10 Jul Lordship Title of Beedon ID1372
Posted at 20:03h
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Before the Conquest the abbey's tenant had been Norman, who was adscriptus glebae, but by the time of the Domesday Survey the manor was held under the abbey by Walter de Rivers by military service, while an unnamed knight held 2 hides, apparently of Walter. Walter de Rivers on his death left an infant son of the same name. Before the year 1100 Joscelin, brother of the late tenant, claimed the manor, in the king's court, but Rainald, the abbot, interceded for the infant Walter, and it was arranged that Joscelin should hold the manor for him until he came of age. A few years later a dispute arose between Joscelin and Abbot Faritius as to whether the tenure was for the service of two or three knights, but the tenant finally agreed that it should be for three. In 1166–7 Boamund rendered account for half a mark from this manor, and between 1175 and 1190 we find W. de Rivers again described as the abbey's military tenant in Beedon, which is returned as 11 hides. He was probably the William de Rivers who in 1218 did homage to Hugh Abbot of Abingdon for land in Beedon, and the Testa de Nevill describes Walter de Rivers as holding one and a half fees of the abbot in Beedon, while another entry describes the tenure as two and a half knights' fees. In 1315 and 1320 Warine de Lisle is returned as lord of the vill of Beedon. He took part in the rebellion of Robert Earl of Lancaster, and was hanged at Pomfret in 1322, when his lands were forfeited. In 1326–7 the king granted to Alice widow of Warine and daughter of Henry le Tyes of Chilton the custody of the manor of Beedon, and in 1336 she had a grant of free warren there and licence to inclose 300 acres of wood and 100 acres of waste to make a park. She was succeeded by her son Gerard de Lisle, who died seised of the manor in 1360, when he was followed by his son Warine, who died soon after. His only son Gerard had died childless during his father's lifetime, and the manor devolved upon Warine's widow Joan, who died seised of it in 1392, when it passed to her only daughter Margaret, married to Thomas Lord Berkeley. He died in 1417 seised of this manor, which passed to Elizabeth, his only daughter, wife of Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick. The earl was holding two and a half knights' fees here in 1428, and died seised of the manor in 1439, when it passed to his daughter Eleanor wife of Thomas Lord Roos of Hamelake. Lord Roos died in 1431, and was succeeded by his eldest son Thomas, who married Philippa daughter of John Lord Tiptoft. Thomas was beheaded after the battle of Hexham in 1464, during the lifetime of his mother, leaving two sons, John, who died childless, and Edmund, who succeeded to the title, and in 1485 obtained a reversal of his father's attainder, and two daughters, Eleanor married to Sir Robert Manners and Isabel married to Sir Thomas Lovell. After the death of her first husband Eleanor married about 1435 Edmund Beaufort, afterwards Duke of Somerset, and in 1447 they by a fine conveyed this manor to trustees. The duke was killed at the battle of St. Albans in 1455, but Eleanor retained the manor, of which she died seised 6 March 1467. Edmund Lord Roos, her grandson, was found to be her heir, and seems to have inherited her lands, but, as he became feeble-minded, the custody of his lands was granted in 1492 to his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Lovell, with remainder to the Crown. Edmund Lord Roos died childless 13 October 1508, and the following year the king appointed Sir Robert Southwell to be steward of his lands. His sisters would under ordinary circumstances have been his heirs. Of these Isabel Lady Lovell died about this time without issue, while Eleanor Lady Manners had died in 1487, leaving a son George. It would seem, however, that in consequence of the grant of 1492 the estates passed to the Crown. On 27 July 1509 the king granted Beedon, said to be 'in the king's hands by the death of the Duchess of Somerset,' apparently only for life, to Joan Lady Howth, widow of Sir Richard Frye, daughter of Eleanor by her second husband Edmund Duke of Somerset. If we may identify her with the 'domina Johanna Beyford' she was holding the manor in 1517. She must have died soon afterwards, for in that year the king granted the manor for twentyone years to Robert Sewey. In 1520 the reversion was granted to Sir William Fitzwilliam, afterwards Earl of Southampton, and Mabel his wife in tailmale. The earl died without issue in 1542, but his widow still held in 1547; she died in 1550. In 1544 the reversion was sold for £216 to William Thomas, who had licence to alienate it to Sir Arthur Darcy. In 1547 Sir Arthur and others sold the reversion of the manor to John Stoner and William Spicer, and a deed of partition between the two seems to have eventually resulted in John Stoner obtaining the main part of the estate. His son Henry Stoner sold the manor in 1559 to Anne Reade widow and Thomas Reade. Henry Manners, Earl of Rutland, great-grandson of Sir Robert Manners who had married Eleanor sister of Edmund Lord Roos, was a party to this sale, and seems to have thus finally quitclaimed any title or interest of his family in Beedon. The Reades already held lands in this parish, for Thomas Reade and Anne his wife dealt with lands here in 1545. Thomas Reade, their son, who with his mother purchased the manor, lived at Barton Court near Abingdon. He came into possession of the manor at the death of his mother in 1576, settled it on his son Thomas in 1596, and died seised of it 25 December 1604. In 1615 Sir Thomas Reade, kt., received from the king a grant of view of frankpledge, &c., in the manor. His eldest son Thomas died during his father's lifetime in 1637, and the manor eventually came to his eldest son Compton Reade, created a baronet 4 March 1660–1. He died on 29 September 1679 and was succeeded by his son Sir Edward Reade, who died in 1691, when the manor passed to his elder son Winwood, who only lived nine months longer, being succeeded in 1692 by his brother Thomas. He and his mother Elizabeth, who had married as her second husband a man named Farmer, settled messuages and lands in Beedon in 1714, and at his death in 1752 Sir Thomas Reade was succeeded by his only son John, who settled the manor in 1759 on his marriage with Harriet daughter and heir of William Barker of Sonning, Berks. At his death 9 November 1773 the manor passed to his eldest son John, who died in 1789, having married Jane only daughter of Sir Chandos Hoskyns, bart. His widow appears to have retained the manor of Beedon as her portion, for she is mentioned as owning the manor early in the 19th century. She died 17 December 1847, and on 28 October 1857 the manor was sold by her son Sir John Chandos Reade to Lewis Loyd, a London banker, whose son Samuel Jones Loyd was created Lord Overstone of Overstone and Fotheringay, Northants, 5 March 1850. Lord Overstone died 17 November 1883, when the manor passed to his only daughter Harriet Sarah, the wife of Lieut.-Col. Robert James Lindsay, V.C., who on his marriage assumed by royal licence the prefix, surname and arms of Loyd. Col. Loyd Lindsay was M.P. for Berkshire from 1865 to 1885, when he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Wantage of Lockinge, and died 10 June 1901, when the peerage became extinct. His widow, the Lady Wantage, is the present owner of the manor.
Other Information:
Listed in the Domesday Book:
Yes