714 when his son John took over, selling it in 1748 to Robert Darell. Edward Darell bequeathed the manorship in 1813 to his nephew the Rev. John Jeffreys, Rector of
Barnes Barnes may refer to: People *Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom * Barnes, London, England ** Barnes railway station **Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes High Stree ...
, Surrey. His son the Rev. H. A. Jeffreys the Rector of
Hawkhurst Hawkhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The village is located close to the border with East Sussex, around south-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells and within the High Weald Area of Outstanding N ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
inherited it and on his death in 1899 the lordship was bought by Mr. Henry J. Turner, J.P., the first Lord of the Manor to reside within the area for 200 years at Braziers End House. The Turner family lived in the village until 1935 when the manor was sold to Malcolm Stewart. Henry Moore took it on after the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in 1948 and it was purchased from him by John Randall in 1953. After his death in 1979 Elma Randall became the first female Lord of the Manor before it was bought by Dennis Smith in 1982. From 1987 the Lordship was held jointly by Michael Smith and Christine Stott, and from 1996 solely by Christine Stott.Local Heritage Study Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons - Appendix VII List of all known Lords of the Manors, Editor Lindsay Griffin
Date Retrieved 8 July 2011


References

{{Reflist Houses completed in the 16th century Manor houses in England Country houses in Buckinghamshire Grade II listed houses in Buckinghamshire