Manor Of Kittisford
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Kittisford is a historic manor near
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
in
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, England. It is situated on the
River Tone The River Tone is a river in the English county of Somerset. The river is about long. Its River source, source is at Beverton Pond near Huish Champflower in the Brendon Hills, and is dammed at Clatworthy Reservoir. The reservoir outfall con ...
, south of the village of Bathealton. The surviving
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 ...
is called Kittisford Barton, situated formerly within the historic
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of Kittisford, now amalgamated into the parish of Stawley. It was built in the late 15th or early 16th century. It is a 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, Hi ...
.


Descent


Arundel

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 ...
of 1086 lists the manor of ''Chedesford'' as held in-chief from King
William the Conqueror 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 ...
by Roger Arundel, whose tenant there was a certain ''William''. Immediately before the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
of 1066 it had been held by the Saxon ''Osmund Stramun''. The Domesday entry may be translated from Latin as follows: :"Wilham holds of Roger, Chedesford. Osmund Stramun held it in the time of King Edward, and gelded for two hides. The arable is seven carucates. In
demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...
are two carucates, and three servants, and five villanes, and six cottagers, with three ploughs and a half. There is a mill of seven shillings rent, and three acres of meadow, and ten acres of pasture, and twelve acres of wood. It was worth forty shillings, now sixty shillings".


de Kittisford

The descendants of the Domesday Book tenant "William" later assumed the surname ''de Kittisford'', and held this manor till the time of Henry III, when the family died out in the male line. The daughter and heiress of John de Kittisford, the last in the male line, married John de Sydenham,
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 ...
of Sydenham near Bridgwater, Somerset, to whom therefore passed the manor of Kittisford.


Sydenham

The Sydenham family of
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
, about 1/4 mile east of the centre of modern
Bridgwater Bridgwater is a historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. The town had a population of 41,276 at the 2021 census. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies along both sid ...
, now the site of Bridgwater College, held Kittisford for several generations. The family split into many prominent branches, the senior branch died out in the male line in the 15th century when Sydenham passed via the heiress to the Cave family, then to the Percival family, later
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. The next senior line was seated in the early 15th century at Combe Sydenham in Somerset, of which family was Simon Sydenham (died 1438),
Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...
, and later inherited the Somerset manors of Orchard Sydenham (later called
Orchard Wyndham Orchard Wyndham is a historic manor near Williton in Somerset, centred on the synonymous grade I listed manor house of Orchard Wyndham that was situated historically in the parish of Watchet and about two miles south of the parish church of ...
) and
Brympton d'Evercy Brympton d'Evercy (alternatively Brympton House) is a Listed building, Grade I listed manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England. The house has been called the most beautiful of its kind in England; in 1927, Christopher Hussey ( ...
, which latter remained the seat of the Sydenham baronets, which title was created in 1641.


Blewett

In 1481 Kittisford passed to the Blewett family on the marriage of Agnes Sydenham, daughter and heiress of John Sydenham, to Nicholas Blewet of Lottisham. The Blewett family had long been seated at nearby
Greenham Greenham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Berkshire, England. Greenham commences immediately south-east of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury and is in West Berkshire. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Greneham''. T ...
and at nearby Holcombe Rogus in Devon. Walter Blewet, a descendant of Nicholas, as is recorded in his
inquisition post mortem An Inquisition post mortem (abbreviated to Inq.p.m. or i.p.m., and formerly known as an escheat) (Latin, meaning "(inquisition) after death") is an English medieval or early modern record of the death, estate and heir of one of the king's tenants-i ...
, held at his death the manor of Kittisford, and the
advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...
of the Church of St. Nicholas thereto belonging and a messuage and one hundred acres of land called South Cothay in the parish of Kittisford,
held Held may refer to: Places * Held Glacier People Arts and media * Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. newspaper editor, banker, labor activist *Al Held (1928–2005), U.S. abstract expressionist painter. *Alexander Held (born 1958), German television ...
from the
overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or ...
"Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland" (apparently Eleanor Poynings, widow of
Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, (25 July 1421 – 29 March 1461) was an English magnate. The Earldom of Northumberland was then one of the greatest landholdings in northern England; Percy also became Lord Poynings on his marr ...
(1421-1461)), by grand serjeanty of one pair of spurs to be paid yearly. His son and heir was Nicholas Blewett (born 1451). In St. Nicholas' Church, Kittisford, survives a
monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...
to Richard Bluett (d.1524) and his wife Agnes Verney. Richard Bluett (d.1524) was the younger son of Walter Bluett of Holcombe Rogus by his wife Jane St Maur, daughter of John St Maur by his wife Elizabeth Brooke, daughter of Thomas Brooke (c.1391-1439), MP for
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
and
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
.


Langdon

In 1791 the owner of the manor of Kittisford was Thomas Langdon.Collinson, 1791, p.24


Sources

* Collinson, John, History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, Vol.3, Bath, 1791, p. 24, ''Kittisford


References

Former manors in Somerset, Kittsford