10 Jul Lordship Title of Harvies ID1124
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The property that afterwards became known as HARVIES MANOR was parcel of the Knights Hospitallers' Riseley possessions. It can first be separately identified in 1279, when Walter son of Geoffrey de Riseley held 4 hides of land in Riseley of the Knights Templars. This land later came into the possession of William son of Lawrence de Riseley, who in 1320–1 quitclaimed it to John son of Geoffrey de Riseley. It is possible that this family of Riseley is the same as the Harvey family of Riseley. In 1351 John Harvey died seised of this property. An interesting instance of the ravages of the Black Death in this neighbourhood is shown in the inquisition taken after his death, in which it is stated that the 300 acres of arable land which he owned are of no value, as 'they are uncultivated and no one wants to occupy them.' This property remained in the hands of the Harvey family for the next 120 years. In 1473 John Harvey enfeoffed trustees of it to the use of his wife Agnes. The latter, who afterwards married a Paston, died in 1510. Her heir was her son George Harvey. About this time it would appear that the manor was alienated to Thomas Sackville, a member of the royal household, who, owing money to the king, granted the manor to him for a term of years. The king made over this lease to Lady Radcliffe, who with her husband made conveyances of the property in 1555 and 1562. This latter transaction, however, must have been purely nominal, as by 1557 the Sackville family had resumed possession, and in the same year John Sackville alienated the manor to Edmund Elmes. The latter held it until his death in 1602, when his son Thomas succeeded him, and died in 1632, leaving a son William as his heir. This manor, however, apparently passed to his second son Thomas, who married Ann Clarke, and through him to the Clarke family, from whom it went to Sir Creswell Levinz before 1680. The manor remained in the hands of the Levinz family until 1759, when it was bought from them by the Duke of Bedford, whose descendant the present duke is now lord of the manor.
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Listed in the Domesday Book:
No